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When underground in a cave, you may find cone-like limestone structures on the ceiling and the floor. On the ceiling are stalactites. (They hold on tite.). On the floor are stalagmites. Where they meet, the combined structure is called a column.

Formation of Stalactites and Stalagmites

Where limestone is present above a cave, it can be dissolved by water as calcium bicarbonate. When it drips down into a cave, it reverts to particles of calcium carbonate in the air. If the water carries to the floor of the cave, stalagmites (limestone pinnacles) are formed. If the calcium precipitates before it can drip, an "icicle" of limestone, a stalactite, hangs from the ceiling. Usually these forms are created simultaneously, and may merge to form columns or sheets of columns.

Unlike their icy counterparts, stalactites and stalagmites take hundreds to thousands of years to form, at an average of 5/1000ths of an inch (.13 mm) a year. A stalagmite in an Oregon cave has grown less than 1/4 of an inch since it was broken off 100 years ago!

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Q: What are stalactites and stalagmites?
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Related questions

Where are stalagmites and stalactites?

Stalactites and stalagmites are found in limestone caves. Stalactites hang from the ceiling, and stalagmites come up from the ground.


Where stalactites and stalagmites are found?

Stalactites and stalagmites are found in limestone caves. Stalactites hang from the ceiling, and stalagmites come up from the ground.


Stalactites and stalagmites are examples of?

stalagmites & stalactites are examples of a chemical sedimentary rock


What do stalactites and stalagmites join to form?

When stalactites and stalagmites join it is called a column


What direction would the stalactites and stalagmites be in?

The stalactites hang from the ceiling, and the stalagmites are on the ground.


Are there different kinds of stalactites and stalagmites?

yes but there are not called stalagmites and stalactites there are called speleothems


Can rocks grow like stalactites and stalagmites?

Stalactites and stalagmites are classified as precipitates, a type of chemical sedimentary rock. Yes, rocks can grow like stalactites and stalagmites.


What are stalactites and stalagmites and why are they produced?

Stalactites and stalagmites are corresponding rock formations , stalactites being the ones on the roof of the cave and stalagmites the ones on the cave floor. Why are they formed? They are formed because water leaking into the caves craves out the rocks slowly into stalagmites and stalactites.


Is there a rhyme to remember stalactites and stalagmites?

Stalactites have to hold on tight. Stalagmites might reach the roof.


Are there two types of stalactites?

No because there are stalactites and stalagmites they are not the same thing


How does stalactites and stalagmites form?

rain


How stalactites and stalagmites formed?

rain