What are ice caves?
Most of us have been inside a system of rocky caves and caverns and seen the wonders of dripping stalgtites and spiky stalagmites. These natural works of art are beautiful to behold, but they are made of mere stone. Imagine this art work carved from glittering, glassy ice. Some ice caves are carved by the pounding waves of the sea, and some are formed by the changing weather above a glacier. All glaciers are made from frozen snow, pressed until it is as hard and solid as many of the earthts rocks. In Greenland, glaciers form on the peaks and shoulders of the mountains, and through the years they slide slowly down the slopes into the valleys. The south polar region is covered by a thick ice field that spreads outward from the center to meet the icy waters of the seas. Ice, of course, is frozen water, and geologists rate it as a mineral. As a mineral, however, it is weak and brittle. It can be chipped and broken by the waves of the ocean, and around Antarctica the rough ocean chews great
