Calcite (Inventory)/Column

From LagWiki

The Column field of the Calcite section should record any stations that exhibit columns.

Columns form when a stalactite joins a stalagmite making a continuous formation from ceiling to floor.

Columns can vary greatly in both thickness and height. Columns can be massive floor to ceiling formations with great thickness or smaller formations that reach from ceiling to floor in an alcove. A column could be as simple as a single soda straw which has managed to reach the floor; but, these would normally be inventoried as straws and not columns. However, if a straw is the connection between two more substantial formations, a column is the more appropriate inventory category.

See also

• Stalactite
• Stalagmite

References

• Hill, Carol; Paolo Forti (1997) Cave Minerals of the World (Second Edition ed.) National Speleological Society pp 56-57 ISBN: 1-879961-07-5
• Palmer, Arthur N. (2007) Cave Geology CAVE BOOKS, Dayton, OH p 283 ISBN-13: 978-0-939748-66-2, ISBN-10: 0-939748-66-5

Calcite (Inventory)/Column is a part of the cave inventory project.