PROCEEDINGS 



OF THE 



WASHINGTON ACADEMY OF SCIENCES 



VOL. XIII, No. 2, PP. 35-49. PLS. I-V. MAY 15, 1911. 



THE COLLAPSE OF RECENT BEDS AT STAUNTON, 



VIRGINIA 1 



BY EDWARD M. KINDLE 



U. S. Geological Survey 



During the month of August, 1910, a series of cavernous openings 

 in the ground was developed in the central part of the city of Staun- 

 ton, Va. These have been widely described in the daily press as the 

 " Staunton cave-in" (Pis. II-V) . The first three openings to appear 

 have been described by Mr. F. B. Van Horn, 2 of the U. S. Geological 

 Survey. Since the publication of Mr. Van Horn's paper additional 

 caving, and the completion of a series of drill holes by the city engi- 

 neer to determine the limits of the solid bed rock, have shown more 

 fully some of the essential facts relating to the character and direc- 

 tion of the underground channel responsible for the caving. Some 

 record and discussion of these additional data and of the writer's 

 geological observations made during a visit to the scene of the caving 

 seems desirable. The underground stream involved in the "cave- 

 in" illustrates in its direction and development certain controlling 

 factors to which attention will be invited in the course of the dis- 

 cussion, which are absent in the case of most of the underground 

 streams familiar to the writer. 



The city of Staunton is situated in a limestone region, being under- 

 laid by the Shenandoah limestone of Cambro-Ordovician age. This 



1 Published by permission of the Director of the U. S. Geological Survey. 



2 Engineering News, Sept. i, 1910. 



Proc. Wash. Acad. Sci., May, 1911. 



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