C ool A dventures V isually E nhanced Quiz

Answer: tunnel

Cavern, cove, grotto, cavity, den, hollow, pothole - in general a cave is a natural passage into or under the earth. A tunnel is a passageway through the earth or under it, but tunnels are mostly man-made. The difference between a cave and cavern seems to depend on what you read; the scuba diver definitions seem to be exactly opposite all others.

A cove is a sheltered bay or small recess in a mountain. Natural-made grottoes are usually holes in the ground near large bodies of water; they are full of water or fill at high tide. Cavity, den and hollow are all synonyms. You may think of a pothole as a road surface problem, but especially in Britain it is a deep cave and a caver may be known as a 'potholer'.

Answer: False

Stalactites hang on tight (tite), or remember they are spelled with a 'c' which should remind you of 'ceiling'. Stalagmites push up with all their might (mite). The 'g' in the word stands for 'ground'. Maybe that will help you remember the next time you stub your toe on the stalagmite or bump your head on the stalactite. And if you walk into a solid formation going from ceiling to ground, you need to get your eyes checked because you just bumped into a 'column', basically the marriage of tite and mite.

Answer: Mountain River Cave

In 2009, cavers from Britain and Vietnam hiked six hours through the Vietnamese jungle to find the Mountain River Cave (Hang Son Doong). A jungle man had found the cave in 1991, but no one had been in it since then due to the sounds coming from it. The wind and underground river made a horrific noise.

There were actually two underground rivers for the team to navigate before they came to a chamber that may be almost twice the size of the former holder of the title of 'largest' - Deer Cave in the Malaysian section of Borneo.

The team used lasers to measure the room. It is 262 feet by 262 feet in most places but some places are 460 feet by 460 feet and may end up even larger as one end is blocked by a wall of calcite that they may be able to get over. Deer Cave is 300 feet by 300 feet but only about a mile long.

The cavers at Mountain River walked over 2.8 miles before they had to turn back.

Answer: False

Minerals in water form a solution that drips from the ceiling of caves. What doesn't stick to form stalactites on the ceiling falls to the ground and forms stalagmites on the floor of the cave. In general, the formations on the ceiling are hollow and resemble straws, some are gigantic straws.

The Sword of Damocles in Ingleborough, U.K. is the largest stalactite in Britain. The formations on the ground are solid. As firm and impenetrable as they seem, oils from human hands can stunt the growth, change the shape or even change the color of the formations.

The tallest stalagmite could be in Zhi Jin Cave/ Hen Hitting Cave, China or Cueva San Martin Infierno, Cuba or a cave in Matin mountain, Cuba. They are all over 220 feet and all claim to be 'the tallest'. If a 'story' is 10 feet, then these stalagmites are 22 stories tall.

Answer: spelunking, speleonosis, speleology, spelemergency are related to caves

Wikipedia list the longest caves as (1) Mammoth Cave, Kentucky, (2) Jewel Cave, South Dakota, (3) Optymistychna Cave, Ukraine, (4) Wind Cave, South Dakota and (5) Lechuguilla Cave, New Mexico. Keep in mind that these measurements are based on surveyed passageways. Mammoth Cave is 367 miles long which is almost three times longer than the next longest.

There are lots of ways to measure caves and parts of caves but no formal guidelines on how to measure and no one overseeing the measurements.
The types of caves are generally defined by how they were formed. There are caves in ice and glaciers, under water, made from lava, and formed in many different types of rock.

A caver from the 40's first used the word spelunking to describe cave exploring but 'real' cavers don't use the word. Speleonosis is a pulmonary disease associated with exposure in/to caves. Speleology is the study of caves. Spelemergency is a word I made up to describe the people who specialize in cave rescues. There are groups that do that type of rescue but I haven't found a name for them except maybe 'brave'.

Answer: True

The largest crystal cave in the world is located in Chihuahua, and yes, it's true that the temperature does get as high as 150 degrees. The cave was discovered by miners mining for silver, zinc and lead. Some of the crystals are over 50 feet long and weigh 50 tons. The average temperature of 136 degrees and 100% humidity have allowed the crystals to grow and grow. The caves are being conditioned to allow visitors and still grow the crystals. I can't wait to see how that works out.

The temperature in most caves depends on a lot of factors, including if the cave breathes (has lots of openings and allows air to pass through), the cave's location, the average temperatures outside, and how deep the cave is.

Answer: underground waterfall in Tennessee

Ruby Falls is located in Lookout Mountain, near Rock City, which is near Chattanooga, Tennessee. From Lookout Mountain, you can see Tennessee, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Alabama, Kentucky and Virginia. Inside Lookout Mountain is a 145 foot high waterfall.

A natural spring and rainwater feed the stream that makes the falls which is 1120 feet underground. Ruby Falls was not accessible until 1928 when a man purchased part of Lookout Mountain to drill into for an elevator to take tourists to the top of the mountain. During the construction in Lookout Mountain Cave, he found a small opening leading to another previously unseen cave (Ruby Falls Cave).

He brought his wife, Ruby, to see the cave and falls and named them after her.

Answer: Dead Sea Scrolls were found there

The Qumran Caves are located in the West Bank, which is in the Middle East. The caves are about a mile from the Dead Sea. The caves have been used since the time when man first started using metal tools in addition to stone tools. Some time around 1947 a herder boy, while looking for a lost animal, found a cave full of scrolls. Since then, several natural and artificial caves have been found with thousands of fragments of scrolls that were stored in cylindrical pottery jars.

They were written in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek.

Answer: Chicago, Illinois

Galos Caves is a brand name for man made salt/iodine caves. These can be constructed for personal use in your home, or as in the case of the Galo Caves in Chicago, it can be a spa/restaurant built for many people to enjoy at the same time. Salt caves have been thought to be holistically beneficial for many years.

The salt is taken from the Black Sea. Sun evaporates the water, leaving salt. Sixteen thousand tons of it was formed into bricks which were then shipped to the U.S. to build the cave/spa in Chicago.

Answer: The Grotto

IMDB has no listing for any movies simply called 'The Grotto'. 'The Descent', 'The Cavern' and 'The Cave' were all released in 2005. The majority of all action in these three movies takes place inside caves. 'The Descent' was supposed to be in a cave in the U.S., but was actually filmed in U.K. studios. 'The Cavern' was set in a cave in the desert of Kazakhstan, but was filmed in the U.S. 'The Cave' was supposed to be under a church in the Carpathian mountains of Romania, and was the only movie of the three that was actually filmed in a cave.