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Name : Carlsbad Caverns
fix : New Mexico
“Soda straw” stalactites (left) and a gypsum flower (right) hang from the ceiling of caves at Carlsbad Caverns National Park. Soda straws are hollow tubes of calcite.
Coordinates:32.13721555956437 , -104.5427096972203
Why it ’s incredible : The caverns hold astounding limestone formations and gypsum crystals .
Carlsbad Caverns is a maze of underground caves born from an ancient tropical Witwatersrand . The cavern house North America ’s big cave bedchamber , " the Big Room , " which tout a floor area of 8.2 acres — equivalent to more than six football game fields .
The “Temple of the Sun” formation in Carlsbad Caverns' Big Room cave features a column surrounded by hundreds of stalactites.(Image credit: NPS Photo/Peter Jones)
The caverns model within the Guadalupe Mountains on the border between New Mexico and Texas . More than 300 caves exist in this region , 119 of which are located within the boundary of Carlsbad Caverns National Park . The cave system is so across-the-board and intricate it is ofttimes liken to Swiss cheeseflower , according to theNational Park Service(NPS ) .
Related : Cave of Crystals : The mortal cavern in Mexico dubbed ' the Sistine Chapel of crystal '
Carlsbad Caverns first began to take shape 265 million years ago , when what is now southeastern New Mexico sat on the shores of a shallow inland ocean . The tropical clime at the time result to the formation of big Witwatersrand made of leech and alga .
Varying water levels of cave pools aid in the formation of lily pads. Lily pads can be found standing on top of stalagmites, hanging from stalactites, or stuck between the two as part of a column.(Image credit: NPS Photo/Daniel Chailloux & Peter Bosted )
A shift in the climate toward the close of the Permian period ( 299 million to 251 million years ago ) then dried up this sea , and as the reefs emerged from the H2O , sediment gradually piled up and buried them .
A stop of geologic upheaval that started around 20 million years ago forced the Witwatersrand and their thick sediment blanket up , chip in rise to the Guadalupe Mountains . The summit of around 8,750 foot ( 2,667 meters ) reveal the crust to high winds and other corrosion factors that wear out away the sediment , leaving behind the ancient Rand . grounds of the Witwatersrand ’s maritime chronicle is still visible in the Carlsbad Caverns today in the form of fossilized ammonoid , snail , nautiloids , bivalve and trilobite .
The caverns themselves formed roughly 12 million old age ago , as a result of wearing away within the Witwatersrand , which is mostly made of limestone . Unlike most caves in the existence , which typically constitute from the top down , the Carlsbad Caverns opened from the bottom up via sulfuric acid dissipation .
The “Doll’s Theater” is home to a large collection of soda straw stalactites and columns. These formations are extremely small and extraordinarily fragile.(Image credit: NPS Photo/Peter Jones )
Sulfuric acid is the intersection of sulfur , oxygen and piss . The Guadalupe Mountains are located near oil fields that discharged sulfur into the groundwater , creating a giant and aggressive " Elvis bathroom " around the limestone , according to NPS .
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Massive gypsum “chandeliers” can be found in the so-called Chandelier Ballroom.(Image credit: NPS Photo/Max Wisshak )
— Racetrack Playa : The home of Death Valley ’s mysterious ' sailing Lucy Stone '
Leftover minerals from this acid bath give way rise to gypsum quartz glass , which formed giant blocks and delicate " flower " in the cavern . Rain and snowmelt that seeped into the caves duringthe last frosting agealso go to work on the limestone , creating stalactites , stalagmites and telling column inside the chambers . There are several other case of cave formations in the Carlsbad Caverns — including soda ash straws , drape , lily inkpad , cave pearls and cave popcorn .
In New time , few of these limestone features are still wet enough to keep growing , given the current desiccated clime of the region surrounding the caverns .
Cave pearls can be found in abundance in some areas of Lechuguilla Cave at Carlsbad Caverns. Cave pearls form when water drips down and flows off too fast to form a stalagmite.(Image credit: NPS Photo/Gavin Newman )
Water dripping from the ceiling of caves can create smooth formations called draperies that hang like curtains.(Image credit: NPS Photo/Shawn Thomas )
Cave popcorn on the ceiling of a chamber at Carlsbad Caverns. Cave popcorn is a common cave formation.(Image credit:Chris Howes/Wild Places Photographyvia Alamy)
