CCaves
Famous Caves Home Types of  Caves Inside of Caves Uses of Caves Activities References
Glossary aggregates - soil that has been mixed with minerals balloons - a type of moonmilk, looks like rubber balloons coralloids - most common form of a cave formations. moonmilk - a white substance that is gooey, pasty, and has a texture that is cream cheese like when wet and powder when dry pearls - spheres that are formed when a small pool of water loses carbon dioxide pool fingers - stalactites that look like fingers pool spar - spar that grows underwater or in a pool popcorn - small knobby growths of calcite on cave walls soda straws - earliest form of stalactites spar- relatively clear cave mineral with large easy to see crystal faces http://www.cavediving.it/alghero/eng/c.html	Solution Caves                       From the Acidic Waters  A cave can form in different ways. A cave can form when acidic water dissolves limestone. This kind of cave is called a solution cave. There are many things inside a solution cave. Solution caves have rafts, pearls, spar (crystals), pool spar, pool fingers, mammillaries (cave clouds), moonmilk, cave blisters, balloons, soda straws, coralloids and  popcorn. These caves are found all over the world and are the most common of the types of caves.    A raft is a thin sheet-like deposit that forms on cave pools. Rafts form when water filled with minerals hits a pool surface, spreading out and forming a thin crust. Pearls are spheres that are formed when water from a cave pool is losing carbon dioxide. Spar is a crystal which forms pointed rocks attached to the cave. They are formed when water in a cave pool mixes with minerals in it. Spar can also form in the air by minerals seeping out of the caves walls or  through porous sediments. Pool spar is very similar to regular spar but is made of calcite. The pool where they were grew has evaporated. Pool fingers are stalactites, except they look like fingers coming out of the top of the cave coming to grab you!  Mammillaries or cave clouds are carbonate coatings that form in cave pools where the water is saturated with calcium carbonate. Moonmilk is a white substance formed of aggregates of very fine crystals of varying composition. Moonmilk is gooey, pasty and feels like cream cheese. Cave blisters are like balloons made out of a larger variety of crystalline minerals. Balloons are probably made when solutions, under pressure, seep out of cracks. If they touch moonmilk on their way out, they will expand, and they have an appearance of rubber. Soda straws are the earliest forms stalactites. They are formed when drops of water are stopped at the tip of a soda straw, before falling to the floor, lose carbon dioxide to the cave's atmosphere. Coralloids are one the most common forms of a cave formations, which are made either above or below water. They take the shape of a doorknob. Popcorn is a coralloid, but popcorn is a more complex version of coralloids.    www.montecook.com/.../page.cgi?otherd20_Caverns ttp://www.nature.nps.gov/geology/caves/program_agencies.htm http://www.nature.nps.gov/geology/caves/program_agencies.htm