talus cave

File:Pinn talus cave bear gulch e18.jpg, California]]

Talus caves are formed anywhere with a sufficient accumulation of large rocky material, and thus form in a wide variety of rock- in New England, talus caves have been found in anorthosite, schist, slate, phyllite, conglomerate, marble and sandstone.{{cite book |last1=Cooper |first1=Max P. |last2=Mylroie |first2=John E. |title=Glaciation and Speleogenesis: Interpretations from the Northeastern United States |date=2015 |publisher=Springer International Publishing : Imprint: Springer |location=Cham |isbn=978-3-319-16534-9|edition=1st 2015}}{{rp|53}} Nevertheless, talus caves are more likely to form around outcrops of highly competent rock, such as granite or gneiss, which break cleanly along fractures.{{cite web |title=Talus Caves - Caves and Karst (U.S. National Park Service) |url=https://www.nps.gov/subjects/caves/talus-caves.htm |website=www.nps.gov|publisher=National Park Service |access-date=16 July 2024 |language=en}}{{cite book |last1=Palmer |first1=Arthur N. |title=Cave geology |date=2007 |publisher=Cave Books |location=Dayton, Ohio |isbn=978-0939748662 |pages=6–7}}

The exact mechanism of talus cave formation differs with geological context.{{cite journal |last1=Halliday |first1=William |title=Pseudokarst in the 21st century |journal=Journal of Cave and Karst Studies |date=April 2007 |volume=69 |issue=1 |pages=103–113 |url=https://legacy.caves.org/pub/journal/PDF/v69/cave-69-01-103.pdf |access-date=16 July 2024}} Along at the bottom of cliff faces, talus caves are primarily created from the mass movement of rock due to slope failure, usually through landslides creating scree deposits which contain the caves. In steep-sided gorges, talus caves may form as a combination of slope failure and downcutting by a stream or river, where smaller rocks and soil is washed away under large boulders, leaving a cave behind.

In Scandinavia and other recently glaciated areas, many talus caves are the result of neotectonic activity due to post-glacial rebound.{{cite journal |last1=Krabbendam |first1=M. |last2=Hall |first2=A. M. |last3=Palamakumbura |first3=R. M. |last4=Finlayson |first4=A. |title=Glaciotectonic disintegration of roches moutonnées during glacial ripping in east Sweden |journal=Geografiska Annaler: Series A, Physical Geography |date=2 January 2022 |volume=104 |issue=1 |pages=35–56 |doi=10.1080/04353676.2021.2022356 |bibcode=2022GeAnA.104...35K |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/358181431 |access-date=18 July 2024|hdl=20.500.11820/cb70f060-49e4-4f51-92f3-082812121854 |hdl-access=free }}{{cite journal |last1=Sjöberg |first1=Rabbe |title=Caves Indicating Neotectonic Activity in Sweden |journal=Geografiska Annaler: Series A, Physical Geography |date=December 1986 |volume=68 |issue=4 |pages=393–398 |doi=10.1080/04353676.1986.11880189|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/258236336|access-date=18 July 2024}} These caves are found in fractured roche moutonnée hills, where strong neotectonic earthquakes created large systems of fractures and caves.

Several features on Mars have been found to resemble terrestrial scree, giving rise to the possibility of extraterrestrial talus caves.

Talus caves are usually short, although the longest have up to several kilometers of explorable passages.{{cite book |editor1-last=White |editor1-first=William B. |editor2-last=Culver |editor2-first=David C. |editor3-last=Pipan |editor3-first=Tanja |title=Encyclopedia of caves |date=2019 |publisher=Academic Press |location=London |isbn=978-0-12-814124-3 |pages=840–841 |edition=Third}} Examples of long talus caves include {{interlanguage link|Bodagrottorna|sv}} in Hälsingland, Sweden, with {{convert|2600|m|ft}} of passage,{{cite web |title=Caves of Sweden: Bodagrottorna|url=https://www.showcaves.com/english/se/caves/Bodagrottorna.html |website=Show Caves of the World |access-date=18 July 2024 |language=en}} the Touchy Sword of Damocles cave in New York, United States with over {{convert|4000|m|ft}} of passage,{{r|cooper2015|p=55}}{{cite news |last1=Wechsler |first1=Alan |title=Exploring the caves below Wallface |url=https://www.adirondackexplorer.org/stories/wallface-caves |access-date=18 July 2024 |work=Adirondack Explorer |date=29 August 2018}} and Merrills-Barn Door-And-The Hole-Scotts (MBDATHS) cave in Vermont, with {{convert|640|m|ft}} of passage.{{r|cooper2015|p=59}} Nevertheless, due to the complex, labyrinthine nature of larger talus caves the true length of many systems is unknown.

Although talus caves are poorly studied compared to other types of caves, in areas not conducive to the formation of solutional caves or lava tubes they may be the most common type of cave. Some talus caves in the Northeastern United States are ice caves, with perennial ice deposits inside the cave passages.{{cite journal |last1=Holmgren |first1=David |last2=Pflitsch |first2=Andreas |last3=Rancourt |first3=Kenneth |last4=Ringeis |first4=Julia |title=Talus-and-gorge ice caves in the northeastern United States past to present—A microclimatological study |journal=Journal of Cave and Karst Studies |date=December 2017 |volume=79 |issue=3 |pages=179–188 |doi=10.4311/2014IC0125 |url=https://legacy.caves.org/pub/journal/PDF/V79/79_3_179.pdf |access-date=16 July 2024}} Talus caves are important habitats for bats and troglofauna, such as the pseudoscorpion Parobisium yosemite which is endemic to talus caves in Yosemite National Park.{{cite web |title=New Species of Pseudoscorpion Found in Talus Caves in Yosemite National Park - Yosemite National Park (U.S. National Park Service) |url=https://www.nps.gov/yose/learn/news/pseudoscorpion.htm |website=www.nps.gov |publisher=National Park Service |access-date=18 July 2024 |language=en}} A few talus caves have been turned into show caves, such as the caves in the Lost River Reservation and Polar Caves Park in New Hampshire, and the caves in Pinnacles National Park in California.{{cite web |title=Speleology: Talus (ta'les) Caves |url=https://www.showcaves.com/english/explain/Speleology/Talus.html |website=Show Caves of the World |access-date=17 July 2024 |language=en}}

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Category:Cave geology

Category:Erosion landforms

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