What are caves?
Most rocks have pores and cavities within them. Generally, however, these are not large enough for a person to explore. Caves are cavities or hollow spaces inside a rocky mass that are large enough for a person to explore. There are many types of caves formed through different processes : some are small, and it is difficult for man to penetrate into; others, on the contrary, stretch underground for tens or hundreds of kilometres, reaching depths of over 2,000 m. Formation processes control lenght, development and shape of a cave, and also the difficulties that will arise when exploring them. Most of the longest and deepest caves do not consist in an isolated cavity, but they form a system, which at times may be very complex, made of rooms, sinkholes, shafts, meanders, canyons, interconnecting galleries, which are arranged to form a system or karst complex.
Large quantities of underground water move through karst systems, caves may therefore be classified in different sub-areas, i.e. occupied by air and completely dry or scoured by streams, they may be flooded at times, or permanently invaded by fresh and salt water.
Special reports
-
11 June 2012
Bats, facts and fiction
In ancient Rome, bats were nailed to the door of the house as a protection from witches...
16 April 2012
Bats, The Lords of Darkness
The UNEP Convention on Migratory Species and The Agreement on the Conservation of...
-
13 May 2013
Small steps, great footprints
Have you ever wondered how much space is taken up by an apple or a steak?...
-
28 August 2020
The Earth seen from above: signs of fires
This image was taken by the ASTER sensor installed on the NASA TERRA satellite platform. The image was taken on…
15 July 2020
Earth viewed from above
Remote satellite sensing: what it is and what it is used for In the scientific field, the images produced by…
30 April 2019
Urban woods
When walking along a tree-lined avenue in a crowded and traffic-congested city, wrapped up in our daily commitments, we do…
-
11 June 2012
Bats, facts and fiction
In ancient Rome, bats were nailed to the door of the house as a protection from witches...
16 April 2012
Bats, The Lords of Darkness
The UNEP Convention on Migratory Species and The Agreement on the Conservation of...
-
13 May 2013
Small steps, great footprints
Have you ever wondered how much space is taken up by an apple or a steak?...
-
11 June 2012
Bats, facts and fiction
In ancient Rome, bats were nailed to the door of the house as a protection from witches...
-
16 April 2012
Bats, The Lords of Darkness
The UNEP Convention on Migratory Species and The Agreement on the Conservation of...
From the Multimedia section
Facts
-
And in underground tunnels?
There are groups of terrestrial animals that eat insects, worms and other invertebrates...
The climate underground
Going down deep in the Earth’s crust, the temperatures increase gradually...
-
Can you breathe in a cave?
One of the most common beliefs is that in caves the air is often stuffy...
-
A small domestic experiment
In order to understand the number of factors that make a water undersaturated or...
-
24 February 2011
And in underground tunnels?
There are groups of terrestrial animals that eat insects, worms and other invertebrates...
13 May 2011
The climate underground
Going down deep in the Earth’s crust, the temperatures increase gradually...
-
Can you breathe in a cave?
One of the most common beliefs is that in caves the air is often stuffy...
-
24 February 2011
And in underground tunnels?
There are groups of terrestrial animals that eat insects, worms and other invertebrates...
-
13 May 2011
The climate underground
Going down deep in the Earth’s crust, the temperatures increase gradually...