Cave Features

Before we even entered the cave we were taken out back of the building to look at a sink hole.  The sink hole was created when a cavern inside the cave collapsed from the over head weight.  Trees and grasses are now growing in the hole.  As we walked through the cave we could see layers in the rock where waves once washed.  Also there are small bumps sticking down where small animals burrowed themselves into the muddy ocean bottom.  There are many structures in the cave created by the solidification of calcite.  A soda straw is a structure that hangs from the ceiling.  The tube is hollow where water seeps through and when the water reaches the outside a layer of calcite is deposited.  If this straw becomes plugged, it starts growing on the outside and becomes a stalactite.  Where the water drips from the stalactite to the floor, a stalagmite forms.  The water that falls starts the deposit calcite.  If given enough time these two structures may connect forming a column.  Another structure is a drip curtain.  This stone looks kind of like a piece of bacon hanging on its side from the ceiling.  The water runs along the bottom of the stone depositing calcite as it travels across.  Flow stone looks like a waterfall.  The water runs down the rock and deposits its cargo of calcite there. 

Above Left: Soda Straws. Above Right: Flowstone .

Above Left: Stactites and columns. Above Right: Sinkhole.

Below: Drip Curtain.