New Brunswick caves can be found in limestone, gypsum, and sandstone. While one does not connect caving with New Brunswick, it does have some very nice small caves of various origins. While there has been no continuing caving organization or group in New Brunswick there have been several different groups work independently which has lead to many different names . Most of the caves in New Brunswick are found on private lands so cavers should always ask before they explore. Caving can also be a cold experience with the underground temperature ranging from 2oC in the north to 6oC in the south. Currently, the best publication on the caves of New Brunswick is an Open File 97-7 titled "The Caves of Southwestern New Brunswick" written by Arseneault, S.P., Schroeder,J., Berube, D. for the New Brunswick Department of Natural Resources and Energy.
Sandstone Caves Sandstone or sea caves are found in several place along the NB coast. In the St Martin's area there are four sea cave with the best known being Echo cave. In the bay of Fundy sea cave can be found in Fundy National Park and The Rocks park in Hopewell. There are also a number of small sea caves in the Jacquet River area of northern New Brunswick.
Gypsum Caves Large deposits of gypsum can be found in Victoria county and Albert county. In Albert country there are several caves with large rooms while Victoria county contains mostly surface karst features and only very small caves.
Limestone Caves There are a number of small bands of limestone found in the southern part of New Brunswick all which have caves. Most of the caves are small and formations are rare.
|
515 m |
|
Greenhead Cave |
26.7 m | |
|
Berryton Cave |
332 m |
|
Acadia Cavern |
25 m |
|
Catherine's Cave |
264 m |
|
13.1 m | |
|
141 m |
|
Howe's Cave |
13.0 m | |
|
141 m |
|
Glebe Pot |
12.5 m | |
|
Howe's Cave |
120 m |
|
Shaft Cave |
11.2 m |
|
Chantal's Cave |
100 m |
|
Glebe Test Pit |
9.8 m |
|
Dalling's Cave |
98 m |
|
Waterford Ice Cave |
9.0 m |
|
79 m |
|
8.3 m | ||
|
Harbells Cave |
74 m |
|
8.0 m |
|
|
There are three locations where hunting for new caves has some great potential. In the Waterford area of south central part of New Brunswick is a layer of limestone capped in sandstone. There is a large amount of water that flows into sinks at the edge of the limestone deposit. In the area of Lost Brook near Albert Mine west to the Berrington Hills in the southeastern part of New Brunswick there are a number of streams the disappear into the limestone with many possible locations for new caves. Finally, just east of Plaster Rock in north central part of New Brunswick is a large deposit of high grade gypsum with limestone on the outer edge and a hill of sandstone in the center that has a great deal of potential for finding caves.