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How to find a cave/ Can you rent ground penetrating radar?

Started by TKehl, April 02, 2019, 02:56:22 PM

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TKehl

So dad got to thinking about when a couple wells were drilled on our property, and that the bits both dropped 10' or so at some point.  Now he's wondering if there is a cave down there and if so, where it goes.  We are where the Ozarks meets the Prairie, so it's plausible.  Mostly a curiosity project.  Was somewhere around 100' down when drilling.
 
So if there is a cave down there, how would we find out?  Would ground penetrating radar work?  Can it be rented?  
In the long run, you make your own luck – good, bad, or indifferent. Loretta Lynn

lxskllr

Sonar might be the way to go, but I don't know if they have stuff dummies can use. It might take education and experience to interpret the results.

Crusarius

Contact the local university and see if someone wants a geology project.

Tom the Sawyer

I think well drillers are supposed to file drilling reports with what they hit and how deep it was.  Check with your state geology office.  Last one we had done, the driller went on-line and got copies of reports on wells all around us, some more than 40 years old.
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Greyman

Having been a fan of the Oak Island show on the History channel, it's not easy.  Sonar and radar will give a very fuzzy result at that depth.  They even drilled 4" (?) holes and put sensors down them while setting off explosives, and it was pretty inconclusive.  That 'fuzzy' area could be geologic.  They spent a whole lot of money on it too.
A tunnel that deep would surely have a significant entrance to it, with tailings.  Any evidence like that?  A natural cave wouldn't be too surprising though, it just wouldn't be all that interesting compared to the work required to get down to it.

Logger RK

Interesting subject. I recently read a book of are local history from my area. Never knew there was a mine that went down 200 feet & 2000 feet under ground in the late 1800's. Even had rails for carts. 

TKehl

There was an old coal mine in the area withing a quarter mile or so.  Was abandoned a LONG time ago.  My grandma claimed to remember some remnants of a vent.  It was small and took a lot of digging online to find the name and no map was on file.

There is also a claimed recollection of a cave entrance somewhere along a creek bluff within a quarter to half mile of the wells and talk of something being mined for gunpowder around the Civil War.  Dad and I have both walked the creek and found nothing visually, but the land is hilly and there are rock bluffs nearby.  

I didn't realize there might be well records.  

One other thing dad mentioned is they decided to case the well all the way down because of the way the bit dropped when drilling.  (This was in the early 80's.)

I agree it's probably a natural cave and not worth the effort to get to.  The wells being several hundred yards apart has dad getting visions of a large open room where I think it probably just hit a couple different tunnels.   ;)  If it did pop out at a bluff or near the surface somewhere, it would get more interesting.  I think his search budget is in hundreds of dollars, probably not thousands.    :D ;D  

Soil here has a lot of clay, which I've been reading attenuates GPR much more than rock or sand.  
In the long run, you make your own luck – good, bad, or indifferent. Loretta Lynn

nybhh

I agree this is really interesting and gets your imagination running wild pretty quickly.  What if there is pirate treasure in there?!!!!
 
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TKehl

That would be something!  Especially way out here in the midwest 30 miles from a navigable waterway!   ;)  ;)  ;)  ;)  ;) 

Closest thing would be in 1876 the James gang robbed a train in Otterville, MO about 12 miles away.  Wouldn't even be interesting, but they were seen at one of the Bahner's houses afterward which is only around 4-5 miles away.  A posse came through a short time later and found changes of clothes in the woods somewhere.  

The Butterfield trail (Stagecoach from St. Louis to San Fransisco) ran 6 miles away from 1858-1861.

There are also legends of a French fur trapper/trader in the mid to late 1700s in the area.

Expectations of there being treasure or finding it if it exists, zero, or very very close to zero.  Curiosity level of finding a cave, fairly high.   ;D  Most of the land has been in the family since 1911, so we like to think we know all of it.  So not knowing what's below ground is kind of bugging dad.   :D  Especially since we just bought the property with one of the bluff's in question.   ;)  ;D
In the long run, you make your own luck – good, bad, or indifferent. Loretta Lynn

Woodpecker52

And visions of sugar plums danced in their heads!  Everyone needs an adventure search.
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