Awesome, thanks Geary!
Glad to finally know about that. It's pretty cool that the river is
completely spring fed all the while recharging the aquifer.. I guess they
are separate springs further south that make the river flow again?...
Thanks for the info!
From above ground,
Travis
- Original Message -
From: Geary Schindel gschin...@edwardsaquifer.org
To: Travis Scott tra...@oztotl.com; TexasCavers.com
Texascavers@texascavers.com
Sent: Friday, June 06, 2008 4:06 PM
Subject: RE: [Texascavers] Major underground river?
Travis,
Yes, the Frio River sinks into it's bed as it crosses the recharge zone
of the Edwards Aquifer; however, it doesn't discharge 14 miles to the
south but is a major recharge source of the Edwards Aquifer and pirates
water more than a 100 miles to the east to discharge at San Antonio, San
Pedro, Comal, Hueco, and San Marcos Springs. T
Why haven't there been caves with rivers found, I've often wondered that
myself. Part of the problem is that most of the major conduits formed
directly under the river are either full of water or are full of
sediment making it difficult to get in them. There is a relatively
short distance between the recharge zone of the aquifer and the artesian
zone. Once the conduit hits the artesian zone, it's probably full of
water. There are a few good examples of this in the Edwards, probably
the best is Indian Creek Cave and possibly Valdina Farm Cave.
The area with greatest potential for finding a large river cave in the
Balcones Fault Zone segment of the Edwards Aquifer is between Cibolo
Creek (Bexar-Comal County line) and San Marcos Springs. There is
sufficient flow of groundwater in this area and there is sufficient
thickness of limestone above the water table that the longest and
largest cave in Texas is probably located here. The problem is finding
the way in. It will require a lot of persistence and some luck but the
geologic data says it's there.
Geary Schindel,
Chief Technical Officer
Edwards Aquifer Authority
San Antonio, Texas
-Original Message-
From: Travis Scott [mailto:tra...@oztotl.com]
Sent: Friday, June 06, 2008 11:18 AM
To: TexasCavers.com
Subject: [Texascavers] Major underground river?
Caver-types,
Something I have always been fascinated with, yet have rarely heard a
mention of in the caving community, is the fact that Texas limestone
sucks
up an entire river (albeit not the biggest river in the world), and
spits it
out several miles downstream (~14 miles or so according to Google Earth
imagery). Maybe this doesn't need to be a communal discussion, but I
figured I would throw it out nonetheless. Are there any Frio River
Experts
that know something about this and might be willing to share with an
inquiring mind? (and not the experts at drinking beer while floating
the
river, I know enough about that one although I need to study it more!)
Anyways, if nothing else, does it actually go into an underground
cave, or
maybe just flow under the gravel for the several miles? I have seen
references to a fault that sucks it up too. Maybe there is a chance for
some good underground tubing!
Travis
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