Southeast Missouri / Lead Belt / Mississippi Corridor
Crevice Cave and Perry County's long cave systems
Perry County's karst has produced extensive cave systems, including Crevice Cave, which is often described as among the longest mapped caves in Missouri and is a defining piece of the county's geology
The same soft rock that gives Perry County its sinkholes has also made many caves underground. Karst is land where water slowly dissolves the rock, creating sinkholes and caves. One of these caves is Crevice Cave. People often call it one of the longest mapped caves in Missouri. That gives you a clue about how much water has carved passages through the rock here. Missouri’s caves are tracked by the Missouri Geological Survey and the Department of Natural Resources. Many caves sit on private land and are not open to the public. People also work to protect the animals that live in caves and to keep cave water clean. The big idea is simple: Perry County’s land is shaped as much by what lies below the ground as by what sits on top. Cave lengths can change as people keep surveying them. So treat any “longest cave” claim as something to confirm with official cave-survey sources, not just repeat.
References
Where this fits: this note belongs to Perry County. See every local note for the county on its page.