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in 2014. As of August 2022, the cave is known to be 2,052 feet (625 m) deep and 1.488 miles (2,395 m) long. The cave consists mostly of narrow fissure passages passing over approximately 50 short rope drops. With a mean temperature of 37 °F (3 °C) it is muddy and poorly decorated.
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to become the deepest known limestone cave in the United States. Exploration continued in 2016 when teams descended to a depth of 1659 feet. A 2019 expedition extended the known depth of the cave to 1,863.8 feet (568.1 m)., and in 2022 the cave was explored further to a depth of 2,052 feet
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The depth of the cave, along with the technical rope work required to reach that depth, 37 °F (3 °C) temperature, and remote location of the cave make continued exploration difficult. Ongoing exploration is done through the Caves of
Montana Project, an official project of the
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The entrance to Tears of the Turtle Cave was found in 2006. The cave passage is mostly a two to three foot wide fissure that follows a stream downward through over 40 rappels. Initial single-day expeditions of the cave reached a depth of 400 feet. In 2014, a team of nine
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underwent the first multi-day expedition and explored a new passage pushing the cave to a depth of 1629 feet, surpassing New Mexico's
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and is currently the deepest known limestone cave in the United States since passing New Mexico's
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Johnson, Peter (2014). "Tears in
Montana: Deep Caving in the Bob Marshall Wilderness".
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A wide spot in the passage near the known bottom of Tears of the Turtle cave.
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Back in Tears: The 2019 Expedition to
America's Deepest Cave
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cave with fissure passage 2–3 feet wide and tall ceilings.
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205:landscape and is formed in the Cambrian Pagoda
422:Bodenheimer and Powell, Hans and John (2012).
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372:"The Bob has a deep, dark wilderness secret"
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347:"Exploring the Hidden World of The Bob"
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163:Camp near the known bottom of the cave
129:Temperature, Vertical, Remote Location
424:"Continental Divide Syncline Geology"
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308:"Deepest cave discovered in the Bob"
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185:. Exploration is conducted under a
290:"Facebook post by Jason Ballensky"
288:Ballensky, Jason (6 August 2022).
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201:The cave is located in typical
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183:National Speleological Society
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191:United States Forest Service
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95:1.488 miles (2,395 m)
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16:Limestone cave in Montana
136:Tears of the Turtle Cave
140:Bob Marshall Wilderness
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68:47.65754°N 113.244448°W
41:Bob Marshall Wilderness
396:"How Low Can They Go?"
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155:Exploration History
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142:in western
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59:113°14′40″W
47:Coordinates
474:Wild caves
458:Categories
408:2016-12-17
381:2017-01-06
357:2017-01-06
317:2016-12-14
270:2021-04-26
240:References
214:solutional
56:47°39′27″N
207:Limestone
189:with the
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100:Discovery
333:NSS News
228:See also
36:Location
197:Geology
144:Montana
126:Hazards
108:Geology
211:vadose
170:cavers
92:Length
399:(PDF)
203:karst
112:karst
84:Depth
103:2005
187:MOU
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