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Wind Cave National Park
Speleothems - Helictite Bushes
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| Photo by Rick Day |
| Jim Pisarowicz looks at helictite bushes on the way down to the Lakes |
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Certainly one of the most curious formations in Wind Cave are helictite bushes. While small helictites are found in many caves, the helictite bushes are large, bush-like growths of calcite that branch and twist like gnarled trees. The largest helictite bush in the cave is about 6 feet (2 meters) tall. The helictite bushes usually grow from the floor of the cave. The helictites may form when water seeps into the cave through pores so small that the flow is controlled by capillary action and not by gravity. This allows water to move uphill and deposit calcite against the force of gravity. It is also thought the bushes may have formed underwater when the water rising from below mixed with cave waters of a different chemistry.
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| |  | | Did You Know?
Lewis and Clark, while on their journey up the Missouri River in 1804, noted that this "wild dog of the prairie...appears here in infinite numbers."
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Last Updated: August 10, 2007 at 20:00 MST |
