Concerning the Rate of Formation of Stalactites, 1931, Ellis Rw,

Formation and Mineralogy of Stalactites and Stalagmites, 1950, Hicks, Forrest L.

Hexagonal Stalactite from Rushmore Cave, South Dakota, 1962, Bassett William A. , Bassett Allen M.

The Growth of Stalactites, 1962, Moore, George W.

Stalactite, 1962, Worm, Olao

Karst-hydrological researches in Hungarian caves., 1965, Kessler Hubert

Although Hungary does not belong to the large Karst countries, extensive speleologic and karst-hydrologic investigations are carried out. On the one hand, Hungary owns one of the largest stalactite caves in the world, on the other hand the majority of raw materials and the connected industries are linked with Karst regions which pose particular water supply problems. The largest water supplying caves are in the North of Hungary. The best known cave is the Aggtelek cave with a length of 22 km, but there are numerous other, recently disclosed caves of a length of 1-5 km, which were discovered by way of artificial means and on the basis of many years of hydrologic observations. Of particular interest are the active thermal caves with waters of 30°C. In one of these latter a diver discovered and measured a siphon of a length of 300 m. By way of experiment, speleotherapic treatments were applied in some of these caves. By calculation of decades of series of measures an applicable formula was established for the calculation of the percent of seepage in the Karst regions. In several of these caves the influence of precipitation on the intensity of stalactite formation was measured. The indication of the so-called ,,year-rings" in the stalactites furnishes data concerning precipitation of bygone millenaries, which are also valuable for the investigation of periods. In several caves the changes in ion concentration of the water currents was measured and the correlation with the cross section of the caves was determined. On the basis of complex measurements in Karst sources the possibility of disclosing hitherto unknown cave systems arises. In this manner, recently several caves were artificially discovered.

Calcite-Aragonite speleothems from Hand-dug cave in Northeast Kansas., 1966, Dort Wakefield Jr. , Siegel Frederic R.

Speleothems in the form of stalactites, linear stalactitic growths, flowstone, and crusts, from a hand-dug cave in Northeast Kansas (Sec. 2 NENW, T2S, R22E) are composed of calcite and aragonite. If the estimated age of the cave is correct, i.e., 150 to 200 years old, the stalactites have grown at a maximum rate of 0.20 to 0.15 millimetres per year along their vertical axes. All of the speleothems examined contain about one percent strontium (based on qualitative emission spectrograph analyses). Rate of supply and evaporation of the vadose waters may dictate whether aragonite or calcite is the polymorph that precipitates from the cave waters.

Halite Speleothems From the Nullarbor Plain, Western Australia, 1967, Lowry, D. C.

Halite has been found in five caves on the Nullarbor Plain, Western Australia. It occurs as stalactites, stalagmites, crusts, or fibres. The climate of the plain is arid to semi-arid, and the halite is derived from wind-blown salts that accumulate in the soil. The halite forms in the caves under conditions of relatively low humidity (about 70%) and high temperature (about 67°F). Its association with older calcite deposits suggests the climate was once wetter or cooler than at present.

Cave Paintings From Kitava, Trobriand Islands, Papua, 1971, Ollier C. D. , Holdsworth D. K

Kitava is the most easterly island of the Trobriand group. It is an uplifted coral atoll, oval in plan, with a maximum diameter of 4 1/2 miles. The centre of the island is swampy and surrounded by a rim that reaches a height of 142 m. Caves occur in various parts of the rim and several have been described in a previous article (Ollier and Holdsworth, 1970). One of the caves, Inakebu, is especially important as it contains the first recorded cave drawings from the Trobriand Islands. Inakebu is situated on the inner edge of the island rim at the north-eastern end of the island. Map 1 shows the location of the cave on Kitava Island. Map 2 is a plan of the cave, surveyed by C.D. Ollier and G. Heers. The location of the cave drawings is shown on the plan. Inakebu is a "bwala", that is a place where the original ancestor of a sub-clan or dala is thought to have emerged from the ground. The bwala tradition is common throughout the Trobriands and neighbouring islands. It has been described by many writers on the anthropology of the area, and was summarised in Ollier and Holdsworth (1969). The people believe that if they enter such places they will become sick and die. Until November, 1968, no member of the present native population had been in the cave, though there is a rumour that a European had entered it about 20 years before, but turned back owing to lack of kerosene. It must be admitted that this tale sounds rather like the stories one hears in Australia that Aborigines were afraid of the dark caves and therefore did not go into them. In fact, the many discoveries in the Nullarbor Plain caves show that they did, and the cave drawings in Inakebu show that someone has been in this cave. The point is that it does not seem to be the present generations who entered the caves but earlier ones; people from "time before" as they say in New Guinea. The first known European to enter the cave was Gilbert Heers, a trader in copra and shell who lived on the nearby island of Vakuta. He went into the cave on 8 November 1968 accompanied by Meiwada, head of the sub-clan associated with Inakebu, who had never been inside before. Heers and Meiwada investigated the two outer chambers but then turned back because they had only poor lights. They returned with better light on 15 November. Since they had not become sick or died, they then found seven other men willing to accompany them. They found the narrow opening leading to the final chamber, and discovered the drawings. None of the men, many of whom were quite old, had ever seen the drawings or heard any mention of them before. The drawings are the only indication that people had previously been in this deep chamber. There are no ashes or soot marks, no footprints, and no pottery, bones or shells such as are commonly found in other Trobriand caves, though bones and shells occur in the chamber near the entrance. With one exception, the drawings are all on the same sort of surface, a clean bedrock surface on cream coloured, fairly dense and uniform limestone, with a suitably rough texture. Generally the surface has a slight overhang, and so is protected from flows or dripping water. On surfaces with dripstone shawls or stalactites, the drawings were always placed between the trickles, on the dry rock. We have found no examples that have been covered by a film of flow stone. The one drawing on a flow stone column is also still on the surface and not covered by later deposition. A film of later deposit would be good to show the age of the drawings, but since the drawings appear to have been deliberately located on dry sites the lack of cover does not indicate that they are necessarily young. There are stencil outlines of three hands, a few small patches of ochre which do not seem to have any form, numerous drawings in black line, and one small engraving.

Minimum Diameter Stalactites, 1972, Curl, Rane L.

Structure, Sediments and Speleogenesis at Cliefden Caves, New South Wales, 1978, Osborne, R. Armstrong L.

The Cliefden Caves have developed in the Late Ordovician Cliefden Caves Limestone mainly by solution in the phreatic zone. Speleogenesis has been inhibited in steeply dipping thinly bedded limestone and shows a high degree of structural control. Collapse has been significant in late stage development of the caves. Much sediment has been deposited in the four caves studied in detail - Main Cliefden, Murder, Boonderoo and Transmission. Formed in the phreatic zone, layered clay fill is the earliest sediment deposited and occurs in all but Transmission Cave. The phosphate mineral heterosite is found in these sediments. Subaqueous precipitation deposits deposited in the phreas or vadose pools are distinguished from speleothems by their texture. Aragonite is inferred to have been deposited in these sediments and to have since inverted to calcite. Friable loam and porous cavity fill are the most common vadose deposits in the caves. Vadose cementation has converted friable loam to porous cavity fill. Speleothem deposits are prolific in Main Cliefden, Murder and Boonderoo Caves. Helictites are related to porous wall surfaces, spar crystals result from flooding of caves in the vadose zone and blue stalactites are composed of aragonite. Cliefden Caves belong to that class proposed by Frank (1972) in which deposition has been more important than downcutting late in their developmental history.

Stalactites and Helictites of Marcasite, Galena, and Sphalerite in Illinois and Wisconsin, 1979, Peck, Stewart B

Stalactite growth in the tropics under artificial conditions, 1981, De Bellardpietri E.

Lattice Deformation and Curvature in Stalactitic Carbonate., 1983, Broughton Paul L.

The cause of lattice curvature is related to the nature of growth on a curved surface, peculiar to stalactites and stalagmites. Lattice curvature in stalactitic carbonate results from the coalescence of sub-parallel to divergent syntaxial overgrowth crystallites on the growing surface of stalactites and stalagmites. Moderate lattice mismatch results in an undulose extinction, or subcrystal domains, whereas more divergent growth favours marked lattice curvature recognized by its optical brush-extinction. Extreme lattice mismatch between the precursor crystallites results a columnar crystal boundary instead of lattice curvature.

Secondary Origin of the Radial Fabric in Stalactitic Carbonate., 1983, Broughton Paul L.

The growth surfaces of most stalactites are interpreted as numerous syntaxial overgrowth crystallites. These coalesce immediately behind the growth surface, often trapping portions of the water film as fluid-filled cavities. The fluid inclusions represent former inter-crystallite spaces and characterize the widely misinterpreted "growth ring". Complete crystallite coalescence generates inclusions-free calcite, whereas inhibition of lateral coalescence of the overgrowth crystallites generates layers of acicular calcite. It is generally only during periods of cave flooding that the crystallites merge and overgrow each other and precipitation eventually occurs upon large, planar crystal faces. Stalactitic carbonate growth is secondary, from a multi-crystalline precursor that is, in a sense, a largo skeletal crystal. The precursor crystallites are in lattice continuity with the substrate and with adjacent crystallites. Crystal boundaries arise from lateral lattice mismatch on the curved growth surface. It is not competitive growth as the secondary columnar crystals do not interfere with each other.