Caves

column

These natural holes in the Earth form over thousands or even millions of years!There are lots of different types of caves, such as ice, sea, limestone, chalk, salt, and even lava caves.2

In many limestone caves, stalactites grow slowly from the ceiling as calcite from dripping water hardens.These are unique species of fish, spiders, millipedes, crabs, scorpions, and other creatures that live their whole lives in caves.4

Caving is an adventure sport that involves walking, crawling, climbing, abseiling, and even swimming and rafting through caves!For example, limestone caves form as acidic rain dissolves rock.1

Different caves form in different ways.