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LiveScience
LiveScience
Sascha Pare

Carlsbad Caverns: New Mexico's otherworldly caves with gypsum flowers and 'soda straws' dangling from the ceiling

Two photos side by side showing slim soda straw stalactites in a cave and a gypsum flower hanging from the ceiling.
QUICK FACTS

Name: Carlsbad Caverns

Location: New Mexico

Coordinates: 32.13721555956437, -104.5427096972203

Why it's incredible: The caverns hold astonishing limestone formations and gypsum crystals.

Carlsbad Caverns is a maze of underground caves born from an ancient tropical reef. The caverns house North America's largest cave chamber, "the Big Room," which boasts a floor area of 8.2 acres — equivalent to more than six football fields.

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