The underground trip spelled in cave photography
"Cave Pearls" is a spherical Speleothem found in the shallow puddles of solutional cave. Its shapes are spherical, elliptical, cube, polygon, etc., ranging from small sand grains to large ones with a diameter of 20 cm.
There is a nucleus at the center of the cave pearls, including sand grains, Speleothem fragments, crab claws, snail shells, and earthenware fragments.
It is believed that the cave pearls grow spherical because calcium carbonate crystallizes from groundwater in solutional cave (calcium polycarbonate solution) and deposits evenly on the surface of the cave pearls (it does not seem to need to rotate in water).
In addition, in order to grow while maintaining a spherical shape, it is necessary to have an environment where cave pearls constantly sway due to the flow of water and drop water so that they do not stick to the cave floor.
On the riverbed of the underground river in Gyokusendo Cave, there is also cave bean stone that grows like potatoes. It is difficult to confirm the material of the nucleus when it is half cut, and it looks like a cross section of the lime algae ball.
In Gyokusendo Cave, we are conducting experiments on artificial cave pearls in the tourist cave area, and you can see them. After a few years, you will notice the change in size.
