Mercer Caverns is a show cave located one mile north of Murphys in

Calaveras County Calaveras County (), officially the County of Calaveras, is a county in both the Gold Country and High Sierra regions of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2010 census, the population was 45,292. The county seat is San Andreas. Angels C ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

. It is named after the gold prospector Walter J. Mercer who discovered the

cave A cave or cavern is a natural void in the ground, specifically a space large enough for a human to enter. Caves often form by the weathering of rock and often extend deep underground. The word ''cave'' can refer to smaller openings such as sea ...

s around 1885 and filed a claim. The caverns have a large number of

speleothem A speleothem (; ) is a geological formation by mineral deposits that accumulate over time in natural caves. Speleothems most commonly form in calcareous caves due to carbonate dissolution reactions. They can take a variety of forms, depending ...

s, stalactites, and stalagmites. It is formed in a marble unit known as the Calaveras Formation. It also contains a large display of

aragonite Aragonite is a carbonate mineral, one of the three most common naturally occurring crystal forms of calcium carbonate, (the other forms being the minerals calcite and vaterite). It is formed by biological and physical processes, including pre ...

frostwork. The standard tour of the cave descends 160 feet, 208 steps down and 232 up in a traverse between the natural and an artificial entrance. The cave was mapped in 1986 to a length of 3389 feet and a total depth of 192 feet. The map can be viewed on the cave's web site.

Images

File:California-Murphys-Mercer cave1.jpg, File:California-Murphys-Mercer cave2.jpg,

Notes

External links

Mercer Caverns official siteExploring the Caves of Calaveras
Landforms of Calaveras County, California Limestone caves Show caves in the United States Caves of California Tourist attractions in Calaveras County, California {{US-geology-stub

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External links