#royal cave

[lostlokichaos]

From the Royal Cave at Buchan Caves Reserve, Victoria, Australia: Stalactites and a big stalacmite, a limestone pool with stalactites above and toes bones from a giant marsupial, Palorchestes.

In the first picture, the difference between permeable (allows water through) and impermeable rock is clear. Permeable rock lets the water drip through and form stalactites, while the sections of the cave roof made of impermeable rock are bare of formations. Second, another limestone pool photo. This was a difficult photo to process but I love the reflections of the stalactites in the super-still water of the pool.

Third is a photo of the fossilised toe bones of a Palorchestes, a species of australian megafauna. It fell into the cave some 600 million years ago; when the fossils were discovered, experts were brought in. All but these toe bones were removed to the Melbourne Museum and you can find out more at their website, here: https://museumsvictoria.com.au/website/melbournemuseum/discoverycentre/600-million-years/timeline/quaternary/palorchestes/index.html

Photos taken with a Olympus E-PM2 camera with a 45mm-f1.8 lens and mini flash. Processed via RAWTherapee and GIMP.

[lostlokichaos]

From the Royal Cave at Buchan Caves Reserve, Victoria, Australia: tiny stalactites and blankets, a calcite crystal flow and a limestone jellyfish formation

Photos taken with a Olympus E-PM2 camera with a 45mm-f1.8 lens and mini flash. Processed via RAWTherapee and GIMP.

[lostlokichaos]

From the Royal Cave at Buchan Caves Reserve, Victoria, Australia: a view of the Octopus Cave, some beautiful little wet straws and a limestone pool.

The Octopus Cave connects the Fairy Cave and the Royal Caves, and was how they discovered the Royal Caves. It’s not an easy way through; in fact, it was so difficult to get through they immediately chose to make (via explosives) a new exit/entrance to the Royal Cave!

The limestone pools were a highlight of the Buchan Caves and amazingly beautiful and difficult to photograph! This one has stalacmites growing out of the water as well as more stalacmites and columns beside it and masses of straws and little stalactites above it.

Photos taken with a Olympus E-PM2 camera with a 45mm-f1.8 lens and mini flash. Processed via RAWTherapee and GIMP.

[lostlokichaos]

From the Royal Cave at Buchan Caves Reserve, Victoria, Australia: a limestone ‘blanket’ or ‘curtain’ and a mass of helictites interspersed with straws and stalactites.

The stripes on the blankets are caused by environmental changes, such as ice ages - formations of this size take millions of years to grow. In the second photo, the helictites are those strange squiggly things; they look a bit like worms made of rock! They form when the chanel in the center of a stalactite/straw gets blocked and the water is forced to go sideways, changing the direction of growth. If this keeps happening, they get squigglier and squigglier. 

Photos taken with a Olympus E-PM2 camera with a 45mm-f1.8 lens and mini flash.

[lostlokichaos]

From the Royal Cave at Buchan Caves Reserve, Victoria, Australia: close up of near-white limestone straws (one droplet thick!) and small stalactites and one  of the pinky-orange toned little stalactites and straws.

According to our guide, those thin little straws? They grow at the rate of 1cm per century. (That’s 1inch in 250years for the metric-challenged. ;)) Those little drops at the ends have dissolved calcite in them which they are, ever so slowly, leaving behind as they evaporate.

Photos taken with a Olympus E-PM2 camera with a 45mm-f1.8 lens and mini flash.