Carlsbad Caverns, United States


Careful! T e steep, desert path is lined with cactus. It ends suddenly at a wall of rock. Just ahead you see the mouth of cave. You step forward. T e cave you are about to enter is home to as many as 400,000 Mexican free-tailed bats. At night, they fl y out of the cave into the sky. Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico is


made up of 120 diff erent caves. T ere’s no danger in exploring. Explorers before you have paved the way. You move through a series of narrow tunnels. T en you enter a large cave chamber called the Big Room. It’s a natural limestone space that’s large


enough to hold more than six football fields. It’s the fiſt h-largest chamber in North America. It’s filled with cave formations.


20 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC EXPLORER


T e making of this system took hundreds of thousands of years. Cave formation starts when water trickles down through cracks in the rock. T e water contains a gas called carbon dioxide that comes from the air. It forms a mild acid that dissolves, or eats away, the limestone. Over time, this chemical weathering and erosion dissolves enough rock to form caves. Hollowing out a cave isn’t all that water


does. Tiny water droplets fall from the ceiling to the fl oor. T ey carry material from the limestone with them. When the water evaporates, the material is leſt behind. As it builds up, stalactites and stalagmites form. Stalactites hang down from the ceiling like stone icicles. Stalagmites rise up from the fl oor like pillars.


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