Minecraft 1.17 Caves and Cliffs update: Every confirmed world generation so far

With Minecraft Update 1.17 Caves and Cliffs being released this summer, the developers have gradually released more information about what players should expect.

With plenty of new blocks, items, mobs, game functions, and more being added to Minecraft, it's hard to keep up with them all. Some features are a lot more recognizable due to their popularity before release, but each addition deserves its own space.

Here is a comprehensive list of every world generation being added to Minecraft with the new 1.17 update.

New world generation coming to Minecraft

Many different world generation updates are coming to Minecraft through this update, including the highly anticipated new cave systems. These cave systems can be split into multiple categories, including cheese caves and spaghetti caves.

There are also many other updates on pre-existing and additional caves being added, apart from updated mountains.

Cheese caves

These caves will utilize noise generators (Image via Minecraft Wiki)

Cheese caves are one of the two new cave systems Minecraft developers have intertwined into the game so far.

These caves are expected to form caverns of various sizes with multiple branches to explore, meaning the central area can be compared to a holey piece of cheese.

These caves also utilize noise generators, meaning that when the world is initially loading, the terrain will develop according to a random set of frequencies and octaves the game generates. This will create the inclines and declines of the world.

Depending on how these waves develop, entrances to cheese caves can form when there's an intersection with the general terrain.

Spaghetti caves

Spaghetti caves are similar to cheese caves in how they generate, as they too use noise generators. Their appearance, however, is what separates them.

Spaghetti caves are supposedly long and narrow. They will have many looping branches that intersect with each other, and they seemingly tend to spiral. These caves can form more entrances when crossed with the regular terrain in the generation stage.

Aquifers

Fish are expected to spawn in these caves (Image via Minecraft Wiki)

Aquifers are an updated form of a type of cave that used to appear in Minecraft. In any update before 1.17, players may find random pockets of water underground, but now, there are purposeful bodies of water generated in new caves.

During the most recent snapshot, these caves develop between Y level 31 and Y level 63 and are flooded top to bottom with water. This will be fixed in a later snapshot; they are expected to vary in size and could be quite intricate.

Magma blocks may generate underneath these water bodies to create downward bubble columns, and fish are expected to spawn in these caves if they are underneath oceans or rivers.

Amethyst geodes

Amethyst geodes are a generated structure found underground and rarely exposed at the surface, at sea level.

These geodes have a layer of smooth basalt on the outside, surrounding a central layer of calcite and then amethyst in the middle. They can occasionally be found cracked, meaning that they can breach into cave generations.

Amethyst shards develop on budding amethyst blocks and can be collected. Budding amethyst, however, cannot be harvested. They act similar to spawners, as they cannot be collected even with a silk touch pickaxe.

In snapshots, amethyst geodes have a high generation rate (assumably for testing purposes), and they most-commonly generate at lower levels between Y level 0 and Y level 40.

Geodes like these interfere with — and can rewrite — the generation of caves and other underground generations. The only known generations to interfere with this so far is abandoned mineshafts and strongholds

Crack carvers

Crack carvers are seemingly quite similar to ravines but appear to be deeper, longer, and narrower. They can reach over ninety blocks in depth, which is a lot deeper than a regular ravine, and are a lot darker in appearance because they intersect with the Deep Dark biome.

Not much has been released about these dangerous ravine-like generations, but they are presumed to be rich in ores since they reach deep underground.

Dripstone caves

A pointed dripstone can do massive damage to players (Image via Minecraft Wiki)

Dripstone caves are the newest Minecraft world generation, and they have plenty of new blocks to discover. These caves are one of the only underground-specific biomes and appear to be grandiose in size.

These caves contain massive amounts of stalactites and stalagmites, which are rock formations that stem from the ceiling and grounds of caves. These structures are composed of pointed dripstone, which are tipped stone entities that cause damage to players that interact with them.

Falling on a pointed dripstone, or having one fall on the player, can cause massive damage.