About 100 yards from the Wupatki Ruin is an unusual natural blow hole. The signage next to the hole gives the current explanation for the phenomena:
Basically, there is a huge crack system running under parts of the Colorado Plateau. The most notable cracks are near Holbrook, Arizona. Here is a post about the cracks from the State Geologist of Arizona. Arizona has over 1600 caves and karst features and even has cave protection laws that make it a crime to damage natural features in a cave. See A.R.S. 13-3702 and 13-3702.01. It is understood that most of the caves do not have a natural entrance from the surface. In the case of this blow hole, the only known entrance to the cave is the small opening in the rock, now preserved with the stone wall and a heavy screen (just visible in the hole).
If you would like more information about Arizona caves, you can see the Arizona Cave Survey. Cavers or spelunkers are very possessive about caves and rightfully so. Some spectacular caves in Arizona have been entirely stripped of formations and are covered with graffiti and otherwise damaged. If you want to visit a wild cave, you can contact a local chapter of the National Speleological Society. Arizona also has three commercial cave sites; Colossal Cave near Tucson; Grand Canyon Caverns near Seligman; and Kartchner Caverns near Benson.
I have considerable experience in caves across the U.S. Starting when I was a teenager, we had all of the necessary equipment from my rock climbing background and went into some of the largest caves in Arizona and Utah. This was long before most of the caves were barred and locked to public access. I have had mixed experiences with the National Speleological Society members. I have not found all of them to have an adequate experience level. But it is obvious that lack of control of caves with our present societal attitudes towards the environment would result in massive destruction. The prime example is Peppersauce Cave on the north side of Mount Lemmon, near Oracle Junction. Quoting from the Wikipedia article, "The cave has been subject to vandalism and heavy littering for over fifty years. In 2001, the Peppersauce Cave Conservation Project (PCCP) was established upon the discovery of E. Coli and coliform within the cave's lakes. The initiative is funded by the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) and is aided by volunteers who work to keep the cave clean. A sampling conducted in January 2003 indicated that no harmful bacteria were present in the water. The group was also highly successful in removing graffiti, though the cave continues to be heavily subjected to vandalism.
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