February 4, 2025
Description
This is a karst landscape that I designed and 3D printed in Tinkercad. It features a reservoir that can be filled with water, which then flows through channels, dripping into a cave to simulate stalactite formation. Most of the water forms a disappearing stream, which then becomes a subterranean lake and river within a large cavern. Eventually, the water reemerges as a karst spring. I created this model for my Earth & Space Science class as part of a unit on how water shapes Earth's landscape. It demonstrates the power of water erosion, particularly how it dissolves limestone to form caves and other karst features.
I printed in PLA at 0.2 mm layers.
**Note: I did not care about the quality of these prints, only functionality. Therefore the tops of the cave and caverns may not print right without supports - but those would've harmed the stalagmites so I did not use them. I was not planning for aesthetics when I designed this - only to have a model that worked and showed students Karst features.
License:
Creative Commons — Attribution