NOVA Home Find out what's coming up on air Listing of previous NOVA Web sites NOVA's history Subscribe to the NOVA bulletin Lesson plans and more for teachers NOVA RSS feeds Tell us what you think Program transcripts Buy NOVA videos or DVDs Watch NOVA programs online Answers to frequently asked questions
Mysterious Life of Caves

How Caves Form

 

Caves homepage

To see how caves are formed, choose one of the four cave-making agents below.

Rainwater Rainwater

Waves Waves

Lava Lava

Bacteria Bacteria

How Caves Form intro image; diagram of coast with geologic layers, limestone, water table, oil pool



Note: The illustration above is an idealized landform, used to show how four different types of caves originate.

Sources: Caves, by David Gillieson (Blackwell Publishers, 1996); The Science of Speleology, edited by T.D. Ford and C.H.D. Cullingford (Academic Press, 1976); Speleology: Caves and the Cave Environment, by George W. Moore and G. Nicholas Sullivan (Cave Books, 1997); "Acid House" by Stephanie Pain (New Scientist, June 6, 1998).



Send feedback Image credits