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

[Gina]

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.

[Gina]

OVERVIEW OF SITES

CCCs are often found on angular breakdown boulders (indicative of freeze-thaw processes)

Switzerland

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Reservoir Hole. Photo: Marc Luetscher

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Reservoir Hole. Photo: Marc Luetscher

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Reservoir Hole. Photo: Marc Luetscher

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Reservoir Hole. Photo: Marc Luetscher

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Reservoir Hole. Photo: Marc Luetscher

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Reservoir Hole. Photo: Marc Luetscher

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Wetsink. Photo: Marc Luetscher

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Wetsink. Photo: Marc Luetscher

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Wookey Hole. Photo: Marc Luetscher

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Wookey Hole. Photo: Marc Luetscher

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Miss Graces Lane

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[Gina]

Another indication of the former presence of ice is "fluffy" mud

Miss Graces Lane. Photo: Marc Luetscher

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Miss Graces Lane. Photo: Marc Luetscher

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Miss Graces Lane. Photo: Marc Luetscher

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Reservoir. Photo: Marc Luetscher

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[Gina]

CCC MORPHOLOGIES

White, 'bubble-like' CCCs

Wookey Hole. Photo: Marc Luetscher

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Wookey Hole. Photo: Marc Luetscher

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Reservoir Hole. Photo: Marc Luetscher

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Miss Graces Lane. Photo: Marc Luetscher

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Brown, 'breadcrumb-sugary-type' CCCs

Miss Graces Lane. Photo: Marc Luetscher

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Miss Graces Lane. Photo: Marc Luetscher

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Miss Graces Lane. Photo: Marc Luetscher

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Switzerland. Luetscher et al., 2014. Photos: Robbie Shone

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Switzerland. Photo: Robbie Shone

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Whiteish, 'raft-like' CCCs

Miss Graces Lane. Photo: Marc Luetscher

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Miss Graces Lane. Photo: Andy Harp

Large, mixed-type CCCs

Miss Graces Lane. Photo: Marc Luetscher

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Miss Graces Lane. Photo: Marc Luetscher

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