Contents

Paradise Lost poem

Cave Map Showing the Location of Paradise Lost (Source: Oregon Caves Image Library)

Paradise Lost, named for John Milton’s epic poem, is a room set high above the Ghost Room. The 45 steps ascend a large domepit to a small landing surrounded by imagination-capturing drapery and flowstone. From the platform below Paradise Lost, a sheer sediment wall and iron oxides are visible.

Paradise Lost is at the Top of a Steep Staircase (Source: Oregon Caves Image Library)

Geology

Room Development

Paradise Lost is the largest domepit seen along the developed tour; others are seen at the Spiral Stairs and Miller’s Chapel. During periods of warmth and excess water, flowing water dissolved out these rounded vertical passages (Bates and Jackson 194; Palmer 139-140; Hess 445). Today only drips and puddles remain.

Cave Formations Drapery and Flowstone Cascade Down the Walls of Paradise Lost (Source: Oregon Caves Image Library)

Drapery and flowstone decorate the length of Paradise Lost, hanging down over chert ledges (Roth 38). Shelfstone and miniature rimstone can also be seen.The largest formations are at the top of the stairs, but smaller ones can be seen coming up the steps from the Ghost Room. Also along the stone steps, at one of the landings, is a series of light and brown concentric rings—the base of a cut-off or worn down stalagmite.

Amidst the classic cave calcite, this room also features some unusual cave formations. At the platform before the stairs, a steep wall of yellow-tan sediment towers overhead. The wall is made up of silt-sized grains known as loess. Loess is a fine sediment that was glacially ground down, windblown, and re-deposited by water in the cave (Roth 37; Bates and Jackson 387). Loess is common in Iowa hillsides, but rather unusual in a cave in Oregon.

Iron Oxide Seen from the Stone Platform Below Paradise Lost (Source: Oregon Caves Image Library)Just to the left of the loess wall, a large burnt orange and dark red splotch can be seen. This is an iron oxide deposit—basically rust—which likely weathered from iron-rich pyrite or “fool’s gold” (Hill and Forti 511).

 

 

 

 

 

 

References

Bates, Robert and Julia Jackson, ed. Glossary of Geology. Alexandria: American Geological Institute, 1987. 194, 387.

Hess, John. “Pits and Shafts.” Encyclopedia of Caves. David Culver and William White, ed. Burlington: Elsevier Academic Press, 2005. 444-447.

Hill, Carol and Paolo Forti. “Minerals in Caves.” Encyclopedia of Caves and Karst Science. John Gunn, ed. New York: Fitzroy Dearborn, 2004. 511-514.

Palmer, Arthur. “Influence of geology on cave patterns.” Cave Geology. Dayton: Cave Books, 2007. 138-140.

Roth, John. “Interpretive Manual for the Monument’s Showcave”. Cave Junction: Oregon Caves National Monument, 2011. 37-38.