DNR
Home Page"This morning...I discover'd a Cave...I think it one of the most remarkable Caves I ever saw in my travels."
Journal: May 28, 1804, Joseph Whitehouse, Lewis and Clark Expedition
Karst. This exotic name is derived from a region in Yugoslavia where karst topography was first studied. The most typical features of karst landscapes are caves, springs and sinkholes. Missouri, especially the Ozarks, is one of the premier karst regions on Earth.
Caves and springs are formed primarily in the limestones and dolomites that make up most of the bedrock in the Ozarks. At the earth's surface, rainwater combines with the carbon dioxide given off by decaying vegetation, and forms a weak carbonic acid solution. This mildly acidic water moves down through joints, crevices or bedding plane fractures in the bedrock, and dissolves the adjacent limestone or dolomite. These solution-enlarged openings - dissolved from rock - are the caves and spring conduits that are such a vital component of Missouri's water resources and scenic beauty.
Of Missouri's more than 5,000 caves, the longest is Crevice Cave in Perry County, with 28 miles of passageways, while Marvel Cave, in Stone County, is the deepest at 383 feet. Many Missouri caves have spectacular deposits such as stalactites, cone-shaped forms that hang from cave ceilings, and stalagmites, which rise from cave floors.
There are three outstanding show caves open for public tours in the state park system. One of these, Fisher Cave, is located in Meramec State Park, while Ozark Caverns, with its unique and breathtaking "Angel Showers," is at Lake of the Ozarks State Park. Onondaga Cave, located in Onondaga Cave State Park, is justly celebrated for its beautiful deposits including colorful dripstones and flowstones, and the spectacular "lily pad" room. A cave with a wild flavor is the Devil's Icebox Cave in Rock Bridge Memorial State Park. With more than seven miles of passageways, this cave is Missouri's sixth longest, and can be toured by special arrangement.
While Missouri caves have been mined for saltpeter (to manufacture gunpowder), used for growing mushrooms, to age beer and even as beer gardens, they are also the source of many legends. Jesse James, if one believes all the tall tales, hid out in practically every cave in the state.
Few regions in the world are as richly blessed with large springs of clear flowing water as the Ozarks region of Missouri. The same fractures and bedding planes in the bedrock that lead to cave formation also allow for underground streams that become springs when they emerge at the surface. Some of the larger Ozark springs seem to erupt from the earth in surging boils of water; others are more sedate, but become the heads of streams or rivers. Long valuable as sources of drinking water or as power sources for gristmills, springs are also among the most popular beauty spots and tourist attractions in the state. Caves and springs also harbor delicate ecosystems and unusual fauna such as blind cave salamanders and cavefish that have adapted to the total darkness of subterranean environments.
Several of Missouri's largest springs are located in state parks. Some, like Bennett Spring, Missouri's third largest, or Montauk and Roaring River springs provide habitat for rainbow trout in all three state parks. Ha Ha Tonka Spring, the state's 12th largest, rises in a clear blue pool at the base of a deep canyonlike chasm. Unlike the large Ozark springs, the spring at Boone's Lick State Historic Site is little more than a trickle, but as a saline spring it provided a rare but essential article, and two sons of Daniel Boone manufactured salt here as early as 1805. Across the river at Arrow Rock is another small but significant spring, now part of Arrow Rock State Historic Site. Travelers heading west along the Santa Fe Trail often filled their water barrels from this spring.
Sometimes, cave systems can collapse with spectacular results. Grand Gulf State Park is just such an example of a partially collapsed cave. Known as Missouri's "Little Grand Canyon," Grand Gulf is a three-quarters of a mile long chasm with steep vertical walls. Water flowing through Grand Gulf and into the intact cave system beyond emerges at Mammoth Spring in Arkansas, seven miles away. At Rock Bridge Memorial State Park, a 120-foot-long natural bridge and an underground stream at the base of a double sinkhole can be seen.
At Ha Ha Tonka State Park, in addition to the spring, one can view a 70-foot-wide natural bridge and a gigantic pit, called the Colosseum, measuring 500 feet by 300 feet, which was created when a section of a huge cavern collapsed. Nearby are a half-dozen caves and numerous other sinkholes also created by the partial cavern collapse. One of these sinkholes, Whispering Dell, is more than 150 feet wide. Often the land above cave systems has dozens of sinkholes. At Rock Bridge Memorial State Park, an extensive sinkhole plain overlays the Devil's Icebox Cave.
With so many wonderful and mysterious caves, springs, natural bridges, canyons and sinkholes to see in Missouri, when planning your next trip around the state be sure to take in some "karst."
