Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) from oil deposits deep underground combined with oxygen in the underground water table creating sulfuric acid that dissolved the limestone creating the caves. Then began the process that created the magnificent speleothems (cave formations) we see today. Rainwater seeped down through surface rock absorbing carbon dioxide and minerals as it passed through the remaining limestone. When the water entered the caverns drop by drop, the carbon dioxide evaporated, slowly depositing the dissolved calcite as roof and floor decorations. Cave formations on the ceiling- stalactites, soda straws, draperies, ribbons or curtains, are caused by the slowest drips that deposit their minerals before falling to the floor. Formations on the cave floor- stalagmites, totem poles, flowstone, rim stone dams, lily pads, shelves, cave pools, and of course tend to come from faster dripping water.
Today the formations for the most part are no longer growing and are protected from contact because, if damaged, they will not grow back. The astonishing beauty in this subterranean world is unlike anything I had ever experienced. Mother Nature provides a fantasy world beyond the imagination in shapes, images, and colors.
Enter the mouth of the cave and follow the steep one-mile trail 750 feet down to the main caverns. Along the way, leave the world of daylight and enter the magical world that is Carlsbad Caverns.
Carlsbad Caverns, located in the Guadalupe Mountains is a fantasy world. It is so outside any normal frame of reference both in beauty and in time, unimaginable even when walking through them.
Formed from sponges, algae, seashells, and other marine animals on a reef 1,800 feet thick, 2 to 3 miles wide and over four hundred miles long and as they died, over time, their remains became limestone. Over the past 20 million years, faults and stresses uplifted these reef sediments almost ten thousand feet to become what we call the Guadalupe Mountains. Wind, rain, snow and time eroded away the overlying younger sediments and now the ancient reef is once again exposed.