Höhlentauchen / Cave Diving / Buceo en Cueva Riviera Maya
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Calcite Rafts

Calcite Rafts

Calcite Rafts are formed when due to the oversaturation of the water with calcite it precipitates and clogs to these small rafts on the surface together. These rafts become after while too heavy to be supported anymore by osmotic tension and sink to the bottom and form a layered sediment deposition. The surfaces has to be protected from wind and stay unmoved for a long period of time so that the wonderful and very easily destroyable rafts can form. Therefore, you never will find them in the entrance areas of the cenotes, however, air domes of cave systems that are not that often dived, have still today surfaces covered with a thick calcite raft layer and in many tunnels you find them as deposition on the floor, which is an indication that for a long period of time this part of the caves was only partially flooded. Formations like these calcite rafts tell the story of the formations of the caves and are as precious and important to save as any other formation in the caves. A lack of current and other disturbing influence have preserved them over hundreds of thousands of years, so the diver should care at all times about a very good buoyancy, distance from the floor and excellent propulsion techniques during the dives.
calcite raft on the floor Kalzitflösse am Boden

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