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A cave is a natural underground hollow space that is completely dark. The entrance area of caves is home to many creatures such as snakes, mice, spiders, and porcupines. Only a few animals are found deep in caves. Bats often live in caves. Another common creature found in caves is cave crickets.
See the fact file below for more facts about Caves or alternatively download our comprehensive worksheet pack to utilize within the classroom or home environment.
Facts About Caves
- A cave, or cavern as it is sometimes called, is a natural void/hollow in the ground, specifically a space large enough for a human to enter.
- Caves often form by the weathering of rock and often extend deep underground.
- The word cave can also refer to smaller openings such as grottos, sea caves, and rock shelters, and they are called endogenous caves.
- Caves which are deeper than their opening is wide are called exogenous.
- The science of exploration and study of caves and the cave environment is called speleology.
- Visiting or exploring caves for recreation is called caving or spelunking.
- The formation and development of caves are known as speleogenesis.
- The formation of caves occurs over millions of years.
- Caves range widely in size and are formed by various geological processes.
- These include erosion by water, tectonic forces, microorganisms, pressure, and atmospheric influences.
- It is estimated that a cave cannot be more than 3,000 meters (9,800 ft) vertically beneath the surface due to the pressure of overlying rocks.
- Most caves are formed in limestone by dissolution (the process of dissolving or breaking apart).
- Caves can also be classified as active and relict.
- Active caves have water flowing through them.
- Relict caves do not have water flowing through them, though water may be retained in them.
- Types of active caves include;
- inflow caves, into which a stream sinks
- outflow caves, from which a stream emerges
- through caves, which are traversed by a stream
Different Types of Caves
Primary Caves
These caves formed at the same time as the surrounding rock. Lava tubes, formed through volcanic activity, are the most common primary caves. As lava flows downhill, its surface cools and solidifies. Hot liquid lava continues to flow under that crust, and if most of it flows out, a hollow tube remains, and a primary cave comes into existence. Other caves formed through volcanic activity include rifts, lava molds, and open vertical conduits, among others.
Sea Caves
Sea caves are found along coasts around the world. They are formed by wave action in zones of weakness in sea cliffs. Sea caves are generally around 5 to 50 meters (16 to 164 ft) in length but may exceed 300 meters (980 ft).
Corrasional or Erosional Caves
Corrasional or erosional caves are those that form entirely by erosion from flowing streams carrying rocks and sediments. These can form in any type of rock, including hard rocks such as granite. There must be some zone of weakness to guide the water, such as a fault or joint.Β
Glacier Caves
Glacier caves form by melting ice and flowing water within and under glaciers. The cavities are usually influenced by the very slow flow of the ice, which tends to collapse the caves again.Β
Fracture Caves
Fracture caves form when layers of more soluble minerals, such as gypsum dissolve from between layers of less soluble rock. These rocks fracture and collapse into blocks of stone.
Talus Caves
Talus caves are formed by the openings among large boulders that have fallen down into a random heap, often at the bases of cliffs. These unstable deposits are called talus and may be subject to frequent landslides and rockfalls.
Anchialine Caves
Anchialine caves are often coastal. They contain a mixture of freshwater and seawater and occur in many parts of the world, and often contain highly specialized fauna.
Solution Caves
Solutional caves or karst caves are the most frequently occurring caves. Such caves form in rock that is soluble. Most occur in limestone, but they can also form in other rocks, including dolomite, chalk, gypsum, marble, and salt. Rock is dissolved by natural acid in groundwater that seeps through faults and joints. Over time cracks enlarge to become caves and cave systems.
Large and abundant solutional caves are located in limestone. Limestone caves are sometimes adorned with calcium carbonate formations produced through slow precipitation. These include stalactites, stalagmites, and columns.
Distribution
Caves are found throughout the world. Explored caves are found widely in Europe, Asia, North America, and Oceania but are sparse in South America, Africa, and Antarctica.Β
- The cave system with the greatest total length of surveyed passage is Mammoth Cave in Kentucky, the United States, which is 676 km (420 mi).
- The longest surveyed underwater cave, and second-longest overall, is Sistema Sac Actun in Yucatan, Mexico. It is 335 km (208 mi).
- The deepest known cave, measured from its highest entrance to its lowest point, is Veryovkina Cave in Abkhazia, Georgia. This has a depth of 2,204 m (7,231 ft), and was the first cave to be explored to a depth of more than 2 km (1.2 mi).Β
Cave Fauna and Flora
- Cave-inhabiting animals are categorized as follows;
- Troglobites (cave-limited species). These are unusual organisms. Aquatic troglobites include cavefish and cave salamanders.
- Troglophiles (species that can live their entire lives in caves but also occur in other environments) Some examples of troglophiles include beetles, worms, frogs, salamanders, crickets, and some crustaceans like crayfish.
- Trogloxenes (species that use caves but cannot complete their life cycle fully in caves). Examples of trogloxene/subtroglophile species are bats, rats, raccoons, and some Opiliones (harvestmen/daddy longlegs spider)
- Accidentals (animals not in one of the previous categories).
- Caves are visited by many surface-living animals, including humans. These are usually relatively short-lived incursions due to the lack of light and sustenance.
- Cave entrances often have typical florae. Mosses, ferns, and/or liverworts grow on the ground at cave entrances. These plants like the cool, moist environment provided by the cave entrance.
- More than 1150 fungal species in 550 genera have been discovered in caves and mines worldwide by 2017.
Did You Know
- Throughout history, primitive peoples have made use of caves. There is numerous evidence of early human species inhabiting caves from at least one million years ago in different parts of the world, including China and South Africa.
- In southern Africa, early modern humans regularly used sea caves as shelter starting about 180,000 years ago when they learned to exploit the sea for the first time.
- Throughout southern Africa, Australia, and Europe, early modern humans used caves and rock shelters as sites for rock art.
- Some caves in China were used for shelter, while other caves were used for burials.
- The easy way to remember the difference between stalagmites and stalactites is stalagmites grow up from the floor (they might reach the top), while stalactites hang from the ceiling (they have to hold on tight).
Caves Worksheets
This bundle contains 11 ready-to-use Antarctica Worksheets that are perfect for students who want to learn more about caves which are a natural underground hollow space that is completely dark. The entrance area of caves is home to many creatures such as snakes, mice, spiders & porcupines.
Download includes the following worksheets:
- Cave Facts
- Word Jumble
- Cave Crossword Puzzle
- Cavern Creatures
- Cave Formation
- Fact or Fake
- Cave Word Search
- Famous Caves
- Draw and Describe
- Caves Around The World
- Spelunker Checklist
Frequently Asked Questions
Do caves form quickly or slowly?
Caves take between 10,000 and 100,000 years to form/make. Water mixes with carbon dioxide to slowly erode limestone rocks to form underground caverns/caves.
Which is the biggest cave?
The Mammoth Cave in Kentucky has more than 400 miles of passages, making it one of the largest caves in the world.
What is inside caves?
Some caves are filled with air, and others are filled with water. Caves often contain sand, mud, clay, silt, and creatures.
Is there a famous sea cave?
The Blue Grotto in Capri, Italy, is one of the most well-known sea caves in the world. It is only accessible by rowboat and is illuminated by the sunlight passing through an underwater cavity.
What is the most famous cave painting?
The most famous cave painting is The Great Hall of the Bulls, where bulls, horses, and deers are depicted. One of the bulls is 5.2 meters (17 feet) long, the largest animal discovered so far in any cave.
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Use With Any Curriculum
These worksheets have been specifically designed for use with any international curriculum. You can use these worksheets as-is, or edit them using Google Slides to make them more specific to your own student ability levels and curriculum standards.