Karstbase Bibliography Database

Speleothems in limestone caves may form spectacular underground landscapes. Stalagmites show a wide variety of forms, from slim candle stalagmites to massive cascading columns. How fast they grow and which principles determine their shapes can be explained by the physical chemistry of the system H₂OCO₂CaCO₃. Precipitation rates of calcite from solutions supersaturated with respect to calcite, which flow as thin films of water on the surface of speleothems, are discussed. They are the fundamental tool to understand the shapes of ideal stalagmites and stalactites. Stalagmites are also important climate archives and conserve climate information from the last 400,000 years. To read this archive, a good understanding of their physics is important.