Cave | Definition, Formation, Types, & Facts | Britannica

Sea caves, eolian caves, rock shelters, and talus caves

Sea caves are formed by wave action on fractures or other weaknesses in the bedrock of sea cliffs along coastlines. They may be mere crevices in the cliff or roomy chambers. Some can be entered only by boat at low tide, while others, occurring along beaches, can be walked into. A sea cave may have an opening to the surface at its rear that provides access from the top of the cliff. In some cases, the ceiling entrance serves as a blowhole from which water spouts during times of high tide or rough seas. Sea caves rarely are more than a few hundred metres long.

Eolian caves are chambers scoured by wind action. They are common in desert areas where they are formed in massive sandstone cliffs. Wind sweeping around such a cavity erodes the walls, floor, and ceiling, resulting in a bottle-shaped chamber usually of greater diameter than the entrance. Eolian caves are rarely longer than a few tens of metres.

Access for the whole family! Bundle Britannica Premium and Kids for the ultimate resource destination. Subscribe

Rock shelters are produced by bedrock erosion in insoluble rocks. A common setting is where a resistant rock such as a sandstone overlies shale or some other relatively weak rock. Surface weathering or stream action wears away the shale, cutting it back into the hillside. The sandstone is left behind as a roof to the rock shelter. Rock shelters are minor features as caves, but many are important archaeological or historical sites.

Also called: cavern (Show more) Key People: René Jeannel (Show more) Related Topics: tectonic cave glacier cave talus cave eolian cave solution cave (Show more) See all related content

Talus caves are openings formed between boulders piled up on mountain slopes. Most of them are very small both in length and in cross section. Some boulder piles, however, do have explorable interconnected “passages” of considerable length. Some of the largest talus caves occur among granite blocks in New York and New England, where integrated systems of passages between boulders have been mapped to lengths of several kilometres.