|
Limestone
Karst Formations
Calcium carbonate is secreted by the composed remains of plants and
animals, and is the chief agent in limestone. Limestone is not uniform,
because there are so many different sizes and types of particles involved
in the change of particulate matter into rock, called lithification (Ford
1976). Limestone caves are not necessarily formed out of limestone. The
term limestone cave may define any cave formed by the dissolving of the
water-soluble components of its rock base. There are various minerals
that can be eroded in the formation of a limestone cave, and the water
that does the carving is acidified by carbon dioxide (Halliday 1974).
Therefore there are numerous classifications of limestone caves, and based
on these and other factors, it is clear that speleology is a vast and
challenging science. The word karst is defined by Waltham (1974:23) as,
“a landscape, which has been developed by water solution of the
rocks.” Water paired with sediment is the major erosive element
in the formation of karst, and as the water seeps through fractures in
the surface of a rock mass it dissolves and carries away rock that lay
in its path. As the flow of water continues the fractures grow, eventually
opening up, and a cave is born.
|
|
|
|