stalagmite
/ˈstaləɡmʌɪt
/noun
A mound or tapering column rising from the floor of a cave, formed of calcium salts deposited by dripping water and often uniting with a stalactite.Icicles, stalactites, stalagmites, lava tubes, and some crystals may be considered cylindrical, but the rest of the nonbiotic Universe has other shapes....
- Meanwhile, souvenir-snatching tourists add to the damage, breaking limestone stalagmites and stalactites from cave floors and ceilings.
- Water dripped onto the cave floor from hanging purple stalactites, emerald stalagmites rose from the floor and everywhere evidence of supernatural beauty lingered.
Derivatives
stalagmitic
- Normally the ground color is white but almost invariably veined by an unequal distribution of the coloring, or by the subsequent infiltration of metallic oxides during its stalagmitic formation - i.e. stalagmites and stalactites.
- The room following was swathed in green velvet, evoking a moss-covered cavern complete with stalagmitic and stalactitic projections and sand underfoot.
- This leads past a brown stalagmitic flow on the right, to an iron ladder which descends to the top of East Slope in the Main Chamber.
Origin
Late 17th century: from modern Latin stalagmites, from Greek stalagma 'a drop', based on stalassein (see stalactite).