Inner Space Cavern (Laubach Cave)
Georgetown, Williamson County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Discovered in 1963 on land of W. W. Laubach by core-drilling team, Texas Highway Department. Exploration begain in November 1963 and continues to present. Carved by water from Edwards limestone, cave lies along the Balcones Fault and is estimated to be 100 million years old. 95 percent of formations are still growing. Cave was apparently open during late Pleistocene (20,000 - 45,000 years ago), for bones of many extinct mammals have been found in debris cones filling former natural entrances. Remains of sabre-toothed cats and mammoths are represented. (1973)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Inner Space Cavern was hidden beneath the Central Texas hills until 1963, when a Texas Highway Department core-drilling team punched through the roof while testing ground for the interstate above. Carved by water from ancient Edwards limestone along the Balcones Fault, the cave had stood open during the late Pleistocene, and its debris cones hold the bones of Ice Age giants — mammoths and saber-toothed cats among them. Ninety-five percent of its formations are still slowly growing today.
Why it matters
Discovered by accident during a modern highway survey, the cavern is a rare window onto Texas as it looked twenty thousand years ago, when megafauna roamed a landscape now buried beneath asphalt and suburbs.
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Related people
- · W. W. Laubach
Related events
- · Discovery of Laubach Cave, 1963
Themes & tags
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