Talk:Solutional cave

cave name

In a totally unscientific survey, Google returns 223,000 results for solutional cave but only 17,600 for solution cave. However, the latter term is the one used by authorities such as the National Park Service and Encyclopaedia Britannica, making me wonder whether "solution cave" is the more scientifically accepted term. This article's only currently cited source does use "solutional cave", but it seems a promotional site rather than a scientific one. Any geologists have any input? Even if "solution cave" is not the preferred term, it seems that it at least ought to be listed as a synonym along with karst cave. 2605:A601:4100:3300:2306:3E9B:EE82:C306 (talk) 21:54, 13 August 2017 (UTC)

Merge proposal

The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

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Proposing merging Gypsum cave into its own section in Solutional cave due to the potential for content and context overlap once expanded. Looks like "Gypsum cave" was originally created as a placeholder resulting from a content move due to disambiguation. "Gypsum cave" could certainly be developed into a nice standalone article, but there is a large degree of overlap with the "Solutional cave" article (and sources that this article can also be expanded with, like this one), as the formation process would otherwise need to be repeated on both articles. Really, the only differences are the material and locations of the example caved—formation processes. We already redirect Limestone cave here, which is a much more common phenomenon (and, regardless, needs heavy expansion here as it is). Just makes sense to me that we either keep it all under one roof here or consider expanding and splitting Limestone cave out as well—but that would risk making a permanent stub here. – TCMemoire 20:28, 28 December 2025 (UTC)

I would be for this. Gypsum caves are, however, an independently studied phenomenon, and are definitely unique from normal solutional caves. This means the article COULD be expanded, and that will likely happen eventually. Kingsmasher678 (talk) 07:50, 9 January 2026 (UTC)

The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

Proposal: adjust first sentence for readability

Am proposing that first sentence be restated as "A solutional cave, solution cave, or karst cave is a cave typically formed in a soluble rock like limestone, composed of calcium carbonate (CaCO3). ChgoJohn (talk) 04:43, 31 July 2026 (UTC)