Chile's Marble Caves (Patreon)

Caves around the planet largely occur in limestone, but in other circumstances they can occur in materials such as basalt, ice, or salt. Yet, in Chile, a series of caves on the shoreline of General Carrera lake occur within colorful layered marble. Here, the colors of blue, orange, black, and white provide a stunning range of colors. In these photos, I have labeled how each color formed, along with a large rock fold an adjacent rock has. This marble originated from limestone 320 million years ago, as the section of Chile which it is located in was once the site of a temperate coral reef.

You can expect a detailed video on how this rock unit formed on Monday, June 19th 2023.

Attribution for the source photos is mentioned in the lower right hand corner of each image.

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