A trained chemical engineer, van Rentergem has spent decades both exploring and mapping caves using Terrestrial Light Detection and Ranging (T-LiDAR) scanning] The shape of the smoke, as it oozes out of the cave, is a sign of how this thick CO2 gas presses downward, squeezing oxygen out of the cave entrance.
The shape of the smoke as it oozes out of the cave (above), researchers said, is a sign of how this thick CO2 gas presses downward, squeezing oxygen out of the cave entrance - which has suffocated many unsuspecting tiny creatures who have tried to explore it.
Shocking video shows how the 'Cave of Death' kills everything that ventures inside A video has surfaced of visitors to Costa Rica's infamous 'Cave of Death' with each marveling as the oxygen-deprived chamber snuffs out a giant torch in seconds.
Further illustrating the unusual atmosphere within the 'Cave of Death' ('Cueva de la Muerte'), the weight of this heavier CO2 can be seen flattening the torch's plume of smoke as it wafts away, leaving a flat plane of eerie grey smoke.
'Small animals will enter the cave and asphyxiate, usually in a few moments,' Belgium-based cave explorer Guy van Rentergem explained.
