As you can tell from the attire, today is Seahawk Sunday! It was pouring rain as we made our way from Albuquerque to Fort Stockton, TX, and we drove through some very interesting territory to get there (notorious drug trafficking corridor tour, anyone?) , but by the time we arrived at Carlsbad Caverns, the sun was shining. What an amazing geological find!
The area around the caves was once part of an enormous inland sea. Limestone deposits created by skeletal remains of marine animals left over time were slowly eroded away by naturally occurring sulfuric acid to create one of the world’s largest cave systems. Usually caves are formed as carbonic acid, found in surface water like lakes and streams, dissolves limestone, but at Carlsbad it was/is hydrogen sulfide from nearby oil deposits combined with ground water and microbes that have carved out and continue to carve out the cave system, along cracks in the limestone. Over time, continental shifts pushed this region higher up in the earth’s crust, causing the acid water to drain away, and leaving the caves.
Ken got some great photos of the various formations – so glad we got the camera!
JodockWorldTravel 