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Formation of Crystal Cave
What is a Cave?
A cave is a formation that has three requirements that must be met to be considered a cave. A cave must be large enough for a person to fit into. All caves must also be naturally formed. Caves must also be far enough from the entrance to be able to achieve total darkness. If a formation doesn’t satisfy all of the three requirements above the formation can not be considered a cave.
The photograph above is an example of a joint or fracture in the rock where carbonic acid flowed causing the limestone to errode.
How are caves formed?
For caves to form the rock must be highly jointed for the water to be able to pass through the rock. Caves are formed when rain mixes with CO2 forming carbonic acid (H2CO3). The carbonic acid runs through the fractures starting the erosion process. When carbonic acid dissolves limestone (CaCO3) it produces calcium bicarbonate (Ca(HCO3)2) in solution. There must also be an abundance of water to continually move the carbonic acid through the caves. This is a slow process and takes thousands of years to from caves. Often the ceiling of a cave collapse forming a sink hole that is visible on the surface. A sinkhole is simple the collapse of a cavern and looks like a large hole in the ground.
The sinkhole above is visible from the earth's surface. Without the presence of sinkholes it is often hard to discover a cave formation.