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Virtual Spelunking:
Exploring the Role of Caves in Geology
  

"Cave is a good word.... The memory of a cave I used to know was always in my mind, with its lofty passages, its silence and solitude, its shrouding gloom, its sepulchral echoes, its fleeting lights, and more than all, its sudden revelations...."
--Mark Twain, Innocents Abroad

 Scenario

The American Cave Museum in Horse Cave, Kentucky, is soliciting help from your Earth Science teacher to attract the interest of high schoolers like yourself to the hobby of spelunking.

Caves, or caverns, are large natural cavities beneath the surface of Earth and are part of our planet's plumbing system. Groundwater passes through most caves at some point in time, creating many unusual features. Spelunking, also called caving, is the hobby of exploring caves for recreation. Cave exploration provides the thrill of discovery, clues to our ancestry, a look at our hidden natural heritage, and a unique opportunity for education and recreation. It also allows us to trace the never-ending cycles of Earth's geologic processes.

How do caves exemplify the cyclic creation and destruction of geologic formations?

Task and Product

 Working with a partner, you will research the general phenomena of cave formation by running water and explain how the destruction of one geologic formation may lead to the formation of a new structure. Additionally, you will select a specific cave within the United States from the list below to "explore" and use as an illustration of erosion and deposition.
Your research findings will be presented in an informational brochure that will educate and pique the interest of other high school students as well as the general public regarding caves and their exploration. Use this brochure template as a guide to create your final product; feel free to be creative in adapting it to answer research questions such as the ones below in the "Questions" section.

Assessments

Your grade for this project may be based on any or all of these components. The accompanying scoring tools may be used or may be adapted by your teacher.

  • Group Work html | MS Word
  • Daily Research (Formative) html
  • Research Process (Summative)--Student/Self html
  • Research Process (Summative)--Teacher html
  • Pamphlet or Brochure html | MS Word

Questions

Essential Question: How do caves exemplify the cyclic creation and destruction of geologic formations?

Subsidiary questions--In conducting your research, consider guide questions such as these about caves:

  • Questions about caves in general:
    • How are minerals formed?
    • How are rocks formed?
    • How do rocks change to become new rocks?
    • What are the effects of weathering and erosion by water on rock formations?
    • How do climatic factors orchestrate change?
    • Where in the United State are caves located and where are some of the most extensive caves and why?
  • Questions about your specific cave:
    • How large is the cave?
    • How did the cave form?
    • Is the cave still being created and how do we know this?
    • What other rocks and minerals are present in the cave and what is the evidence that these are present?
    • Approximately how old is the cave?
    • When was the cave discovered and by whom?
    • What are some of the formations within the cave and how were they created?
    • How deep and how far does the cave reach?
    • What is the average temperature in the cave?
    • What life exists in the cave?
    • What evidence exisits of new rock formations being created within the cave and what could stop this creation?

Gather and Sort

Gather information from a variety of sources.

Sort your research findings using these graphic organizers. Be sure to avoid plagiarism and remember to cite your references. Check the MLA guidelines and examples for citing resources.

Organize

Analyze your research notes to determine if you have adequate information to prepare your brochure for the American Cave Museum.

  • Have you gathered sufficient details about the geology of caves and about your specific cave?
  • Are your details organized in the right categories (sub-questions) to make sense for your audience?
  • Are you ready to create your brochure?

Synthesize your findings by creating a first draft of your product.

  • What new insights have emerged about your topic?
  • Which facts are the most compelling and would have the greatest impact on your audience?
  • Which facts are unnecessary and/or repetitive and therefore should be left out?

Evaluate your finished product. Use the Pamphlet/Brochure scoring tool as a checklist to make sure that your product is of good quality and ready to present to the Museum.

Final Product Assessment: Pamphlet or Brochure html | MS Word

Conclusion

Presentation

In addition to submitting your brochure to your teacher, you and your partner will select one especially interesting aspect about the cave you researched to share with your classmates.

Reflection

After each pair has shared its interesting cave fact, respond to the following writing prompt:

Caves are amazing places. They exhibit constructive as well as destructive forces and form their own ecosystems. In a brief paragraph (5-7 sentences) answer the following questions: After all you have learned about caves, are you interested in visiting a cave in person in the future? Why or why not?

Your refelction will be evaluted using this scoring tool: Brief Constructed Response html | MS Word