And also I haven't played with my Wii for quite some while, and it's beckoning me over.
Also, I have to admit, I came upon something interesting yesterday, while I was searching the internet for off limit places.
There were a few caves posted besides the other things and I thought it would be a better idea if I would make a whole post about the most unique caves from around the world.
1. Lechuguilla Cave
It's located in New Mexico, and it's the fifth longest cave of the world. It is also the deepest in the United States. The thing is, it's not famous for these, but because of its geology, unique formations and its pristine condition. No one is allowed to enter it besides scientific researchers, and exploration teams (the latter are only allowed for mapping the cave, since it has so many parts it's not fully explored). Since 1986 these explorers mapped around 200 km (125 miles) of passages. Its depth is now around 500 m (1600 feet). The cave is full with stalagmites and stalactites. It has lots of gypsum,
and lemon-yellow sulfur deposits.
Rare bacteria (chemolithoautotrophic) are believed to occur in the cave. These bacteria feed on the sulfur, iron, and manganese minerals and may assist in enlarging the cave and determining the shapes of some unusual speleothems. (Speleothems are mineral formations in caves. Stalactites and stalagmites are two types of speleothems). Other studies indicate that some microbes may have medicinal qualities that are beneficial to humans.
2. Cave of Crystals
This cave is located in Mexico, and it contains the worlds largest crystals. These gypsum beams are as long as 11 meters (36 feet). The cave is around 300 meters deep (950 feet). The cavity in which these crystals are, is about 10 m (30 feet) wide and 30m (90 feet) long.This cave was found in 2000 by a pair of brothers who were drilling in the mine located near this cavity. (Naica mine, that yields tons of lead and silver) It takes 20 minutes to get to the cave entrance by van through a winding mine shaft. It gets hotter with depth, because it lies above an intrusion of magma about 1.6 kilometers (1 mile) below the surface. Within the cave itself, the temperature leaps to 44 degrees Celsius (112 degrees Fahrenheit) with 90 to 100 percent humidity—hot enough that each visit carries the risk of heatstroke.
3. Majlis al Jinn Cave
It's located in Oman, and Majlis al jinn has the second largest cavern in the world. It was discovered in 1983 by a geologist who was studying water resources around the place. It is about 310x225 meters, and its ceiling is 125 meters high. The roof is about 40 meters thick, the volume of the chamber is approximately 4,000,000 cubic meters, and the floor area is 58,000 square meters. In fact, it's so big, the pyramid of Giza from Egypt (the largest Egyptian pyramid) can fit in it almost exactly. You can access it by a rope trough the ceiling.
4.Waitomo Glowworm Cave
This cave is located in New Zealand. The local Maori people had known of its existence before, but it was first explored more deeply in 1887. The limestone formations in the Waitomo Glowworm Caves were formed when the region was still under the ocean about 30 million years ago. It is composed of fossilized corals, sea shells, fish skeletons, and many small marine organisms on the sea beds. The cave is known for its population of glowworms, Arachnocampa luminosa. These glowworms are found exclusively in New Zealand and around the size of an average mosquito. They spin a nest out of silk on the ceiling of the cave and then hang down. Then, the larva glows to attract prey into its threads, so that the roof of a cave is covered with larva can look remarkably like the heavens at night. A hungry larva glows brighter than one which has just eaten.
5. Eisriesenwelt Ice Caves
The cave is named quite appropriately, since it translates to "World of the Ice Giants". It is located in Austria, and although there are quite a few ice caves around the world, this one is probably the largest.(It is about 42 km long) It was discovered in 1879 by a natural scientist from Salzburg (The cave is located at about 40 km south of Salzburg... dang, if I knew...). The locals, who knew of its existence refused to enter it, because they thought it was the entrance to Hell. In 1955 they built a cable car in it, shortening the 90 minutes climb to 3 minutes. Only a little part of it is open for tourists but it's probably enough to get the hang of it.
