Caves are fascinating places. While it is fun to look at the pictures of the interior of caves, it is quite another thing, a dangerous one at that, to explore caves. One never knows what danger lurks around the next corner. It could be a huge hole, a narrow passage that someone could get wedged in or dangerous animal. It is important when exploring caves not to go alone, to be properly equipped and also to let someone know where and when you are going.

Cave
Source: National Park Service

Arizona is a pretty dry place. The hills south of Tucson, Arizona are made of limestone. There is a state park in this area called Katchner Caverns. As funny as this sounds the caverns contain water and the humidity in them is 99 percent. The really strange thing about them is they are under a desert. The discovers of this cave system were Gary Tenen and Randy Tuffs. They kept the caverns secret for over 14 years. The caverns are not just a big hole in the ground. but one of the most pristine cave systems in the world. The water is crystal clear, there is wildlife, microbes and much more. The cave was discovered in 1974. Even now, no group larger than thirty people is allowed into the caves.

Cave Entrances
Source: National Park Service

Cave entrances are not always easy to see, note the three above.

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Lechuguilla Cave was known until 1986 as a small, fairly insignificant historic site in the park's back country. Small amounts of bat guano were mined from the entrance passages for a year under a mining claim filed in 1914. The historic cave contained a 90-foot entrance pit which led to 400 feet of dry dead-end passages.

The cave was visited infrequently after mining activities ceased. However, in the 1950s cavers heard wind roaring up from the rubble-choked floor of the cave. Although there was no obvious route, different people concluded that cave passages lay below the rubble. A group of Colorado cavers gained permission from the National Park Service and began digging in 1984. The breakthrough, into large walking passages, occurred on May 26, 1986.

What followed has become one of the world's most exciting cave explorations into one of the finest known caves on the planet. Since 1984, explorers have mapped 100+ miles of passages and had pushed the depth of the cave to 1,567 feet, ranking Lechuguilla as the 5th longest cave in the world (3rd longest in the United States) and the deepest limestone cave in the country. Cavers, drawn by virgin passage and never-before-seen beauty, come from around the world to explore and map the cave.

Lechuguilla Cave offered even more than just its extreme size. Cavers were greeted by large amounts of gypsum and lemon-yellow sulfur deposits. A fantastic array of rare speleothems, some of which had never been seen anywhere in the world, included 20 foot gypsum chandeliers, 20 foot gypsum hairs and beards, 15 foot soda straws, hydromagnesite balloons, cave pearls, subaqueous helictites, rusticles, u-loops and j-loops. Lechuguilla Cave surpassed its nearby sister, Carlsbad Cavern, in size, depth, and variety of speleothems, though no room has been discovered yet in Lechuguilla Cave which is larger than Carlsbad's Big Room.

Soda Straw Formation
Source: National Park Service

A Soda Straw Formation is formed when the wavy or folded sheets hanging from a cave's roof or wall get plugged up by minerals that drip down into them. This forms the beautiful and often translucent Soda Straws.

Shift of Light
Source: National Park Service

A shaft of light enters the cave and replenishes the ecosystem.

Cave Water
Source: National Park Service

Caves can filter our drinking water and are important to our water supply. The picture on the above right shows water flowing out of a cave.

Stalactites and Stalagmites
Source: US Geological Survey

Stalactites grow downward from the cave roof. Like other cave formations, they form as water slowly drips through cracks in the cave ceiling. While each water drop hangs from the ceiling, it deposits a calcite film. After many thousands of years and drips, an intricately decorated hanging cone may form. Tubular or "soda straw" stalactites grow in much the same way. Large stalactites begin as these tiny soda straw tubes,then gradually enlarge when water flows outside of the soda straws. Stalagmites grow upward from the cave floor water when water drips from overhanging stalactites or other ceiling decorations. In some cases, stalactite and a stalagmite grow until they join, forming a column. (Text Source: USGS)

What I find very interesting, without having a real reason for it, is the fact that the columns that are formed by stalactites joining with stalagmites are usually hollow.

The following are some interesting structures that appear inside of the Mitchell Cave Complex. All photographs are from the US Geological Survey

 

The first picture on the left is fascinating but the second one looks like the statue of some sort of Mongol Emperor sitting down. It is amazing the shapes that nature can make. This is precisely the argument made by NASA for the strange shapes on Mars that appear in photos. I am not saying this is right or wrong, just making a comment.