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Cave Basics

Cave Basics. Do you know what’s going on in Timpanogos Caves ? By: Diantha Smith, 2009. How did fossils get in the caves?. The fossils show us that Utah was once part of a shallow sea where fish and other sea creatures lived.

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Cave Basics

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  1. Cave Basics Do you know what’s going on in Timpanogos Caves? By: Diantha Smith, 2009

  2. How did fossils get in the caves? • The fossils show us that Utah was once part of a shallow sea where fish and other sea creatures lived. • When the creatures died their bodies floated to the bottom and after a long time huge layers of shells, plants and organisms built up. • All those layers smashing on top of each other made the sedimentary rock limestone. • Timpanogos Cave is in a layer of Deseret Limestone.

  3. What made the holes in the rock? • As the continents shifted northward, huge plates of rock smashed together forming mountains and new fault lines. • Water flowed into the faults from underground lakes and/or rivers. • Water picked up carbon dioxide from the air or from plants in the ground and made a weak acid called carbonic acid. • Carbonic acid ate away the rock until it created an opening to the outside air.

  4. How did the caves get so high? • Pressure built up along the fault lines and the land began to uplift. • The cave was pushed higher and higher in the mountains. • At the same time, the river cut the canyon deeper and deeper. • The mountains are continuing to grow higher, but erosion is breaking them down at the same time.

  5. How does water shape the rocks in the caves? • Stalactite • Stalagmite • Column • Drapery/Bacon • Flowstone • Helictite • Popcorn Stalactite Drapery/Bacon Dripping Water Stalagmite Flowing Water Column Flowstone Helictites Popcorn Seeping or Evaporating Water

  6. What lives in caves? Not TICA specificallyhttp://animals.howstuffworks.com/animal-facts/cave-biology2.htm

  7. What is the future of the caves? • Formations grow slowly, but as long as water is moving through the cave they will get bigger and bigger. • Stalactites and stalagmites grow together to make columns. • Eventually the entire cave mayfill up with calcite. • Or the outside rock may erode away to expose the cave.

  8. THE END • Sources • http://animals.howstuffworks.com/animal-facts/cave-biology2.htm • http://www.enchantedlearning.com/geology/rocks/glossary/ • http://www.scienceviews.com/parks/timpgeologichistory.html

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