Karst cave,
Cretacious Limestone (Buda Limestone, Georgetown Limestone, and Edwards Limestone).
Tectonic cave
| Location: | Between Austin and San Antonio. I 35, San Marcos exit, in the San Marcos city limits, Wonder World Drive. |
| Open: | All year, Jun-Aug daily 8-20, Sep-Oct daily 9-18, Nov-Feb Mon-Fri 9-17 Sat-Sun 9-18, Mar-May Mon-Fri 9-18 Sat-Sun 9-19. Closed on Christmas Eve and Day. |
| Fee: | Adults $10, Children (4-11) $8. |
| Classification: |
Karst cave,
Cretacious Limestone (Buda Limestone, Georgetown Limestone, and Edwards Limestone).
Tectonic cave
|
| Light: | electric |
| Dimension: | T=22°C, L=395m, D=28m. |
| Guided tours: | D=105min |
| Photography: | |
| Accessibility: | |
| Bibliography: | |
| Address: | Wonder World Park, P.O. Box 1369, San Marcos, TX 87666, Tel: +1-512-392-671 |
| Last update: | $Date: 2011/12/13 09:12:00 $ |
| 1893 | discovered by Mark A. Bevers, drilling for water in what is now the parking lot of the park. It was calles Bevers Cave. | |
| 1903 | bought by W. S. Davis who opened it to the public. | |
| 1916 | bought by Arthur B. Rodgers for $50, a gray hourse and a saddle. He installed electric lighting, paths, handrails and ladders. He also renamed the cave into Wonder Cave. | |
| 1951 | ventilation shaft installed to supply fresh air into and vent moisture from, the cave. | |
| 1955 | leased by Ralph Marker from his son. | |
| 1958 | bought by T. J. Mostyn. | |
| 1970 | surveyed. |
Wonder Cave is a rather small cavern with little formations. The passages are narrow and steep.
But this is a result of the unique process which formed this cave.
It developed along the Balcones Fault Zone, which runs south from Waco to
Bexar County, then turns westward to Uvalde.
It's a rare
Tectonic cave
and was formed primarly by tectonic forces.
And among these rare tectonic caves, the caves produced by faults are the most
rare ones.
It is sometimes called a dry cave, which is not a scientific term but explains the fact, that the cave was not formed by the solution of limestone by water. The divergent rims of plates produced divergent forces inside the rock and thus opened a crack in the rock.
Another commonly used name is earthquake cave, because such forces always result in earthquakes. Of course, the cave was not formed during a single quake and existed then unchanged. It was formed by the still existing forces and the process was accompanied by earthquakes.
Althought it was discovered by Mark A. Bevers, drilling for water, the first exploration of the cave several days later, used a natural entrance. Elizabeth Bevers, his wife, was throwing dish water out the back door, when she saw vapor coming out of a crevice. Mr. Bevers and Doras Biedler, a neighbor, were able to roll a large boulder away, revealing the entrance to the cave.
The fossils embedded in the limestone are of geological interest.
The cave contains some troglobionts, such as the Texas blind salamander (Typhlomolge rathbuni), a blind shrimp (Palaemonetes antrorum), and a blind isopod (Cirolanides texensis). They are also found in other nearby caves.
The cave is now part of the Wonder World Theme Park.
At the end of the tour, at the deepest point, an elevator takes the visitors up 48 meters to the surface and another 30 meters to the top of a metal lookout tower.
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