Tuesday, July 14, 2009

How Caves Are Formed

How Caves Are Formed
By: Cave Spelunking

All solution caves are formed in basically the same way. While wind can have some effect on cave formation, wind isn't really responsible for making the caves themselves. Caves are formed by water.

The purest of moving water is a powerful force when the water picks up eroding chemicals along the way, it becomes an even more powerful force. Caves are carved out of rock by water.

Let's talk about the caves that are formed in the limestone layers of the earth, since they are the most common. Limestone is a porous rock that will dissolve in water that's been enriched with carbonic acid. So here's what happens.

Over many, many, many centuries, rain falls and mixes with plant material, where it picks up carbon dioxide. Water and carbon dioxide combine to form carbonic acid. The water, now containing carbonic acid, trickles down through the earth to the water table. The water table is sometimes called "groundwater."

Now, the groundwater also contains carbonic acid. The groundwater finds tiny pores and cracks in the limestone layer and slowly begins to dissolve the limestone. The cracks get bigger and bigger and become chambers.

Time marches on. Eons pass, and this erosion process continues. Larger and larger crevices and passages are formed for the water to flow through.

Chambers and passageways are formed in all shapes and sizes. Some are small and narrow, but others can be very low and wide, or they can be high and narrow. There are passages and chambers that are large enough to drive an 18-wheeler through, and there are chambers big enough to fit an entire NFL football stadium, and then there are chambers and passageways that aren't large enough for a child to crawl through.

Caves are all completely unique. There are no two exactly alike anywhere on Earth.

Rock On & Keep Spelunking...
Cave Spelunking.
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