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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Lesson Plan - Your Field Trip to Ruby Falls
Geology of Ruby Falls
History of Ruby Falls
Environmental Education
Vocabulary List
("Cave Communications")
Thought Questions Page
ACTIVITY PAGES
Quiz - Fill in the blank
Experiment - "Grow your own rock"
Quiz - Multiple choice cave
terms
Cave crossword puzzle
Teacher answer page
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Ruby Falls "Cave
Communications"
Bacon Rind
- A thin drapery formation with bands of different colors hanging from the
roof of a cave like a large strip of bacon.
Calcite - A mineral, calcium carbonate (CaCO3); the major
component of limestone and nearly all formations.
Cave - A natural opening beneath the Earth's surface large
enough to allow a person to enter. It is usually deep enough that some part
of it is in total darkness. Syn. Cavern
Chemical weathering - A process which breaks down rocks by the
action of chemicals.
Column - A pillar-like structure formed when a stalactite and
a stalagmite have met and joined together.
Curtain - A thin, translucent sheet of calcite formed when
water flows down the inclined ceiling of a cave. Syn. Drapery.
Erosion - the process by which weathered materials are carried
away by wind, water, or glaciers.
Fault - A crack or parting in a rock, often occurring in sets
or parallel groups.
Flowstone - A surface coating or a calcite layer which has
been deposited by a descending film of mineral-charged cave water.
Formation - Any mineral deposit formed in a cave. Syn.
Speleothem.
Ground Water - The part of subsurface water which occupies
cavities or pores in the rocks.
Helictite - A distorted, twisting stalactite that grows with a
seeming disregard of the pull of gravity.
Landform - a feature of the earth's crust. Example of
landforms include mountains, valleys, plains, and plateaus.
Limestone - A sedimentary rock composed chiefly of the mineral
calcite. Since it is easily dissolved by acidic ground water, most of the
world's caves are formed in limestone.
Natural Resource - any part of nature that humans can use or
enjoy such as coal, oil, or natural areas such as parks.
Non-renewable resource - a natural resource which would be
very difficult or impossible to replace because of its rarity or because it
would take a very long time.
Physical Weathering - the process of breaking down rocks by a
physical reaction such as wind, water, plants, or ice.
Stalactite - A formation which hangs down from the ceiling of
a cave.
Stalagmite - A formation which grows upward from the floor of
a cave.
Weathering - the process of breaking down rock forms.
Weathering may occur chemically or physically.
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