How old is the ice in the Ice Cave?
The Ice Cave is formed in one end of a collapsed lava tube. The lava flow originates from the Bandera Volcano which was active approximately 10,000 years ago. This date is the absolute oldest time frame that ice could possibly have started forming in the cave since there was no cave prior to the eruption. Over the years, we have had a number of scientific studies of the ice in the Ice Cave. There were two different studies that involved taking core samples of the ice deposit. The deepest ice core that was studied contained some organic material (wooden twigs and a bird feather) which was tested using radiocarbon dating that revealed that ice has been forming in this cave for at least 3,400 years continuously. This gives us a reliable time frame between 3,400 years ago and 10,000 years ago where ice started forming in the cave.
