Devil's Icebox is a cave in Rock Bridge Memorial State Park in

Columbia, Missouri Columbia is a city in Missouri, United States. It was founded in 1821 as the county seat of Boone County, Missouri, Boone County and had a population of 126,254 as recorded in the 2020 United States census, making it the List of cities in Misso ...

. It is said to be one of the longest caves in the state of

Missouri Missouri (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it border ...

and is one of the caves with the highest number of species in the state. It is currently closed to protect the endangered

Indiana bat The Indiana bat (''Myotis sodalis'') is a medium-sized mouse-eared bat native to North America. It lives primarily in Southern and Midwestern U.S. states and is listed as an endangered species. The Indiana bat is grey, black, or chestnut in colo ...

, and is the only known natural home of '' Kenkia glandulosa'' (the pink planarian).

Name

The cave was probably given the name Devil's Icebox by people living in area during the early 1800s. The word icebox in the name probably came from the very cold air that leaks from the cave all year. In 1926, the name of the cave was printed in an article about the earliest exploration of the cave in 1924.

History

The stream that flows through Devil's Icebox Cave was a source of power for settlers in the 19th century. The earliest exploration of the cave took place in 1924. A man named Ben M Yates claimed he was the first one to explore that cave, he along with his sons went into the cave with a john-long boat and other items. They were said to have explored the cave for 24 hours and traveled 5 miles. Access to the cave was restricted in 2006. Then in 2010, tours to the general public stopped to protect the bats from

white-nose syndrome White-nose syndrome (WNS) is a fungal disease in North American bats which has resulted in the dramatic decrease of the bat population in the United States and Canada, reportedly killing millions as of 2018. The condition is named for a distinctiv ...

. Despite this, the disease affected the caves in Rock Bridge during 2013.

Characteristics

Temperature

The cave maintains a temperature of 13 °C (55.4 °F).

Species

According to the

U.S. Government Printing Office The United States Government Publishing Office (USGPO or GPO), formerly the United States Government Printing Office, is an agency of the legislative branch of the United States federal government. The office produces and distributes informatio ...

, Devil's Icebox has the second highest number of species out of the over 6000 caves in Missouri. In 2007, 80 species have been identified in the cave. It is the only place where the planarian '' Kenkia glandulosa'' has been found; the rarity of this species was once used as an argument to prevent the construction of a shopping mall in the area. The cave is also home to species of

salamander Salamanders are a group of amphibians typically characterized by their lizard-like appearance, with slender bodies, blunt snouts, short limbs projecting at right angles to the body, and the presence of a tail in both larvae and adults. All t ...

s, frogs, ''

troglobites A troglobite (or, formally, troglobiont) is an animal species, or population of a species, strictly bound to underground habitats, such as caves. These are separate from species that mainly live in above-ground habitats but are also able to live u ...

'',

millipede Millipedes (originating from the Latin , "thousand", and , "foot") are a group of arthropods that are characterised by having two pairs of jointed legs on most body segments; they are known scientifically as the class Diplopoda, the name derive ...

, spiders, and

springtail Springtails (class Collembola) form the largest of the three lineages of modern Hexapoda, hexapods that are no longer considered insects. Although the three lineages are sometimes grouped together in a class called Entognatha because they have in ...

. The

, northern long-eared bat, and

gray bat The gray bat (''Myotis grisescens'') is a species of microbat endemic to North America. It once flourished in caves all over the southeastern United States, but due to human disturbance (ecology), disturbance, gray bat populations declined severe ...

use the cave as a summer and/or winter roost.

Length

It is considered the seventh or sixth longest cave in

. A survey made in 1986 yielded an estimate of .

Geology

The cave is a double

sink hole A sinkhole is a depression or hole in the ground caused by some form of collapse of the surface layer. The term is sometimes used to refer to doline, enclosed depressions that are also known as shakeholes, and to openings where surface water ...

. It was formed in

Burlington Limestone The Burlington Limestone is a geologic formation in Missouri, Iowa and the Midwest region. It preserves fossils dating back to the Mississippian subperiod. Physical properties Burlington Limestone is unusually course-grained, crystalline, cr ...

which had formed 300 million years ago. The cave itself formed 25 million years ago, and is an example of

Karst Topography Karst () is a topography formed from the dissolution of soluble carbonate rocks such as limestone and Dolomite (rock), dolomite. It is characterized by features like poljes above and drainage systems with sinkholes and caves underground. Ther ...

. According to

J Harlen Bretz J Harlen Bretz (2 September 1882 – 3 February 1981) was an American geologist, best known for his research that led to the acceptance of the Missoula Floods and for his work on caves. Early life and education Bretz was born on 2 September 1 ...

, Devil's Icebox is a

phreatic ''Phreatic'' is a term used in hydrology to refer to aquifers, in speleology to refer to cave passages, and in volcanology to refer to a type of volcanic eruption. Hydrology The term phreatic (the word originates from the Greek , meaning "well" ...

cave system. In January 1994, a stream in the cave was oversaturated with

calcite Calcite is a Carbonate minerals, carbonate mineral and the most stable Polymorphism (materials science), polymorph of calcium carbonate (CaCO3). It is a very common mineral, particularly as a component of limestone. Calcite defines hardness 3 on ...

and dolomite. In 2017 stalagmites in the cave were studied. All the water flowing in the cave is from the surface.https://digital.lib.usf.edu//content/SF/S0/05/06/48/00001/K26-00199-671-1401-1-SM.pdf

References

{{coord, 38.86995, -92.32658, format=dms, type:landmark_region:US-MO, display=title Caves of Missouri Sinkholes of the United States Geography of Columbia, Missouri Landforms of Boone County, Missouri Limestone caves