Archive - Cave of Kastania

February 26, 2022

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Every weekend we present a notable item from our archives.

This EPOD was originally published April 28, 2015.

Photographer: Theodoros Drivas
Summary Authors: Theodoros Drivas; Jim Foster
 
Shown above is the Cave of Kastania, near Vatika, Lakonia, Greece. Certainly one of the most beautiful and most visited caverns in Greece, it was formed from Jurassic age limestone. Visitors to the cave travel along an approximately 1,650 ft (503 m) path allowing them to see amazing stalagmites and stalactites as well as oddities such as helictites. Nearly all of these features were created as limestone that was dissolved by the slow flow of weakly acidic water, infiltrating through overlying rock layers, and then re-deposited as calcium carbonate. The array of colors results when calcium carbonate is enriched with metal oxides.