This post is not going to be about trash…just telling you. 🙂 And I think you should be ready to see awesome formations.
We were drawing close to the ledge! Indeed, we were about to see some awesome formations!
Wow, the stalactites are big!
How big you ask? Jeanne took this shot to give you a size comparison.
A little closer!
Just to the left of the above stalactites, big chunks looked to have recently crashed down. Moreover now I wondered if there would be anything of interest to see.
First there were these minerals streaks!
A speleothem is a geological formation by minerals deposits that accumulate over time. So apparently geologists name formations in caves and such by something familiar to them… like cave popcorn, cave pearls, etc. Accordingly this small delicate patch is called frostwork (if I understood the description right). It was only about four inches across!
Was someone leaving an ancient message? LOL! Some insects will leave behind such residual rings from their egg cases. One such insect is the Dobsonfly (Subfamily Corydalinae).
So hang on now! These leaves hanging in the spider’s web drew us in. But wait there was something even more spectacular above. It is barely visible in this photo.
OMG, do you see them now?
Certainly this required a close look! Furthermore this meant sliding under the ledge. 🙂
Soda straws stalactites! Blew my socks off. I have never seen these before except in caves. Also called tubular stalactites. It would be interesting to know why the soda straws are hollow verses solid. So yeah for the handy dandy internet, eh! It seems that when they are taking shape they form around a droplet of carbonic acid. Check this out to get more details about the process…Soda Straws or/and Soda Straws: The Young Stalactites!
I told Jeanne, she had to look close too! So worth it! To sum up the ledge…OMG cool! Further treasures at Dixon to continue in the next posts.
A home note…we have seen the barred owl for the past two morning walks! The crows were harassing it this morning.
Soda straws! And the frostwork us also very cool. Potentially good news about plastic reuse too. A fun packed post!
Good articles on the soda straws – one drop wide. They are so cool
Never seen anything like whats in this post. Fantastic.
Wow on soda straws!!!!