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[beehaiku]

the coolest paper i’ve read recently is about ideal stalagmite growth (as in, growth under ideal conditions). it looks at the way water drip rate, fall height, and geochemistry change the shape of the stalagmite that forms! it’s super interesting and my favorite part was about how the shape is different if the ion solution hasn’t reached equilibrium with the cave atmosphere—it forms pointier tips, like those on stalactites. it’s interesting because i wouldn’t have guessed chemistry was so important in shape formation (i’d always assumed it was just how the water flowed that changed it!). this means that with conical stalagmites you have a visual representation of the ion solution reaching equilibrium at the point where the stalagmite form changes from conical to to columnar!!!! https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2513263122