<< Kelly Cave - 2

08/23/26 - Kelly Cave - 1

That afternoon we went to Kelly Cave. Australia is all built on limestone, so there are lots of caves. We didn't have to go far underground before we were surrounded by speleothems. Our guide explained that the cave we were visiting was just a small sample of a much larger cave system. He was a spelunker and had explored other parts.

Kelly cave is anechoic. The rock of the cave walls absorbs sound almost completely. We all gave a good yell to test this but the walls remained silent. We also learned about calcite. That's the form of limestone that most caves are made of. It's translucent so light flows through it, and it will split a beam of light into two separate beams. That latter property is why it shows up in physics books.
























Keywords: australia