The dark dimension is the world of caves. The dark dimension is full of different features. There are stalagmites, stalactites, cave bacon, flowstone, soda straws, columns, popcorn rock, and lots more. Do you want to learn more? Then let's go deeper.

Soda straws are baby stalactites. They have the shape of soda straws and are generally translucent. They are also hollow and usually kind of straight. Soda straws are really fragile, so they can break with the slightest touch. Soda straws are known to grow up to 30 feet if left alone.

A column is a stalactite and a stalagmite that have joined each other. Some columns have been joined for so long that it is hard to tell if they were ever separate formations. Columns can be found where ever stalactites and stalagmites grow, but they are less common, because it takes a very long time for the formations to meet. Columns can be covered in popcorn rock. Popcorn rock looks like the popcorn we eat. They are round and bumpy.

 Flow stone is round and sometimes it can have an opening in it. It can be found where water can flow over rock. Flowstone is almost always composed of calcite or other carbonate mineral. It forms in thin layers. Flowstone forms from actively flowing water in which carbon dioxide is lost and carbonate material is deposited. Impurities in the calcite may give a variety of colors to flowstone.

http://www.caverntours.com/images/cavebacon.jpgStalactites grow downward from the cave ceiling. They are formed when drop after drop of water flows through cracks in the cave ceiling. There are a lot different kinds of stalactites such as deflected stalactites. They usually have pointed tips in stead of round ones.
Stalagmites grow upward from the cave floor. The word stalagmite comes from the Greek word "stalagma" which means "drop" or "drip". Stalagmites grow slower in caves than in artificial tunnels and basements. They usually have round tips. There are a lot of different kinds of stalagmites such as mushroom stalagmites. Stalagmites are generally a result of water dripping from overhanging stalactites. When stalagmites aren't a result of water dripping from stalactites they are formed by mineralized water that drips on it. As the water slowly evaporates, it leaves a small deposit of minerals. This is how stalagmites slowly form.
    
Cave bacon looks like real bacon, but it is not real bacon. So don't eat the cave bacon in caves! Cave bacon can be found hanging out from walls and down from ceilings. Cave bacon is formed when water runs down a limestone cave wall or along a ledge. The water deposits calcite into delicate draperies, and the minerals like iron oxide make strips in the draperies. That is how cave bacon got its name.  Not all caves have this feature in them. Bacon strips can be different colors depending how pure  the water is.


Rimstone Dams are formed of calcite or sometimes other mineral barriers . These mineral barriers pond streams or shallow pools in caves. They are created where some hence and gradient flow over an edge of a pool. Usually, rimstone dams  tend to form stair steps. The largest rimstone dam in the world is located in Acutun Kotab, Beliz. It is twenty-two meters high.
Rimstone dams are the most famous cave features commonly found in sea caves, solution caves, lava tube caves, and glacier caves.

These are the features that add interest  and intrigue to the dark dimension we call caves. There are many  facets that inspire investigation and spark the imagination. But here in this world underneath the earth the facts are more interesting than anything you could  dream up.     

Flowstone 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/f4/Carlsbad_Flowstone.jpg

Columns

http://www.uwec.edu/jolhm/eh/below/Images/stalagmites-column.jpg 

Cave Bacon

http://www.caverntours.com/images/cavebacon.jpg 

    Popcorn

http://www.caverntours.com/images/popcorn2.jpg