..... Click the link for more information. formations or for their magnitude and beauty.
The preserved remains of prehistoric humans and animals and indications of early human culture have been discovered in some caves. Caves have served as burial grounds and shelter since prehistoric times. One such cave is Alabama's Russell Cave, where human evidence dates back 9,000 years. Speleology, the scientific study of caves and their plant and animal life, contributes to knowledge of biological adaptation and evolution. Some cave animals lack sight, and both plants and animals living where light is excluded show loss of pigment. Deep cave ecosystems, lacking the sunlight necessary for photosynthesis, depend on bacteria that use chemosynthesis chemosynthesis, process in which carbohydrates are manufactured from carbon dioxide and water using chemical nutrients as the energy source, rather than the sunlight used for energy in photosynthesis . Most life on earth is fueled directly or indirectly by sunlight.
..... Click the link for more information. to create energy.
Among famous caves in the United States are Carlsbad Caverns National Park (N.Mex.), Mammoth Cave National Park (Ky.), Wind Cave National Park (Black Hills, S.Dak.), Luray Caverns (Va.), and Wyandotte Cave (Ind.). In Europe there are celebrated caves in Belgium, Dalmatia, Gibraltar, Capri, Sicily, Postojna, and England (Kent's Cavern and Kirkdale). The caves of the Pyrenees and the Dordogne are famed for their prehistoric paintings (see Paleolithic art Paleolithic art (pā'lēəlĭth`ĭk, –lēō–, păl'–), art of the most recent ice age.
..... Click the link for more information. ), and those of Ajanta, India, and Dunhuang, China, for their Buddhist frescoes. Among the deepest known caves are Krubera in the nation of Georgia, which extends more than 6,500 ft (2,000 m) below the surface, and Lamprechtsofen in Austria.
Bibliography
See C. E. Mohr and T. L. Poulson, The Life of the Cave (1966); D. R. McClurg, The Amateur's Guide to Caves and Caving (1973).
cave
Naturally formed underground cavity. A cave often consists of a number of underground chambers, constituting a series of caverns. An assemblage of such caverns interconnected by smaller passageways makes up a cave system. Primary caves, such as lava tubes and coral caves, develop during the time when the host matrix is solidifying or being deposited. Secondary caves, such as marine grottoes, originate after the host matrix has been deposited or consolidated. Most caves are of the latter type, including solution caves formed by the chemical dissolution of a soluble host rock that has been weakened by fracturing and mechanical erosion; Mammoth Cave and Carlsbad Caverns are examples of solution caves.
CAVE
(Computer Automatic Virtual Environment) A virtual reality system that uses projectors to display images on three or four walls and the floor. Special glasses make everything appear as 3D images and also track the path of the user's vision.
CAVE was the first virtual reality system to let multiple users participate in the experience simultaneously. Known as a "spatially immersive display," it was developed by the Electronic Visualization Laboratory at the University of Illinois in the early 1990s. See head mounted display and virtual reality.
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| Simulating New Architecture |
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| CAVE is used to simulate a newly designed train station to evaluate its functionality. (Image courtesy of Fakespace Systems Inc.) |
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| Training People |
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| This CAVE system teaches people how to operate a Caterpillar bulldozer. The steering wheel on the left meets the real steering wheel in virtual space, appearing to the man as the actual wheel he is turning. (Image courtesy of Fakespace Systems Inc.) |
cave
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