Stalactites do not take millions of years!
If ever a picture spoke a thousand words, it is this one from a man-made mining
tunnel
The picture was taken in late 1987 at level 5 workings in the lead-zinc mine at
Mt Isa, in north-western Queensland, Australia.
At that time, the mine itself was only about 55 years old, which therefore is the
absolute maximum age for all these stalactites.
About 55 metres (180 feet) above this level there is an aquifer (water source) in
fairly porous dolomite, a rock that is usually quite dense. Slow, continuous seepage
of lime-saturated water into the old level 5 workings was responsible for these
formations.
| The thousands of fully searchable articles on this site are accessed daily by thousands of people. If even a fraction of those thousands of people gave a small amount regularly, we could dramatically increase our outreach!  | | |
|
