Geometry.Net - Science: Cave Geology

Cave Geology Photo IndexCave Geology Photo Index Traditionally, The Science Of G
cave geology. Millions more years passed, and the widening river eroded to a new level, deeper and deeper into the
http://www.bostongrotto.org/Grotto/bg-photo-geo.html

Extractions: Cave Geology Photo Index Traditionally, the science of geology involves the study of the rocks of the earth's surface. The age of the rocks can be found by examining the fossils embedded within them. The composition can be studied by physical and chemical analysis, such as their hardness, brittleness, and whether they dissolve in acid or not. Caves can contribute to the study of surface rocks by providing access to the underground environment, often uncluttered by the physical limitations on the surface, such as plants, soil, and weathering. More interesting to cavers, however, is the study of the cave itself: the void in the rock through which we travel. Forget how old the rock is - when did the cave itself form? How long did it take? Why is it shaped the way it is? Where is the best place to dig to find more passageways? There are three major types of caves that are popular with explorers: solution caves, lava tubes, and boulder piles. Solution caves are formed in areas where the surface rock is especially vulnerable to attack by surface water made acid by the soil zone. Such areas are called "karst", and often have other distinguishing features besides caves, such as sinkholes, springs, and exposed rock near the surface. Minerals that often form karst surfaces are limestone, gypsum, and salt. Scientists estimate that perhaps up to 1/5 of the Earth's land surface is made up of such karst areas. The second category, lava tubes, are formed when a specific type of volcano, called a "shield volcano", has been recently active. These tubes are generally shallow - only a few 10s of feet below the surface, and run down the slope of the volcano. They occur frequently in the areas of active volcanism, such as the Northwestern USA and the big island of Hawaii.
Cave Geology
cave geology. Caves are formed when rain water, acidified by carbon dioxide in the soil, seeped downward through
http://www.guanopage.com/info/cavegeo.html

Extractions: Caves are formed when rain water, acidified by carbon dioxide in the soil, seeped downward through millions of tiny cracks and crevices in the limestone layers. This weak carbonic acid (the same acid as in soda pop) dissolved a network of tiny microcaverns along cracks. If the bedrock is lifted, the erosion will create deeper channels. Just as rivulets converged into streams above ground, water flow paths through the limestone also converged into incrementally larger flow paths. As rainwater continued to enter the system and more limestone was dissolved, the microcaverns enlarged. Because the major drains carried the most water, they enlarged the most. Caves were forming. If the water table continues dropping new underground drains formed at levels lower than the older ones, and the older channels empty. Thus the oldest cave passages are the closest to the surface, and the youngest horizontal passages are the deepest underground. CAVE FORMATIONS Soda straw stalactites form on the ceiling by slowly dripping water. As each droplet falls it leaves behind a minute deposit around its border and a thin, hollow tube slowly grows toward the floor. If the tube closes and if the water drips quickly, a more conical stalactite forms. Fast-dripping water loses still more cabon dioxide as it falls and deposits a tiny bit of calcium carbonate on the floor to accumulate as a stalagmite growing upward. Because the drops splash when they hit, stalagmites tend to be broader than their "partner" stalactites directly above. If a stalactite and a stalagmite eventually meet, the result is a column.
Cave Geology 01
Wind cave geology, Hundreds of millions of years ago when seas coveredthis land Table of Contents. Page Last Updated Tuesday, October
http://www.nps.gov/wica/Cave Geology 01.htm
PG Cave Geology
The Philadelphia Grotto A cave is a natural opening in the ground extending beyond the zone of light and large enough to permit the entry of man.
http://www.cedcc.psu.edu/phillygrotto/geology.html
PG Cave Geology
cave geology. Introduction. A cave is a natural opening in the ground extendingbeyond the zone of light and large enough to permit the entry of man.
http://www.phillygrotto.org/geology.html

Extractions: Advanced Search A cave is a natural opening in the ground extending beyond the zone of light and large enough to permit the entry of man. Occuring in a wide variety of rock types and caused by widely differing geological processes, caves range in size from single small rooms to interconnecting passages many miles long. The scientific study of caves is called speleology (from the Greek words spelaion for cave and logos for study). It is a composite science based on geology, hydrology, biology, and archeaeology, and thus holds special interest for earth scientists of the U.S. Geological Survey. Caves have been natural attractions since prehistoric times. Prolific evidence of early man's interest has been discovered in caves scattered throughout the world. Fragments of skeletons of some of the earliest manlike creatures (Australopithecines) have been discovered in South Africa, and the first evidence of primitive Neanderthal Man was found in a cave in the Neander Valley of Germany. Cro-Magnon Man created his remarkable murals on the walls of caves in southern France and northern Spain where he took refuge more than 10,000 years ago during the chill of the last ice age. Interest in caves has not dwindled. Although firm figures for cave visitors are not available, in 1974 about 1.5 million people toured Mammoth Cave in Kentucky, and more than 670,000 visited Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico, two of the most famous caves in the United States.
ORGAN CAVE GEOLOGY
ORGAN cave geology. Organ Cave is one of the finest examples of geology underground.Organ Cave Historical Organ Cave is a National Natural Landmark.
http://www.organcave.com/geology.htm

Extractions: HOME PAGE HISTORY CIVIL WAR HISTORY UPCOMING EVENT ... DIAMOND M HORSE SHOW ORGAN CAVE GEOLOGY During your underground adventure witness the result of nature's awesome power. Water created this vast complex of massive passageways millions of years ago and is still at work today. The cathedral sized passageways are beautifully sculpted in limestone. Listen to the sound of underground stream flowing in the otherwise silent world where beautiful calcite formations remain poised by sculptures on display. Resembling a huge Church Organ, this the largest and most pronounced of the calcite formations in the cave, is responsible for giving Organ Cave and the surrounding community its name more than a century ago. develop. As excess mineral water drips to the cave floor, it also begins to build up with the accumulating mineral deposit being called a Stalagmite, which is usually mound or cone shape. Stalagmites are always solid. When mineral water runs down a wall it deposits layers of calcite which are called Flowstone. In some cases, the water will lay in a depression, and then periodically overflow and deposit a ring of calcite. This is the method of the formation of Water Basins or Rimstone Dams you see in the Rock Organ area. The Organ Cave System is one of the longest, best-known, and most significant caves in the United States. It had a very long history of exploration and scientific study, and it is a cave of international stature and reputation. It richly deserves this reputation. Of the 200-plus caves on the
Welcome
Features the cave geology, features, visiting times, and campground activities. Chattanooga.
http://www.raccoonmountain.com/

Extractions: Last Updated: Raccoon Mountain Caverns and Campground is located at the foot of Raccoon Mountain in an area that is both secluded, but at the same time only a few minutes away from most attractions. We are just five minutes from historical downtown Chattanooga and only minutes away from Lookout Mountain. There is much that you can enjoy during your visit here. We have hiking trails, a swimming pool, a playground, batting cages, a vast cave system, and coming soon; Go-Carts! With all the things to do here, you will see why many people rate us as Chattanooga's best kept secret. For more information simply click on the tab to the left that corresponds with your interests. Welcome Camping Cabins Caverns ... Links This web site designed and maintained by: Blake Herring © 1999 - 2003 RMCC, LLC
Basic Cave Geology
It is just as impossible in a few words to describe the cave geology of Missouri,since, by definition, a cave is that part of the geology which isn't there .
http://www.umsl.edu/~joellaws/ozark_caving/mss/geology.htm

Extractions: There is a story told about Jerry Vineyard, Deputy Missouri State Geologist, and one of the founders of the MSS. The tale goes that a young boy wrote Vineyard, and asked him to send him "all the rocks in Missouri." Vineyard wrote back, and explained to the zealous youth that if he sent him all the rocks in Missouri, there would be no more Missouri, and he was very sorry, but could not fulfill his request. It is just as impossible in a few words to describe the cave geology of Missouri, since, by definition, a cave is that part of the geology which "isn't there". The processes by which caves are formed are fairly, but not totally understood, as are the processes by which speleothems , commonly called cave deposits, are formed. Only the caves are set in stone, but here is a taste of the current theories of speleogenesis. The SpeleOzarksCave Factory to the Nation
National Speleological Society: Cave Geology And Geography Section
http://www.caves.org/section/geogeo/

Extractions: Home Info Membership Convention ... Links HOT TOPICS 2003 Convention: Call for Papers Welcome to the web page of the National Speleological Society's (NSS) Section of Cave Geology and Geography. The Section is the oldest in the NSS, and since 1968 has generally functioned as a forum for the exchange of cave geoscience information and the interaction of karst geoscientists. It also serves as the NSS's link to the American Geological Institute . This is not to say that non-geoscientists or non-degreed persons are not welcome. In fact, it's just the opposite. Cave science is largely based on the explorations and observations of cavers (which describes most degreed Section members when you strip away the degrees) and other folks who often have a strong interest in the geosciences and make many and substantive contributions. This aspect of caving/cave science makes the Section a group that has the degrees and does the related "big science," yet is just as comfortable with low key science, interdisciplinary science, and cave science education. The Section is active in several ways, and is picking up steam. For example:
National Speleological Society: Cave Geology And Geography Section
Welcome to the web page of the National Speleological Society's (NSS)Section of cave geology and Geography. The Section is the
http://www.caves.org/section/geogeo/index1.html

Extractions: Home Info Membership Convention ... Links Welcome to the web page of the National Speleological Society's (NSS) Section of Cave Geology and Geography. The Section is the oldest in the NSS, and since 1968 has generally functioned as a forum for the exchange of cave geoscience information and the interaction of karst geoscientists. It also serves as the NSS's link to the American Geological Institute . This is not to say that non-geoscientists or non-degreed persons are not welcome. In fact, it's just the opposite. Cave science is largely based on the explorations and observations of cavers (which describes most degreed Section members when you strip away the degrees) and other folks who often have a strong interest in the geosciences and make many and substantive contributions. This aspect of caving/cave science makes the Section a group that has the degrees and does the related "big science," yet is just as comfortable with low key science, interdisciplinary science, and cave science education. The Section is active in several ways, and is picking up steam. For example:
Sinnett/Thorn Cave Geology
STRUCTURAL, PETROGRAPHIC AND RELATIVE SOLUBILITY RELATIONSHIPS INTHE SINNETTTHORN MOUNTAIN CAVE SYSTEM, WEST VIRGINIA. STOKOWSKI
http://members.aol.com/caversteve/st_geol.htm

Extractions: Sinnett-Thorn Mountain Cave System has passages in the limestones of the lower Helderberg Group and is on the eastern limb of a south-southwest plunging anticline. A petrographic examination of the limestone members exposed was undertaken; generally all are sparry allochemical carbonates with a ferroan calcite pore-filling cement that dissolves preferentially over adjacent calcite fossils. The major cave former, the New Creek biosparudite, has the least insoluble material and the coarsest pore-filling ferroan spar. In contrast to the active role in groundwater movement played by the solutional passages and fracture permeability mentioned above, there are passively formed "wells" connecting different levels of the cave. These wells follow steeply dipping fracture zones that are interpreted as compressive shear fractures related to local folding stresses. The wells have, at least initially, not channelized groundwater flow. Only one other major passively formed solution void has been found. It is in the "Big Room", where the New Creek limestone has been stratigraphically repeated by reverse faulting, and was developed subsequent to the major passage.
Cave Geology
cave geology. Seas have covered parts of what is now North Americafor many hundreds of millions of years. To trace the ebb and flow
http://www.missouri.edu/~jad4bc/geology.htm

Extractions: Seas have covered parts of what is now North America for many hundreds of millions of years. To trace the ebb and flow of these seas across the central United States, or Missouri, would require some fancy computer graphics. Keep in mind that to speak of North America or Missouri around, say, 500 million years ago (early Paleozoic Era; see Figure 1 ), is to speak of places that did not exist in the shape or at the latitude and longitude they do today. To say "Missouri" in the Paleozoic Era describes a particular spot on the North American plate between 600 and 230 million years ago (mya). Nevertheless, that particular spot will undergo many changes over those 600 million years and become what we now see in Missouri. Within the Paleozoic Eraduring, more specifically, the Cambrian, Ordovician, and Silurian periods (from about 600 to 400 mya)seas spread to the North American interior. Missouri lay east of the "Transcontinental Arch" ( ), which was to be the foundation of the continent, and which was generally dry land on the western shore of these interior seas. At times, a proto-Appalachian range formed the eastern shore. The current position of Missouri in the Mississippi River drainage is considered to be a southward extension of the Canadian Shield, but covered by sediments from these shallow inland seas. The seas came in about 520 mya, and more or less stayed around for a couple of hundred million years. It's hard to be precise: again keep in mind that sea levels, when considered over such a long stretch of geologic time, oscillated constantly. The St. Francois Mountains are remnants of a much older time of volcanism, around 2 billion years ago (bya) in the Precambrian Era. The seas left about 4000 ft. of sedimentary rock over what are now the Ozark Mountains. The Ozarks (or Ozark Dome) have been periodically uplifting over the last 300 million years.
Cave Geology
Home. Cave Decorations Speleothems. Types of Caves. Minerals and Fossils.
http://www.oswego.org/staff/inservice/wilson/geology.htm
Cave Geology Innovations And Patents
cave geology Innovations and Patents © 2002, XQ23.COM Research (air.xq23.com) Moreinformation on cave geology and cave geology Research References.
http://www.air.xq23.com/energy_science_resources/Cave_Geology.html
Five Springs Cave Geology
Amateur Geology in Five Springs Cave. by Devin Kouts. Author standsnext to the igneous dyke spotted by Ben Schwartz in Five Springs
http://www.psc-cavers.org/articles/FiveSpringsDykeGeology.html
Onondaga Cave State Park - Cave Geology - Missouri State Parks And Historic Site
cave geology. Click here or on the text to see a larger version of thismap. How Caves are Formed. Generalized Geologic Map of Missouri.
http://www.mostateparks.com/onondaga/cavesformed.htm

Extractions: A layer of sedimentary rock is laid down on top of the igneous bedrock, usually as a result of an area being covered by prehistoric seas. The hard body parts of dead sea animals, along with precipitates from seawater and sediments from the land, fall to the sea floor and are changed to stone by extreme pressure and the resulting temperature. What sort of sediments collect vary with the depth and location. Calcium, magnesium and dissolved silicates are more common in deeper water, with silt, mud and sand more common toward the prehistoric shore. Quantities of sediment and ancient sea currents also determine the depth and shape of these deposits. Sedimentary rock is a continuum of types (because they are physical mixtures), with mudstones, shales, sandstones, limestones, dolomites and chert often grading into one another. Dolomite is a sedimentary rock. Geologists think it forms in two ways - either by direct precipitation from solution, or a replacement after limestone. After a limestone is formed, it is then subjected to magnesium rich waters at depth (perhaps by reimmersion in sea water) with the heat and pressure recrystallizing the rock, changing its chemical structure, changing it to dolomite. This recrystallization eliminates most fossils, except those already preserved by chert. Because most of the characteristics of the rock remain similar (hardness, color, etc.) it is not considered a metamorphic rock.
Onondaga Cave State Park - Cave Biology, Geology And History - Missouri State Pa
Cave Biology, Geology and History. cave geology A cave is a naturally occurringunderground void, large enough to be examined in some way by man.
http://www.mostateparks.com/onondaga/cavegeohist.htm
Cave Geology
cave geology. Millions more years passed, and the widening river erodedto a new level, deeper and deeper into the limestone. The
http://www.fs.fed.us/oonf/ozark/recreation/geology.html

Extractions: Millions more years passed, and the widening river eroded to a new level, deeper and deeper into the limestone. The surface of the land began to show signs of sinkholes, where rain water drained directly into the limestone below. The cavities formed beneath the surface in the saturated limestone joined into one continuous channel as the underground river moved sideways between the layers of rock. The water continued to seep and move through the rock, dissolving and enlarging the soon-to-be caverns. Still thousands, maybe even millions, of years later, the eroding river dropped to a new, lower level. The water drained from the underground river, leaving the cave high and dry. While another system of caves was forming at a new water level below, dripping water entering the dry rooms and passages started depositing calcium carbonate and other minerals in the form of stalactites, stalagmites, and numerous other dripstone features. The speleothems grow as long as groundwater enters the cave.
Geology
cave geology How the Caverns Were Formed. After the sea bed wasuplifted millions of years ago, the elements - especially rain
http://www.fs.fed.us/oonf/ozark/recreation/Recreation/geology.html

Extractions: After the sea bed was uplifted millions of years ago, the elements - especially rain - shaped this exposed land into mountains and rivers that you recognize on the map today. The slightly acid rain water penetrated the earth's surface, seeping through cracks and crevices to form small, as yet unconnected, cavities in the groundwater - saturated limestone beds below the water table. Millions more years passed, and the widening river eroded to a new level, deeper and deeper into the limestone. The surface of the land began to show signs of sinkholes, where rain water drained directly into the limestone below. The cavities formed beneath the surface in the saturated limestone joined into one continuous channel as the underground river moved sideways between the layers of rock. The water continued to seep and move through the rock, dissolving and enlarging the soon-to-be caverns. Still thousands, maybe even millions, of years later, the eroding river dropped to a new, lower level. The water drained from the underground river, leaving the cave high and dry. While another system of caves was forming at a new water level below, dripping water entering the dry rooms and passages started depositing calcium carbonate and other minerals in the form of stalactites, stalagmites, and numerous other dripstone features. The speleothems grow as long as groundwater enters the cave.
Mwulu Cave Geology
, in situ material ata cave site. Site, Mwulu's cave. Assemblage, geological data. Date MeasurementsObjects Archaeology Index Mwulu cave geology.
http://timeweb.wisdomtools.com/dbt/object36335,2,1.html

Extractions: Objects Archaeology Index Description in situ material at a cave site Site Mwulu's cave Assemblage geological data Date Measurements: Date Measurement Dating Method Dating Domain Number Not known Classifications Number Classification Classification Value Reference Not Known Site Context Excavated site Excavated site Site Context

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