Although most people believe that cave formations need millions of years to develop, stalactites and stalagmites grow rather quickly. Stalactites, recognized because they “stick tight” to the ceiling of most limestone caves, are deposits of calcium carbonate formed by the dripping of mineralized solutions. As the mineral deposits build up on the cave floor, stalagmites are formed. Occasionally, the connecting of the two will create a column extending from floor to ceiling.

Stalactites and Stalagmites Grow Faster Than Taught

The monitoring of many stalactites and stalagmites within the last century has shown the rate of growth to be much faster than the rate taught in many textbooks. Stalactites over five feet long have been found in the basement of the Lincoln Memorial, built in 1923, as well as some more than a foot long under bridges in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Stalagmites grow somewhat slower than stalactites; but they still do not take thousands of years to form. In 1953, Mason Sutherland published a photograph in National Geographic of a bat that had fallen on a stalagmite in the Carlsbad Caverns, New Mexico. The bat was covered and preserved before it could decompose, proving the rapid growth rate of some stalagmites.

Cave Formations Suggest a Global Flood

Much more evidence exists for fast-growing stalactites and stalagmites, yet textbooks and national parks continue to teach that they take countless thousands of years to form. Using a rapid growth rate, these cave formations could easily fit the biblical time line after the worldwide Flood 4,400 years ago. Unfortunately, evolutionary scientists struggle to keep the biblical time line out of science; although science, time after time, falls right into step with it.