Fern Cave in Jackson County, Alabama, is a 15.6-mile-long (25.1-kilometer) cave system, managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Southeastern Cave Conservancy, that has the second highest biodiversity of any cave in the southeastern United States. Groundwater in karst ecosystems is known to be susceptible to impacts from human-induced land-use activities in watersheds that contribute recharge to the groundwater system. To provide the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service with necessary baseline information on the groundwater flow system in Fern Cave, the U.S. Geological Survey and the Kentucky Geological Survey conducted a series of dye traces during 2019–21 to delineate the watershed recharging the cave system. The dye traces identified two separate streams that flow through the cave and a recharge area of 1.73 square miles (4.48 square kilometers) draining to the cave system. Current land use within the recharge area is dominated by deciduous forest with minimal additional land use types, indicating a low potential for undesirable effects to the cave by anthropogenic sources.
Citation Information
| Publication Year | 2023 |
|---|---|
| Title | Mapping karst groundwater flow paths and delineating recharge areas for Fern Cave, Alabama, through the use of dye tracing |
| DOI | 10.3133/sim3506 |
| Authors | Benjamin Miller, Benjamin Tobin |
| Publication Type | Report |
| Publication Subtype | USGS Numbered Series |
| Series Title | Scientific Investigations Map |
| Series Number | 3506 |
| Index ID | sim3506 |
| Record Source | USGS Publications Warehouse |
| USGS Organization | Lower Mississippi-Gulf Water Science Center |
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Mapping karst groundwater flow paths and delineating recharge areas for Fern Cave, Alabama through the use of dye tracing
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Mapping karst groundwater flow paths and delineating recharge areas for Fern Cave, Alabama through the use of dye tracing
Fern Cave in Jackson County, Alabama is the longest and deepest cave in Alabama with over 15 miles of cave passages and 536 feet of depth. The cave is cooperatively managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Southeastern Cave Conservancy. At least three different streams flow through the cave including the Surprise, Lower North, and Bottom Cave streams. Two of these streams, Lower NorthNational Land Cover Database (NLCD) 2019 Products
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in partnership with several federal agencies, has developed and released five National Land Cover Database (NLCD) products over the past two decades: NLCD 1992, 2001, 2006, 2011, and 2016. The 2016 release saw landcover created for additional years of 2003, 2008, and 2013. These products provide spatially explicit and reliable information on the Nation?s land cov