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A Hydrologic Study of the Kane Caves in Wyoming Valerie A. Bennett CE 394K Fall 2000 Motivation • The Kane caves are going to be the subject of my graduate research • We are interested in the role that bacteria play in a karst system • We also hope to determine the source of recharge for the area Project Goals • Build a base map of geographic and flow data for the Big Horn Lake watershed • Create a point shapefile of the USGS gage station at Kane • Graph streamflow data for one year Data Sources • HUC coverage for Region 10 from the USGS • River Reach File 1 coverage from the EPA • Information on streamflow for USGS station #06279500 obtained from the USGS National Water Information System Geologic Setting • The Kane Caves are located in the Bighorn Basin, approximately 130 km east of Yellowstone National Park • They formed in the Little Sheep Mountain Anticline along the Bighorn River What do bacteria do in a cave? • Bacteria form colonies like the mat seen here • They oxidize sulfur and make sulfuric acid Geographic Map The Big Horn Lake Basin Streamflow • Discharge in the area is important because when discharge is high, the caves become flooded • Flooding provides an influx of nutrients for the bacteria • After a snowmelt, the cave entrance floods for around two months Streamflow Graph Bighorn River at Kane, WY 14000 12000 Discharge (cfs) 10000 8000 6000 4000 2000 0 9/12/98 11/1/98 12/21/98 2/9/99 3/31/99 5/20/99 Time (one year) 7/9/99 8/28/99 10/17/99 12/6/99 Conclusions • The Kane Caves of Wyoming formed by sulfuric acid dissolution • For my project, I created a watershed base map for the Big Horn Lake Basin from HUC region 10 and made a point shapefile for the gage station (#06279500) at Kane • I plotted discharge for a period of one year for the Kane station Future Work • I am in the process of selecting other gaging stations along the Bighorn River that could be good sites for monitoring discharge • I am making a map of other locations in the world where caves are formed by sulfuric acid dissolution Acknowledgements • Philip Bennett, my advisor (UTDoGS) • Annette Engel (UTDoGS) provided the photos • Funding by NSF LExEN program • Thanks to the USGS for providing so much data for the public