Characteristics of a Place Statue of Liberty Niagara Falls Mammoth Cave Mount Rushmore Yellowstone Grand Canyon Golden Gate Bridge

Coming Home Our Special Places Home Page

 

 

 

Itinerary:

We will begin by reading “Caves and Caverns” by Gail Gibbons.  Then we will take a virtual tour of Mammoth Cave, and compare what we see in the cave with what we saw in the book.  Next, we will do a little worksheet on Mammoth Cave, and label Mammoth Cave on our maps.

 

Once we have learned about Mammoth Cave, we will create a postcard from Mammoth Cave.  Then we will write three facts about Mammoth Cave or caves in general and one question we have about it.

 

We will also play the game Adventure in the computer lab.

 

 

Where is Mammoth Cave?

 

Links:

Dome virtual tour

Rotunda virtual tour

Adventure game

 

Important Information about Mammoth Cave:

The Mammoth Cave system is located in central Kentucky in Mammoth Cave National Park.  It is the largest cave system known in the world.

 

The park is 52,830 acres, and the cave has more than 360 known miles of passageway.

 

Two million people visit the park every year.

 

The cave is made of limestone capped by sandstone.

 

Visitors used to be able to take a boat ride inside the underground river in the cave.

 

The first map of Mammoth Cave was created in 1842 by Stephen Bishop, who was a slave.

 

 

 

Geologists estimate that the oldest part of the cave began forming approximately 10 million years ago.

 

The cave was formed by an ancient sea that used to cover the United States.  About 325 million years ago, the sea laid down about 600 feet of limestone, which was covered by sandstone and shale.  The sea disappeared, and the cap of the cave was eroded until about 10 million years ago.  Then cracks and holes began to expose the limestone underneath, and the rainwater seeped in the holes.  The rainwater began to hollow out the inside of the cave.