Voyage to the Deep

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Cave explorer Hazel Barton lowers herself into a dark, damp hole. The pit is so large she can't see the walls around her. After a 50-meter (164-foot) drop, Barton's feet finally touch the ground. Barton has descended into one of the deepest caves in the United States: Lechuguilla (leh-choo-GHEE-yah) in Carlsbad, New Mexico.

Barton's headlamp shines on the cave's glittering features. Thin, pointy rocks hang like icicles from the ceiling rise up from the cave floor, others like rocky fingers reaching toward the surface. Barton looks around and realizes that parts of the cave walls look like they're covered in popcorn-shaped rocks.

Barton knows how lucky she is to see this underworld treasure. “These cave formations take millions of years to form ,” she says. “If one breaks, no one will ever see it again because it won’t grow back in our lifetime .”

In addition to dazzling sights, caves are also full of unusual kinds of life. Scientists find species in caves that aren’t found anywhere else on the planet. For these reasons, researchers risk their lives to study Earth’s underground worlds .

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Cave explorer Hazel Barton lowers herself into a dark, damp hole. The pit is so large she can't see the walls around her. After a 50-meter (164-foot) drop, Barton's feet finally touch the ground. Barton has descended into one of the deepest caves in the United States: Lechuguilla (leh-choo-GHEE-yah) in Carlsbad, New Mexico. Barton's headlamp shines on the cave's glittering features. Thin, pointy rocks hang like icicles from the ceiling rise up from the cave floor, others like rocky fingers reaching toward the surface. Barton looks around and realizes that parts of the cave walls look like they're covered in popcorn-shaped rocks. Barton knows how lucky she is to see this underworld treasure. "These cave formations take millions of years to form ," she says. "If one breaks, no one will ever see it again because it won't grow back in our lifetime ." In addition to dazzling sights, caves are also full of unusual kinds of life. Scientists find species in caves that aren't found anywhere else on the planet. For these reasons, researchers risk their lives to study Earth's underground worlds .

How would you feel if you were entering the cave?

Where is the cave?

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