acid - a compound that reacts with a substance by dissolving or eating it away.
aquifer - a geological formation that is water bearing. Usually refers to water-bearing formations capable of yielding water in sufficient quantify to constitute a useable supply for people's uses. An aquifer is where well water comes from.
barometric - air or atmospheric pressure
boxwork - a speleothem or cave decoration which is a fragile, honeycomb-shaped structure of calcite attached to the walls and ceilings of the cave.
calcite - calcium carbonate, the predominate mineral in limestone, found in the cave in a variety of crystalline forms.
caprock - strong or resistant rock over an area where softer or less resistant rock has eroded; rock covering layers of other rock carrying capacity - the number of animals or plants that cave live and be healthy in a certain amount of space or land.
crystal - the solid form of a substance in which the atoms or molecules are arranged in a certain a definite pattern.
deposition - process that allows secondary cave formations to form; the process where sediments filter into a body of water.
discharge - the volume of water that passes a given location within a given period of time.
ecology - the study of the interrelationships between living things and the relationships between organisms and their physical environment.
ecosystem - a living community of plants and animals and the physical environment (oxygen, water, sunlight, soil) around them.
environment - surroundings; all of the conditions surrounding and affecting the development of an organism.
erosion - the process in which a material is worn away by a stream of liquid (water) or air.
exotic - foreign, introduced into an area where it does not naturally occur.
ground water - water stored underground in rock crevices and in the pores of geologic materials that make up the earth's crust.
habitat - the place where a plant or animal lives.
hydrological cycle - the cyclic transfer of water vapor from the earth's surface via evaporation or transpiration into the atmosphere, from the atmosphere via precipitation back to earth, and through runoff or infiltration into streams, rivers, lakes, caves, ground water, and into oceans.
infiltration - flow of water from the land surface into the subsurface.
interdependence - mutual dependence; animals or plants that depend upon each other for survival.
irrigation - the managed application of water to soil for the purpose of increasing crop production.
karst - an irregular area of limestone in which erosion has produced fissures, sinkholes, underground streams and caverns.
leaching - the way water moves, or seeps, from the surface to groundwater.
limiting - point beyond which something cannot precede; confines, bounds; restriction.
niche - an especially suitable place to live.
permeability - the ability of a material to allow the passage of a liquid, such as water through rocks. Permeable materials, such as gravel and sand allow water to move quickly through them, whereas unpermeable material, such as clays, don't allow water to flow freely.
porosity - allowing the movement of gas or liquid through pores.
recharge - water added to an aquifer, for example, rain that seeps into the ground.
saturated - completely full, as ground water is an area within a rock layer that is completely filled or saturated with water.
sedimentary rock - rock formed of sediment, such as limestone is formed from sediments at the bottom of an ocean.
sinkhole - a depression in the earth's surface caused by dissolving of underlying limestone.
speleothem - a formation in a cave for example: boxwork, stalactite or stalagmite.
surface water - water that is on the earth's surface, such as a stream, river, lake, or reservoir.
system - a set or arrangement of things so related as to form a whole.
transpiration - process by which water that is absorbed by plants, usually through the roots, is evaporated into the atmosphere from the plant surface, such as leave pores.
water table - the top of the water's surface in ground water or the saturated part of an aquifer.
watershed - the land area that drains water to a particular stream, river or lake.
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Introduction