David, Thanks for the reports on the convention, wish I was there. To try to briefly answer your question on Indiana and Texas, the red stuff on top of the rock in Indiana is called soil. Most folks from south-central Texas won't recognize it. Plants and trees like to grown in it - especially if there is water present.
There is a significant difference in rainfall between Indiana and Texas. The Hill Country gets between 22 and 30 inches on average - Southern Indiana is around 45-50 inches I believe. That's why you can grow lots of corn without irrigation - they have both soil and abundant rainfall (on average). The karst systems in Indiana is mostly epigenic in nature, relatively shallow systems with relatively short flow paths, usually less than 10 miles in length (however, cave lengths may be much longer). Springs are smaller than in Texas because of the shorter length of the flow paths as well as some other reasons - even though Indiana gets more rain. I think that largest spring in Indiana is about 10 times smaller than Comal. Texas processes, in many places, appear to be more hypogene in nature with deep and long circulation paths. Just look at it this way, the longest caves systems in the world may be in the artesian zone of the Edwards Aquifer, it just happens to be under water and difficult to explore. If the Edwards Aquifer was drained, you would have one relatively well integrated system that is 150 miles long, 5 to 40 miles wide, and over 3,000 feet deep. We're talking 1,000's of miles of conduits. The longer more integrated flow paths in Texas would be expected to produce, but much larger springs, even though rain fall amounts in Texas are about half of Indiana. Please understand this is a very limited discussion on karst processes and that it is really much more complicated than that. Also, go see Blue Springs Caverns while you're up there. It's a great boat ride in a very long cave. The cave is also owned by a long time Indiana caver. You may also get a chance to see some real blind fish. Geary Schindel --------------------------------------------------------------------- Visit our website: http://texascavers.com To unsubscribe, e-mail: texascavers-unsubscr...@texascavers.com For additional commands, e-mail: texascavers-h...@texascavers.com
