Q 01/05

Most of the world's caves are formed by the slow dissolving of which rock?

A) Basalt

B) Granite

C) Sandstone

D) Limestone

Answer · why

D) Limestone

Rainwater charged with carbonic acid eats along cracks and bedding planes; the resulting sinkhole-pocked landscape is called karst.

Q 02/05

What is the name for the scientific study of caves?

A) Seismology

B) Petrology

C) Speleology

D) Limnology

Answer · why

C) Speleology

Recreational exploration is caving, potholing or spelunking; the science's name was coined by Émile Rivière in 1890.

Q 03/05

A stalactite hangs from a cave ceiling. What is the matching formation that grows up from the floor called?

A) Helictite

B) Stalagmite

C) Flowstone

D) Soda straw

Answer · why

B) Stalagmite

An easy memory aid: stalactites hold tight to the ceiling, stalagmites might reach it one day.

Q 04/05

Which system in Kentucky has the greatest total length of surveyed passage in the world?

A) Wind Cave

B) Jewel Cave

C) Mammoth Cave

D) Carlsbad Cavern

Answer · why

C) Mammoth Cave

More than 675 kilometres have been mapped, over one and a half times the length of the runner-up, an underwater system in Mexico.

Q 05/05

In which country is Sơn Đoòng, the cave with the largest known passage in the world?

A) Vietnam

B) Malaysia

C) China

D) Philippines

Answer · why

A) Vietnam

A local man found the entrance in 1990 while looking for agarwood, but was put off by the wind and roar of water and did not go back for years.