# Who likes caves?



## Staff Deployment (Jun 11, 2013)

I like caves but I know little about them. I'm interested in underground caves, or coastal/cliff caves. Is anyone an expert, or at least knows a reliable resource (read: not a lame pre-'00s-designed website) to draw from?

What kind of caves are there?
How do they form?
What has to happen for them to be big enough to walk around in?
What kind of animals live in caves? Deep caves? Underground caves with little natural light?

Could I include all of these structures in a fictional cave without contradicting sacred cave logic?

[spoiler2=these things I mean wow look at them awesome]




_awesome_[/spoiler2]


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## Travers (Jun 11, 2013)

They are awesome.

I've seen a few National Geographic documentaries on caves of varying sorts that were excellent. They'd answer all of your questions.

The only question that I can remember the answer to is how do they (or at least some of them) form. It's nearly always millions of years of water erosion in sedimentary rock.


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## Outiboros (Jun 11, 2013)

If you do include all these structures, only knowledgeable experts will be able to tell whether or not it's accurate, so I wouldn't bother too much.

And yes, I do like caves. Cave biology is damn interesting. White catfish, blind shrimps, moving masses of unicellar organisms feeding on bat guano...


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## Whisper (Jun 11, 2013)

I'm not an expert, but I did sleep at a Holliday Inn last night.

TLC Family "History: How Mammoth Cave Was Formed"

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/earth/how-caves-form.html

http://www.esi.utexas.edu/outreach/caves/caves.php

http://www.bgs.ac.uk/mendips/caveskarst/caveform.htm

types of caves
http://www.adventure-caves-usa.com/cave_types.html

http://www.desertusa.com/geofacts/caves.html

What lives in caves
This will depend on many factors such as what type of cave, where the cave is located and large the cave is

http://cave-biology.org/

http://science.howstuffworks.com/life/biology-fields/cave-biology.htm


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## Terry D (Jun 11, 2013)

I love caves. 50% of my first novel is set in a cave.

Caves come in different forms, but they fall into three major groups: Lava caves, formed by flowing streams of magma during volcanic activity; ice caves, formed in glaciers by the movement of water through the ice; and the most common type, limestone caves formed by the slow erosion of limestone by water. It's the limestone caves, and their sometimes spectacular stalactite and stalagmite formations that most people think about when they think of caves. These caves start as tiny fractures in the bedrock (limestone) and are slowly opened up as rainwater (acidic from its passage through rotting surface debris) dissolves the calcium rich stone.

Coastal caves are usually the result of the action of the sea carving out large hollows in cliff faces.

caves large enough to walk around in are actually pretty common.  It just takes massive amounts of time (many thousands of years) for a limestone cave to get large enough. Lava tube caves can happen quickly, but are not as stable, and don't support life as well as the more traditional sort.

Near the entrances of limestone caves you can find about any sort of life indigenous to the area the cave is in. The first part of a cave is a very nice environment; stable temperatures, sheltered, usually has a source of water. You don't have to go very far into a cave for all that to change however. After just a couple of twists and turns all light will be blocked off and you will be walking through a world of absolute darkness where no photosynthetic plants can survive, and where eyes are useless. Back here you will find fungus growing on any organic debris which might get washed into the cave, and you'll fine the colorless, blind, alien looking animals mentioned above. Bats are the only mammals which will venture into the deeper parts of a cave, and they will usually stay pretty close to the entrance. 

A limestone cave is considered 'alive' if it has water flowing through it, or still percolating down into it from above. A living cave will be a damp, cool (40 to 55 degree) place with lots of mud and clay on the floor and walls. It may also have hundreds of different formations grown by the slow deposit of dissolved calcite being deposited on the ceiling, walls and floors. Different minerals in the soil above give different colors to the formations (usually shades of red, yellow, orange, and brown) and various humidity conditions can cause the minerals to grow into weird, almost organic shapes.

All of the photos you posted are of limestone caves.


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## Staff Deployment (Jun 11, 2013)

Whisper said:


> Many links



Excellent!



Terry D said:


> Many facts



Brilliant. This is really helpful; thank you so much! I especially like the part about the growth of the minerals; I think I can use that to great effect.


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## Terry D (Jun 11, 2013)

One of the more rare, and strange formations are Helictites:


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