What should I look for and how do I find CCCs?

Visit this sub-forum to enter BCRA's competition to locate cryogenic cave calcites in the UK. Posts include information on CCCs and on how to enter the competition.

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Gina
Posts: 47
Joined: Tue 03 May 2011 10:16

What should I look for and how do I find CCCs?

Post by Gina » Thu 26 Oct 2017 10:36

FORMATION
Cryogenic cave calcites (CCCs) form when water enters a cave and turns to ice. As the water freezes, it becomes increasingly enriched in ions to the point of supersaturation and precipitation of calcite. Today, caves in Britain do not contain ice, but evidence that they once did can be found by the presence of CCCs. By dating CCCs, we can find out more about the environmental conditions at the time of formation and also when the cave was an ice cave.

WHERE TO FIND CCCs
There are many indications that a cave once contained ice. These can be angular breakdown boulders that formed through freeze-thaw processes operating within the rock, or 'fluffy' mud, which is a type of patterned ground that forms from freeze-thaw processes operating in the sediment.

Today CCCs will likely be found where they settled when the ice melted. This means that they are found on the floor, and not on walls or ceilings. Often they are found in passages that do not flood (otherwise they would be washed away), lying on top of angular breakdown boulders or on top of 'fluffy' mud. They would normally by 'loose' on top of the surface on which they are found, and not stuck or cemented to the underlying surface.

WHAT DO THEY LOOK LIKE?
CCCs come in many shapes, colours and sizes. Typically CCCs are white to light brown in colour, and a few millimetres in size, though CCCs up to 4cm in diameter have been discovered in the UK. The shapes are extremely varied, from distinct crystals to rafts to balls with concave and convex sides. Below you will see a number of photographs of the CCCs discovered in the UK so far.
Last edited by Gina on Mon 30 Oct 2017 12:48, edited 20 times in total.
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Gina
Posts: 47
Joined: Tue 03 May 2011 10:16

Re: TIPS - CCC formation, importance, location, appearance

Post by Gina » Fri 27 Oct 2017 09:52

OVERVIEW OF SITES

CCCs are often found on angular breakdown boulders (indicative of freeze-thaw processes)
Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland1.jpg (81.36 KiB) Viewed 8353 times
Reservoir Hole. Photo: Marc Luetscher
Reservoir Hole. Photo: Marc Luetscher
Reservoir Hole 1.jpg (89.05 KiB) Viewed 8355 times
Reservoir Hole. Photo: Marc Luetscher
Reservoir Hole. Photo: Marc Luetscher
Reservoir Hole 2.jpg (75.33 KiB) Viewed 8355 times
Reservoir Hole. Photo: Marc Luetscher
Reservoir Hole. Photo: Marc Luetscher
Reservoir Hole 3.jpg (82.71 KiB) Viewed 8355 times
Reservoir Hole. Photo: Marc Luetscher
Reservoir Hole. Photo: Marc Luetscher
Reservoir Hole 4.jpg (104.73 KiB) Viewed 8355 times
Reservoir Hole. Photo: Marc Luetscher
Reservoir Hole. Photo: Marc Luetscher
Reservoir Hole 5.jpg (50.58 KiB) Viewed 8355 times
Reservoir Hole. Photo: Marc Luetscher
Reservoir Hole. Photo: Marc Luetscher
Reservoir Hole 6.jpg (62.95 KiB) Viewed 8353 times
Wetsink. Photo: Marc Luetscher
Wetsink. Photo: Marc Luetscher
Wetsink1.jpg (77.39 KiB) Viewed 8355 times
Wetsink. Photo: Marc Luetscher
Wetsink. Photo: Marc Luetscher
Wetsink2.jpg (73.3 KiB) Viewed 8355 times
Wookey Hole. Photo: Marc Luetscher
Wookey Hole. Photo: Marc Luetscher
WookeyHole1.jpg (102.85 KiB) Viewed 8354 times
Wookey Hole. Photo: Marc Luetscher
Wookey Hole. Photo: Marc Luetscher
WookeyHole2.jpg (96.17 KiB) Viewed 8354 times
Miss Graces Lane
Miss Graces Lane
Miss Graces Lane 3.jpg (78.24 KiB) Viewed 8353 times

Gina
Posts: 47
Joined: Tue 03 May 2011 10:16

Re: TIPS - CCC formation, importance, location, appearance

Post by Gina » Fri 27 Oct 2017 10:57

Another indication of the former presence of ice is "fluffy" mud
Miss Graces Lane. Photo: Marc Luetscher
Miss Graces Lane. Photo: Marc Luetscher
Miss Graces Lane 4.jpg (98.5 KiB) Viewed 8353 times
Miss Graces Lane. Photo: Marc Luetscher
Miss Graces Lane. Photo: Marc Luetscher
Miss Graces Lane 2.jpg (69.29 KiB) Viewed 8353 times
Miss Graces Lane. Photo: Marc Luetscher
Miss Graces Lane. Photo: Marc Luetscher
Miss Graces Lane 1.jpg (90.45 KiB) Viewed 8353 times
Reservoir. Photo: Marc Luetscher
Reservoir. Photo: Marc Luetscher
Reservoir Hole 7.jpg (85.79 KiB) Viewed 8353 times

Gina
Posts: 47
Joined: Tue 03 May 2011 10:16

Re: TIPS - CCC formation, importance, location, appearance

Post by Gina » Fri 27 Oct 2017 11:16

CCC MORPHOLOGIES

White, 'bubble-like' CCCs
Wookey Hole. Photo: Marc Luetscher
Wookey Hole. Photo: Marc Luetscher
Wookey Hole 3.jpg (89.03 KiB) Viewed 8353 times
Wookey Hole. Photo: Marc Luetscher
Wookey Hole. Photo: Marc Luetscher
Wookey Hole 2.jpg (120.75 KiB) Viewed 8353 times
Reservoir Hole. Photo: Marc Luetscher
Reservoir Hole. Photo: Marc Luetscher
Reservoir Hole1.jpg (112.4 KiB) Viewed 8353 times
Miss Graces Lane. Photo: Marc Luetscher
Miss Graces Lane. Photo: Marc Luetscher
Miss Graces Lane 7.jpg (115.3 KiB) Viewed 8353 times
Brown, 'breadcrumb-sugary-type' CCCs
Miss Graces Lane. Photo: Marc Luetscher
Miss Graces Lane. Photo: Marc Luetscher
Miss Graces Lane 3.jpg (105.78 KiB) Viewed 8353 times
Miss Graces Lane. Photo: Marc Luetscher
Miss Graces Lane. Photo: Marc Luetscher
Miss Graces Lane 4.jpg (111.65 KiB) Viewed 8353 times
Miss Graces Lane. Photo: Marc Luetscher
Miss Graces Lane. Photo: Marc Luetscher
Miss Graces Lane 5.jpg (129.16 KiB) Viewed 8353 times
Switzerland. Luetscher et al., 2014. Photos: Robbie Shone
Switzerland. Luetscher et al., 2014. Photos: Robbie Shone
Luetscher et al 2014.jpg (81.11 KiB) Viewed 8353 times
Switzerland. Photo: Robbie Shone
Switzerland. Photo: Robbie Shone
Switzerland1.jpg (83.27 KiB) Viewed 8353 times
Whiteish, 'raft-like' CCCs
Miss Graces Lane. Photo: Marc Luetscher
Miss Graces Lane. Photo: Marc Luetscher
Miss Graces Lane 6.jpg (131.17 KiB) Viewed 8353 times
Miss Graces Lane. Photo: Andy Harp
Miss Graces Lane. Photo: Andy Harp

Large, mixed-type CCCs
Miss Graces Lane. Photo: Marc Luetscher
Miss Graces Lane. Photo: Marc Luetscher
Miss Graces Lane 2.jpg (76.73 KiB) Viewed 8353 times
Miss Graces Lane. Photo: Marc Luetscher
Miss Graces Lane. Photo: Marc Luetscher
Miss Graces Lane 1.jpg (84.41 KiB) Viewed 8353 times

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