ice cave

1. Any cave in rock that is partly filled with ice. The term should not be applied to glacier caves. The ice may form in massive icicles and flows, when percolation water from unfrozen rock seeps into a cave containing freezing air drawn in from outside. This is a seasonal situation in many alpine caves, and if winter freezing exceeds summer melting the ice may become permanent, as in Austria's Dachstein and Eisriesenwelt caves. Alternately water vapor may crystallize out as hoar frost, commonly forming large hexagonal ice crystals that line the walls of a freezing cave, as in Grotte Valerie, northern Canada [9]. 2. A cave, generally in lava or limestone, in which the average temperature is below 0øC., and which ordinarily contains perennial ice. Ice may have the form of stalactites, stalagmites, or flowstone [10]. (French.) glaciere; (German.) 'Eishohle'; (Greek.) paghomenon spileon; (Italian.) ghiacciata naturale, grotta ghiacciata; (Russian.) ledjanaja pescera; (Spanish.) cueva helada, cueva de hielo; (Turkish.) buz magarasi; (Yugoslavian.) ledena pecina, ledenjaci, ledena jama. See glacier cave.