Stalagnate

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Stalagnate (E)

A stalagnate (also sinter column called) is a stalactite shape , resulting from a stalactites and stalagmites formed. A stalactite is a stalactite hanging from the ceiling of a cave . A stalagmite , the stalagmite , usually grows towards it as a counterpart . If both grow together, a column is formed, called a stalagnate. The stalactite is formed in caves where water saturated with lime leaks from the ceiling. Carbonated water penetrates the rock and, due to the surface tension, deposits calcite on the ceiling of a cavity , called sinter . The water droplets also deposit lime on the ground and a stalagmite is created. The two types of stalactite grow towards each other. In cave areas with a cave stream or with a clay soil, where stalagmite formation is not possible, the stalactite can also grow to the ground on its own and, if its nature has changed in the meantime, connect to it. This creates a stalagnate that only emerged from a stalactite.

Dripstones grow very slowly. After the formation of stalactites and stalagmites, it can take several centuries to millennia for them to grow together. If the distance is several meters, the ceiling dripstone can tear off from the ceiling under its own weight and fall before a column is formed. After the two stalactites grow together, their shape changes over time. Lime is now not only deposited on the drip point areas, but along the entire length of the column. The point of contact between the stalactites becomes thicker and thicker, so that after a while an optical separation of the stalactites is hardly possible. Stalagnates usually have a circular floor plan and are narrower towards the top. Some also form step-shaped paragraphs, whereby these become thinner with each step upwards.

literature

  • Stephan Kempe, Wilfried Rosendahl: Caves - Hidden Worlds . Primus Verlag, Stuttgart 2008, ISBN 978-3-89678-611-1 .
  • Ernst Waldemar Bauer: Wonderful world of the caves . Bechtle Verlag, Esslingen 2001, ISBN 3-7628-0565-2 .
  • World full of secrets - caves . In: Stephan Kempe (ed.): HB Bildatlas special edition . HB Verlags- und Vertriebs-Gesellschaft, Hamburg 1997, ISBN 3-616-06739-1 .

Web links

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