Cave - A Hollow Entrance
The everlasting journey to the world of caves
The incredible landforms(caves) shown in the famous sci-fi film “ The Journey to the center of the Earth ” and the children’s favorite “ The Lion King ”are fascinating , isn’t it ?
This amazing underground resource is a dream place for every adventurer, a habitat for every caver and an exciting place for every researcher to discover the new secrets of the dark chamber. Let’s get into this dark ancient world and discover some amazing things.
Caves and Caverns
Caves and Caverns(large caves)are the landforms of hollow space beneath the ground. These large cavities can take hundreds of thousands of years to form. They can range from few metres to several kilometres.
“ The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek ”- Joseph Campbell
Speleology is the study of caves. Caves have no natural light and contain a lot of physical obstacles. Spelunkers(who explores caves) enter this environment and reveal it’s complexity. Most of these rocky structures form in karst(landscape made of limestone ,dolomite and gypsum rocks).
How are they formed ?
They are formed when acidic water etches its way through limestone rock. Rainwater becomes acidic when takes pollutants(like co2) from the atmosphere . This water causes cracks in the rocks and forms the mouth of the cave .
Gradually , the flowing water weakens more rocks thereby creating large passages and caverns. The surfaces of these caverns are covered with solid crystalline structures called stalactites ( the pointed deposits hanging from the roof )and stalagmites( the pointed deposits rising from the floor).
Life in caves
They are habitat to wide variety of species . In ancient times , humans , animals ,birds and microorganisms used to take shelter in the caves . Animals like bears ,mountain lions etc hibernate, stay and bear young in the caves during the day time and go out in the search of food after dusk.
People lived in caves during the Old Stone Age . They also used caves as a storage space .They hid in caves to protect themselves from wild animals and deadly weather . The graves ,tools and weapons, paintings and drawings are the evidences of human traces in the caves.
Cave research
Cave explorations are widely performed for scientific research purposes such as
- To find rare new species in the deep caves (extremophiles).
- To study the fossils of species of ancient times .
- To discover variety of minerals and resources .
- To study the bones , tools ,weapons , cave paintings and sculptures .
Pro : Scientists believe in existence of caves on other planets through research .
Environmental deterioration of caves
These underground ecosystems are not anymore an exception to pollution .Contaminated Surface water percolating and passing through the caves resulted in formation of more bacteria in caves and made survival of microlife stronger.
Apart from degrading drinking water, it also resulted in threat to many species which could only live in caves (cave fish , cave snail etc ). The tribals may have to evacuate, resulting in habitat loss in some caves.
Pro : Ancient carvings and paintings are fading away by the microbial bacteria .
Unknown facts about caves
- Do you know that astronauts train for space by cave diving? It is best suited for space trainings as they are the least explored landforms.
- The colors used for cave art are red and black . Cavemen used iron oxides for red and charcoal or manganese oxides for black .
- Shamanism is believed to exist in the Old Stone Age and many carve arts depict shaman arts .
- Caves were once home to religious rituals and practises.
- Monks used to meditate by breathing the fresh air near the mouth of the cave.
- The constant temperatures and humidities of caves made cave arts survive for a long time .
- Mayans built temples over caves as they believed that caves were the entrance to the underworld .
Caves are the least yet adventurous forms to be explored. I believe scientific research reveals many hidden secrets of this natural dark beauty. Their cultural and ancient heritage is unbeatable .
I decided to explore caves,so will you ?
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