For past climate clues, ask a stalag-mite
By Sid Perkins
Scientists have turned to mites fossilized in cave formations to show in a novel way that the American Southwest at times during the past few thousand years was much wetter and cooler than it is now.
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Hidden Cave lies at an altitude of about 2,000 meters in the Guadalupe Mountains in southeastern New Mexico. A steep shaft leads about 25 m down from a wide entrance to a 100-by-150-m cavern with muddy floor. Stalagmites and other cave formations slowly grew on the floor and walls as water dripped into the cave and deposited dissolved minerals.