Lesson 11: Fictional Narrative on Groundwater and Glaciers


Image result for tower karstOne day, as I was walking home from work, I decided to take the long, scenic route home. There was not a lot to see as I walked so I let my mind wander. I absentmindedly began thinking about the article I had just read on karst topography and how, in places such as Southern China, Puerto Rico, and Cuba, the karst development is so advanced that there are tall, immense, tower karsts just dotting the landscape, formed by the slow, but powerful groundwater eroding the limestone in that area. "Nothing interesting like that around here," I mumbled to myself. 

Famous last words. At that moment, I knew that something wasn't quite right and before I could do anything I found myself a good 20 feet lower than I had previously been. The ground I walked on had literally just broken beneath my careless feet. As I slowly moved my body around to make sure nothing was hurt or missing, I looked around me. I seemed to have landed in a cavern, an underground chamber. I wondered how much further down the water table was and hoped that the floor in here was sturdy. To my relief, as I stood and took a few steps, everything seemed back to normal.
Image result for cavernThere was a pile of rocks I thought I could use to climb out, but I decided to explore a bit before leaving this fascinating discovery. Luckily, I had a flashlight on my key chain. To my left, I saw another small opening. I went through this and to my surprise, there was an even larger cavern, full of speleothem. Some of these were stalactites and looked like giant, discolored icicles, just waiting to be broken up. The more sturdy looking ones, stalagmites, had their base on the ground. I probably spent a good hour or two exploring before I decided to make my way back to what I had dubbed my emergence hole. Thankfully I made it back and got out, just as it was getting dark.

As I finished walking home, this time much more carefully, I had two thoughts. First, I wondered if there were other caverns or sinkholes around that I could explore. The other: at least I didn't fall into a geyser.

Note, the cavern I have pictured is called Luray Cavern in Virginia and is a great example of karst topography. This specific place is called Dream Lake. The water is so still it really looks unreal. I've been here before and highly recommend it!

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