(Image credit: Johannes Lundberg/Swedish Museum of Natural History)
Researchers collected rocks and microbes for testing.
Cave popcorn
(Image credit: Johannes Lundberg/Swedish Museum of Natural History)
The popcorn ceiling in Tjuv-Ante’s Cave.
Rock coral
(Image credit: Johannes Lundberg/Swedish Museum of Natural History)
Fingers of coral-like calcite dangle from the cave ceiling.
Flowstone
(Image credit: Johannes Lundberg/Swedish Museum of Natural History)
Water dripping into the cave in spring and summer spurs intense bacterial growth. The bacteria excrete calcium, which helps form the cave's calcite dripstones.
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Collecting samples
(Image credit: Johannes Lundberg/Swedish Museum of Natural History)
Sampling the microbes inside Tjuv-Ante’s Cave.
Cave interior
(Image credit: Johannes Lundberg/Swedish Museum of Natural History)
Becky Oskin covers Earth science, climate change and space, as well as general science topics. Becky was a science reporter at Live Science and The Pasadena Star-News; she has freelanced for New Scientist and the American Institute of Physics. She earned a master's degree in geology from Caltech, a bachelor's degree from Washington State University, and a graduate certificate in science writing from the University of California, Santa Cruz.
