Carlsbad Caverns National Park

Carlsbad Caverns National Park, 46,766 acres (18,940 hectares), SE N.Mex., in the Guadalupe Mts.; designated a national park in 1930. These connecting limestone caves, with remarkable stalactite and stalagmite formations and huge chambers, began forming 60 million years ago as groundwater started dissolving the rock. The caverns, among the largest in the world, were discovered c.1900 and still have not been completely explored. The temperature of the caves remains constant at 56°F; (13.3°C;). Seven miles (11.3 km) of trail are electrically lighted. The Big Room, 754 ft (230 m) below the surface, is the most majestic of the many chambers; its perimeter is c.1 1-4 mi (2 km) long. Each evening during the spring, summer, and fall, the countless bats that inhabit the cave swarm out to feed on insects. The park also contains 76 other separate caves. See National Parks and Monuments (table).

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Carlsbad Caverns National Park

Preserve, southeastern New Mexico, U.S. Established as a national monument in 1923 and as a national park in 1930, it covers 73 sq mi (189 sq km). Beneath the surface winds a maze of underground chambers; one of the largest caverns ever discovered, the Big Room, is about 2,000 ft (600 m) long and 1,100 ft (330 m) wide, and its ceiling arches 255 ft (78 m) above the floor. In the summer a colony of bats inhabits a part of the caverns known as Bat Cave.