Name/Title
S07.06.040Description
Bass Islands Dolomite outcrop with stalactites in a cave on South Bass Island, Put-In-Bay Township, Ottawa County, Ohio. This area has dolomite, anhydrite, gypsum, salt and shale lithologies. Bedrock is from the Silurian Geologic Period. The slide image was created in 1952 by Philip M. Smith for the Ohio Cave Survey Project. The Ohio Cave Survey Project was formalized in 1952. The Central Ohio Grotto of the National Speleological Society in cooperation with the Ohio Geological Survey established a comprehensive survey of Ohio caves and caverns. The location is approximate to the center of the island.
Information for this slide comes from Philip M. Smith's presentation notes for Exploring Ohio's Caves: An illustrated discussion of Ohio's underground caverns prepared for the information program of the Ohio Division of Geological Survey. The notes are in Box 1154, Folder 3 of the Geology Subject Files compiled by Pauline Smyth. This is slide 40 in the notes: Decorations in the South Bass Island caves are limited to small stalactites on the ceilings of the caves. In former years several caves were popular as tourist attractions in the summer months when lake liners put in at South Bass Island. Today only Mammoth and Crystal Cave remain open to the public in the summer season.
For more information about the project, see the following article resources:
The Ohio Cave Survey by Philip M. Smith (Ohio Journal of Science, vol. 53, no. 6, Nov. 1953, pages 325-236).
Let’s Save Ohio’s Caves. Smith, Philip M. Ohio Conservation Bulletin, v. 17, no. 4 (1953). Pages 6-7, 31 (4 figs.).
This slide image included in the USGS National Digital Catalog for NGGDPP Grant G15AP00115 in FY2015.Context
Looking up at rock ceiling filled with white, triangle shaped rock formations. Cave on South Bass Island in Ottawa County, Ohio.