Editing Stalactite (section)

===Lava stalactites===

Another type of stalactite is formed in [[lava tubes]] while molten and fluid [[lava]] is still active inside.<ref name="BAIRD">{{cite journal | last = Baird | first = A.K. | title = Basaltic "stalactite" mineralogy and chemistry, Kilauea | year = 1982 | volume = 4 | issue = 4 | pages = 146–147 | publisher=Geological Society of America Bulletin, abstracts with programs }}</ref> The mechanism of formation is the deposition of molten dripping material on the ceilings of caves, however with lava stalactites formation happens very quickly in only a matter of hours, days, or weeks, whereas limestone stalactites may take up to thousands of years. A key difference with lava stalactites is that once the lava has ceased flowing, so too will the stalactites cease to grow. This means that if the stalactite were to be broken it would never grow back.<ref name="LARSON"/>

The generic term ''lavacicle'' has been applied to lava stalactites and stalagmites indiscriminately and evolved from the word icicle.<ref name="LARSON"/>

Like limestone stalactites, they can leave lava drips onto the floor that turn into lava stalagmites and may eventually fuse with the corresponding stalactite to form a column.

==== Shark tooth stalactites ====
[[File:Shark tooth stalactites.jpg|right|thumb|Shark tooth stalactites]]
The shark tooth stalactite is broad and tapering in appearance. It may begin as a small driblet of lava from a semi-solid ceiling, but then grows by accreting layers as successive flows of lava rise and fall in the lava tube, coating and recoating the stalactite with more material. They can vary from a few millimeters to over a meter in length.<ref name="BUNNELL">
{{Cite book 
  | last = Bunnell
  | first = Dave
  | title = Caves of Fire: Inside America's Lava Tubes
  | year = 2008
  | pages = 124
  }}
</ref>

==== Splash stalactites ====
As lava flows through a tube, material will be splashed up on the ceiling and ooze back down, hardening into a stalactite. This type of formation results in an irregularly-shaped stalactite, looking somewhat like stretched taffy{{clarify|date=November 2019}}. Often they may be of a different color than the original lava that formed the cave.<ref name="BUNNELL"/>

==== Tubular lava stalactites ====
When the roof of a lava tube is cooling, a skin forms that traps semi-molten material inside. Trapped gases expansion forces lava to extrude out through small openings that result in hollow, tubular stalactites analogous to the soda straws formed as depositional [[speleothems]] in solution caves. The longest known is almost 2 meters in length. These are common in Hawaiian lava tubes and are often associated with a drip stalagmite that forms below as material is carried through the tubular stalactite and piles up on the floor beneath. Sometimes the tubular form collapses near the distal end, most likely when the pressure of escaping gases decreased and still-molten portions of the stalactites deflated and cooled.
Often these tubular stalactites acquire a twisted, vermiform appearance as bits of lava crystallize and force the flow in different directions. These tubular lava helictites may also be influenced by air currents through a tube and point downwind.<ref name="BUNNELL"/>