Uploaded November 2023 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Wind Cave is one of the world's longest caves, and probably the most complex! Learn why on BetterGeology!
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Wind Cave National Park is the largest expanse of original High Plains prairie left in North America. The cave below that is one of the longest, densest, and most complex systems known. Something I didn't learn until after my visit (and thus didn't film about) was that this cave has been forming for over 300 million years. The limestone is Pennsylvanian and Mississippian age, with some dolomite as well, 320 to 360 million years old. The cave first started forming at the end of the Mississippian when the sea that deposited the limestone retreated, exposing the limestone to karstic (cave-forming) erosion. The cave then filled up with red clay and sand, then was buried by more rock in the Pennsylvanian and Cretaceous periods. The modern cave incorporates this ancient cave system, so it's two superposed cave systems in a very dense network.
~ Wind Cave (Maka Oniye) and the rest of the Black Hills (Pahasapa) is the traditional homeland of many different indigenous tribes. The Lakota Sioux and Cheyenne were the most numerous until they were forced to move to reservations. The National Park Service does not do enough to recognize this in their interpretive exhibits, but they do maintain relationships with 21 different tribal organizations. Learn more about them here: nps.gov/wica/learn/historyculture/the-associated-tribes-of-wind-cave-national-park.htm ~
Wind Cave is one of the world's longest caves, and probably the most complex! Learn why on BetterGeology!
If you liked this video and want to see more, be sure to visit my channel and subscribe! For more, follow me @BetterGeology on social media, and check out my Ko-Fi to buy me a symbolic coffee! ko-fi.com/bettergeology
Wind Cave National Park is the largest expanse of original High Plains prairie left in North America. The cave below that is one of the longest, densest, and most complex systems known. Something I didn't learn until after my visit (and thus didn't film about) was that this cave has been forming for over 300 million years. The limestone is Pennsylvanian and Mississippian age, with some dolomite as well, 320 to 360 million years old. The cave first started forming at the end of the Mississippian when the sea that deposited the limestone retreated, exposing the limestone to karstic (cave-forming) erosion. The cave then filled up with red clay and sand, then was buried by more rock in the Pennsylvanian and Cretaceous periods. The modern cave incorporates this ancient cave system, so it's two superposed cave systems in a very dense network.
~ Wind Cave (Maka Oniye) and the rest of the Black Hills (Pahasapa) is the traditional homeland of many different indigenous tribes. The Lakota Sioux and Cheyenne were the most numerous until they were forced to move to reservations. The National Park Service does not do enough to recognize this in their interpretive exhibits, but they do maintain relationships with 21 different tribal organizations. Learn more about them here: nps.gov/wica/learn/historyculture/the-associated-tribes-of-wind-cave-national-park.htm ~
![Geology of the Alvord Desert | Oregon Geology - 4K [CC]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/xYUxSZgL1p8/mqdefault.jpg "Geology of the Alvord Desert | Oregon Geology - 4K [CC]
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The Alvord Desert is Oregons largest dry lake bed, and it is at the center of a fascinating geologic story. It sits in the shadow of Steens Mountain, one of Oregons highest mountains which towers more than 5,000 feet above the lake bed and creates the rain shadow needed to maintain Alvords desert-like conditions. Steens Mountain was uplifted over the past 10 million years along the Steens Fault, and more than 3,000 meters of total offset has occurred in that time. Alvord Desert filled the graben that that fault system created. Above Alvord Desert in Pike Creek, older volcanic rocks can be seen which reflect an interesting volcanic environment which produced highly-evolved rhyolite lava shortly before the massive outpouring of the Steens Basalts (part of the Columbia River Basalt Group) blanketed Oregon. These older volcanic rocks of the Pike Creek Volcanics also contain some of Oregons few uranium mines. Uranium was concentrated in old fault zones, and the presence of heavy metals shows that the Steens Fault extends very deep into the Earth. This deep structure is also what allows the numerous hot springs (Alvord Hot Springs, Mickey Hot Springs, and Borax Lake) to reach the surface.
This video was filmed by and with camera gear provided by Riley Hooper, who can be found over at Wogos Media.
The data for the Columbia River Basalt dikes is from Morriss et al, 2020 paper The Chief Joseph dike swarm of the Columbia River flood basalts, and the legacy data set of William H. Taubeneck published in Geosphere. https://doi.org/10.1130/GES02173.1")
