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Clifden
Caves
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Imaging that the
area you are now visiting is a shallow sea with abundant marine life and
rocky shores. Over millions of years the sea retreats and land is force
upwards along the alpine fault.
Limestone is
revealed in a discontinuos belt extending 75km through Fiordland from Lake
Hauroko in the south to lake Te Anau and the Murchison mountains in the
north. The limestone is the product of hard shell remains and marine
organisms compacting on the ocean floor. |
| Rain falls. It filters through soil an leaf litter picking up carbon
dioxide to form a weak acid. The acidic solution seeps into cracks in the
limestone base , dissolving the rock. More water flows in: the cracks
widen to channels, the channels widens to to tunnels, a cave is created.
Over time droplets of the acidic water builds up to form delicate cave
decorations. A continual process of sculpture and creation occurs in thes
underground passages.
Even before road access, early European travellers marked the clifden
caves on their maps as a 'must see' and visited this site to marvel at the
limestone creations. Now it's your turn. |
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