Stalagmite Growth Rings

I read an excellent article today on the CBS website. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/11/07/tech/main4583741.shtml?source=RSSattr=HOME_4583741
Some Chinese researchers have been studying the growth rings in cave stalagmites and then correlating them with weather patterns and historical geo-political events. Sort of like dendrochronology in trees. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dendrochronology

Many cave stalagmites and stalactites are made of calcium carbonate, and some are fluorescent. I have a few in my collection of fluorescent minerals. This is a picture I just took. In Belgium there is a very large rock quarry which sometimes finds that it has blasted away a small cave (probably one or two meters in diameter) which has never had an opening to the outside. A couple of Belgian friends of mine have given me some nice pieces fluorescent calcite (calcium carbonate) which came out of that rock quarry.

I have toured a commercial cave nearby which is complete with a boat ride on the underground river which travels through the cave complex. This and other nearby caves in Belgium are in limestone hills, much like the Guadalupe Mountains east of El Paso, Texas which are home to the world famous Carlsbad Caverns. The surface in Belgium gets much more rainfall than the Chihuahuan desert, so these European caves are very active in their growth.
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