COOL CARLSBAD
SPELEOTHEM
Frostwork on coralloids, King’s
Palace Trail, Carlsbad Caverns. Available information indicates that
frostwork forms by evaporation of water slowly seeping from cave walls or
speleothem surfaces.
Cave pearls, Lower Cave (probably from
the Rookery), Carlsbad Caverns (NPS public display photo). Cave pearls
are (typically) spherical to subspherical, concentrically layered structures
formed in some cave pools. Cave pearls require some object to act as a
nucleus for growth of mineral precipitates. The nucleus can be a sediment
grain, rock fragment, speleothem fragment, or biogenic debris. Cave pearl
growth requires dripping water, a shallow cave pool setting, and
supersaturation of pool water. Dripping prevents the cave pearls from
becoming cemented to the substrate, although that can & frequently does
happen.
Veiled Statue - a large,
flowstone-covered column in the Green Lake Room, King’s Palace Trail, Carlsbad
Caverns.
Temple of the Sun, a large flowstone-covered
composite column, near western wall of the Big Room, Carlsbad Caverns.
Crystal Spring Dome (Big Room, Carlsbad
Caverns), a large, flowstone-covered stalagmite composed of nice white
travertine. This feature is still actively growing, unlike most of
Carlsbad's speleothem.
Crystal Spring Dome - this is the basal margin
of the large stalagmite shown above. The almost-smooth upper portions of
the photo are flowstone (travertine), with many small stalactites (dripstone)
forming along the lower margin.
Drip pool at base of Crystal Spring
Dome. Travertine surrounding the pool consists of many small-scale
coralloids (cave popcorn).
Bulbous stalagmite (?) or eroded
flowstone/dripstone (?), near Crystal Spring Dome, Big Room, Carlsbad Caverns.
Rock of Ages - a large,
flowstone-covered column along the eastern wall of the Big Room, Carlsbad
Caverns.
Dolls Theater (Big Room, Carlsbad
Caverns), consisting of many columns and stalactites.
Chinese Theater (Big Room, Carlsbad
Caverns), consisting of flowstone-covered columns and stalactites (some with
coralloids/cave popcorn).
Chinese Theater (Big Room, Carlsbad
Caverns), consisting of flowstone-covered columns & stalagmites &
stalactites.
Big Room - partial view of the
largest cave room at Carlsbad, and one of the largest single cave rooms on
Earth.
Big Room, partial view.