Title: Catastrophic Caves
Author: Vance Nelson
Series: Untold Secrets of Planet Earth
Major Themes: Caves, Geology, Science
Synopsis: Travel around the world investigating cave and cavern formations, both in natural and in man-made structures, and see what they tell us about the speed of formation!
Every morning, as we begin our homeschooling day, I read from several books. One of them usually has something to do with history or science. Right now, we are working our way through the series Untold Secrets of Planet Earth. We just finished Catastrophic Caves, and my 13-year-old commented, as we finished, that the book makes a lot more sense now that he has heard the text and not just looked at the pictures. Maybe he will learn the value of reading the text now!
This book begins with about 25 pages of introductory matter. Here, the author describes the difference between caves and caverns and tells how both secular scientists and Biblical Creationist scientists believe caverns and their formations developed. He also describes the differences in chemical composition between natural cavern structures and the cave formations that form in man-made structures.
Next are the three main sections of the book. Section One focuses on mines and industry and the rapid mineral formations that are found in some of those places. Section Two describes mineral springs from around the world. Section Three shows rapid mineral formations in both natural and man-made caverns in various parts of the world. In each section, the examples are organized by location. Each example is described with a page or two of text and several pages of beautiful, full-color photographs. A few pages at the very end of the book wrap it all up with a final assessment of the evidence. The theme of the book, that it does not take long ages to create cave formations, but that instead, it takes lots of water, is repeated over and over through the book.
We thoroughly enjoyed reading through Catastrophic Caves together and seeing the stunning formations in caves and mines around the world. I think everyone’s favorite pictures were from the petrifying caves in France, where people make souvenirs from the calcite that forms from the water flowing through these caves. These pictures have to be seen to be believed.
No warnings!
Age levels:
Reading Independently—Ages 15 and Above, Adults
Links to buy this book:
Amazon: Hardcover
AbeBooks: View Choices on AbeBooks.com
Creation Store: Hardcover