Cave of the Mounds the Interior and the National Park Service. To be considered a NNL, "a site must be one of the best examples of a natural region's characteristic biotic or geologic features." Cave of the Mounds is home to many varieties of speleothems. As with most caves, stalactites and stalagmites are common. Formations found inside the cave include: These formations come in many different brilliant colors such as reds, browns, blues, and grays. The reds and browns are caused by the presence of iron oxide in the formation. Similarly, blues and grays are caused by manganese oxide. Some speleothems are even partially
Amorphous calcium carbonate via the addition of particles ranging from multi-ion complexes to fully formed nanocrystals. Research of such systems have diverse application; however, the current lack unambiguous answers to fundamental questions (i.e. solubility product, interfacial forces, structure, etc.) causes them to be topics of study in fields ranging from chemistry, geology, biology, physics, and materials science engineering. ACC is the sixth and least stable polymorph of calcium carbonate. The remaining five polymorphs (in decreasing stability) are: calcite, aragonite, vaterite, monohydrocalcite and ikaite. When mixing two supersaturated solutions of calcium chloride and sodium carbonate (or sodium bicarbonates) these polymorphs will precipitate from solution