By contrast, lava caves, widely known as lava tubes, are formed in a geological instant—a year or two, sometimes weeks—by an eruption from the Earth’s crust.

Cliff Cave Park | Oakville, Missouri | 30 minutes from downtown St. Louis. This beautiful 525-acre public park is home to biking and hiking trails, fishing spots, shelters, and more. The cave’s ...

Nearby Arkenstone Cave — open to cavers and researchers since the 1960s, but still a "live" or "wet" cave — was also closed not long after the discovery of La Tetera.