Kartchner Caverns provide living laboratory to scientists

BENSON - As sightseers shuffle down paths deep inside Kartchner Caverns, a group of scientists works above them, shooting electrical pulses into the ground.

James Fink, a geophysicist for Hydrogeophysics Inc., a Tucson firm specializing in underground surveying, is trying to determine if the caverns extend farther into the Whetstone Mountains.

It’s just one example of how Kartchner Caverns State Park is becoming a magnet for universities, companies and other organizations studying caves. In addition to drawing nearly 200,000 tourists yearly, the park is a living laboratory for those studying everything from cave science to climate change.

“It’s a great choice for research because it’s the most carefully developed cave ever,” said Raina Maier, a University of Arizona environmental science professor who comes to investigate microscopic animals and bacteria.

With a $1.6 million grant from the National Science Foundation, Maier is hoping to find organisms that can be used to make new medications.

Kartchner hosts studies on a wide variety of topics, including water conservation and the eating habits of rare underground creatures.

“Caves contain a world that we don’t know very much about, and we are just starting to peer into it,” said Bob Casavant, lead scientist for Arizona State Parks. The temperature in the caverns is a constant 70 degrees with more than 98 percent humidity, a sharp contrast from the desert above. The environment has been preserved, which gives scientists a place to study the details of an untouched world.

For example, the mud in Kartchner has collected undisturbed since the cave was formed. Because of this, Casavant said a slice of the mud could reveal information about Arizona’s climate from the past thousands, even millions, of years.

“Consider it like looking at tree rings, but with mud,” Casavant said.

Kartchner Caverns, which opened to the public in 1999, was discovered in 1974. Researchers have invested millions into studying it.

It’s been the scene of discoveries including new insects and an 80,000-year-old skeleton of a Shasta Ground Sloth, a giant plant-eater from the Ice Age.

Scientists are also looking to Kartchner for information about Arizona’s groundwater supply. The U.S. Geological Survey is monitoring water that runs through Kartchner from underground sources to see if it has diminished like other areas in Arizona during recent years of drought.

Scientific research is conducted daily at Kartchner Caverns and has been since the cave was first found. This has allowed scientists to understand how the cave changes.

Kartchner is one of a few socalled “live” caves that admits visitors. It is considered live because its formations are still growing from dripping water.

Preserving a living cave requires an elaborate process, as many caves that have been opened to the public dry up.