Dusty

5th grade G/T

Spring 2003

Lava Tube

Solution

Erosion

Erosion caves are formed by the action of the water and wind. This wind and water carrying particles capable of carving rock. The process in this is very much like erosion on land, leaving potholes and other form of erosion. But in order to make a cave, there must be a break in the rock, letting in the water to start eroding away. Erosional caves can be found in almost any kind of rock including limestone. Erosion is also happens in solution caves too. But erosion in solution caves when the water has already drained.Some of the most fascinating erosional caves are found in the western U.S.

Sea caves are formed by power of the ocean striking against the weak spots on the coastal sea cliff. Usually the weak zone is a slippage or fault in the cliff. The cave sometimes begins as a very small crack which the waves can slip through carrying sand and eroding the inside making a cave. Sea caves rarely have formations like lava tube caves and solution caves. Sometimes you can see small flowstone and stalagmites are seen. Sea caves are found all over the world. There are numerous sea caves in the Pacific coastal region of the United States. Inside the sea caves it may be wet or dry, depending on the time of the year; colorful algaes cover the ceiling. The life in the cave includes anemones, starfish, and also sponges. In California the Giant Anemone is green because of the algae that lives inside of it. The largest known sea cave is the painted cave. It measures 1227 feet long and lies on California’s Santa Cruz Island.

Solution Caves are formed by acidic waters. Solution caves are found in limestone, dolomite, marble, and gypsum. They may also may form in sandstone. The glue that holds the sandstone together is actually carbonates.In most caves, caves dissolve under the water, it is only after the cave is drained and exposed to the air that it forms.

Bottlebrushes are formed when a stalagmite stays in a pool of water for a long period of time and gets coated in pool spar.

Fibrous speleothems form when saturated solutions are being squeezed out of the pores of the bedrock.

Most lava tubes form from whenever fluid lava flows down the sides of the volcanoes, the upper layer begins to cool, and the lava beneath continues to flow in tubular conduits beneath the surface. Lava tube caves are found where fluid lave has been over the land.

As a lava stream moves along the floor of an existing tube, it may form an insulating crust, just as occurs on the surface to form lava tubes.

http://www.goodearthgraphics.com/virtcave/index.html