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Lechuguilla Cave
The sealed, pristine cave beneath Carlsbad Caverns National Park
For decades, Lechuguilla Cave was a minor hole in the New Mexico desert, a 90-foot pit with about 400 feet of dead-end passage. Then in 1984 Colorado cavers, convinced by the wind roaring through the rubble, began digging with Park Service permission, and in May 1986 they broke through into enormous passages. Explorers have since surveyed more than 150 miles (240 km), making it the fourth-longest known cave in the United States, and mapped it to a depth of about 1,604 feet (489 m), the second-deepest limestone cave in the country.
Lechuguilla formed from the bottom up, as sulfuric acid derived from hydrogen sulfide rising from nearby oil deposits dissolved the limestone of an ancient reef. The result is a gallery of rare formations, including gypsum chandeliers up to 20 feet long, gypsum hair and beards, and lemon-yellow sulfur deposits. Microbes isolated from its walls have resisted modern antibiotics despite millions of years of isolation, giving researchers clues to drug resistance. To protect it, the National Park Service admits only approved scientists, survey teams and management trips, and the cave is closed to the public.