Geological Wonders: Cave of the Mounds

Spent a fascinating hour this past weekend touring the Cave of the Mounds, a national natural landmark in Blue Mounds, Wisconsin. A mysterious and alien-like world of rock, crystals, light and dark, shadows and reflections, patterns and textures! Endless fodder for stimulating your imagination and appreciation for the wonders of mother nature.

The Cave began forming over a million years ago as acidic water dissolved the limestone bedrock far below the surface. It is difficult to imagine the time it took for the large caverns to be dissolved within rock that is itself believed to be over 400-500 million years old!

When surface water seeps through soil and then through porous limestone rock, it dissolves small amounts of limestone. Every droplet of water entering the cave below carries dissolved calcium carbonate. As the water drops enter the air-filled cave, this calcium carbonate is precipitated into the form of speleothems. Each drop leaves calcite crystals on the cave ceiling or walls or floor. The crystals adhere to each other and grow into different kinds of formations.

Stalactites reach down from the ceiling, stalagmites tower upward from the floor. Speleothems grow slowly. The rate of growth depends on how fast the water flows and on how much dissolved calcium carbonate it contains. It can take from 50 to 150 years to deposit a cubic inch of "cave onyx."

CAVE SHADOWS by Soul Full Sanctuary Photography

"We find beauty not in the thing itself but in the patterns of shadows, the light and the darkness, that one thing against another creates." ― Jun'ichirō Tanizaki

Stalactites are speleothems which form on the ceiling of a cave. All stalactites begin as hollow circles when crystals of calcite form around the outer surface of a droplet of water hanging from the ceiling. As each new drop of water appears, it leaves another crystal ring. Soon long crystal soda straws hang from the ceiling.

CRYSTAL SODA STRAWS by Soul Full Sanctuary Photography

Sheets of flowstone cover the walls.

STICKY BUN by Soul Full Sanctuary Photography

"Creativity involves breaking out of established patterns in order to look at things in a different way."

~ Edward De Bono

Chambers of curving rock disappear into the distance underground. The shapes and colors of the walls and ceiling are mirrored in a large reflecting pool, as if in a dream river.

DREAM RIVER by Soul Full Sanctuary Photography

Anyone looking down this long tunnel begins to wonder where else the Cave leads, whether the rooms we visit are part of a much larger cave system with unseen possibilities of beauty and color. To date, efforts to find the link between the known passageways of Cave of the Mounds and other possible caves have been unsuccessful. However, the hope of uncovering other vistas like the dream river room remains real.

CAVE TEXTURES by Soul Full Sanctuary Photography

"The observation of nature is part of an artist's life, it enlarges his form [and] knowledge, keeps him fresh and from working only by formula, and feeds inspiration" ~ Henry Moore

REFLECTING POOL by Soul Full Sanctuary Photography

"The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead: his eyes are closed"