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Belize is internationally recognized as home of some of the premier caves in the world. Lost world cave systems are primarily found in limestone regions. In fact, all major cave systems in the world are in limestone, or karst, regions. Other cave formations are created by the sea, rivers, lava flows and springs.

The Yucatan peninsula is a huge limestone block. Where this block borders the Maya Mountains, uplifting and folding has occurred, exposing multiple cave systems. A cave in southern Belize contains the second largest underground room in the world, over 1 km. long and hundreds of feet high, when discovered in the 1980’s it was the largest room yet found. A cave in Indonesia currently holds the world-record.

Limestone is a rock composed of remains of marine life (shells), and the precipitates of calcium carbonate that collect on the floor of tropical seas.  Coral is a big contributor to limestone formation. When limestone is uplifted or shifted due to geologic “tectonic” processes, it often becomes part of a continent and thus is exposed to groundwater movement. Water dissolves limestone by slowly chemically bonding with calcium carbonate, which is then carried away in suspension with the groundwater.  Regular erosion due to the surface water movement (rivers and rain) also occurs. Rainwater percolating down through limestone encounters organic debris on the surface, and picks up CO₂ as part of the process, forming week carbonic acid, which also slowly dissolves calcium carbonate. When the acidic rainwater meets the calcium carbonate laden groundwater, a chemical imbalance occurs which causes the water to rapidly dissolve more limestone, up to 25 times more than it could otherwise.  This reaction is what causes such extensive “solution erosion” to occur, which forms the huge underground caverns found in cave systems.  This process most active in tropical, rainy regions like Belize.

Just the opposite action occurs when a cave is uplifted (or groundwater drops) and exposed to air.  When percolating acidic groundwater that has already dissolved some limestone hits the air, another chemical imbalance occurs and limestone is then rapidly deposited (precipitated out of solution) in the cave as “dripstone” formations.  These are the stalagtites, columns, curtains, and other “flow stone” formations found in caves.

Cave systems often form along waterpaths that groundwater follows (fissures and faults in the limestone), enlarging the cavities into long caves. Rivers are still often found in such caves, as in the Caves Branch River in Belize. The Caves Branch is an “active” cave, eroding through both solution and mechanical means.  It also has precipitation formation occuring. Karst regions in the tropics form “cockpit karst” topography, where many sinkholes develop and gradually lower the surface into a very rough, pock-marked terrain that is literally “peppered “ with cave entrances.  This is the topography encountered on the Caves Branch River. 

To find out more about our Belize caving trips, call (800) 390-5715 or send us an email: slickrock@slickrock.com.
 

Many of the large caves in Belize are well known and easily accessible, but most are hidden in the jungle hills and hard to access and indeed difficult to even locate. Many of these caves were important Mayan ceremonial sites, as the Maya believed that caves were the access to the underworld, home to many of their important deities. As such, these caves often contain ancient offerings left behind during spiritual ceremonies in the form of pottery, incense, carvings, and even skeletons of sacrificial victims. The Mayans held caves especially sacred as the portal to the Underworld, where many important deities lived.  The underworld was known as Shivalva (Shee-BALL-ba); the gods of death resided here. Only the most intrepid and religious officials (shamans) entered caves, to conduct religious offerings and ceremonies.  Lit only by torches (with no way to re-light), the Mayans would sometimes travel several miles into caves. It is rare to find such undisturbed, unlooted caves such as those seen in Belize. Other caves, such as Actun Tunichil Muknal, contain a wonderland of incredible dripstone formations such as drip curtains, soda straws, travertine flows, columns, and crystalline coated fountains.

Belize cave excursions have recently become popular in Belize, but among the small world of cave explorers the country has been world renowned for decades. The Maya Mountains in central Belize have uplifted a large area of limestone beds that have subsequently eroded into a huge network of caves, many with rivers coursing through them. Caving/hiking expeditions in the 1970’s and 80’s discovered the second largest underground room in the world in a cave of the Chiquibul system in the western part of the mountains, putting Belize on the map for extraordinary caves.

Windsurfing | Belize Scuba Diving Vacations, Deep Sea Diving on Long Caye | Surfing Belize, Surfing Vacation in Central America
Belize Whitewater Kayaking, Jungle River Belize | Caves Branch Underwater Cave, Cave Rafting a Belize River Cave | Belize Kayak Tour Vacation, Sea Kayak Belize | Belize Snorkel, Caribbean Snorkeling Trip, Belize Snorkeling Vacations | Belize Caves, Adventure Caving Trip

PHOTO CREDITS

TOP IMAGE: NORM SHREWSBURY

BELOW: DAN SEAGULL, NORM SHREWSBURY, HENRY GEORGI, HENRY GEORGI, HENRY GEORGI

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