Cave map Organisims Karsts Moiliili

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.

 

Cave Video