Word: caved
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...newly carved cave fills with air, drops of water seep in through the walls and ceiling. Minerals trapped in these trickles begin to precipitate out of solution, hardening into a stunning array of underground ornaments. Stalactites drip down from the ceiling. Stalagmites creep up from the floor. Miniature forests made of twisted branches of calcium carbonate stretch out from the walls. Many of the formations are so delicate that they can easily be destroyed by the presence of humans...
However, this scenario never really fit one celebrated site -- Carlsbad Cavern. "At Mammoth Cave, you can follow the path of the water from beginning to end -- just like some kind of elaborate plumbing system," says Carol Hill, who works with the University of New Mexico and is a legendary figure in cave science. "But you can't do that for Carlsbad. The cave keeps stopping where it shouldn...
...fossil remains of primitive bacteria that had thrived in the once hostile environment. Using sulfur instead of sunlight as their source of energy, these organisms actually bolstered the acid's power to etch rock. Descendants of these strange microbes have recently been found and are being studied at Lechuguilla Cave, not far from Carlsbad...
...piecing together the sulfurous origins of Carlsbad and other caves, speleologists have done more than satisfy scientific curiosity. They have also laid the foundation for some promising new ideas in oil exploration. Hydrogen sulfide, which is sometimes emitted as buried organic material decomposes, often appears in petroleum fields. Core samples of rock produced during drilling suggest that some oil and gas deposits are trapped within ancient cave systems that formed hundreds of millions of years ago. "So, about five years ago, some of us started looking in modern caves to see what they could tell us about where to hunt...
These efforts at prevention will not eliminate accidents, however. "One of the biggest fears I have now is highway and railroad spills," says Nicholas Crawford, director of the Center for Cave and Karst Studies at Western Kentucky. Two years ago, a freight train carrying hazardous chloroform jumped the tracks near Lewisburg, Tennessee. "If that train had derailed in Bowling Green, it would have been a catastrophe," Crawford says...