1. The Work of Groundwater

2. Travertine Terraces (Yellowstone Park, Wyoming)

3. Terrace Formation
As ground water seeps slowly downward and laterally, it comes in contact with hot gases charged with carbon dioxide rising from the magma chamber.
Some carbon dioxide is readily dissolved in the hot water to form a weak carbonic acid solution.

4. Solution ---> Dissolution
This hot, acidic solution dissolves great quantities of limestone as it works up through the rock layers to the surface hot springs.
Once exposed to the open air, some of the carbon dioxide escapes from solution. Also the air is generally cooler. As these factors happen, limestone can no longer remain in solution.
A solid mineral reforms and is deposited as the travertine that forms the terraces.

5. Travertine Terraces at Pamukkale, Turkey - UNESCO world heritage

6. The Fly geyser (hot artesian well) travertine pool terraces
The Fly geyser (hot artesian well) travertine pool terraces. Location: Black Rock Desert, Nevada

7. The Fly geyser (hot artesian well) travertine pool terraces
The Fly geyser (hot artesian well) travertine pool terraces. Location: Black Rock Desert, Nevada

8. The Fly geyser (hot artesian well) travertine pool terraces
The Fly geyser (hot artesian well) travertine pool terraces. Location: Black Rock Desert, Nevada

9. The Fly geyser (hot artesian well) travertine pool terraces
The Fly geyser (hot artesian well) travertine pool terraces. Location: Black Rock Desert, Nevada

10. Where are Coal River Springs??

11. On September 17, 1990, a 16 square kilometre area in the southeast Yukon encompassing Coal River Springs was officially dedicated as the Yukon's second Territorial Park and first Ecological Reserve.

12. Throughout centuries of hunting, fishing and trapping in the Coal River watershed, the Kaska Dene people admired the fragile beauty of Coal River Springs and their delicate mineral formations.

13. Karst Landscapes
Karst topography is a landscape shaped by the dissolution of a soluble layer or layers of bedrock, usually carbonate rock such as limestone or dolomite.

14. A Little Chemistry!
The carbonic acid that causes these features is formed as rain passes through the atmosphere picking up CO2, which dissolves in the water. Once the rain reaches the ground, it may pass through soil that may provide further CO2 to form a weak carbonic acid solution: H2O + CO2 → H2CO3.

15. Evolution of the Karst Landscape can take many years

16. Sinkholes start the process

17. Aerial view of a sinkhole in an urban area in southern Florida!

18. A Uvala will form as the depression increases.

19. A polje will form when the whole cave collapses
A polje will form when the whole cave collapses. Karst Polje near Gallocanta, a municipality located in the province of Zaragoza, Aragon, Spain

20. The Cerknica field (Cerkniško polje) is the largest karst polje in Slovenia.

21. Interior Limestone Cave Features

22. Stalactites
Stalactites are formed by the deposition of calcium carbonate and other minerals, which is precipitated from mineralized water solutions.

23. Stalactite in Doolin Cave, Ireland measuring 20ft (6.54m) long.

24. Peştera Urşilor, Romania means Bears' Cave

25. Carlsbad Caverns

26. Carlsbad Caverns

27. Flowstones
Flowstones are composed of sheetlike deposits of calcite formed where water flows down the walls or along the floors of a cave.
L: Cave Bacon in the Caverns of Sonora near Sonora, Texas.
R: The Sudwala Caves in Mpumalanga, South Africa