The guide draws attention to the surrounding walls—shaped by water, minerals, and time. Smooth, banded strata reveal ancient seabed layers of limestone folded and lifted by tectonic forces, while slow, acidic groundwater has carved small hollows and scalloped textures that record the flow of vanished underground streams.
The rippling sheets of calcite or flowstone drape over the rock. In places, the walls glisten with thin crystalline films that sparkle under light, and in the damper reaches, soft, white coatings mark the work of bacteria slowly dissolving and redepositing the stone. Scattered shells and marine fragments, remnants of an ancient ocean floor, are still visible within the limestone layers.
Next up, are the stalagmites that rise from the floor of the cave. Short, bulbous and of different shapes and sizes, these water drips are formed by rapid dripping that piles calcite in rounded mass; others are tall and slender, shaped by steadier drips that allow the mineral to deposit evenly. Some stand several feet high to form columns that appear to support the cavern roof. One is called the Eiffel Tower as its shape resembles the Parisian structure. The Garden of the Gods chamber stalagmites form clusters that resemble miniature cityscapes or forests of stone.
