Back to the Cave!
Gruta do Lago Azul, Bonito, Brazil.
(photo by www.alexuchoa.com)
"Symphony of Stones" (how aptly named) -
Garni caves in Armenia. (photo by eco
culture)
Fairyland Cave Formations
Caves are a fairyland of delight, from the burning hot
enclaves to the glacial ice mazes. Thousands of years
of dripping water, eroding stone and budding minerals
create a silent world of mystery and beauty...
Graceful arches, giant crystals... silent but for the
sound of water dripping and bubbling through.
A "Wishing Well" at Luray
Caverns in Virginia (photo by Declan McCullagh)
The most common type of caves form when slightly
acidic rainwater trickles into the crevices of
limestone and gradually widens the cracks as it
dissolves the stone. Centuries of water,
supersaturated with minerals, dripping from cave roofs
cause stalagmites and stalactites to form (see here).
(image via)
One thing to keep in mind during cave exploration:
though these structures are made of minerals, they are
generally extremely thin and fragile, many of them are
quite rare, and can be damaged or destroyed by touch
alone. Calcite (the mineral which forms many cave
structures), for example, is soft enough to be
scratched by a fingernail.
Some of the cave and rock formations:
- Flowstone (also known as a Bacon formation)
- Cave Pearls
- Soda Straws
- Helictites
- Anthodites (or Aragonite)
- Bottlebrush formation
(image credit: Dave Bunnell)
Probably the most comprehensive cave-exploration site
on the net is that of Dave Bunnell... You can spend
hours there, wandering around pages, cataloging
whimsical underground structures, oozing rock and
dripping stone.
(Gruta do Mimoso, Brazil)
Largest Cave Systems
We mentioned the Jeita Grotto - the largest cave
system in the Middle East- in our recent Lebanon
article. The longest known stalactite in the world is
found there at 8.2 meters long.
- The deepest known cave is Voronya Cave in Abkhazia,
Georgia and has been explored to a depth of 2191
meters.
- The longest continuous cave system yet explored is
Mammoth Cave in Kentucky, covering 591 kilometers.
Let's have a short world tour of the most interesting
caves, why don't we? We'll start with North America -
Already mentioned Luray Caverns in Virginia are full
of celebrated speleothems formations, calcite crystals
of abnormal shapes - all formed when the chambers were
completely filled with water, highly charged with
acid. The acid began to eat away the softer material,
resulting in ornate pinnacles and arches...
(image credit: Alejocrux)
(image credit: Declan McCullagh)
One of the deepest known cave pits, Fantastic Pit in
Georgia's Ellison's Cave descends 586 feet (179 meters)
in a straight tunnel:
(image credit: Michael Nichols,
National Geographic)
Glacial Caves and Ice Caverns
Some ice caves must rather be called "glacier
caves", which can simply astound with the
intensity of ice color:
(image credit: Jenna and Tim Dickinson)
Here is a wonderful page of ice caves photography by
Jason Gulley:
(images credit: Jason Gulley)
No sign of Superman or Megatron there yet:
Mount Kenya's Ice Cave Bobby Model,
National Georgaphic)
Ice Cave in Matanuska Glacier, Alaska -
photo by George F. Mobley, National Geographic
A lot of ice caves grow "hair" - ice
extrusions, some are quite strange-looking:
(image credit: Ian Mckenzie)
Brazil: Crystalline Underground Waters
Mato Grosso do Sul region in Brazil (and especially
the quiet town of Bonito) boasts many marvelous
underground lakes: Gruta do Lago Azul, Gruta do Mimoso,
Aquário Natural. Intricate limestone formations and
grottos hide the intensely-colored pools and
waterfalls (many adventure tours there feature diving,
some pools are more than 100 meters deep):
(images via)
Limestone caves in the same region offer fantastic
exploration:
(images via)
Venezuela: Cave of the Ghost
Cueva del Fantasma is big enough for two helicopters
to fly into it, but it's not technically a cave -
rather, a collapsed gorge. It does, however, sport a
huge waterfall right inside of it:
(image via)
Iran: tremendous cave system
Katale Khor is a cave dating back to the Jurassic
period. It's one of the "snow caves" in the
Southwest Zanjan province and connects to other caves
- a huge underground infra-structure which can hide
who knows what (definitely anti-American... wink wink).
See more pictures here
(images credit: Ali Majdfar)
Can't get enough images of Iran's natural beauty? See
our previous articles... a country full of great
sights and dubious politics.
Vietnam: Hang Thien Cung cave
There are plenty of caves in Vietnam, and just like in
China, many are illuminated with garish colors. (see
here). But sometimes even artificial light takes back
stage to the incredible rock textures:
(image credit: Tai Vo)
Mexico: Giant Selenite Crystals!
In 2000, one of the most unusual and splendid caves
was found in Mexico by miners. Located only a mile
from an upthrust of magma, this cave is 112 degrees
Farenheit and at 90-100% humidity, limiting greatly
the amount of time explorers can spend in it. It is a
spectacular cave, with gigantic crystal formations
thought to be
600,000 years old.
(photos by Javier Trueba / Madrid
Scientific Films, image via)
The crystals formed underwater; as water saturated
with calcium sulfate heated in the cavern selenite
molecules crystallized and grew, undisturbed, to giant
proportions. The cave was drained (by unknowing miners)
in the 1980's and stopped the process of growth. Who
knows what we may find further on, in the heat and
water?
A description of one photographer's attempt to
document this cave is here.
(images credit: Richard Fisher)
"It is unquestionably magical that the cool white
rays of moonlight can originate deep underground in a
black chamber that is, at least in my perception,
white hot." (Richard Fisher, photographer,
comments on the huge selenite crystals.)
A Giant Geode
Geodes are normally formed by volcanic or sedimentary
geologic activity - a cavity in the rock is formed,
inside which crystals begin to grow, such as amethyst,
quartz or a number of others. Most geodes are small
enough to fit in your hand, but this one is large
enough to climb inside. The crystals found here are
gypsum. - More info.
(images credit: Javier Garcia-Guinea)
The largest Geode Cave in US is located in Ohio:
Crystal Cave, check it out.
Ancient Cave Cities
Khosrov Caves in Armenia served as a shelter to
ancient tribes - in a perfectly cinematic location:
(image credit: 18:18)
(photos by Raffi Kojian and eco
culture)
We wrote about Cappadocia cave city in Turkey before.
But you might not be aware that more modern
establishment makes its home there - a luxury hotel!
Considering how hot it can get outside, it definitely
provides a welcome coolness:
(images via)
This PC case mod would fit right there, in that cave
hotel room:
(case mod by Mashie)
Then again, there's a wildly original Stockholm subway
station, seemingly built inside a natural (in reality
- blasted) cave :
"Metro on Mars":
(image credit: Hannes R.)