Nature never ceases to amaze us, there are so many unusual and interesting things in the world that, seeing them, a person freezes with delight. It is almost impossible to travel the entire planet and see all the sights, learn about all types of plants and animals, but still some natural monuments are found in many countries, which allows a large number of people to get to know them.
The extraordinary creations of nature include stalactites and stalagmites. there are in many states, so curious tourists can easily satisfy their curiosity and inspect them from the inside. It is not worth going to distant lands, since such a miracle exists in Russia, Ukraine, stalactites and stalagmites of amazing beauty are located in Israel, China, Slovakia.
Their size and shape depends on the size of the cave and its location. Many are interested in the question of how stalactites and stalagmites differ. It should be noted that both are formed from calcium and other minerals. Even in the tallest rocky caves there are small crevices through which water penetrates inside. Since you have to go a very long way until you can get into the cave, on their way they wash out the existing deposits of minerals. Water never runs in a stream: because the hole is too small, it comes in small droplets.
Stalactites in translation from Greek mean "leaked drop by drop". This is nothing more than chemogenic deposits in karst caves. They come in different types and types, mainly icicles, combs, straws and fringes. Stalagmite in translation from Greek means "drop", these are mineral growths on the ground, rising over time in the form of cones or pillars. They can be limestone, salt or gypsum. The main difference between the two outgrowths is that stalactites grow from the ceiling and stalagmites grow from the bottom of the cave.
Stalactites and stalagmites, in some cases, can combine, turning into a column called a stalagnate. This can take thousands, if not millions of years, because these huge blocks grow from billions of small droplets. This process takes place most quickly in low caves. It is sometimes impossible to pass there because of the densely set pillars.
Karst caves are considered a favorite place for tourists to visit. People are interested in looking at stalactites and stalagmites, taking pictures next to them, touching them with their hand. Being near this miracle of nature, you understand that it existed hundreds of thousands or millions of years ago and has survived to this day. In Cuba, in the Las Villas cave, the highest stalagmite on the planet was discovered, its height reaches 63 m.The largest stalactite is considered to be a stone icicle hanging in Gruga do Janelao in Brazil, its height is 32 m.Europe also has its own giants. Thus, in Slovakia, a stalagmite 35.6 m high was found in the Buzgo cave.
Stalactites and stalagmites have the same origin, although they look different. The former are thinner and slender, while the latter are thicker and wider.
The most colorful photos of caves containing stalactites and stalagmites. These usually limestone formations hanging from the ceiling or growing out of the ground are simply mesmerizing. How old are they supposedly? Many millions, as the guides classically claim, or can they grow in a shorter time?
(Stalactites photo # 1.1)
(Stalactites photo # 1.2)
What are stalactite and stalagmite? The water that seeps into the cave contains particles of limestone or other minerals. When a drop of water flows through the crack and falls, the mineral dissolved in it remains on the ceiling of the cave. Then, drop by drop, these deposits grow down and after a long or short time, a stalactite forms on the ceiling of the cave - a solid icicle made of stone or salt. Below, under it, a stalagmite grows, from falling drops from the stalactite. After a while, both limestone formations grow, meet and join into a single column
(Stalactites photo # 2.1)
(Stalactites photo №2.2)
"Caves are formed by the action of groundwater, but how this happens, we do not know" - say scientists evolutionists. But, judging by the new data, it turns out that it is sulfuric acid that affects the formation of at least 10% of caves in the Guadeloupe Mountains in New Mexico and Texas. This means that caves could have formed much faster than in millions of years.
(Stalactites photo №3.1)
(Stalactites photo №3.2)
The world's tallest stalagmite is found in the Armand Cave in France. According to scientists, its growth rate is 3 mm per year. Then this stalagmite was supposed to reach its height of 38 m in 12,700 years. Such data are inconsistent with the age of the stalagmite, which was established by the method of radiometric dating (millions of years). Is the method wrong?
(Stalactites photo №4.1)
(Stalactites photo №4.2)
At Cape Levin in Western Australia, there is a waterwheel that is simply overgrown with stone. And it happened in less than 65 years. This suggests that such natural growths can form quite quickly. But why, then, according to evolutionists, stalactites and stalagmites, whose age is unknown, are formed over thousands or even millions of years?
(Stalactites photo # 5.1)
(Stalactites photo # 5.2)
Due to the fact that the discoveries about the rapid growth of stalactites have become known today, we can argue that the growth of stalactites that we see in the most beautiful limestone caves did not require entire eras. These beautiful formations could grow very quickly in just a few thousand years during the cataclysm of the global Flood.
(Stalactites photo # 6.1)
(Stalactites photo # 6.2)
Often the stalagmite is combined with the stalactite, and a column appears. The largest stone column in Carlsbad is over 30 meters high. The ceilings of some caves are hung with short stalactites, as if fringed. In other caves, stone stalactites in the form of needles on the walls shine. There are stalactites that grow to the sides and even up.
(Stalactites photo №7.1)
(Stalactites photo №7.2)
In October 1953, National Geographic magazine published a photograph of a bat that fell on a stalagmite in the famous Carlsbad Caves, New Mexico, and hardened on it. The stalagmite grew so quickly that it was able to preserve the bat before the animal began to decompose.
(Stalactites photo # 8.1)
(Stalactites photo №8.2)
In the Jenolan Caves and various other places, you can see stalactites and stalagmites that grew directly in structures built by man. Like the Lincoln Memorial, the Jenolan structures contain a highly permeable cement slurry that allows these formations to grow rapidly. Unfortunately, the grown formations are very porous and brittle.
(Stalactites photo # 9.1)
(Stalactites photo # 9.2)
In Philadelphia, anyone can observe many bridges in which stalactites grow. The length of some of them is more than 30 cm. Based on the age of the bridges, we conclude that all these stalactites are less than 56 years old. This is speed!
(Stalactites photo # 10.1)
(Stalactites photo # 10.2)
The world of stalactites and stalagmites is beautiful and mysterious. These vivid photos tell us about the amazing God's laws in the world of geology, about our history with you, which is not millions of years old, but only 5-6 thousand years old. And these majestic natural formations tell us about the greatness of their Creator.
Cave stalactites have always been interesting to people. Among the drip stalactite formations, there are gravitational (thin tubular, conical, lamellar, curtain-shaped, etc.) and anomalous (mainly helictites). Especially interesting thin tubular stalactitessometimes forming whole calcite thickets. Their formation is associated with the release of calcium carbonate or halite from infiltration waters. Having leaked into the cave and getting into new thermodynamic conditions, infiltration waters lose some of their carbon dioxide. This leads to the release of colloidal calcium carbonate from the saturated solution, which is deposited along the perimeter of a drop falling from the ceiling in the form of a thin roll. Gradually building up, the rollers turn into a cylinder, forming thin tubular, often transparent stalactites. The inner diameter of tubular stalactites is 3–4 mm, the wall thickness usually does not exceed 1–2 mm. In some cases, they reach 2-3 and even 4.5 m in length. Among stalactites, the most common conical stalactites
Their growth is determined by the water flowing down a thin cavity located inside the stalactite, as well as by the flow of calcite material along the surface of the drip. Often, the internal cavity is located eccentrically. From the hole of these tubes every 2-3 minutes. clear water drips. The dimensions of the cone-shaped stalactites, which are located mainly along the cracks and indicate them well, are determined by the conditions of the influx of calcium carbonate and the size of the underground cavity. Usually stalactites do not exceed 0.1–0.5 m in length and 0.05 m in diameter. Sometimes they can reach 2-3, even 10 m in length () and 0.5 m in diameter. Interesting spherical (bulbous) stalactitesresulting from blockage of the tube opening. On the surface of the stalactite, aberrational thickenings and patterned growths appear. Spherical stalactites are often hollow due to the secondary dissolution of calcium by the waters entering the cave. Anemolytes - curved stalactites
In some caves, where there is significant air movement, curved stalactites are found - anemolytes, the axis of which is deviated from the vertical.
The formation of anemolites is determined by the evaporation of hanging water droplets on the leeward side of the stalactite, which causes it to bend in the direction of the air flow. The bending angle of some stalactites can reach 45 °. If the direction of air movement periodically changes, then zigzag anemoliths... Curtains and draperies hanging from the ceiling of caves have a similar origin with stalactites. They are associated with infiltration waters seeping along a long crack. Some curtains, made of pure crystalline calcite, are completely transparent. In their lower parts, stalactites with thin tubes, at the ends of which water droplets hang, are often located. Calcite drips can look like petrified waterfalls. One of these waterfalls is noted in the Tbilisi grotto of the New Athos (Anakopia) cave. Its height is about 20 m, and its width is 15 m. - these are complexly constructed eccentric stalactites, included in the subgroup of anomalous stalactite formations. They are found in various parts of karst caves (on the ceiling, walls, curtains, stalactites) and have the most varied, often fantastic shape: in the form of a curved needle, complex spiral, twisted ellipse, circle, triangle, etc. Needle helictites reach 30 mm in length and 2–3 mm in diameter. They are a single crystal, which, as a result of uneven growth, changes its orientation in space. There are also polycrystals that have grown into one another. In the section of acicular helictites, which grow mainly on the walls and ceiling of caves, no central cavity can be traced. They are colorless or transparent, with a pointed end. Spiral-like helictites develop mainly on stalactites, especially thin-tubular ones. They are composed of many crystals. A thin capillary is found inside these helictites, through which the solution reaches the outer edge of the aggregate. Water droplets formed at the ends of helictites, in contrast to tubular and conical stalactites, do not break off for a long time (many hours). This determines the extremely slow growth of helictites. Most of them belong to the type of complex formations that have a bizarrely intricate shape. 
The most complex mechanism of the occurrence of helictites has not yet been sufficiently studied. Many researchers (N.I.Krieger, B. Jeze, G. Trimmel) associate the formation of helictites with the blockage of the growth channel of thin tubular and other stalactites. The water entering the stalactite penetrates into the cracks between the crystals and comes out to the surface. This is how the growth of helictites begins, due to the predominance of capillary forces and crystallization forces over gravity. Capillarity is, apparently, the main factor in the formation of complex and spiral-like helictites, the direction of growth of which initially largely depends on the direction of intercrystalline cracks. 
F. Chera and L. Mucha (1961) by experimental physicochemical studies proved the possibility of precipitation of calcite from the air of caves, which causes the formation of helictites. Air with a relative humidity of 90–95%, supersaturated with the smallest droplets of water with calcium bicarbonate, turns out to be an aerosol. Water droplets falling on the ledges of walls and calcite formations quickly evaporate, and calcium carbonate precipitates. The highest growth rate of a calcite crystal is along the main axis, causing the formation of acicular helictites. Consequently, under conditions when the dispersion medium is a substance in a gaseous state, helictites can grow due to the diffusion of a solute from the surrounding aerosol. The helictites created in this way ("aerosol effect") are called "cave frost". 
Along with the clogging of the feeding channel of individual thin-tube stalactites and the "aerosol effect", the formation of helictites, according to some researchers, is also influenced by the hydrostatic pressure of karst waters (L. Yakuch), the peculiarities of air circulation (A. Vikhman) and microorganisms. These provisions, however, are not sufficiently reasoned and, as studies of recent years have shown, are largely controversial. Thus, the morphological and crystallographic features of eccentric sintered forms can be explained either by capillarity or by the effect of aerosol, as well as by a combination of these two factors. Why caves arise
The earth's surface has a complex structure and configuration. At one time, when the land and oceans were forming, various minerals were formed. For example, basalt is formed at high temperature and pressure as a result of volcanic activity. Granite arose under the same conditions. But limestone, marble, chalk, gypsum and salt, of which stalactites and stalagmites can be composed, were formed by a different mechanism, in less extreme circumstances. They all dissolve in water - this is their distinctive property. When water leaches these elements from the composition of rocks, then voids appear inside. They are called caves.
Geological processesEmpty space inside a body is karst. In accordance with this term, most of the caves known to people began to be called karst. I must say that caves can also be formed as a result of other processes taking place in the earth's crust, but this is a topic for a separate discussion. It is important to emphasize that stalactites and stalagmites arise precisely in karst formations. In these voids, natural processes do not stop for an instant, although they continue for many millions of years. Scientists have calculated that stalactites and stalagmites grow by about 1 cm in 100 years.
According to experts, the largest karst cave on the planet is located in the United States. The state of Kentucky is famous for the fact that there are Mammoth Caves, stalactites and stalagmites of which attract both tourists and scientists. These caves communicate with each other. The total length of the underground halls and passages is 560 kilometers. On the island of Crete there are almost one and a half thousand caves. The most interesting of them is Sfedoni. It is estimated to be between seven and fifteen million years old. It has a modest size, only 145 meters. However, its interior (so to speak) is remarkable for its amazing proportions and beauty. One gets the impression that it is decorated by human hands.
At the first stages of acquaintance with the caves, some people have a question about how stalactites and stalagmites differ? In everyday language, stalactites are "icicles" that hang from the ceiling. Water seeps through the soil and rock, eroding along the way those minerals that dissolve in it. Once inside the cave, water evaporates, and minerals remain in the dry residue. The icicle gradually grows and increases in size. In the case when a weakly saturated mineral solution is formed, its drops fall from a height and reach the floor. In this place, an "icicle" is also formed, only with the tip up. This is a stalagmite.
Experts and lovers of underground routes never tire of wondering at the variety of caves on the planet. It would seem that everything has already been studied and explained. However, new facts force us to return to the old questions again and again. It is generally known that stalactites and stalagmites are formed as a result of the evaporation of moisture that penetrates from the outside. However, recent studies have shown that this is not always the case. It follows from what has been said that the caves have not yet revealed all their secrets. Curious and energetic researchers still have to puzzle over their solution.
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Water chemogenic deposits in caves are formed by sedimentation from flowing or standing water. They are represented by all possible forms of drip formations.
Stalactites (from the Greek stalaktós - dripping) - drip-drip (usually limestone in karst caves), hanging in the form of conical icicles, draperies, curving fringes or hollow tubes from the arches and upper parts of the walls of karst caves or other underground voids (eng : Speleothem). This is the most widely known form of manifestation of gravitational textures of mineral aggregates. The terms "stalactite" and "stalagmite" were introduced into literature in 1655 by the Danish naturalist Ole Worm.
Stalactites arise as a result of the precipitation of calcium carbonate during the decomposition in a solution of calcium bicarbonate with the formation of less soluble calcium carbonate and CO 2, and the removal of carbon dioxide from water saturated with it. The solubility of carbonates depends on the presence of CO 2 in solution. As soon as the CO 2 limit in the pore fluid is used, the dissolution of carbonate will stop. When the solution is close to saturation, dissolution will occur in some parts of the general filtration-diffusion system, while in others, carbonate will precipitate. In this case, dissolution can occur on the walls of thin pores and cracks, and precipitation can occur on separate crystallization nuclei in an open cavity.
There are also gypsum and salt stalactites formed by increasing the saturation of the solution during the evaporation of the solvent (water).
Under certain conditions, from the bottom of caves and other underground karst cavities, they grow towards stalactites. stalagmites in the form of cones, and the merging stalactite and stalagmite form columnar columns, called stalagnate... On stalactites or stalagmites, partially flooded by underground waters in caves, take away (aggregates crystallizing in the horizontal plane at the water-air interface from the edges of the solid phase), as a result of which complex ensembles of mushroom-shaped aggregates are formed.
Gurus, or calcite dams, damming underground lakes - are found mainly in limestone and much less often in dolomite cavities. They are formed in horizontal and inclined passages as a result of calcium carbonate precipitation from the solution, which is associated with the release of carbon dioxide due to the turbulence of the water flow and / or changes in its temperature when moving along the underground gallery. The outlines of dams, usually in the form of a regular or curved arc, are determined mainly by the original shape of the cave floor protrusions. According to morphological characteristics, gurus are subdivided into areal and linear. The latter are developed mainly in narrow passages with underground streams, which they divide into separate bodies of water. The water flow not only creates calcite dams, but also destroys them. When the flow rate changes and the mineralization of groundwater under the action of erosion and corrosion, holes, breaks and cuts are formed in the gurges. This leads to the formation of dry gur, unable to retain water. As a result of further dissolution and erosion, only strongly corroded protrusions, noted on the floor and walls of the cavity, remain in place of the calcite dams.
Ice "icicles" both in ice caves and on the surface of the Earth are also stalactites. According to the classification of V.I. Stepanov, the following types of stalactites are distinguished for karst caves:
with strictly axial feeding, tubular stalactites (macaroni) appear, characterized by a constant channel diameter and a structure controlled by geometric selection when a drop grows on the meniscus;
with combined areal and axial feeding, conical stalactites appear. They cannot be regarded simply as tubular stalactites overgrown with a spherulite crust, since synchronous fouling affects the morphology of the meniscus;
with linear feeding draperies appear;
ensembles of stalactites and draperies are extremely characteristic;
tuflactites - stalactites growing under conditions of high supersaturation, consisting of calcareous tuff, and thus devoid of the structure specified by geometric selection, can be distinguished. The division of concepts also removes the conflict between the widespread definition that tubular stalactites are always monocrystalline, and the existence of tubular tufflactites, typical, for example, of the adits of the Khaidarkan deposit.
Stalactite-stalagmite crustas well as the tuff stalactite-stalagmitic crust [Stepanov, 1971], in fact, consist of aggregates of extremely similar structures and textures with the same characteristic symmetry. At the same time, the specific compositions of these crustal aggregates can vary considerably. There are caves with a sharp predominance of stalagmite forms, and vice versa. In most cases, as shown in [Maksimovich, 1965], the ratio of the number of stalactite and stalagmitic forms is controlled exclusively by the degree of watering in the cave.
According to VA Maltsev, “The existing subdivision of stalactites in the types of nutrition (external-internal) does not correspond to either their morphology, or their structure, or the real mechanisms of their nutrition. In true stalactites crystallizing as a result of degassing the solution or cooling the melt, the central channel is not a cause, but a consequence, and the "feeding" along the channel observed in a part of tubular stalactites is secondary. "
Stalactite-like aggregates of chalcedony, quartz, goethite, and many minerals described as stalactites from the secretions of effusive and sedimentary rocks and from the voids of ore veins, when carefully studied, almost always turn out to be pseudo-stalactites or other stalactite-like forms of aggregates.
Travertine (travertine terraces) is formed by the precipitation of calcite and / or aragonite from solutions containing calcium bicarbonate. This process occurs, in particular, when the pressure drops during the release of groundwater to the earth's surface. The result is a chemical reaction, during which calcium carbonate, insoluble in water, is released. In the presence of carbon dioxide in geothermal water, CaCO3 dissolves in the form of calcium bicarbonate:
CaCO3 + CO2 + H2O \u003d Ca (HCO3) 2
With the release of geothermal water to the surface of the Earth, the partial pressure of CO2 decreases and the carbonate-calcium balance in it shifts towards the formation of a solid phase: Ca (HCO3) 2 \u003d CaCO3 ↓ + CO2 + H2O.
When the carbonate-calcium equilibrium is disturbed in geothermal water, a suspension of CaCO3 crystals up to 10 microns in size and more is formed. The amount of suspension formed in this case is from 4 to 25 mg / l. The main share is accounted for by particles less than 1 micron in size. Some of them, falling into the laminar sublayer, settle on solid surfaces, forming deposits. Depending on the speed of water flow relative to the deposition surface, deposits of various densities are formed on it.
Literature:
Maksimovich G.A. Genetic series of drip deposits of caves (carbonate speleolithogenesis) // Caves, issue 5 (6). Perm, 1965.
Maltsev V.A. Minerals of the Kap-Kutan karst caves system (southeast of Turkmenistan) // "World of Stones", 1993, No. 2 (rus / eng).
Maltsev V.A. Once again about stalactites with "internal" and "external" power // Full version in English: V.A.Maltsev. Stalactites with "internal" and "external" feeding, Proc. Univ. Bristol Spel. Soc. 1998, 21 (2), 149-158
Stepanov V.I. Frequency of crystallization processes in karst caves // Trudy min. Museum named after Fersman. Moscow, 1971, issue 20, p. 161-171.
Stepanov V.I. Structures and textures of mineral aggregates formed in the free space of voids
C. Hill, P. Forti. Cave minerals of the world. NSS, 1986, 238 p.
