Speleology

Stalactites are the formations hanging down from the ceiling of a cave due to mineral deposits dripping from the top.

The Leavenworth caves are underground tunnels located in Leavenworth, Washington in the United States. These caves are remnants of old mining activities and are now a popular tourist attraction for adventurous explorers.

People engrave things in caves by using sharp tools to carve designs into the cave walls. These tools can range from sharp stones to metal tools. Sometimes, people also use techniques like sandblasting to engrave cave walls.

The Ellora Caves were not founded by a single individual, but rather by various dynasties over several centuries. These caves were built between the 6th and 10th centuries and encompass Buddhist, Hindu, and Jain rock-cut temples and monasteries.

Danger Cave is an archaeological site located in Utah, USA, known for the artifacts and evidence of human habitation dating back to over 11,000 years ago. It is one of the oldest known archaeological sites in the region and provided insights into the lifeways of ancient inhabitants, including hunting and gathering practices. The cave was named "Danger" due to the challenging conditions that early archaeologists faced while exploring and excavating the site.

A person who explores caves is called a spelunker or a caver.

Stalactites (calicte deposits) - their opposite numbers on the floor are stalagmites.

They can grow in three basic forms:

plain Stalactites - tapering, shaped like icicles,

Curtains (I believe aka 'Draperies' in USA), shaped a bit like curtains (!) and

Helictites - oddly-distorted things like bits of spaghetti, whose origins are still conjectural.

A cave roof can also exhibit particular erosion-forms such as box-work, a sort of tracery caused when the passage's formative stream filled it to the roof in its early development.

The vast majority of caves are in limestone but there are also lava tubes (left when molten rock flows from beneath a solidifed crust), mass-movement fissures (a type of land-slip feature), and so on.

For Limestone:

That is such a common question on ‘Answers’ I wrote this single reply I can simply paste!

Most of the world’s caves are in Limestone.

Caves need three materials: a soluble rock like Limestone or Gypsum, water and carbon-dioxide (CO2).

Their host limestone also needs to be of appropriate physical structure and raised into hills, then subjected to reasonably consistent precipitation for many tens or hundreds of thousands of years.

Limestone is a sedimentary rock of which the world’s greater proportion was laid down in warm, relatively shallow, seas. The rock was laid in horizontal layers – Beds – separated by Bedding-planes which generally reflect geologically-brief changes in the environment. The suite of beds is known as a Formation, generally named after its “type area”.

Later continental uplift (tectonic processes) raise the formation along with its underlying rocks, usually tilting and folding it to at least some extent in the process. Since most rocks are brittle they cannot take much stress, and limestone beds crack into grids of fine fractures called Joints. The uplift and folding often also causes Faulting – major breaks with the rock mass one side of the Fault Plane being raised, lowered or moved horizontally past that on the opposite side. (Note: Plane – the “Fault Line” sometimes misused as a political metaphor is that of the fault-plane cutting the land surface.)

Now we have the hills, next we need rain-water that has absorbed atmospheric CO2 to create Carbonic Acid (weak but natural soda water in fact!). This permeates through all those joints, bedding-planes and faults; flowing very, very slowly under considerable pressure applied by its depth, from its sinks on the surface to its springs at the base of the formation. In doing so, it dissolves the limestone (chemical weathering), creating meshes of tiny micro-conduits that over many tens of thousands of years coalesce and capture each other to form cave passages.

Once this happens, the rate of erosion can increase – though still to perhaps only a few millimetres per thousand years under generally temperate climates.

A cave, or series within a cave system, that still carries its formative stream is called “Active”, and is still being developed.

Surface changes such as the valley floor being lowered by erosion, or down-cutting within the cave by its stream, changes the water’s route and the original, now dried-out, stream-way is called “Fossil” or “Abandoned”. Such passages may be filled with silt left by floods as the main flow gradually abandons them; or may become richly decorated with Speleothems – calcite deposits such as stalactites and stalagmites precipitated from ground-water still oozing through the joints in the limestone above the cave. In time such passages may start to break down as there is no stream to dissolve away slabs falling from the roof as permeating ground-water attacks the rock above.

In the end, surface lowering of the landscape as a whole, breaches and destroys the cave. Nothing is permanent in Nature!

Caves in limestone are also parts of Karst Landscape. i.e. a landscape developed by the dissolution of limestone, giving surface features like Dolines, Limestone Pavement, and in the tropics, distinctive hills such as those represented in Chinese Willow-pattern images. ‘Karst’ is from the Slavic word ‘Kras’, the name for its world type-area.

@@@@@

The above is purely an introduction to a vastly more complex and subtle series of processes, of course, and I would refer you to appropriate text-books on geology and cave studies to learn these.

The scientific study of caves is Speleology – embracing geology, hydrology, biology, archaeology and other disciplines.

Simply visiting caves to enjoy them for their scenery and the physical and mental challenges they present, is called Caving, though you can’t study a cave unless you can negotiate its obstacles. We caving enthusiasts are simply Cavers, throughout the English-speaking world – not “spelunkers”, which appears to be merely rude, USA-only, slang for novices and dilettantes!

Talus caves form when rocks pile up at the base of a cliff or slope, creating a gap between the rocks and the cliff face. Over time, erosion and weathering can widen and deepen this gap, creating a cave-like structure. Talus caves are typically found in areas with steep cliffs and loose rock material.

Caves can affect land by creating sinkholes and subsidence when the cave roof collapses. They can also contribute to erosion and sediment transport through underground water flows. Additionally, caves can influence the biodiversity and ecosystems of the surrounding land by providing habitat for unique species.

Limestone caves are formed through a process called karstification, where rainwater picks up carbon dioxide from the air and soil, creating a weak carbonic acid. This acidic water dissolves the limestone rock over time, creating underground cavities and passages. As the water drains away, it leaves behind caves and unique formations such as stalactites and stalagmites.

The pointed section of a cave is called a stalactite. Stalactites hang from the ceiling of caves and are formed by mineral deposits from dripping water.

The Cango Caves in South Africa were formed around 20 million years ago through a process of limestone dissolution by acidic groundwater. Over time, the underground chambers and passageways were sculpted by water flow, resulting in the intricate cave network that we see today.

A cave typically consists of an entrance, a main passage, chambers or rooms, and sometimes secondary passages like tunnels or shafts. The entrance is the access point to the cave, while the main passage is the central corridor that connects different chambers. Chambers are larger spaces within the cave that may vary in size and shape.

A lava tube cave is a natural tunnel formed by the flow of lava, creating a channel for molten lava to move through during a volcanic eruption. When the lava flow stops, the tube can cool, leaving behind a cave-like structure with unique geological features.

Miners can find valuable minerals such as gold, silver, copper, and diamonds in caves. Additionally, caves can contain geological formations like stalactites and stalagmites that are sought after for their beauty and rarity. However, mining in caves can be dangerous and environmentally damaging.

A system of caves is typically referred to as a cave system or cave complex. It is a network of interconnected underground tunnels, chambers, and passages formed by natural geological processes such as erosion, dissolution, or lava flows.

The main parts of a cave include the entrance, passage, chamber, and sometimes a sinkhole or dome. These parts can vary depending on the type of cave and how it was formed.

In a cave, you might feel a sense of isolation, darkness, and a heightened awareness of your surroundings. The dampness, echo of sound, and limited visibility can create a feeling of both awe and vulnerability.

Open caves have been known since time immemorial, obviously - Palaeolithic people used suitable local caves for shelter.

Serious exploration of caves started in the 19th Century, although a few hardy souls ventured into caves long before that and wrote what to us are rather lurid accounts of bottomless abysses and endless winding passages.

For some decades the early explorers concentrated on caves naturally already open but now, most "new" caves in the UK, Europe and the more accessible US caving areas are only discovered by "digging" - clearing natural chokes of glacial till or collapses that hide likely entrances. It's necessary to understand caves and karst processes, and basic geology generally, to be reasonably sure of finding a cave in this way.

Caving - as simple as that.

If the trip is genuine exploration, i.e. by the cave's discoverers as they find it, then we will use the word "explore", but it is used loosely as after all, if you have never previously visited the cave it is your personal exploration of it.

It is NEVER called "spelunking" - that's a US-only word that was coined legitimately by a group of cavers for themselves, but later became a slang term of derision aimed at novices and dilettantes!

Yes, caves are common beaches where erosion usually happens. +++ Caves don't develop "on beaches" but in cliffs backing the beach, so sea-cave development is limited by the local geology, topography and erosion rates.

You will find prehistoric paintings in the Chauvet Cave in France. Lascaux Cave is also in France and is known for its famous prehistoric cave paintings.

Karst or dissolutional: in limestone by the action of water. By far the majority.

Lava-tubes: left by lava running out from under the solidified crust of a lava flow.

Mass-movement: fissures behind a mass of rock peeling away from a cliff or hill-side.

Sea-caves: eroded in cliffs by wave action.

Talus Caves: rather stretching the definition of "cave" but these are still natural cavities -between rock-falls and the parent rock-face.

Rock-shelters: simply shallowcavities useable as sheltersin rock-faces, such as found in desert areas by scouring by wind-blown sand.

That's six out of the three you wanted... will that do?

Cam is the leader of the cavern folk. She's is sharp, clever and has all those leader ship qualities. She notices things very fast like she noticed the bat fur. All the members of the cavern have duties but they need a leader to help them out and to keep life going, in a way they all depend on Cam. When Cam goes with Robert on his journey the rest of the cavern members feel very uncomfortable without her. She was the one who gave them orders. She is very observant and is a good leader. But she knows that she won't survive through the winter and the cavern members will need a new leader. A leader who is capable to help them and to guide them and she sees all these qualities in Robert.