The world’s largest calcite cave is reborn again! Recently, the Mexican treasure amazed scientists and spelunkers as it came alive with the water flow. Experts believe the Fort Stranton cave did not witness any water flow for last 150 years.
When volunteer cavers reached the spot very recently (June 30th), they discovered about a foot of flowing water in the area. The two mile long Snowy river greeted the cavers when they finally reached the destination via a new route.This cave has calcites all over it. I think this is a great discovery which will help researchers help study a multitude of things. Also, I think that the weird development is probably due to global climate change.
The discovery of flowing water has a lot of significance. It basically indicates El Nino like conditions. The El Nino impact is on the calcite crystals as well. Calcite crystals are similar to ice cores. One similarity is: these crystals remain in the same place through which ice flows. Calcite can also fossilize rare microbes.
Calcite does predict changes in the global temperatures. Researchers have also been working on finding similar information from stalactites as well. The drying and wetting of the river bed inside the cave signifies major environmental impact. Also, the researchers will be able to study the cave’s hydrology and how it is related to the surface water.
In order to study this, researchers will be using the core testing on this. However, people do realize the fact that this is extremely valuable and fragile area. The Bureau of land management did shut down most of the area. One of the researchers got pinned down by a boulder during their approach to this area.
Image Credits: Discovery[1], [2]