A solutional cave, solution cave, or karst cave is a

cave A cave or cavern is a natural void in the ground, specifically a space large enough for a human to enter. Caves often form by the weathering of rock and often extend deep underground. The word ''cave'' can refer to smaller openings such as sea ...

usually formed in the soluble rock

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

. It is the most frequently occurring type of cave. It can also form in other rocks, including

chalk Chalk is a soft, white, porous, sedimentary carbonate rock. It is a form of limestone composed of the mineral calcite and originally formed deep under the sea by the compression of microscopic plankton that had settled to the sea floor. Ch ...

, dolomite,

marble Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or dolomite. Marble is typically not foliated (layered), although there are exceptions. In geology, the term ''marble'' refers to metamorphose ...

, salt beds, and

gypsum Gypsum is a soft sulfate mineral composed of calcium sulfate dihydrate, with the chemical formula . It is widely mined and is used as a fertilizer and as the main constituent in many forms of plaster, blackboard or sidewalk chalk, and drywal ...

Process

Bedrock is dissolved by natural acid in

groundwater Groundwater is the water present beneath Earth's surface in rock and soil pore spaces and in the fractures of rock formations. About 30 percent of all readily available freshwater in the world is groundwater. A unit of rock or an unconsolidated ...

that seeps through bedding-planes, faults,

joints A joint or articulation (or articular surface) is the connection made between bones, ossicles, or other hard structures in the body which link an animal's skeletal system into a functional whole.Saladin, Ken. Anatomy & Physiology. 7th ed. McGraw- ...

and so on. Over geological epochs these openings expand as the walls are dissolved to become caves or cave systems. The portions of a solutional cave that are below the

water table The water table is the upper surface of the zone of saturation. The zone of saturation is where the pores and fractures of the ground are saturated with water. It can also be simply explained as the depth below which the ground is saturated. T ...

or the local level of the groundwater will be flooded.

Limestone caves

Kolbinger Höhle, Tropfsteinhöhle (Tuttlingen)

The largest and most abundant solutional caves are located in limestone. Limestone caves are often adorned with calcium carbonate formations produced through slow precipitation. These include

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 speleoth ...

s, stalactites, stalagmites,

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 gra ...

soda straw A soda straw (or simply straw) is a speleothem in the form of a hollow mineral cylinder (geometry), cylindrical tube. They are also known as tubular stalactites. Soda straws grow in places where water leaches slowly through cracks in rock, such a ...

calcite rafts Calcite crystals form on the surface of quiescent bodies of water, even when the bulk water is not supersaturated with respect to calcium carbonate. The crystals grow, attach to one other and appear to be floating rafts of a white, opaque materi ...

and

columns A column or pillar in architecture and structural engineering is a structural element that transmits, through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. In other words, a column is a compression membe ...

. These secondary mineral deposits in caves are called ''

speleothem A speleothem (; ) is a geological formation by mineral deposits that accumulate over time in natural caves. Speleothems most commonly form in calcareous caves due to carbonate dissolution reactions. They can take a variety of forms, depending ...

s''.

Carbonic acid dissolution

Limestone dissolves under the action of rainwater and groundwater charged with H₂CO₃ ( carbonic acid) and naturally occurring organic acids. The dissolution process produces a distinctive landform known as '' karst'', characterized by

sinkhole A sinkhole is a depression or hole in the ground caused by some form of collapse of the surface layer. The term is sometimes used to refer to doline, enclosed depressions that are locally also known as ''vrtače'' and shakeholes, and to openi ...

s and underground drainage. Solutional caves in this landform—topography are often called karst caves.

Sulfuric acid dissolution

Lechuguilla Cave At , Lechuguilla Cave is the eighth-longest explored cave in the world and the second deepest () in the continental United States. It is most famous for its unusual geology, rare formations, and pristine condition. The cave is named for the can ...

New Mexico ) , population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano) , seat = Santa Fe , LargestCity = Albuquerque , LargestMetro = Tiguex , OfficialLang = None , Languages = English, Spanish ( New Mexican), Navajo, Ke ...

and nearby

Carlsbad Cavern Carlsbad Caverns National Park is an American national park in the Guadalupe Mountains of southeastern New Mexico. The primary attraction of the park is the show cave Carlsbad Cavern. Visitors to the cave can hike in on their own via the natur ...

are now believed to be examples of another type of solutional cave. They were formed by H₂S ( hydrogen sulfide) gas rising from below, where reservoirs of

petroleum Petroleum, also known as crude oil, or simply oil, is a naturally occurring yellowish-black liquid mixture of mainly hydrocarbons, and is found in geological formations. The name ''petroleum'' covers both naturally occurring unprocessed crud ...

give off sulfurous fumes. This gas mixes with ground water and forms H₂SO₄ ( sulfuric acid). The acid then dissolves the limestone from below, rather than from above, by acidic water percolating from the surface.

Examples

Australia

Jenolan Caves The Jenolan Caves ( Tharawal: ''Binoomea'', ''Bindo'', ''Binda'') are limestone caves located within the Jenolan Karst Conservation Reserve in the Central Tablelands region, west of the Blue Mountains, in Jenolan, Oberon Council, New South Wa ...

, New South Wales

Taiwan

* Black Dwarf Cave, Pingtung County

United States

* Jewel Cave National Monument, South Dakota * Mammoth Cave National Park, Kentucky *

Russell Cave National Monument Russell Cave National Monument is a U.S. National Monument in northeastern Alabama, United States, close to the town of Bridgeport, Alabama, Bridgeport. The monument was established on May 11, 1961, when 310 acres (1.3 km2) of land were ...

, Alabama *

Wind Cave National Park Wind Cave National Park is an American national park located north of the town of Hot Springs in western South Dakota. Established on January 3, 1903 by President Theodore Roosevelt, it was the sixth national park in the U.S. and the first ca ...

, South Dakota * Oregon Caves National Monument and Preserve, Oregon

Vietnam

* Hang Sơn Đoòng, Quảng Bình Province

References

Sources

* * *

External links

* {{Authority control Karst caves