In southeastern New Mexico lies one of the earliest discovered cave chambers in the United States. The Carlsbad Caverns isn’t the largest cavern in the US, that’s Mammoth Cave in Kentucky, but it certainly is one of the most beautiful limestone caverns I’ve ever seen. A few days ago I reserved a ticket for a section of the cave known as the King’s Palace (recreation.gov). The park ranger led tour left early in the morning, and after taking an elevator down 750 feet I found myself surrounded by cave formations.
Cheat sheet for those who forget: Stalactite has a “C” so they grow from the Ceiling. Stalagmite has a “G” so they grow from the ground. These are both speleothems, which means that calcium carbonate, water, and carbon dioxide form calcium bicarbonate and then the reaction reverses to deposit calcium carbonate as the water evaporates in cave chambers to produce:
Fun material science fact: the cave was initially popular not for it’s calcium carbonate but for the large amounts of bat poop called “guano” that were deposited within the caves. Yes, the Brazilian flat tailed bat manufactured some of the most coveted fertilizer for the central California agriculture industry. But this was short lived.
Our tour guide talked about Jim White, one of the early cave explorers and the very first park ranger there and how he explored the caves in the 1920’s by himself in the early days. She then turned off all the cave lights and lit a candle. Wow, was it dark, scary, and also beautiful in there.
To summarize the feelings of peering into the abyss, I shall quote Mr. White who once said, “I crept between cactus until I lay at the brink of the chasm, and looked down. During all the year I’d known of the place, I’d never taken the trouble to do this. There was no bottom in sight! I shall never forget the feeling of aweness it gave me.”
