Stalactite and stalagmite,
Queen’s Chamber [Credit: NPS Photo by Peter Jones] elongated forms of various minerals deposited from solution by slowly dripping water. A stalactite hangs like an icicle from the ceiling or sides of a cavern. A stalagmite appears like an inverted stalactite, rising from the floor of a cavern.
Timpanogos Cave National Monument: stalactites and other formations [Credit: Courtesy of the National Park Service]Stalactites hanging from the ceilings of caverns commonly exhibit a central tube or the trace of a former tube whose diameter is that of a drop of water hanging by surface tension. A drop on the tip of a growing stalactite leaves a deposit only around its rim. Downward growth of the rim makes the tube. The simplest stalactite ... (100 of 416 words)