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Kartchner Caverns State Park
Kartchner Caverns State Park is a state park of Arizona, United States, featuring a show cave with of passages. The park is located south of the town of Benson, Arizona, Benson and west of the north-flowing San Pedro River (Arizona), San Pedro River. Long hidden from view, the caverns were discovered in 1974 by local cavers, assisted by state biologist Erick Campbell who helped in its preservation. The park encompasses most of a down-dropped block of Palaeozoic rocks on the east flank of the Whetstone Mountains. The caverns are carved out of limestone and filled with spectacular speleothems which have been growing for 50,000 years or longer, and are still growing. Careful and technical cave state park development and maintenance are designed to preserve the cave system. History The caverns were discovered in 1974, when Caving, cavers Gary Tenen and Randy Tufts found a narrow crack in the bottom of a sinkhole, and followed the source of warm, moist air toward what ende ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Geographic Names Information System
The Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) is a database of name and locative information about more than two million physical and cultural features throughout the United States and its territories, Antarctica, and the associated states of the Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, and Palau. It is a type of gazetteer. It was developed by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) in cooperation with the United States Board on Geographic Names (BGN) to promote the standardization of feature names. Data were collected in two phases. Although a third phase was considered, which would have handled name changes where local usages differed from maps, it was never begun. The database is part of a system that includes topographic map names and bibliographic references. The names of books and historic maps that confirm the feature or place name are cited. Variant names, alternatives to official federal names for a feature, are also recorded. Each feature receives a per ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
National Geographic (magazine)
''National Geographic'' (formerly the ''National Geographic Magazine'', sometimes branded as NAT GEO) is a popular American monthly magazine published by National Geographic Partners. Known for its photojournalism, it is one of the most widely read magazines of all time. The magazine was founded in 1888 as a scholarly journal, nine months after the establishment of the society, but is now a popular magazine. In 1905, it began including pictures, a style for which it became well-known. Its first color photos appeared in the 1910s. During the Cold War, the magazine committed itself to present a balanced view of the physical and human geography of countries beyond the Iron Curtain. Later, the magazine became outspoken on environmental issues. Since 2019, controlling interest has been held by The Walt Disney Company. Topics of features generally concern geography, history, nature, science, and world culture. The magazine is well known for its distinctive appearance: a thick squa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Helictite
A helictite is a speleothem (cave-formed mineral) found in a limestone cave that changes its axis from the vertical at one or more stages during its growth. Helictites have a curving or angular form that looks as if they were grown in zero gravity. They are most likely the result of capillary forces acting on tiny water droplets, a force often strong enough at this scale to defy gravity. Helictites are, perhaps, the most delicate of cave formations. They are usually made of needle-form calcite and aragonite. Helictite forms have been described in several types: ribbon helictites, saws, rods, butterflies, "hands", curly-fries, and "clumps of worms". They typically have radial symmetry. They can be easily crushed or broken by the slightest touch. Because of this, helictites are rarely seen within arm's reach in tourist caves. Timpanogos Cave National Monument in Utah has one of the largest collections of these formations in the world. Large numbers are also in the Jenolan Caves ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Flowstone
Flowstones are sheetlike deposits of calcite or other carbonate minerals, formed where water flows down the walls or along the floors of a cave. They are typically found in "solution caves", in limestone, where they are the most common speleothem. However, they may form in any type of cave where water enters that has picked up dissolved minerals. Flowstones are formed via the degassing of vadose percolation waters. Flowstone may also form on manmade structures as a result of calcium hydroxide being leached from concrete, lime or mortar. These secondary deposits created outside the cave environment, which mimic the shapes and forms of speleothems, are classified as "calthemites" and are associated with concrete degradation.Smith, G.K., (2016). “Calcite Straw Stalactites Growing From Concrete Structures”, Cave and Karst Science, Vol.43, No.1, P.4-10, (April 2016), British Cave Research Association, ISSN 1356-191X. Formation Flowing films of water that move along floors or do ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Crinoids Casts At Kartchner Caverns State Park
Crinoids are marine animals that make up the class Crinoidea. Crinoids that are attached to the sea bottom by a stalk in their adult form are commonly called sea lilies, while the unstalked forms are called feather stars or comatulids, which are members of the largest crinoid order, Comatulida. Crinoids are echinoderms in the phylum Echinodermata, which also includes the starfish, brittle stars, sea urchins and sea cucumbers. They live in both shallow water and in depths as great as . Adult crinoids are characterised by having the mouth located on the upper surface. This is surrounded by feeding arms, and is linked to a U-shaped gut, with the anus being located on the oral disc near the mouth. Although the basic echinoderm pattern of fivefold symmetry can be recognised, in most crinoids the five arms are subdivided into ten or more. These have feathery pinnules and are spread wide to gather planktonic particles from the water. At some stage in their lives, most crinoids have a s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Myotis Velifer
The cave myotis (''Myotis velifer'') is a species of vesper bat (''Vespertilionidae'') in the genus ''Myotis''. Description It is larger than most other bats in the ''Myotis'' group, with a forearm of . The bat is brown with short ears, and can be distinguished from other large ''Myotis'' by a bare patch of skin on its back. Male bats are smaller than females. Distribution and habitat It is usually found in caves, although it has been known to inhabit mines and buildings. The largest populations are in southwest Kansas and in Mexico. Groups of over a thousand have been recorded on the ceilings of caves during winter hibernation. Diet and behavior The cave myotis is insectivorous, primarily feeding on moths. To capture prey it uses echolocation, typically hunting one or two hours after sunset. Due to their larger size and well-adapted wings, the cave myotis may forage further from their roost than other "myotis" bats. When insect populations are low in spring and autumn, they ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Evening Bat
The evening bat (''Nycticeius humeralis'') is a species of bat in the vesper bat family that is native to North America. Hunting at night, they eat beetles, moths, and other flying insects. Description The evening bat is a small bat weighing found throughout much of the midwestern and eastern United States. Their forearms are in length. The tip of each dorsal hair is a light gray, and one to two-thirds of the basal is dark brown. Though there have been some cases of white pelage, the majority of the population is mostly brown in color.Watkins, L. C. (1972). Nycticeius humeralis. Mammalian species, (23), 1-4. They have wide, dog-like muzzles, pronounced facial glands, and disproportionately large bacula. Evening bats can be mistaken for juvenile big brown bats, due to their physical resemblance but smaller size. Morphology Evening bats have relatively robust jaws, compared to other insectivorous bats. They have an unkeeled calcar and a short, round tragus.Barbour, R., W. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nursery Roost
Nursery may refer to: Childcare * Nursery (room), a room within the house designed for the care of a young child or children. * Nursery school, a daycare facility for preschool-age children * Prison nursery, for imprisoned mothers with their young children Places * Nursery, Texas, unincorporated community in Victoria County, Texas, United States * Nursery, Karachi, a suburb of Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan * Nursery Site, RI-273, historic site in Westerly, Rhode Island, United States * Nursery, British Columbia, a populated community in British Columbia Music * ''Nursery Suite'' (1931), by Edward Elgar * ''The Nursery'' (song cycle) (1870), by Modest Mussorgsky Art * ''The Nursery (Christmas Stockings)'' (1936), painting by Stanley Spencer (76.5x91.8cm) Plants and gardens * Garden centre, independent, or lawn and garden departments of hardware and home improvement stores, often called "nurseries" in the U.S. * Plant nursery, a place where young plants or trees are raised Scien ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Moonmilk
Moonmilk (sometimes called mondmilch, also known as montmilch or as cave milk) is a white, creamy substance found inside limestone, dolomite, and possibly other types of caves. It is a precipitate from limestone comprising aggregates of fine crystals of varying composition usually made of carbonates such as calcite, aragonite, hydromagnesite, and/or monohydrocalcite. There are several hypotheses concerning the origin of moonmilk. One of these explains moonmilk to be the result of bacterial action rather than from chemical reactions. According to this particular hypothesis, moonmilk is thought to have been created by the bacterium ''Macromonas bipunctata''. However, no microbiological studies have been carried out so far. Moonmilk was originally explained as created by moon rays. It is possible that moonmilk is formed by water that dissolves and softens the karst of caves consisting of carbonates, and carries dissolved nutrients that can be used by microbes, such as Actinomyc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Brushite
Brushite is a phosphate mineral with the chemical formula . Crystals of the pure compound belong to the monoclinic space group C2/c and are colorless.Brishite Webmineral It is the phosphate analogue of the . Discovery and occurrence Brushite was first described in 1865 for an occurrence on Aves Island, , |
Kubla Khan
''Kubla Khan'' () is a poem written by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, completed in 1797 and published in 1816. It is sometimes given the subtitles "A Vision in a Dream" and "A Fragment." According to Coleridge's preface to ''Kubla Khan'', the poem was composed one night after he experienced an opium-influenced dream after reading a work describing Shangdu, the summer capital of the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty of China founded by Kublai Khan (Emperor Shizu of Yuan). Upon waking, he set about writing lines of poetry that came to him from the dream until he was interrupted by " a person from Porlock". The poem could not be completed according to its original 200–300 line plan as the interruption caused him to forget the lines. He left it unpublished and kept it for private readings for his friends until 1816 when, at the prompting of Lord Byron, it was published. The poem is vastly different in style from other poems written by Coleridge. The first stanza of the poem describes Khan's pl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stalactite
A stalactite (, ; from the Greek 'stalaktos' ('dripping') via ''stalassein'' ('to drip') is a mineral formation that hangs from the ceiling of caves, hot springs, or man-made structures such as bridges and mines. Any material that is soluble and that can be deposited as a colloid, or is in suspension, or is capable of being melted, may form a stalactite. Stalactites may be composed of lava, minerals, mud, peat, pitch, sand, sinter, and amberat (crystallized urine of pack rats). A stalactite is not necessarily a speleothem, though speleothems are the most common form of stalactite because of the abundance of limestone caves. The corresponding formation on the floor of the cave is known as a stalagmite. Mnemonics have been developed for which word refers to which type of formation; one is that ''stalactite'' has a C for "ceiling", and ''stalagmite'' has a G for "ground". Another example is that ''stalactites'' "hang on ''T''ight" and ''stalagmites'' "''M''ight grow up" ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
