National Park Service

Mammoth Cave National Park U.S. Department of the Interior

Kentucky

For further information see http://www.nps.gov/maca

Welcome!

Mammoth Cave National Park conserves 21,450 

hectares of the central Kentucky karst. The park 

contains over 300 caves including at least 10 with 

lengths over 1.5 km. This includes portions of the 

longest (Mammoth-Flint Ridge-Roppel, 590 km), 

eighth longest (Fisher Ridge, 180 km) and fortysixth longest (Whigpistle-Martin Ridge-Jackpot, 

55 km) caves. The park was designated a World 

Heritage Site in 1981 and the core of an 828,697 

hectare UNESCO International Biosphere Reserve 

in 1990. 

Geology

The Central Kentucky Karst is developed into 

approximately 100 meters of Lower Carboniferous 

carbonates. This karst is dominated by cave 

formation by meteoric water in an unconfi ned 

aquifer. The water for cave development derives 

from an extensive sinkhole plain that lies mainly 

outside the park. The caves are developed in 

levels that have formed as the Green River has cut 

down into its valley over the past 10 million years.

Biology

Park caves have a very diverse and well-studied 

biology. The 41 species of cave adapted 

organisms from the area represents one of the 

highest subterranean biodiversities worldwide. 

The biodiversity at Mammoth Cave is notable 

because it includes high diversity of both 

terrestrial and aquatic cave-adapted creatures. 

Caves in the park are the type locality of over 25 

cave adapted species.

History and Archeology

Humans have inhabited the park area for at least 

10,000 years. From about 3,000 to 2,000 years 

ago, several of the caves were extensively utilized 

by local people mining several types of evaporate 

minerals from the cave. During the early 1800s, 

calcium nitrate was mined from park caves for the 

production of saltpeter. Mammoth Cave became 

a show cave in 1816, and has been continuously 

open as one since that time.

Access and Tours

The park received over 584,000 visitors in 2008; 

over 356,000 of them took a cave tour. About 16 

kilometers of cave passages are visited in regularly 

scheduled cave tours. Tours range from one-hour 

tours of a highly-decorated area to six-hour wildcave tours that offer a taste of caving. All access 

to park caves is through either guided tours or via 

research or special use permits provided by the 

park. No park caves are open to public caving.

Research

Modern scientifi c study of Mammoth Cave 

began in the early 1800s. Research in geology, 

hydrology, biology, cave climate, archaeology, 

and history has made Mammoth Cave one of 

the most studied caves in the world. Ongoing 

research includes cave survey, pure scientifi c 

research, and applied research for cave 

management. The Cave Research Foundation, 

Central Kentucky Karst Coalition, the James Cave 

Cavers, and other cave mapping groups have 

mapped over 833 km of caves in the area.

Contact Information

Patrick Reed

Superintendent

Mammoth Cave National Park

P.O. Box 7

Mammoth Cave, KY 42259, USA

ph 270-758-2184

fax 270-758-2349

pat_reed@nps.gov

Mammoth Cave International

Center for Science and Learning

MCICSL is a cooperative venture of 

Mammoth Cave National Park and Western 

Kentucky University. The center coordinates 

scientifi c research and research permitting 

at the park and consults on scientifi c 

issues. Staff assists researchers in arranging 

the logistics of research in the park, and 

provides numerous educational activities that 

highlight research at the park.

Quick Numbers for Mammoth Cave

Cave Length 590,629 meters

Cave Depth 115.5 meters

Years of Known Exploration 2000 - 0 BCE, ~ 1795 - present

Total Visitors per Year 584,000

Cave Visitors per Year 356,000

Line plot of the Mammoth-Flint Ridge-Roppel Cave System.

Dye traces showing underground drainage basin for Mammoth Cave National Park

GARY C. BERDEAUX

Sinkhole plain and escarpment south of Mammoth 

Cave National Park. Tour entering Historic Entrance.

GARY C. BERDEAUX

Diagrammatic view of the Mammoth Cave area geology.

KGS

GARY C. BERDEAUX

Echo River Spring.

GARY C. BERDEAUX

Dixon Cave - a vadose canyon.

NPS/KURT HELF

Cave cricket (Hadenoecus subterraneus). GARY C. BERDEAUX

Smoke writing and monument in Gothic Ave. Pre-historic petroglyphs. NPS/RICK OLSON

Endemic Kentucky cave shrimp (Palaemonias ganteri).

CHIP CLARK

Gray bats (Myotis grisescens).

NPS/RICK OLSON

Southern cavefi sh (Typhlichthys subterraneus). NPS/RICK OLSON

GARY C. BERDEAUX

200 year old saltpeter leaching vats.

NPS/RICK OLSON

Cave surveyor mapping in river passage.

GARY C. BERDEAUX

Tour in Cleaveland Avenue, a classic phreatic tube. RICK TOOMEY

Project studying growth of lamp fl ora.

CUMBERLAND PIEDMONT NETWORK

Monitoring cave cricket populations.

Karst Field Studies Karst Ecology class.

RICK OLSON

RICK TOOMEY

MCICSL conducting a virtual cave presentation 

with Superintendent Pat Reed at the 2009 George 

Wright Society Conference.

Cave surveyor descending into a pit.

GARY C. BERDEAUX

RICK TOOMEY

Whittenberg University students looking for cave 

passages using electrical resistivity testing.

An Ohio State geology student measuring scallops.

OSU

Tourists on the Wild Cave Tour.

GARY C. BERDEAUX

Roppel

Mammoth Cave

Flint Ridge

Detailed map of cave passages. Map provided by the Cave Research Foundation.

NPS/RICK OLSON

Gypsum crystals in Turner Ave.

Proctor Cave