Big Basin

Big Basin Prairie Preserve - St. Jacob's Well


Useful Information

Location: Big Basin Prairie Preserve, western Clark County.
Open: no restrictions [2004]
Fee: free [2004]
Classification: KarstDoline
Light: not necessary
Dimension:
Guided tours:
Photography:
Accessibility:
Bibliography:
Address:
As far as we know this information was accurate when it was published (see years in brackets), but may have changed since then.
Please check rates and details directly with the companies in question if you need more recent info.

History


Description

Big Basin and Little Basin are the two best known sinkholes in the Red Hills, a karst area at the southern border of Kansas. Big Basin is about 1,600 m in diameter and 30 m deep, Little Basin is about 256 m diameter and 10 m deep. Both are dolines, formed by underground solution and the collapse of the overlaying rocks. There are salt and gypsum beds more than 100 m deep below the surface, which are continually dissolved by the groundwater.