My Science School

The peak of Mount Everest lies 8,848 m (29,029 ft) above sea level, making it the world’s highest mountain. It is ten times taller than the world’s tallest building- the Burj Khalifa skyscraper in Dubai.

Mount Everest attracts many climbers, some of them highly experienced mountaineers. There are two main climbing routes, one approaching the summit from the southeast in Nepal (known as the "standard route") and the other from the north in Tibet. While not posing substantial technical climbing challenges on the standard route, Everest presents dangers such as altitude sickness, weather, and wind, as well as significant hazards from avalanches and the Khumbu Icefall. As of 2017, nearly 300 people have died on Everest, many of whose bodies remain on the mountain.

 

Picture Credit : Google

If a stalagmite and stalactite become long enough and meet, they will form a rocky column. Columns are also created when a stalactite grows down to touch the cave floor.

As compound cave formations, they include among their ranks the tallest free-standing speleothems in the world. (Certain flowstone falls--sheets of calcite lining vertical shafts--are undoubtedly taller, but rarely measured). The towering specimens of the upper left photo, from Ogle Cave in Carlsbad Cavern National Park, New Mexico, USA, are indeed impressive. These, however, are only about half as high as the 61-meter tall column in Tham Sao Hin, a cave in Thailand.

 

Picture Credit : Google

These thin, hollow tubes also form from dissolved particles in water, dripping slowly through the roof of a cave. They may grow into stalactites if the water keeps dripping for a very long time.

These tubes form when calcium carbonate or calcium sulfate dissolved in the water comes out of solution and is deposited. In soda straws, as each drop hovers at the tip, it deposits a ring of mineral at its edge. It then falls and a new drop takes its place. Each successive drop of water deposits a little more mineral before falling, and eventually a tube is built up. Stalagmites or flowstone may form where the water drops hit the cave floor.

Soda straws are some of the most fragile of speleothems. Like helictites, they can be easily crushed or broken by the slightest touch. Because of this, soda straws are rarely seen within arms' reach in show caves or others with unrestricted access. Kartchner Caverns in southern Arizona has well-preserved soda straws because of its recent discovery in 1974 and highly regulated traffic.

 

Picture Credit : Google