CAVES

TYPES OF CAVES

• Ice Cave
• Lava Cave
• Sea Cave
• Glacier Cave
• Solutional Cave

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Lava cave, cave or cavity formed as a result of surface solidification of a lava flow during the last stages of its activity. A frozen crust may form over still mobile and actively flowing liquid rock as a result of surface cooling. A dwindling supply of lava may then cause the molten material to drain out from under this crust and leave long cylindrical tunnels. Volcanic gases from bubbles in the lava collect under the tunnel roof and support it. As this gas mixes with air from vents in the roof, more intense heating from oxidation may raise the temperature sufficiently to re-fuse the ceiling rock, which then drips with the remelted lava. Such lava may congeal in place to form rude stalactites. Caves of this type commonly have solidified lava streams along their floors; in places, the roofs may collapse to form pits or depressions on the ground surface.

Lava Cave in Hawaii

LAVA CAVE STALACTITES

Tubular lava stalactites are common in many lava tubes and have a concentric tubular shape, are (initially) hollow, and range in diameter from . 4 to 1 cm. They are formed by "segregations extruded by expanding gas into cave passages" (Allred & Allred, 1998) as the lava tube cools.

LAVA CAVE LIFE FORMS

The Kauaʻi cave wolf spider (Adelocosa anops, the only species in the genus Adelocosa), also known to local residents as the "blind spider", is only known to occur in a few caves in a lava flow with an area of 10.5 km2 (4.1 sq mi) in the Kōloa–Poʻipū region of Kauaʻi, Hawaiian Islands, and only six populations are known to exist. While their nearest surface-dwelling relatives have large eyes, this species has completely lost its eyes. They reach a body length around 20 mm (0.8 in), and are reddish brown and completely harmless to people. Unlike most wolf spiders, it produces only 15 to 30 eggs per clutch. The female carries the egg sac in her mouthparts until the spiderlings hatch.

BLUE GROTTO CAVE

TOP 5 LARGEST CAVES

• Mammoth Cave
• Systema Sac Actun
• Jewel Cave
• Systema Ox Bel Ha
• Shuanghedong Cave Network