New Mexico Geological Society Annual Spring Meeting & Ft. Stanton Cave Conference — Abstracts

The goal of the Fort Stanton Cave Formation Repair and Restoration Project is to repair and restore damaged speleothems in Fort Stanton Cave so they can be viewed and photographed by future generations. Damage to speleothems in Fort Stanton Cave is documented as far back as 1855, based on a signature and date in the historical section of the cave where hundreds of broken formations are found. We found more than 90 formations with chisel or hammer marks, which are inferred to be the cause of much of the breakage. In six trips since 2020, we repaired 38 broken stalactites and stalagmitesusing new devices, tools, and procedures that were created for this purpose. This presentation highlights the work and new tools that were used to achieve this goal.