What is the Age of the Stalactites?

Osherit asks: "Hello. I recently visited the Stalactite Cave and was enchanted by the beauty of Hashem's creations. However, there was one thing I did not understand. They explained to us about how stalactites form and grow in a process that began hundreds of thousands of years ago according to them. I ask how this is possible if the world was created less than six thousand years ago?"

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Hello and blessings Osherit, and thank you for your question.

The explanation you heard was incorrect. Stalactites (Stalagmite) and stalagmites (Stalactite) are columns descending from the ceiling of a cave or rising from the floor. They are formed by dripping water, as the water seeps from the cave ceiling, creating calcium that turns into lime. Dust contains a large amount of lime, so stalactites sometimes form in caves that are not made of limestone.

Stalactites from different places grow in different ways, and their growth rate varies, so many stalactites could have grown within a short period. Some stalactite caves have been found where stalactites and stalagmites have grown very slowly but suddenly accelerated their growth.

A stalactite can grow up to 3 millimeters per year. Therefore, to reach a height of two meters, a stalactite doesn’t need more than 700 years in total. There are researchers who, for reasons known only to them, prefer to estimate the age of stalactites based on the slowest possible growth rate (0.1 millimeters per year), perhaps because only by this "calculation" method are they able to reach supposedly ancient ages of 20,000 years or more...

However, the truth is that stalactites can also form very quickly: in the great Sequoia Caverns (Sequoia Caverns) where the stalactites are protected from tourists, it was discovered that between the years 1977 to 1987, the stalactites grew at a rate of 10 to 25 inches per year. At such a speed, they can reach a height of 91 meters within 3600 years. Source: (Sequoyah Caverns, south of Chattanooga at Valley Head, Alabama).

(photo: shutterstock)

Additionally, many stalactites we see today probably grew faster in the past: for example, the largest stalactite cave today is in France (Cave Armand). Water drips from the cave ceiling from a height of 90 meters directly onto the stalactites. Strong dripping of water causes quicker loss of carbon dioxide and thus faster elevation of the stalactite.

It is interesting to note that stalactites have been found in current times that grew "out of nothing" in under a hundred years: stalactites grew beneath the Lincoln Memorial, which was built in 1923 - by the time they were photographed again in 1968, they had grown to a height of 1.5 meters within just 45 years! At another memorial (George Roger Clark Memorial, Vincennes Indiana), in a state in the United States, water dripping through the cracks created stalactites and stalagmites, some of which reached a size of 3 meters within 40 years. The monument was made from the same limestone found in stalactite caves in Indiana. In an old police station building, stalactites were found formed in a 40-year-old basement. Another stalactite cave was entirely created on its own after being excavated by humans 55 years ago.

However, it seems that stalactites can grow even more rapidly in processes not yet known to science. For example, in a stalactite cave in New Mexico (Carlsbad Caverns), a stalactite was discovered in 1953 that grew around the fresh body of a bat (!) before the bat’s body even had a chance to decay or be consumed. The cold and salinity of the cave may have slightly slowed the decomposition of the bat, but not to the slow rate of stalactite growth today. The source of this information was published in National Geographic (October 1953, National Geographic).

We know that the world was created by Hashem with endless wisdom, so the real question is: did Hashem truly wait for large stalactite caves to form on their own? It is obvious that Hashem does not need to wait for mountains, stalactite caves, and valleys to form on their own over hundreds of thousands of years. If a road needs to be paved, it is paved immediately without waiting for "natural processes" to occur over thousands of years. We understand that the Creator made a world suitable and fit for the existence of animals and humans, and He preordained the arrival of humans and created the world accordingly. For this, Hashem created in a few days a world with valleys, mountains, canyons, tunnels, subterranean waters, oil, and also... impressive stalactite caves. There is no doubt that Hashem can create His world as He wishes even in a short period, even in one day. As the Creator holds the entire reality at every moment, He determines its form and maintains its essence, and nothing is impossible for Him. If He were to withdraw His grip even for a moment, everything would return to chaos. Anyone who strengthens their recognition of this fundamental fact will not struggle with the question of the age of stalactites, mountains, or canyons, as it says in the Psalms: "For He commanded and they were created; He established them forever and ever" (Psalm 148), "The sea saw and fled; the Jordan turned back; the mountains skipped like rams, the hills like lambs... before the Lord of all the earth, before the God of Jacob, who turned the rock into a pool of water, the flint into a spring of waters" (Psalm 114).