A stalactite is a mineral formation that hangs from the ceiling of caves, hot springs, or man-made structures such as bridges and mines. Any material that is soluble and that can be deposited as a colloid, or is in suspension, or is capable of being melted, may form a stalactite. Stalactites may be composed of lava, minerals, mud, peat, pitch, sand, sinter, and amberat. A stalactite is not necessarily a speleothem, though speleothems are the most common form of stalactite because of the abundance of limestone caves.
A stalagmite is a type of rock formation that rises from the floor of a cave due to the accumulation of material deposited on the floor from ceiling drippings. Stalagmites are typically composed of calcium carbonate, but may consist of lava, mud, peat, pitch, sand, sinter, and amberat.
Gaspar Grande or Gasparee is an island in the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago named for Gaspar de Percín. The island is 1.29 km2 in area and lies 12 km (7.5 mi) west of Port of Spain. It is one of the "Bocas Islands", which lie in the Bocas del Dragón between Trinidad and Venezuela.
The Jeita Grotto is a system of two separate, but interconnected, karstic limestone caves spanning an overall length of nearly 9 kilometres (5.6 mi). The caves are situated in the Nahr al-Kalb river valley within the locality of Jeita, 18 kilometres (11 mi) north of the Lebanese capital Beirut. Though inhabited in prehistoric times, the lower cave was not rediscovered until 1836 by Reverend William Thomson; it can only be visited by boat since it channels an underground river that provides fresh drinking water to more than a million Lebanese.
Kanger Valley National Park is a national park in the Bastar region of Chhattisgarh state in India. It came into existence in July 1982 and covers an area of approximately 200 square kilometres (77 sq mi). The park extends from the Teerathagarh waterfalls in the west to the Kolab river in the east, spanning an average length of 33.5 km (20.8 mi) and an average width of 6 km (3.7 mi) from north to south. It derives its name from the Kanger river, which flows centrally through it. Situated at a distance of 30 km (19 mi) southeast of Jagdalpur city, it is one of India's densest national parks and is known for its biodiversity, landscape, waterfalls, and subterranean geomorphologic limestone caves. It is also the home to the Bastar hill myna, the state bird of Chhattisgarh.
Arikok National Park, covering 7,907 acres (32 km2) in the northeastern region of Aruba, was officially established in 2000. Approximately 20% of Aruba's total land area is designated as a National Park, dedicated to safeguarding the park's biodiversity, geological formations and historical and cultural significance.
The Borra Caves(Borrā Guhalu) are located on the East Coast of India, in the Ananthagiri hills of the Araku Valley of the Alluri Sitharama Raju district in Andhra Pradesh. The caves, one of the largest in the country, at an elevation of about 705 m (2,313 ft), distinctly exhibit a variety of speleothems ranging in size and irregularly shaped stalactites and stalagmites. The caves are basically karstic limestone structures extending to a depth of 80 m (260 ft), and are considered the deepest caves in India. The native name for the caves is Borrā Guhalu where Borra means abdomen in and Guhalu means caves in Telugu language.
The Bothongo WonderCave in Kromdraai, Gauteng, South Africa is situated within the Bothongo Rhino & Lion Nature Reserve in the Cradle of Humankind, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The cave is the third-largest cave chamber in the country. It is 5-10 million years old. The single chamber has an area of 46,000 square metres (500,000 sq ft), and is 125 by 154 metres.
Hinagdanan Cave is a cave in the municipality of Dauis on Panglao Island, in Bohol Province, in the Philippines. It is a naturally lighted cavern with a deep lagoon and many large stalactites and stalagmites.
Carlsbad Caverns National Park is an American national park in the Guadalupe Mountains of southeastern New Mexico. The primary attraction of the park is the show cave Carlsbad Cavern. Visitors to the cave can hike in on their own via the natural entrance or take an elevator from the visitor center.
The Witches' Cave is a cave, a nature reserve and a national natural monument in Argentina. It is located in the Moncol Hill, at 1,830 metres (6,000 ft) above mean sea level, within the Malargüe Department, in the south of Mendoza Province, about 65 kilometres (40 mi) southwest of the town of Malargüe.
Abukuma-do is a limestone cave located in Fukushima Prefecture, Japan. The cave was discovered on August 15, 1969, northeast of the city of Tamura and was originally named Kamayama Shonyu-do (釜山鍾乳洞). It was designated a natural heritage of the town on February 7, 1971, and renamed Abukuma-do on June 1, 1973. Visitors can traverse a 600-metre-long path inside the cave as well as a 120-metre-long exploration course to view the stalactites and stalagmites. Each stalactite has taken more than eighty million years to form. Beyond the public areas lie about 2,500 metres of cave that are not open to the public. Nearby Abukuma Cave is the smaller Irimizu Shonyu-do, discovered in 1927. Irimizu Limestone Cave was designated a National Natural Treasure on December 28, 1934. The temperature inside Abukuma-do is approximately 15 °C and the humidity is above 90%.
Jamanota is a hill situated within Aruba's Arikok National Park, reaching a height of 188 metres (617 ft) and holding the distinction of being the highest point on the island. Jamanota is a word from the Arawak language and can be explained somewhat as follows: JA or YA is spirit; MA is great or great spirit; NO is a suffix denoting a plural; TA is source. So about, Source of Great Spirits.
The Quadiriki Caves, also spelled as Guadirikiri Caves or Quadirikiri Cave, are situated in Arikok National Park on the island of Aruba. These caves, located at the base of a limestone terrace, contain Amerindian petroglyphs. The name of the caves originates from the Arawak language.
The Lake Shasta Caverns are a network of caves located near the McCloud arm of Shasta Lake in California. It was formerly named Chalk Cave and Baird Cave, named after Spencer Fullerton Baird.
Phong Nha Cave is a cave in Phong Nha-Kẻ Bàng National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Quảng Bình Province, Vietnam. It is 7,729 metres long and contains 14 grottoes, as well as a 13,969 metre underground river. While scientists have surveyed 44.5 kilometres of passages, tourists are only allowed to explore the first 1500 metres.
The Castellana Caves are a karst cave system located in the municipality of Castellana Grotte, in the Metropolitan City of Bari, Apulia, southern Italy.
The Atta Cave or Attendorn Dripstone Cave in Attendorn is one of the largest dripstone caves in Germany.
Curaçao, as well as the rest of the ABC islands and Trinidad and Tobago, lies on the continental shelf of South America. It is a thin island with a generally hilly topography; the highest point is Christoffelberg 372 m (1,220 ft) in the northwest. The coastline's bays, inlets and hot springs offer a source of natural minerals, thermal conditions, and seawater used in hydrotherapy and mesotherapy, making the island one of many balneoclimateric areas in the region. Off the southeast coast lies the small, flat island of Klein Curaçao.
Yagodinska Cave is a cave in the Rhodope Mountains, southern Bulgaria. It is included in the 100 Tourist Sites of Bulgaria and is named after the homonymous village nearby. With a total length of 10,500 m, Yagodinska is the fourth longest cave in the country after Kolkina Dupka, Duhlata and Orlova Chuka and the longest in the Rhodopes. Yagodinska Cave is home to 11 species of bats.
