4.2" Aragonite and Calcite Formation - Morocco

Stalactites form when water, seeping through rock, reaches an opening such as a cave or tunnel. Once this mineral-rich water (calcite in this case) precipitates out of the rock wall/ceiling, it leaves behind a crystal as the precipitate builds with each drop of water.

Stalagmites are likely to form from this process as those drops land on a cave floor, since the drops from the ceiling will still contain high mineral content. As long as water keeps flowing, it will continue to precipitate into stalactites and stalagmites.

Morocco is well known for its abundant aragonite formations, most commonly seen as radiating clusters of clear to deep reddish prismatic hexagonal crystals known as floaters. Such mineral aggregations are called floaters because they form without attachments to walls, seemingly free-floating in the matrices they are extracted from.

Besides these floaters, Moroccan aragonite takes just about every other form of the mineral you can think of. Aragonite commonly forms stalactitic and stalagmitic formation in caves, even coating the walls and ceilings of caves in nubby formations called cave popcorn. Botryoidal, fibrous, and scalenohedral aragonite also occurs.