What is this thing? A speleothem(?) found in King Pot..

rhyst · Apr 19, 2018

Hey everyone,

On a recent trip to King Pot whilst waiting for some rigging my friend dived up a disgusting looking inlet and found a small, closed fist size formation on the floor.

Pictures here:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/wW4IFn8FyOGj679j1

The material was solid but the details small enough to be fragile.

Any clues as to what it is?

Thanks,
Rhys

Pitlamp · Apr 19, 2018

Looks like an underwater crystalline calcite deposit; which grew in a still pool fed by autogenic flow (what cavers call "percolation water"). Known to some as "cave coral". There's a lot of similar material in the show cave at Clapham (particularly in a feature called the "Crystal Pool").

alastairgott · Apr 19, 2018

Pitlamp said:
There's a lot of similar material in the show cave at Clapham (particularly in a feature called the "Crystal Pool").

A shameless plug

(for a great showcave)

tim.rose2 · Apr 19, 2018

Interesting this should come up. I posted a picture on another thread a couple of weeks ago (https://ukcaving.com/board/index.php?topic=23354.0) of something which I found on Portland in Dorset which looks very similar (apologies you will have to scroll down a bit - I can't work out how to link direct to the correct post). I to am interested in what it is. We have loads of bits of it in some dig spoil - range of sizes from a few cm's to lumps the size of your fist.

Alex · Apr 19, 2018

Loads of stuff like this abroad. Formations like this are 10 a dozen in Matienzo.

rhyst · Apr 19, 2018

Thanks for the repsonses! I do like the name 'Cave Coral'.

Pitlamp · Apr 19, 2018

alastairgott said:
Pitlamp said:

There's a lot of similar material in the show cave at Clapham (particularly in a feature called the "Crystal Pool").

Click to expand...

A shameless plug (for a great showcave)

Sorry about that; I avoided typing the cave's name on purpose, as I didn't want to upset anybody or possibly break any forum rules. But it probably has the most extensive area of "cave coral" in the Dales, in the public section.

aricooperdavis · Apr 20, 2018

tim.rose2 said:
I can't work out how to link direct to the correct post

You can click the post title above that particular post and it'll add a bit of info to the URL.

tim.rose2 · Apr 20, 2018

Cheers - know idea you could do that.
Tim

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What is this thing? A speleothem(?) found in King Pot..

rhyst

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