Chapter 24 - Caving
Beneath the Earth’s surface lies a magnificent realm darker
than a moonless night. No rain falls. No storms rage. The
seasons never change. Other than the ripple of hidden streams
and the occasional splash of dripping water, this underground
world is silent, yet it is not without life. Bats fly with sure
reckoning through mazes of tunnels, and eyeless creatures
scurry about. Transparent fish stir the waters of underground
streams, and the darkness is home to tiny organisms seldom
seen in broad daylight.
This is the world of the cave, as beautiful, alien,
and remote as the glaciated crests of lofty mountains. Just as
climbers are tempted by summits that rise far above familiar
ground, cavers are drawn into a subterranean wilderness every
bit as exciting and remarkable as any place warmed by the
rays of the sun.
Water is the most common force involved in the
creation of caves. As it seeps through the earth, moisture
can dissolve limestone, gypsum, and other sedimentary rock.
Surf pounding rocky cliffs can, over the centuries, carve out
sea caves of spectacular shape and dimension. The surface
of lava flowing from a volcanic eruption can cool and harden
while molten rock runs out below it, leaving behind lava
tubes. Streams running under glaciers can melt caves in the
ice that stay around for a season or two, or a century or two.
Boulders tumbling down a mountainside sometimes come to rest against
one another in ways that form passageways.
Many caves are so small that people can barely enter, while others
extend for miles and include rooms of tremendous dimensions. Features
come in all sizes, too, from soaring rock columns to tiny needles of stone.
While most caves are stable enough to survive earthquakes, the contents
of caves are often extremely fragile.
The forces shaping caves and their features work with exceeding
patience. Centuries may pass before groundwater widens a chamber or
lengthens a passage by even an inch. A drop of water hanging from the point
of a stalactite leaves behind a trace of mineral
residue when it finally falls, lengthening the
stalactite ever so slightly, then splashing on a
stalagmite rising from the cave floor and
depositing a hint of minerals there, too.
Massive and delicate, living and stony,
a cave is almost timeless, little touched by the
world above. We have the power to explore
and enjoy the underground world of caves,
but we must always do so in ways that protect
these pristine environments.
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