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The Hinagdanan Cave (Bohol, Philippines)- Abigail Dewyer** The region of Bohol has a maximum rain period and no dry season. It is typically warm and dry along the coast while cold and humid in the internal part of the island province. Typhoons are not very frequent and the average yearly temperature is 82 degrees Fahrenheit. Most precipitation happens during June to October. In this island province, the Hinagdanan cave lies. The cave is made up of limestone and has an under water lake.
 * Cave Worlds Geo

**Hang Son Doong Cave(Phong Nha-Ke Bang, Vietnamese) - Logan Stewart** · Name: Hang Son Doong · Length: 150 meters · Height: 200meters · Biggest cave in the world known · Discovered in 1991 · Explored in2009 · Location: Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park

New Mexico's ice cave- Chandra Best

· Never rises above 31 degrees F · Lava is found in these · The natural layers glisten blue and green · 800 ft. in depth · Most of these were found in lava 1200 years ago

**Giant Crystal Cave-Lee Brown** · Average temp. range is about 136 degrees. · Mouth of the cave is 30 feet wide and 90 feet long · The cave is made of mostly crystals that are as big as 36 feet and weigh up to 55 tons. · The cave is located below the naica mountain in the chihuahuan desert

Wind Cave - Alicia Kudrick · Over 60 degrees · Temperature two feet below the surface is about 1 degrees · Formed by the forces of wind · It is formed with sand and rock · Not very deep · Erosion is in this cave

Mammoth Cave- Sarah Wheaton The Mammoth Cave is the longest cave known to man. There is more than 335 miles of mapped passages. First, the limestone region setting has a large area for potential cave information. The upstream headwaters of Mammoth Cave are out under the Sinkhole Plain. Most of the passages large enough for people to enter are under the escarpment, the plateau, and the flat-topped ridges with their intervening valleys. Springs along the Green River are the downstream outlets of Ground Rivers such as Echo and Roaring Rivers. Second, the Green River valley has deepened slowly due to many interruptions during the ice ages. As a result, the Mammoth Cave contains multiple levels and major passages were formed. Third, the limestone is made up of many different layers with different characteristics; therefore as the underground water seeks lower and lower levels, each layer provided a different path of flow. The result is numerous small to moderate-sized interconnecting passages and only a few large ones. Fourth, vertical shafts are formed where water flows off the edge of the sandstone caprock and seeps down into the limestone below. These shafts are geologically much younger than the horizontal passages, and they intersect these older passages only by chance. The drains of the shafts, however, eventually join the actively forming passages at the water table, therefore adding to the cave's interconnections and complexity. Finally, the caprock on the plateau protects older upper level passages from destruction. This is in contrast to the situation found on the uncapped Sinkhole Plain. There the surface of the land continues to drop, because upper level passages of caves collapse and are eroded away as fast as newer and lower passages are formed at the level of the water table. Usually this collapse results in a "terminal breakdown"; but, sometimes people can enter the cave at the breakdown of jumbled blocks of limestone and sandstone. The Historic Entrance to the cave is easy to enter because water draining off the sandstone caprock has dissolved much of the breakdown, creating a huge opening to one of the largest passages in the Mammoth Cave system. Because the rapidly flowing water here is not saturated with limestone minerals, it cannot deposit the stalactites and stalagmite formations we think of as decorating caves. The cave formations in the Mammoth Cave make it an underground beauty. Water makes this caves “decorations” called speleothems. These decorations include both the familiar gypsum flowers and needles. Although speleothems seem to be growing magically from the ceiling, floor, and walls, they are actually formed from the process of precipitation and dissolution. The two main types are formed out of the major mineral in limestone, calcium carbonate, and by salts of minor component, sulfates. Carbonate speleothems, such as stalactites, are deposited in passages where there is no sandstone caprock above. Here, vertically seeping water dissolves calcium carbonate and can redeposit it if the water drips into an air-filled passage. The water loses carbon dioxide to cave air, like when soda loses its bubbles when opened. The loss makes the water less acidic, so it is unable to hold as much calcium carbonate in solution. The calcium carbonate is then precipitated as travertine speleothems. The shape of the speleothems depends on where and how fast water enters a cave passage. Soda straw stalactites form on the ceiling by slowly dripping water. As each droplet falls it leaves behind a minute deposit around its border and a thin, hollow tube slowly grows toward the floor. If the tube closes and if the water drips quickly, a more conical stalactite forms. Fast-dripping water loses still more carbon dioxide as it falls and deposits a tiny bit of calcium carbonate on the floor to accumulate as a stalagmite growing upward. Because the drops splash when they hit, stalagmites tend to be broader than their "partner" stalactites directly above. If a stalactite and a stalagmite eventually meet, the result is a column. Water seeping along cracks on a sloping ceiling deposits draperies that are often translucent enough to show banding of colors due to traces of different minerals. Iron, the most common element, tints speleothems hues of brown and orange. If water is sufficient, it spreads into thin sheets on the walls and over ledges and deposits flowstone. If there is still carbonate in the solution when water reaches a gentle sloping floor, then rimstone dams and pools may form. The dams start as a deposit site on slight irregularities in the floor. A pool forms behind the dam, which continues to grow along the pool’s rim. Sometimes whole series of rimstone of dams and pools form. Sulfate speleothems, like gypsum flowers, are deposited in dry passages beneath the sandstone caprock. Calcium sulfate is much more soluble than calcium carbonate and can be carried toward cave passages by the slight amount of water that seeps through the sandstone caprock. The water in the damp limestone is slowly drawn by capillary action into dry passages from all directions. As the water evaporates calcium sulfate is deposited. At its most spectacular, this mineral forms white to gold flower-like structures that seem to ooze and curl from the wall, ceiling, and floor much like icing from a cake decorator's nozzle. In fact, gypsum speleothems grow from the base. This phenomenon helps explain why they can form loose crusts or blisters and how gypsum growing in limestone cracks can force off bits of limestone and gypsum from the ceiling and wall. This process is extremely slow, however, and passages that appear to be unstable are usually held together by the shining crystals of gypsum in all the cracks and crevices. Not only is Mammoth Cave one of the premier national parks, it is also an international treasure preserved for all people of the world. It was recognized in October, 1981 by the Scientific and Cultural Organization voted Mammoth Cave National Park to be put on their list of World Heritage Sites. Mammoth Cave was also designated as an International Biosphere Reserve by the same organization in March, 1990. Cave animals also need to adapt to the darkness of the cave. Some animals become totally blind while others that stay in the cave some of the time don’t. While the animals’ sight fades away their ears, nose, and touch is getting stronger. Animals then can hunt better in the dark. Like animals plants also adapt to the dark. They may find some light by the entrance of the cave to grow then they have seedlings and they move to the back of the cave. These plants can then live like this because they have geans from their parent that help then learn and adapt. The Mammoth Cave is also located in Cave City, Kentucky and is about 54 degrees Fahrenheit. It has an average rainfall of 43.5 inches and an average snowfall of 18 inches.

** Wind Cave-South Dakota ** · Winds at the speed of 120 kph · Average temperature is 6.9° C · Relative humidity is 56.7% · Average precipitation is 19.60 in. · Average snowfall 41.1 in. · Average snow depth. 0 in.

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