Big Room cave formations, Carlsbad Caverns National Park / Rebecca Latson

Far west Texas and southeast New Mexico are locations of some pretty amazing parks, and I had the opportunity to visit two of them: Carlsbad Caverns National Park in New Mexico and Guadalupe Mountains National Park in Texas. So, this month’s quiz and trivia edition is all about these two parks. How many of you have ever visited either or both? If you have, then test your knowledge with these questions. You might know more than you realize. If you have not ever visited them, you will certainly learn something with this particular quiz and trivia piece that might encourage you to go see these national parks for yourself.

1. You can take the self-guided tour of Carlsbad Cavern, but the park itself is called Carlsbad Caverns National Park. This is because there is not one cavern, but ___ caves in the park.

              a) 83

              b) 97

              c) 102

              d) 119

What is the nickname for these strange speleothems? Carlsbad Caverns National Park / Rebecca Latson

2. These speleothems in the image above are a combination of stalactite and knobby cave “popcorn.” The nickname for these formations is ___.

              a) Ogre’s club

              b) Lion’s tail

              c) Toilet bowl brush

              d) Broccolini

This Swiss cheese pattern in the cave rock has a couple of nicknames, one of which is "spongework," Carlsbad Caverns National Park / Rebecca Latson

3. The Swiss cheese pattern you see in the photo above is known as “spongework,” or ___. It is common in caves formed by sulfuric acid, and caves formed along costs by mixing freshwater and seawater.

              a) Pitrock

              b) Acid pits

              c) Perforated limestone

              d) Boneyard

The road through the park, Carlsbad Caverns National Park / Rebecca Latson

4. Above ground at Carlsbad Caverns National Park, the landscape is dry, dusty, and a bit barren. This landscape comprises a part of the ___ Desert.

              a) Sonoran

              b) Mojave

              c) Chihuahuan

              d) Great Basin

5. There are 17 species of bats living at Carlsbad Caverns National Park, ___ species of which roost inside Carlsbad Cavern.

              a) 2

              b) 3

              c) 4

              d) 5

Late afternoon sun over El Capitan, Guadalupe Mountains National Park / Rebecca Latson

6. True or False: El Capitan, located at the southernmost point of the Guadalupe Mountains in Guadalupe Mountains National Park, is the fourth highest peak in Texas.

              a) True

              b) False

Spring sunrise over the Guadalupe Mountains, Guadalupe Mountains National Park / Rebecca Latson

7. The Guadalupe Mountains are part of the ___ Capitan Reef Complex, one of the most well-preserved fossil reefs in the world.

              a) Silurian

              b) Devonian

              c) Permian

              d) Triassic

8. Guadalupe Mountains National Park is home to three “life zones”: desert, mountain, and ___.

              a) Forest

              b) Riparian

              c) Montane

              d) Alpine

You'll see Texas madrone trees at Guadalupe Mountains National Park / Rebecca Latson

9. One of the trees you will see growing in the Guadalupe Mountains landscape is the Texas madrone. This tree is also sometimes called a ___ tree.

              a) Gumbo limbo

              b) Manzanita

              c) Bleeding heart

              d) Red eye

Salt Basin dunes, Guadalupe Mountains National Park / NPS-giraffeascope

10. True or False: The Salt Basin Dunes are unique among the Guadalupe Mountains landscape in that they are the only dunes in the world made entirely of salt crystals.

              a) True

              b) False

Trivia

A first view of the Western Escarpment, Guadalupe Mountains National Park / Rebecca Latson

As you drive eastward from El Paso, Texas, toward Guadalupe Mountains National Park, one of the first things to catch your eye after about an hour’s worth of driving is the light-colored rock of El Capitan at the southernmost point of the park lifting itself high above the atmospheric haze. What you see as you approach this landform is the Western Escarpment of the Guadalupe Mountains, one of the best-exposed geologic cross sections in the world. According to Wikipedia, “An escarpment is a steep slope or long cliff that forms as a result of faulting or erosion and separates two relatively level areas having different elevations.”  

The "Big Shot" of the Big Room, Carlsbad Caverns National Park / Ennis Helm via Carlsbad Caverns Facebook page

How many of you have tried to photograph as much as you could of the Big Room in Carlsbad Cavern? I have, and even with my one puny flash, there was no way I could capture the entirety of this 357,469-square foot (33,210-square meter) chamber. In 1952, however, photographer Ennis “Tex” Helm captured what is known as the “Big Shot” photo of Carlsbad Cavern’s Big Room using 2,400 flashbulbs. The photo later appeared in National Geographic Magazine and is the largest flash photo ever taken. Note in the image the absence of stainless steel guard railings along either side of the trail back then. Look closely at the fashion of the time back then, as well.

Entering the cavern via a 2-person guano bucket, Carlsbad Caverns National Park / NPS via Facebook

How many of you have entered Carlsbad Cavern through the cavern’s natural entrance? It’s a steep descent but the trail is nicely paved and there are stainless steel guard railings to help with balance and to keep from heading off trail. Back in the early 1920s, there was no paved trail and huge guano buckets large enough to fit two people were used to lower visitors down into the cave. From there, they would climb out of the bucket and step down onto wooden scaffolding located on the wall just above the piles of guano (bat poop). FYI, the guano shafts have since been filled in.

The Natural Entrance Trail into the cavern, Carlsbad Caverns National Park / Rebecca Latson

Quiz Answers

1d

According to the National Park Service, there are over 119 known caves in Carlsbad Caverns National Park.

2b

While any of those names would work, the official nickname for these speleothems is Lion’s tail. The knobby portion of this formation needs two ingredients to form: air and a thin film of water. When the water flows over a bumpy surface, it evaporates faster on the bumps, leaving behind a thin mineral layer. Layer by layer, these knobs grow out from the wet surface.

3d

The Swiss cheese pattern in the rock is called spongework, or boneyard. It is common in caves formed by sulfuric acid, and caves formed along costs by mixing freshwater and seawater. There are two hypotheses on how this feature formed in this part of Carlsbad Cavern. This spongework/boneyard could be the product of sulfuric acid cave development that occurred above the water table at the same time as the rest of the cavern, or it could be a remnant of Permian-aged coastal cave development at sea level over 260 million years ago, enlarged by sulfuric acid much later.

4c

The landscape upon which Carlsbad Caverns National Park is located is a part of the Chihuahuan Desert, with Pinyon-Juniper in higher elevations and shrub/grass lands in lower; over 750 plant species. FYI, Big Bend and Guadalupe Mountains national parks in Texas are also located in the Chihuahuan Desert.

5b

Three species of bats roost inside Carlsbad Cavern. During May through October, you can sit at the Bat Flight Amphitheater just outside the cave’s natural entrance and watch hundreds of thousands of Brazilian free-tailed bats emerge from the cavern in the evening in search of food.

6b False

At 8,085 feet (2,464.3 meters) above sea level, the iconic El Capitan is the eighth highest peak in Texas.

7c

The 260-million-year-old Permian Capitan Reef Complex is one of the most well-preserved fossil reefs in the world.

8b

Guadalupe Mountains National Park is home to three “life zones”: desert, mountain, and riparian. The riparian zone is a wet, lush environment with streams and springs located in canyon bottoms. This verdant habitat provides shelter and travel corridors for plants and animals.

9b

The Texas madrone tree is also sometimes called the manzanita tree. Manzanita is Spanish for “little apple” and refers to the bright red fruit on the tree. Now, while this tree may be called a manzanita tree, like other species of madrones, the fruit of the Texas madrone is actually a red berry similar in appearance to a small strawberry which is edible, with a sweet-tart flavor and a mealy consistency. 

10b False

Salt Basin is the name of the graben, or a down-dropped block of the earth’s crustal rocks created when faulting caused this downward movement some 26 million years ago, at about the same time Guadalupe Peak was uplifted more than two miles to its present position. The water that was present at the time evaporated, leaving gypsum and salt deposits at Salt Basin. So no, the dunes do not solely consist of salt.