WELCOME TO THE LYRIC POETRY WEBSITE

          ALL PHOTOGRAPHS OF THE KARST NATURE TRAIL WERE TAKEN, AS THE CROW FLIES, WITHIN THREE MILES
          OF THE WIPP SITE, THE WORLD'S FIRST PERMANENT NUCLEAR WASTE DUMP NEAR CARLSBAD, NEW MEXICO.


  LEFT: A swallow hole, a closed depression into which surface water disappears
  underground.  These are ephemeral watercourses incised into a gypsum surface.

  CENTER AND RIGHT: Gypsum caves found within the collapsed rim of a sinkhole.
  These caves are fed by rainwater that flows along the gypsum surface until it
  finds the swallow holes that connect to the caves.  Water discharges from
  these caves and into the collapse sink, joining the groundwater system.