#cave bacon

[nostosphotography]

Texas Cave Trail (2026) Natural Bridge Caverns

[earthstory]

Cave bacon is a real thing.

A recent post by Loz (see here: http://tmblr.co/Zyv2Js1VQvPdO) referred to something I genuinely hadn’t heard of before; cave bacon. Here it is for everyone to see; a geologic feature named after bacon. Yup, bacon.

Cave bacon is a type of speleothem, a rock formed out of calcium carbonate that precipitates from water flowing through a cave. The same process creates features like stalactites and stalagmites. Cave bacon forms when, instead of dripping from a specific point, the water drips along the full length of a small ridge. As the carbonate minerals precipitate, that ridge grows with time into a thin, delicate sheet with folds and kinks in it that follow the path of the original ridge. They can grow outward from the walls of a cave or even from the ceiling. Because this feature grows by flowing water, this rock type is also called flowstone.

These structures are also known as ribbons or cave draperies due to their delicate, thin, and folded shapes. Cave Bacon specifically also requires alternating layers with different colors due to small changes in the composition of the flowing waters.

So there you have it, cave bacon. If you’ve gotten this far and you don’t click like and share this post I’m pretty sure that you’re not just making a bad statement about my writing, but you’re taking on bacon as well.

-JBB

Image credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/benfloro/6849989359/ http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:CaveBacon.jpg

More: http://www.goodearthgraphics.com/virtcave/drapery/drapery.html? http://mentalfloss.com/article/23228/bacon-made-cave

[crownsofbeauty]

Cave bacon

[itssedimentary]

Speleothems

Imagine that there’s a faucet that’s slowly dripping. If the faucet is left to drip long enough, you’ll notice that it will leave behind deposits from the dissolved minerals in the water. Now, imagine if you left your faucet dripping long enough to create a mineral deposit that was a meter-plus tall. This process is the basic mechanism behind how speleothems form.

Speleothems are cave formations built by secondary mineral deposition. The majority of speleothems are composed of calcium carbonate (CaCO3) derived from the limestone or dolostone bedrock that comprise a karst. 

As rainwater interacts with CO2 in the atmosphere and in soils, it becomes weakly acidic. When this water travels down through calcium carbonate bedrock, it reacts with and dissolves the bedrock via carbonate dissolution reactions. When the solution reaches the cave, the lower partial pressure in the cave will cause degassing and drive precipitation of CaCO3, developing speleothems over time.

The best-known types of speleothems are dripstones formed by drips of mineral saturated water, just like from a leaky faucet. Drip by drip, dripstones grow either from the roof down or the ground up. Typically, a dripstone will grow less than 10 cm every thousand years. Stalactites hang down from the ceiling, while stalagmites grow up from the ground. (An easy way to remember the difference is that stalactites hold tight on the ceiling while stalagmites might grow to reach the roof.)

Stalactites and stalagmites both come in various forms, depending on the supply and location of their water source. The most delicate type of stalactites are soda straws, which are very long, thin and cylindrical in shape. If a stalactite and a stalagmite grow to reach one another, they will fuse to create a column. Columns reach from the floor to the roof of a cave, making them the most formidable of all speleothems.

In addition to dripstones, flowstones are another type of speleothem. Flowstones are deposited from thin sheets of flowing water, rather than discrete drops. Flowstones tend to coat cave walls and floors. Deposits can even form ‘draperies’ under hanging portions of a wall. These draperies may be layered and slightly transparent, giving them the moniker of cave “bacon.”

Photo sources in order: [x], [x], [x], [x], [x], [x], [x]

[nostosphotography]

Texas Cave Trail (2026) Cave Without a Name

[gourmet-camper]

Wind Cave, SD ***

Wind Cave, SD ***

Pros: great wildlife outside the caves, an interesting cave formation called ‘box-work‘, one of the longest caves nearby in Jewel Cave National Monument

Cons: not much hiking in the park, but Black Hills National Forest is nearby – including Crazy Horse Memorial

View On WordPress

[dream-catcher-photography]

Cave bacon

[earthstory]

Cave bacon is a real thing. A recent post by Loz (see here: http://tmblr.co/Zyv2Js1VQvPdO) referred to something I genuinely hadn’t heard of before; cave bacon. Here it is for everyone to see; a geologic feature named after bacon. Yup, bacon. Cave bacon is a type of speleothem, a rock formed out of calcium carbonate that precipitates from water flowing through a cave. The same process creates features like stalactites and stalagmites. Cave bacon forms when, instead of dripping from a specific point, the water drips along the full length of a small ridge. As the carbonate minerals precipitate, that ridge grows with time into a thin, delicate sheet with folds and kinks in it that follow the path of the original ridge. They can grow outward from the walls of a cave or even from the ceiling. Because this feature grows by flowing water, this rock type is also called flowstone. These structures are also known as ribbons or cave draperies due to their delicate, thin, and folded shapes. Cave Bacon specifically also requires alternating layers with different colors due to small changes in the composition of the flowing waters. So there you have it, cave bacon. If you’ve gotten this far and you don’t click like and share this post I’m pretty sure that you’re not just making a bad statement about my writing, but you’re taking on bacon as well. -JBB Image credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/benfloro/6849989359/ http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:CaveBacon.jpg More: http://www.goodearthgraphics.com/virtcave/drapery/drapery.html http://mentalfloss.com/article/23228/bacon-made-cave