Cavechat.org

Hello, I'm buying a piece of property that is said to have a cave on it. I was told when the neighborhood was developed the entrance was covered in dirt. The current owner has been trying to dig it back out but hasnt found it yet. I take ownership next week and would love to find it! My question is are there any ways of locating such without just digging aimlessly?
By the way he found some cool Indian artifacts while digging.
Thanks

Where you located?

The property is in Hixson, TN 37343

There are various geophysical techniques that can be used, such as microgravity measurement, ground penetrating radar, etc. They cost some money and require someone with some experience to use.

I saw the most impressive talk at our recent convention about the exact same sort of situation here in Virginia. In that case there was a small hole on the surface that blew a lot of air (if you have this ignore my first sentence). The amount of excavation was HUGE! But the cavers persevered and a cave was found.

On the one hand, a person could argue that it's not worth the effort. On the other hand, it might be VERY useful to know where you cave is so you don't, for instance, park your car above a cave that suddenly collapses one day.

Not to mention, it would be super cool to have your very own cave.

There are some known caves in Hixson. Big Ridge has a couple of caves in the Knox formation. There is some potential in Ordovician stone on the west side of the ridge. There is also some outcropping of Mississipian limestone with potential. If you have a cave it may be known or a new find. I grew up in Hixson. Holler if you want to compare notes. Kent [aka L Lambert]

Thanks for the great responses!
I knew there was some kind of technology to find these spaces under ground. I'm gonna be in contact with a local cave group I hear I can reach through Outdoor Chattanooga.
Kent I am new to all of this so I'm not familiar these types of stone and what not but look forward to learning.
I'm not too far from the Big Ridge area. Apparently the gentleman across the street has been in it when he was a young boy so I look forward to talking to him. I need to post up a picture because it looks like a cave area, I mean if I was a cave I would be there!

Sent you a PM

Thought I would add a few pics of where they have been digging. This is where they were told it was back in the 60's. You can't tell by the pics but it's about 10 feet deep and kinda drafty coming out of it I think.

Definitely follow the air. It took me several weeks of hand digging tons of rock in a similar situation, and it turned out well worth it. Other than a blown L5 disk, but who needs one.

Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) and EM Induction (EMI) are great tools for locating caves, karst features and other buried targets. You can find further information here: http://www.geophysical.com/applications.htm or http://www.geophysical.com/products.htm. A major factor of effectiveness will be the soil type you'll be working in. High clay soils are bad for GPR and sandy soils are the best, and then you have varying degrees in between those. I have done some GPR in the Tennessee area before with decent success. The EM equipment will be a little better in clayey soils and I have seen some nice data over cave and karst features.

If you have any further questions, or would like info on rental or service providers please feel free to contact me - jonesb@geophysical.com .

Yep, if you've got airflow, follow it. If not, or you're not sure that's where the entrance was (facts get distorted when passed down over the years), then walk the area on the coldest days this winter. You may find air (steam) coming up through the filled in entrance. Good luck.

The dept. of agriculture took high altitude photos dating back to the 1930's. We've had pretty good success finding old trails that lead to caves, before the land was developed on these photos. For example, here is a spider geoglyph we found on a 1940 photo that guards the entrance to one of these caves. It's not visible now, but it was back then. You'll need to zoom in once for a better image.. Good luck.

I still don't see a spider.

I have better still images off a 1942 photo, I'll find a way to post it.

Cool. Thanks.