Post by L Roebuck on May 3, 2006 14:04:43 GMT -5
Stalactites: Chaos + Time = Beauty
Article Preview
06 May 2006
Stu Hutson
Magazine issue 2550
How does the drip, drip, drip of water transform a cave into an art gallery? New Scientist investigates
DEEP beneath Arizona's Sonoran desert, below the dusty surface scrawled with cacti and saltbush, is a chamber filled with nature's finest artwork.
Known as the Throne Room, the chamber in Kartchner Caverns is bedecked with what cavers call pretties. Along with countless glistening stalactites and stalagmites, sheets of limestone known as draperies resemble hanging fabric, stained with the reds of iron oxides, the tans of acidic soil and the blue-blacks of carbon and manganese oxides. Milky white deposits of calcium carbonate that have hardened around clumps of yellow clay look like fried eggs. Limestone spheres called pearls cling to flecks of debris floating in shallow pools. Stalactites that bulge in the middle hang from the ceiling, giving cavers a mole's-eye view of a turnip.
"This is a world that artists and scientists have been astounded by since, well, since there have been artists and scientists," says Raymond Goldstein, a physicist ...
The complete article is 2009 words long. To continue reading this article visit: New Scientist
Article Preview
06 May 2006
Stu Hutson
Magazine issue 2550
How does the drip, drip, drip of water transform a cave into an art gallery? New Scientist investigates
DEEP beneath Arizona's Sonoran desert, below the dusty surface scrawled with cacti and saltbush, is a chamber filled with nature's finest artwork.
Known as the Throne Room, the chamber in Kartchner Caverns is bedecked with what cavers call pretties. Along with countless glistening stalactites and stalagmites, sheets of limestone known as draperies resemble hanging fabric, stained with the reds of iron oxides, the tans of acidic soil and the blue-blacks of carbon and manganese oxides. Milky white deposits of calcium carbonate that have hardened around clumps of yellow clay look like fried eggs. Limestone spheres called pearls cling to flecks of debris floating in shallow pools. Stalactites that bulge in the middle hang from the ceiling, giving cavers a mole's-eye view of a turnip.
"This is a world that artists and scientists have been astounded by since, well, since there have been artists and scientists," says Raymond Goldstein, a physicist ...
The complete article is 2009 words long. To continue reading this article visit: New Scientist