We at IFLScience love a cave . Thedeeper , bluer , and moreterrifyingthe considerably . We are also always keen to celebrate the weird wonders satellite Earth has to volunteer , and as geologic oddballs go , the Trabuc Caves in southerly France take the cake .
Situated in Mialet , France , the cave are the big web of underground passages in the Cévennes . They were first inquire in 1823 and have since been explore to almost 10 klick ( 6 miles ) , although speleologists – people who study caves – consider them to extend two to three clip further than that , accord toAtlas Obscura .
As well as a richhistoryof human role – the cave have acted as a refuge for various groups since prehistoric times , including the Camisards during the Reformation and , later , “ Trabucaïres ” , or highwaymen , from whom they get their name – the cave are renowned for a unusual and unexplained phenomenon known as the “ 100,000 soldier ” .
The 100,000 Soldiers are unexplained and unparalleled anywhere in the world.Image credit: Havang(nl) viaWikimedia Commons(Public Domain)
When exploration really plain off in 1945 , speleologists were met with what appeared to be thousands of tiny soldiers standing to attention ( hence the name ) , but are in fact a unique type of concretion that still to this day have no explanation .
The “ soldiers ” bedding the cave floor , just a few centimetre tall , and as yet have not been discover anywhere else in the world .
These mysterious mineral masses form underwater and are made up of95 percent calciteand 5 percentage Lucius DuBignon Clay . Each appear to form overlapping discs , perhaps due to varying weewee levels .
The Trabuc Caves network is also home to an array of colorful of minerals, waterfalls, and pools.Image credit: Grottes de TRABUC viaWikimedia Commons(CC BY-SA 3.0)
Beyond this , little is known about how they come to be .
Other , more intimate , cave formations , stalagmite and stalactites , human body in pairs , on the undercoat and cap , severally . As water passes over limestone and drips down , these icicle - shaped deposits take human body . The 100,000 soldier , however , form without a married person hang above them , decree out this way of formation .
Various possibility have been posited over the years , ranging from bacteria to electrostatic forces , but none has ever been able-bodied to fully explicate this oddness .
All right then , Trabuc Caves , keep your secrets .
