Karst caves: stalactites, stalagmites, zaberegi, gours. How are karst caves formed? Stalactites and stalagmites, other stone formations What are stalactites and stalagmites

Lime drip, lime icicle, sinter formation, helictide, mukarn, ledge down Dictionary of Russian synonyms. stalactite n., number of synonyms: 8 ledge (61) ... Synonym dictionary

STALACTITE, a sintered mineral formation consisting of tiny crystals of CALCIUM CARBONATE, hanging in the form of an icicle or fringe from the ceiling of the CAVES, composed of limestones of the Carboniferous period. Stalactites are formed by water, slowly ... ... Scientific and technical encyclopedic dictionary

STALACTITE, stalactite, husband. (from Greek stalaktos dripping) (miner). A calcareous growth on the ceiling of a cave formed by percolating drops of lime-laden water. Explanatory Dictionary of Ushakov. D.N. Ushakov. 1935 1940 ... Explanatory Dictionary of Ushakov

STALACTITE, a, husband. An icicle-shaped calcareous growth descending from the ceiling of a cave, formed by seeping drops. | adj. stalactite, oh, oh. Explanatory dictionary of Ozhegov. S.I. Ozhegov, N.Yu. Shvedova. 1949 1992 ... Explanatory dictionary of Ozhegov

Miner. sinter formation growing on the ceilings of caves, mines and descending down in the form of icicles. Formed during the evaporation of minerals. water seeping through limestone cracks. Such water is hard, since the content. calcium carbonate ... ... Geological Encyclopedia

stalactite- a, m. stalactite f. gr. stalaktos dripping. A calcareous build-up on the ceiling or upper part of the walls of underground voids (caves, galleries, etc.), formed by seeping drops of water containing calcium bicarbonate. BAS 1. Lime ... ... Historical Dictionary of Gallicisms of the Russian Language

stalactite- Leaky drip formation in the form of icicles or fringes hanging from the ceiling of a karst cave, arising from the constant supply of carbonate in the form of calcite from percolating groundwater ... Geography Dictionary

STALAGMITE or STALACTITE (Greek, from stalagma thickened drops). Lime deposits formed at the bottom of the caves, due to the slow and continuous dripping of lime water from the vaults, have the shape of cones with their tops up. Dictionary of foreign ... ... Dictionary of foreign words of the Russian language

M. Sintered limestone formation in the form of large icicles on the ceiling or upper part of the walls of underground voids (caves, galleries, etc.), formed by seeping drops of water saturated with calcium and carbon dioxide. Explanatory Dictionary of Efremova ... Modern explanatory dictionary of the Russian language Efremova

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How are karst caves formed? Stalactites and stalagmites - what are they? The main rock of the Crimean mountains is limestone. Cracked rocks easily absorb moisture. Rain and melt water with dissolved carbon dioxide flows through them deep into the mountain. This very weak carbonic acid interacts with limestone (calcium carbonate) converts it into a soluble state (calcium bicarbonate), for many millennia it washes and cuts its own channel. This is how a growing watered cave is formed. Over time, the underground river can find a new crack and go down another one, two, three, or even all six floors, as in Kizil-Kobe (Red Caves). The lower "wet" caves continue to grow, the upper ones retain their shape.

Stages of formation of karst caves

1. Rain and melt water seeps through the capillaries through the soil with rocks, absorbs carbon dioxide. Small streams through cracks gather into an underground river.
2. Water (weak carbonic acid) continues to wash its course. The limestone becomes soluble and is washed out of the rocks, making the water hard.
3. In the middle of the cave, the water goes into a crack, begins to create another channel for itself. Stalactites grow in an abandoned cave (already free from the river).
4. The river washes a completely new course. Large stalactites grow in the cave.

How are stalactites formed?

Hard water drips from the vaults of the caves. These are sediments transformed into rocks, which seeped from the surface of the earth through the “roof”, and their own cave condensate. A reverse reaction takes place on the surface of the stone. Calcium bicarbonate dissolved in water turns back into carbonate, releasing carbon dioxide. In everyday life, a similar process leads to the appearance of plaque on the bathrooms, scale in pots and radiators.

First, a ring appears on the rock, then a growing tube. Until the hole is clogged, water drips from it, and gradually a sharp, straight stone icicle grows - stalactite. If the watercourse is good, if there are no neighboring drops, the stalactite will be single and may grow large. Where there has been constant rain for centuries, a whole forest of stalactites grows, usually of different lengths and thicknesses, sometimes of different colors. If the drops are very small, dense thickets of “straws” may appear, more than a meter long and several millimeters thick, transparent, shining in the light of a lantern, like an exquisite underground chandelier.

What are seasonal stalactite rings?

Outwardly, they look like growth rings of wood. They can also be used to determine the age, weather conditions at times distant from us by thousands and even millions of years. To do this, determine the isotopic and chemical composition of the desired "ring". It is important not to make a mistake, After all, there are so many rings!

A modern ion mass spectrometer allows you to take samples from layers one hundredth of a millimeter thick - this corresponds to an analysis accuracy of one year.

How long do stalactites grow?

The growth rate of cave stalactites can be very different. It depends on the amount and composition of water flowing from the "ceiling", on the temperature and humidity of the air in the cave. It is difficult to even talk about some average values. In some caves, meter-long stalactites grow in a thousand years, in others - in five thousand years. But in any case, a broken “stone icicle” is an irreparable damage to nature. A trace of a moral crime, like killing an animal for fun.

Stalagmites, stalagnates and other sinter formations

What other forms are sinter formations in caves? In the place where the drop falls, first a speck appears, then a tubercle of insoluble salts (mostly the same calcium carbonate). The bump grows into a stone stump, sometimes pointed, but more often flat or rounded by the erratic splashing of hard water. This is how it is formed stalagmite. Usually it is larger, thicker and stronger than a stalactite, because water flows down its walls and all the released carbonate goes to construction. And also because the stalactite sooner or later breaks off under its own weight, but the stalagmite never.

If the movement of water is not disturbed, the stalactite fuses with the stalagmite. The strongest underground column is formed - stalagnate. From now on, nothing but earthquakes threatens her, so stalagnates can grow to gigantic sizes.

Flowing down the sloping vaults of the cave, hard water leaves behind not specks, but strips of calcium carbonate. These strips grow in thickness and eventually turn into thin flat sail. They are smooth and wavy, like the edges of a tablecloth, they can cover the entire wall to the ground, or they can remain in the form of pasties, forming a “cornice” or “chandelier”, and then grow like ordinary stalactites. Everything depends on the movement of the whimsical, capricious, “lazy” water drop, which always chooses the easiest and most profitable path for itself. Usually scallops tinkle when you tap them with a stick, so walls overgrown with scallops are called xylophones or authorities.

The most interesting and unusual of karst deposits are helictites, or eccentrics. Starting to grow like stalactites, they bend strangely and bizarrely. Sometimes these are second-order stalactites, they grow like branches on a tree trunk. Why do stalactites begin to grow sideways, like drusen of crystals, or even twist into a spiral, turning into helictites? Science does not give an exact answer. The mechanics and chemistry of helictite growth are boundary phenomena between two forms: sintered and crystalline. Helictites were found in the caves "200 years of Simferopol", Nizhny Bair.

Helictites form in places where the air is still; there, the same calcium bicarbonate passes into a solid state, dissolved not in water dripping from the vaults, but in the moisture of the air.

Underground waterfalls also leave behind traces of limestone. It grows in a dense natural layer and will remain an ornament for tens and hundreds of thousands of years. Even after the unlucky river leaves the upper floors of the cave, we see frozen stone waterfalls…

Drops and streams flow into the baths, along the edges of which a limestone roller grows - goura dam. Gur baths go on with their own lives: stone “water lilies” and “lotuses” grow with rounded “buds” and flat “leaves” lying in the water.

Ripens in some baths cave pearl. This is not a precious stone, but the composition of sea and cave pearls is the same. It is generally accepted that a grain of sand that has fallen into a bath rotates with a water stream and is gradually enveloped in limestone (which in its pure form is transparent, like glass). But pearls are formed in very quiet backwaters ...

Wet, soft, shapeless mass of white, sometimes with a bluish tint, called moon milk. It's the same calcium carbonate. Moon milk decorates the caves in its own way, and when dried, it crumbles into a fine powder when pressed. How moon milk, the true secret of karst caves, is formed, only obscure assumptions are made about this. Nothing in nature, except for calcite, exists in this state. Moon milk is dry and wet, liquid and dense, viscous and fluid. In fact, this substance is neither solid nor liquid, it is generally unclear what kind ... Scientists bypass this topic, leaving exotic lovers a clear field for thought and fantasy.

Aragonite crystals

When the water leaves, the growth of the cave stops, but its interior decoration continues to be enriched with new decorations. Humidity in deep stone cavities approaches 100%. Water vapor is saturated with calcium bicarbonate ions, and crystals grow on stones (more often along cracks).

The bizarre, capriciousness of the figures of aerosol crystallization is incomparable with any streaks: created according to the laws of the microcosm, they depend on the composition and concentration of ions, on the paths of movement of water molecules, on the rules for constructing crystal lattices with all their additions and deviations. Aragonite It is a hard variety of calcite. It is formed at fairly low temperatures, most often underground - in caves, ore deposits, in cold springs.

In the caves you can find the smallest crystals of aragonite. When there are a lot of them, they glow in the beam of a lantern, like heavenly stars. Sometimes large acute-angled crystals grow, and nearby - small ones, collected in "twigs", in "fluffs", in "snowflakes". These can be sharp-sharp “hedgehogs”, “thriving” stalactites of various shades, individual and collected in inflorescences “cave flowers” ​​of different colors and unimaginable shapes.

The most interesting and varied underground ornaments grow as a result of the combined action of liquid water and ion-rich aerosol. Graceful anthropomorphic figurines, small animals, "hairy Agos", "jellyfish" with a fringe of "tentacles" along the edges, "anemones" ... In a word, get your camera ready, open your notebook, fantasize! But everything will be poor, everything is not right: we are mere mortals, and the caves were created by Her Majesty Nature. Unequal.

Nature never ceases to amaze us, there are so many unusual and interesting things in the world that, upon seeing them, a person freezes with delight. It is almost impossible to travel the whole planet and see all the sights, learn about all kinds 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 inquisitive tourists can easily satisfy their curiosity and inspect them from the inside. You should not go to distant lands, since such a miracle exists in Russia, Ukraine, stalactites and stalagmites of amazing beauty are found in Israel, China, and 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 is worth noting that both are formed from calcium and other minerals. Even in the highest rocky caves there are small gaps through which water enters. Since you have to go a very long way before you can get into the cave, on their way they wash out the existing mineral deposits. 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 but chemogenic deposits in karst caves. They come in different types and types, mainly icicles, combs, straws and fringes. Stalagmite in Greek means "drop", these are mineral growths on the ground that rise over time in the form of cones or pillars. They can be limestone, salt or gypsum. The main difference between these two growths is that stalactites grow from the ceiling, while stalagmites grow from the bottom of the cave.

Stalactites and stalagmites can, in some cases, join together to form a column called a stalagnate. This may take thousands, or even millions of years, because these huge blocks grow from billions of small droplets. This process takes place most quickly in low caves. It can be impossible to pass there because of the densely erected pillars.

Karst caves are considered a favorite place to visit for tourists. People are interested in looking at stalactites and stalagmites, taking pictures next to them, touching them with their hands. Being next to 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, So, in Slovakia in the Buzgo cave, a stalagmite 35.6 m high was found.

Stalactites and stalagmites have the same origin, although they look different. The former are thinner and more graceful, while the latter are thick and wide.

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 supposed to be? Many millions, as tour guides classically claim, or can they grow in a shorter time?

(Stalactites photo #1.1)

(Stalactites photo #1.2)

What is a 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 gap and falls, the mineral dissolved in it remains on the ceiling of the cave. Further, drop by drop, these deposits grow downward and after a long or short time, a stalactite is formed on the ceiling of the cave - a hard icicle made of stone or salt. Below, under it, a stalagmite grows, from falling drops from a stalactite. After some time, 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 evolutionary scientists. But, judging by the new data, it turns out that it is sulfuric acid that affects the formation of at least 10% of the caves in the Guadeloupe mountains in New Mexico and Texas. This means that the 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 located in the Armand Cave in France. According to scientists, its growth rate is 3 mm per year. Then this stalagmite had to reach its height of 38 m in 12,700 years. Such data are not consistent with the age of the stalagmite, which was established by 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 water wheel that has just 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 say that the growth of stalactites that we see in the most beautiful limestone caves did not take whole epochs. These beautiful formations could grow very quickly in just a few thousand years during the cataclysmic global Flood.

(Stalactites photo #6.1)

(Stalactites photo #6.2)

Often a stalagmite joins with a 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, like a fringe. 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 had landed on a stalagmite in the famous Carlsbad Caverns, New Mexico, and hardened on it. The stalagmite grew so fast that it was able to save the bat before the animal began to decompose.

(Stalactites photo #8.1)

(Stalactites photo #8.2)

In the Jenolan Caverns and various other places, you can see stalactites and stalagmites that have grown right in the structures built by man. Like the Lincoln Memorial, the Jenolan structures contain a cement mortar that is highly permeable, making these formations 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. Now that's 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 God's amazing laws in the world of geology, about our history, which is not millions of years old, but only 5-6 thousand. And these majestic natural formations tell us about the greatness of their Creator

STALACTITES AND STALAGMITES.

In caves, stalactites are very often found - "icicles" of various sizes hanging from the ceiling, and stalagmites - "icicles" growing from the floor of the cave.

Word " stalactite"translated from Greek means" dripping drop by drop ". The fact is that even the highest stone mountains on Earth are not a solid monolith - they have microcracks through which water seeps from the surface of the mountain into the caves. But water enters the caves through the thickness is very slow - literally rare drops.These droplets of water are slightly washed out of the rock calcium - this is how stalactites are obtained.

Dripping on the floor of the cave, the water brings with it calcium crystals, which begin to fold into a "hill" - stalagmite. Stalagmites are usually thicker than stalactites, because the water splashes when falling and the crystals crumble.

Both stalactites and stalagmites grow very slowly - hundreds and thousands of years. If the cave is not very high, then the stalagmites and stalactites coalesce over time.

On the polished section of the stalagmite, growth rings are clearly visible.

By the way, there is a very simple method of how to remember what to call a stalactite and what a stalagmite - in the word "stalag m it "is the letter M, as in the word" ze m la". So, a stalagmite is something that grows on the ground!

The longest, free-hanging stalactite is considered to be a huge stone icicle in Gruga do Janelao, Brazil, 12 meters long, and the record holder among stalagmites has a height of 32 meters. It is located in the Krasnogorska cave near Roznava, Slovakia.

We have a huge number of caves in Russia where you can see this miracle of nature. If you have the opportunity to visit the caves with a tour - be sure to go - we guarantee impressions of a lifetime!