You CAN log your find after you have completed the requirements.
Please make sure you have sent your answers to me ASAP after completing, If you have not sent info within 2 weeks, I will remove your Found it log.
If I find your answers incorrect, we will work out how you can prove you have visited the location and genuinely attempted. If this cannot be proved only then your Found it log will be removed.
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The Organ Cave is the largest of the caves where in the main Catacomb you will see the large over hanging stalactites which look similar to church organ pipes. Middle Cave and Ivy Cave are smaller but equally interesting where it is possible to enter and exit at different points. In all the Caves you will see thousands of glow worms. To visit the caves will take approximately 2 hours.
Most New Zealand caves are formed from either basalt or limestone and marble sediment. Enormous amounts of calcium rich mollusk shells and skeletons of marine life form a thick strata, which over millions of years, compresses and solidifies. Over time, this sediment cements together to become rock beds. As rainwater leaches through the soil, a mild solution of carbonic acid is released through cracks in the limestone, enlarging them. The drips also create other cave formations like stalactites. Over time, some passages erode to a large enough extent to become underground streams or rivers. As a result, a hidden world is created, a world of caves, sinkholes and complex shafts.
The caves were supposedly named by Nathaniel and Amelia Clotworthy, early pioneers from Ireland. Organ Caves has stalactites which are meant to resemble church organ pipes, Middle Cave is the middle one of the three, and we don’t know why Ivy Cave is so named.
To log, complete the following tasks.
1. At the GZ you see a very distinctive rock formation. Explain how this was formed. How this rock differ from the rock inside the caves?
2. At waypoint 2, explain how this rock formation was likely formed. If this was limestone, what would this formation be called? (a sign might be able to help)
3. What acid is the principally responsible for dissolving limestone? What impact does this have on the volcanic bedrock and what proof of this can you see on the surrounding rock?