It's probably 90 percent still alive. At Carlsbad, probably 90 percent of the formations have dried out, turned white and stopped growing, Jagnow said. A unidentified spelunker enters the Throne Room Overlook at the Kartchner Caverns State Park. Kartchner Caverns were formed over time by underground water cutting through Escabrosa limestone. Water, with mineral deposits such as calcium and iron, also has fashioned the intricate formations, from dainty white lace-like helictites to formations resembling pearls, popcorn, cotton and butterscotch.
Colors run from pinks to taffy to corals to reds to creams.
Tenen and Tufts first made it inside in 1974 through a cut in a sinkhole on the Whetstones' east side after feeling a draft and smelling bat droppings. They entered the Rotunda Room slithering on their bellies in the pitch darkness with only hard-hat lights to guide them. For years, the two Tucson men clung to their finding with secrecy, worried that others would damage the delicate formations. They finally confided in the landowners, James and Lois Kartchner, who later approached state officials with Tufts and Tenen. Secrecy prevailed, and by 1988 legislators approved acquisition and development.