Desert planet's atmosphere and cavern system?

Ok, so I have this planet that I am still building.

It is a desert planet, its surfice is almost completely arid with a few exceptions such as snow deserts in the poles. There is sentient life in this planet, they are adapted to endure long periods without water and to survive the heat.

I want this planet to have a huge maze-like cavern system, filled with crystals, as if it was some sort of geode. Inside and below this cavern maze, there should be water. The planet's surface has some crater lakes that lead to those underground mazes, and those crater's water are what would be responsible for non-crater lakes.

What I wonder is, would a planet like this be able to sustain an earthian-like atmosphere? Would a lake crater system like this work?

I was picturing something like geysers opening those holes, but i am not really sure how an atmosphere or how the geode caves would develop in this...

Here a poopy drawing of what I am thinking of

Oh and I was thinking about making it the moon of some gas giant, something to contribuite to the desert planet's heat since I pictured it to be somewhat distant from the sun in relation to what earth is. (i also thought about making the gas giant a venus-like planet with the clouds and all, but i am not sure if this would be possible)

posted over 9 years ago

Xuu‭

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