glossary

Spelunker's
Glossary

( Click on the glossary term for example.)

Bottlebrushes are formations of stalactites once immersed in a cave pool for a long period, during a change in the pools waterflow.

Carbon dioxide is a colorless gas in the air.

Cave Coral is irregular clusters or rough knobs of cystalline calcium carbonate, they build up on walls and existing formations.

Cave Formations are crystalline deposits of calcium carbonate found in caves, they include soda straws, stalactites, stalagmites, columns, cave coral, draperies, and flowstones.

Cave Pearl is a smooth, polished and rounded speleothem found in shallow hollows into which water drips.

Columns are formed when stalactites and stalagmites grow
together or when one of them grows all the way to the floor or ceiling.

Commercial Caves are caves that are open to the public with guided tours, a fee is sometimes charged.

Curtains are speleothems in the form of a wavy or folded sheet hanging from the roof or well of a cave, often translucent.

Draperies form where drops of mineral-laden water trickle down the undersides of inclined ceilings, leaving deposits in lines which fold and curl as if they were draperies.

Flowstones are forms where films of water flow over walls, floors, and formations; depositing sheets of calcium carbonate like icing.

Folia is a formation found near or just below the water line.

Shelfstones are ledges or projections (usually calcite) extending from the edge of a cave pool.

Soda Straws are thin walled hollow tubes about 1/4 inch in diameter, they form as water runs through their centers and deposits rings of calcite around the tips of the formations.

Speleothems are features that are created after the underground chamber has been formed, they are a result of slow moving water, usually containing calcium carbonate, which has been dissolved from the limestone where the cave was formed.

Stalactites are icicle shaped accumulations of dripstone hanging from a cave roof.

Stalagmites are a post of dripstone growing up from a cave floor.

Troglobites are cave dwellers, they can only complete their life in caves.

Troglophiles are cave lovers, they can pass their life history either in cool, dark moist areas outside the cave or in caves if there is sufficient food.

Trogloxenes are cave guests, they cannot complete their life history in the cave.

Volcanic lava is melted rock that comes from an opening in the Earth called a volcano.

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