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Speleothems inside Optymistychna Cave. The entire cave lies under a 2 km square area in a layer of Neogene period gypsum that is less than 30 metres (98 ft) thick. [7] [9] The passages tend to be fairly small, no more than 3 metres (10 ft) wide and 1.5 metres (5 ft) tall for most, although at intersections they can be up to 10 metres (33 ft) tall. [7]
Stalagmites, stalactites, and draperies by a pool. Lechuguilla Cave offers more than extreme size. It holds a variety of rare speleothems, including lemon-yellow sulfur deposits, 20-foot (6.1 m) gypsum chandeliers, 20-foot (6.1 m) gypsum hairs and beards, 15-foot (4.6 m) soda straws, hydromagnesite balloons, cave pearls, subaqueous helictites, rusticles, U-loops, and J-loops.
Gypsum is a common mineral, with thick and extensive evaporite beds in association with sedimentary rocks. Deposits are known to occur in strata from as far back as the Archaean eon. [16] Gypsum is deposited from lake and sea water, as well as in hot springs, from volcanic vapors, and sulfate solutions in veins.
The gypsum is mostly in the form of alabaster. There are several types of alabaster found at the site, including pink, white, and the rare black alabaster. This black alabaster can be found in only three veins in the world, one each in Oklahoma, Italy and China. Another form of gypsum can be found in the many selenite crystal formations. [4]
Orda Cave (Ординская, Ordinskaya) is a gypsum crystal cave found underneath the western Ural Mountains. The mouth is near the shore of the Kungur River just outside Orda, Perm Krai in Russia. The cave system stretches over 5.1 kilometres (3.2 mi) with around 4.8 kilometres (3.0 mi) over the overall length being under water. [1]
When the overall temperature of the cave started to drop below 56 °C (133 °F), the hydrothermal and sedimentary anhydrite crystals dissolved, and gypsum (CaSO 4 · 2 H 2 O) crystals formed. [7] The hydrated sulfate gypsum crystallized at an extremely slow rate over the course of at least 500,000 years, forming the enormous crystals found ...
Halite is deposited on the surface of the sabkha and gypsum and aragonite precipitate in the subsurface [14] via capillary action from brines brought up from the water table. [10] In drier parts of the sabkha the gypsum can be altered to anhydrite and the aragonite can be dolomitized diagenetically. [13]
Gypsum caves are caves found in evaporite deposits of gypsum. Pages in category "Gypsum caves" The following 16 pages are in this category, out of 16 total.