ABSTRACT
As shown in Figure 4.1, a sandstone and shale cap, as thick as 50 feet in places, acts as an umbrella over limestone ridges. The umbrella leaks at places called sinkholes, from which surface water makes its way underground, eroding the limestone into a honeycomb of caverns. Mammoth Cave National Park encompasses 52,830 acres in south-central Kentucky and protects the diverse geological, biological, and historical features associated with the longest known cave in the world. Above the cave, the surface landscape highlights rare plants and dense forest, a diverse aquatic ecosystem in the quiet Green and Nolin Rivers.
