Rawhiti Cave become increasingly finer deeper down into the cave. A short walking track leads halfway down into the cavernous opening to a viewing platform. The diverse twilight-zone flora near the entrance of Rawhiti Cave makes this cave nationally significant. Over long periods of time, plant growth on the cave formations causes them to grow towards the sunlight as more calcium carbonate is deposited regularly on top of the plant growth. This phenomenon, called phytokarst, is most evident on the larger stalactites near the cave entrance, which are strongly curved outwards due to the heavy moss and fern growth on their sunlit
Calcium carbonate Calcium carbonate shares the typical properties of other carbonates. Notably, Calcium carbonate will react with water that is saturated with carbon dioxide to form the soluble calcium bicarbonate. This reaction is important in the erosion of carbonate rock, forming caverns, and leads to hard water in many regions. An unusual form of calcium carbonate is the hexahydrate, ikaite, CaCO·6HO. Ikaite is stable only below 8 °C. The vast majority of calcium carbonate used in industry is extracted by mining or quarrying. Pure calcium carbonate (e.g. for food or pharmaceutical use), can be produced from a pure quarried source (usually marble).