The Geologic Oddity in Chile; The Marble Caves

What you are looking at are a fascinating series of colors in a marble cave, which showcase the colors of orange, black, blue, and white. This occurs at what is known as the Marble Caves which is a geologic oddity in southern chile on the shoreline of General Carrera Lake. The story of this formation goes back more than 300 million years to a time when dense temperate rainforests covered much of the planet.
Thumbnail Photo Credit: This work "MarbleCaves2", is a derivative of a photo (resized, cropped, added more red to the color balance in the image, text overlay, GeologyHub made graphics overlay (the GeologyHub logo and the image border)) from "Marble cathedral inside", by: Javier Vieras, jvieras, 2013, Posted on Flickr, Flickr account link: www.flickr.com..., Photo link: www.flickr.com..., CC BY 2.0. "MarbleCaves2" is used & licensed under CC BY 2.0 by / geologyhub
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Google Earth imagery used in this video: ©Google & Data Providers
This video is protected under "fair use". If you see an image and/or video which is your own in this video, and/or think my discussion of a scientific paper (and/or discussion/mentioning of the data/information within a scientific paper) does not fall under the fair use doctrine, and wish for it to be censored or removed, contact me by email at [e-mail] and I will make the necessary changes.
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[@charlottehardy822]

Nature never fails to inspire with it’s beauty and wonder.

[@hervigdewilde3599]

Until someone brings up parasitic wasps... 😮

[@ahmadfrhan5265]

If you watched I pet goat 2 you will notice the anti christ came from this place …..

[@sucuarana]

I've been there a couple of years ago. It's wonderful. The guides said it was once tried to be commercially explored but it wasn't easy to extract the marble so it is now protected, people in kayak can't not walk on the caves.

[@travelispassionromania1994]

Chile 🇨🇱 is so beautiful. Marble caves, Patagonia, the Atacoma Desert, the world's largest volcanoes 🌋, unreal cultures and great coastline. I will visit this country before I die

[@RoseNZieg]

Absolutely beautiful!! if I ever go to chile, I must visit this place!!

[@cacogenicist]

What a striking area. Lovely.

[@leannaerickson9745]

Thanks for showing us and telling us about these beautiful caves.😊

[@cameddy4081]

Great video - well described and credibly documented - super lesson 👌

[@will7its]

Can you make the patreon section at the end longer so we can see the photos without the suggested videos blocking them??? otherwise great video as always, thanks

[@erinmac4750]

Chile has some stunning geology! Isn't it the home of some rainbow rock formations and some mineral lakes with red water, or something like that. The names escape me, but the unusual beauty, I remember. Also, Chile has many unique and fascinating flowering plants adapted to the extreme aridity and elevation to complement this geology. (Crime Pays But Botany Doesn't made a series of "colorfully narrated" videos about the Andes flora and fauna.) Ps. I was hoping the blue was actually a cool mineral, not just physics, Lol 💙🏞️🌎🍀

[@lm5203]

Amazing... Thank you for sharing.

[@pukulu]

It looks like a very appealing place to vacation.

[@NeoRipshaft]

It's remarkable how many geological processes bear similarities to metallurgical processes - in this case taking the weak limestone and putting it through a process similar to tempering metal in blacksmithing to similarly reset the crystalline structure and harden it

[@syrathdouglas1244]

Reminds me of a piece of chalcedony I have, it’s mostly purple with a few yellow and brown spots!

[@bubbafrump74]

Awesome video. I'm trying to figure out if you're human, or a computer, or maybe even a mash-up of both? It sounds like you have an amazing amount of knowledge in your head. WAY more than a person could hold!!! 😏 jokes aside, I love this channel. Thank you so much for making me curious about rocks and geology!

[@mariamrodriguez2059]

Wow very cool 😊

[@ObsidianRadio]

These caves are gorgeous looking! A lot of guess work but good presentation either way. 🙂

[@scrappydoo7887]

Guess work?

[@Aztesticals]

You okay?

[@olic7266]

Nice troll

[@michaeldeierhoi4096]

People who don't understand geology often say 'oh it's just guess work'. 🙄

[@ObsidianRadio]

​@@michaeldeierhoi4096 One of the first things that needs to be done in the Scientific Method is to make guesses, hypotheses, ask questions. But that then has to be followed up by testing, observation and experimentation. Question : Are there any experiments that have been conducted that successfully duplicate the process that formed these beautiful blue caves? If not than that leads me to believe that his idea as to how these formed are far more speculative. No one should be offended by such a statement nor assume I'm trolling. This is a logical conclusion one comes to when they realize that a lot of these ideas aren't very testable. So you can go ahead and be defensive and dismissive like so many others or we can have a mature, respectful logical discussion. Either way my original statement isn't meant to attack Geologyhub or be trollish. It's something I'm convinced of because of the lack of evidence for it. Take that as you wish and have a good night! 🙂

[@trialsandfalls3550]

Very informative! Thanks

[@unclebob3606]

I would like to know about the geological causes that formed Lake Wakatipu and surrounding peaks, Earnslaw, Walter and Cecil, please. Love the content Kai ora. NZ.

[@JCO2002]

Could you explain how the formation process was determined to be within the last 10,000 years?

[@artificercreator]

What about KT boundary Iridium similarities with asteroid iridium examples.

[@unclebob3606]

All great things take time ..

[@suzettehenderson9278]

Wait, the lake is named Carrara? Great, love it.

[@davidp.5598]

Amazing!

[@jimcroft3633]

I thought CaCo3 had a neutral ph of 7.0 which acts as a buffer which is why it is added to peat ph acidic 3-4 to make potting soil.

[@CBlargh]

Oh! I didn't know marble was metamorphised limestone. Now I understand why you can't clean it with vinegar.

[@phonehenge]

The wonder!

[@RobinStJohn-sw7il]

Interesting, thanks for sharing! I love love love marble. Have you seen the research from mud fossil university JayDreamerZ and stellium 7 and hangman1248- (sorry, the list kept growing ) seem to show seemingly “rock solid” 😊 evidence lol for bio geology- reframing the time periods and our earth is a landscape of giant trees and creatures and titans that have been petrified, fascinating stuff

[@Blake4625kHz]

Yep sure

[@kennycarter5682]

id hate if that giant rock collappses with people under it.

[@ScionStorm1]

2:40 I'm sorry, wait- The Andean _WHAT????_

[@paul9120]

It’s not scientific to present theories as truth. Millions of years of earths existence is not possible if you apply math.

[@xwiick]

Hahaha..

[@hazajacko]

Holy crap I didn't know this even existed. As a massive sci fi fan it's become clear to me as a massive geology enthusiast, it's our own planet that tends to influence the design and things we see in so many franchises. We take a part of our planet and make an entire planet that's just lava, or just forest, just oceans. These caves actually remind me a lot of some of the caves within the star wars universe. It is truly a remarkable planet 🌍🌎🌏

[@deathbysnusnu1970]

Lol, well, that makes sense since they only had this planet to film on. 😉 ❤😊👍

[@hazajacko]

@@deathbysnusnu1970 I think not lol, don't think we film around erupting volcanoes.... 😉

[@bnic9471]

Haha, okay, but true science fiction never had "franchises". Oh, you meant movies? Lols!

[@hazajacko]

@@bnic9471 erm no, I mean books, comics, TV shows and movies. I mean sci fi media. And if true sci fi never had franchises what would you call Doctor Who (not a fan) or Star Trek? Gotta say, you seem to have just made a comment for the sake of making a comment coz it holds no bearing on what I said.

[@chadsimmons6347]

We must somehow entice the space aliens that planted us here to come back & explain,,,,,,W-T-F?

[@-oysterthief4444]

Awesome explanation and video, as usual 👍

[@scrappydoo7887]

You never fail to bring geological features that enhance my curiosity👍 Thank you 🙂

[@christinebonvallet4818]

Hello. Il y a une famille de voyageurs français qui vient juste de visiter et de présenter cette merveille, donc, une belle présentation scientifique de votre part sur le sujet, c'est une excellente coïncidence, merci beaucoup (je vous épargne un commentaire dans un anglais déplorable, et j'apprécie d'entendre le vôtre si bien rythmé). 😊

[@deborahwesala]

This was really wonderful to watch. Thank you for putting in so much detail and great video clips.

[@LadyAnuB]

If it took 10,000 years to create these caves, do you have an estimate on when they'd be completely gone given this rate of creation?

[@michaeldeierhoi4096]

Marble is mildly metamorphic rock created as Geo Hub described from the compressional forces on top of the limestone beds.

[@DaveTexas]

That’s really beautiful. I’ve seen photos of those caves before, but I never knew that the blue color wasn’t actually part of the rock. Every time I watch one of your videos, I learn something new!

[@TheSpaceEnthusiast-vl6wx]

This formation is amazing! I think we all know that the Carboniferous period also saw the highest amount of Oxygen in the atmosphere in Earth's history, at 35 percent!

[@The-Real-Blissful-Ignorance]

2:42 - Note: NOT to scale! That made me giggle.

[@EarthquakeSim]

wow! the shapes and colors of these caves are so amazing! it's fascinating to think about how these places formed :) I've spent 40 days in South America and I still regret to this day that fact that I did not visit Chile.. thank you for sharing this!

[@cmahar3]

Crystal Cave in Sequoia National Park is the only marble cave I've been in. They have the most excellent gate blocking the entryway at the mouth of the cave, looks like a giant spider web. Not as colorful as this marble, tho.

[@6233791]

If you ever need an idea for a video topic, I live near the Niagara Escarpment and would love if you could do a video on it! (Type of rock, origin, formation, etc.!)

[@Celeste-in-Oz]

Trying to comprehend the timescales involved.. my tiny primate brain just goes ..pfsst

[@brentkeller3826]

1:26 "The marble caves were once a rich limestone environment that got deformed" Marble caves "I'm not deformed, you're deformed!"

[@kaoskronostyche9939]

Didn't know about these caves. Very cool. Thank you.

[@snarky_user]

Eventually, everything comes down to hard parts.

[@salt-emoji]

I love you get the color origin out of the way quickly so we can get into the nitty gritty. Yeee

[@KillberZomL4D42494]

Nature is really fascinating, full of surprises.

[@WitmanClan]

Thank you 🙏 💙🧡🖤🙏

[@Trylobyte]

Marvellous -thanks!

[@cosmoscenti5173]

the young age of these caves is absolutely insane, where i live most of the caves were formed over tens of millions of years, not ten thousand. i guess that explains the lack of speleothems?

[@idkwaffles]

I would like to request the California motherlode. Specifically the Mariposa, Tuolumne, Calaveras county areas and related to Gold (Au) deposition.

[@jcee2259]

I discover and explore caves. Were I visiting Marble Caves I'd have an ultra-violet lamp to observe effects it has been found to obtain from such minerals elsewhere. Yes, I own that lamp. Also have kayaked within and outside caverns. You too, huh ?

[@bnic9471]

In earth science in 8th grade, I verified that our windowsill was truly marble by dripping hydrochloric acid on it. Sorry, Mr. Cowley!

[@ahmadfrhan5265]

If you watched I pet goat 2 you will notice the anti christ came from this place …..

[@mrbutch308]

GeologyHub is wonderful! Keep up the good work!!!

[@Mike-tg7dj]

I love❤ alpine lakes, ice cold as all get out yet beautiful. It always amazed my as to how blue the water gets in these frigid streams. I always wondered if you were that high up should you boil your water before drinking it. I will not drink untreated well water in the city where I live because the ground water is that polluted.

[@Astrofrank]

Top quality, as I have expected from this channel.

[@JS-yj7ow]

Happy to say that I’ve been there long before the apparent throngs of kayakers and boaters that visit the site as seen in the photos. I was on a trip down to Cerro San Lorenzo. They do have the shape of mushrooms from a distance.

[@christinebonvallet4818]

Bonjour. Les XTG Family ont évoqué l'acidité du lac pour le creusement des grottes liée à l'activité volcanique, comment se fait-il que vous ne le mentionnez pas ? Avec mes remerciements pour une confirmation / précision de votre part. Bien à vous

[@irvalfirestar6265]

my first thought was “CaCO3? this is gonna be fast”, but i did not expect it to be as fast as ten thousand years for something as hard as marble

[@Badger1776]

My grandfather always said “Figure out what you want to say then find the least amount of words to say it.” I would hope you take that to heart.

[@simix6915]

Did not know that the Glittering Caves of Helm's Deep were a real thing.

[@rdbchase]

"... large fish or sharks ..." -- sharks are fish.

[@rdbchase]

How does the graben relate to the formation?

[@1.4142]

I need to spelunk there

[@billpederson4831]

very cool it is nice to see that there is still places like this .

[@paulcrusse7800]

Thank you for all of your hard work.

[@tulsatrash]

Thank you very much.

[@treck87]

Always amazing

[@francelenemertilus1001]

Great video

[@kslinaz5668]

So cool.👍

[@jackwood8307]

👍❤️👍

[@DinoNucci]

#WorstNarratorEver