水下晶锥
世界奇宝——水下晶锥
万华岩景区是一处大型的正在发育中的地下河溶洞，洞内钟乳石千姿百态、鳞次栉比十分发育，其中更不乏世界级的岩溶精品，被称为“世界溶洞奇观”。
今天向大家介绍一种非常罕见的钟乳石——水下晶锥。
World Qibao - Underwater crystal cone
Wanhuayan scenic spot is a large-scale underground river karst cave under development. Stalactites in the cave are in various shapes and rows, and are very developed. Among them, there is no lack of world-class karst products, which is known as the "world karst wonders".
Today, I'd like to introduce a very rare stalactite - Underwater crystal cone.
水下晶锥全称为水下钙模晶锥，是一个浸没在水中的没有尖顶的碳酸钙锥状结晶体，它的周围是坚硬的钟乳石，顶部环内为松散的粉末状碳酸钙结晶体。晶锥底部直径约30厘米，顶部直径不足10厘米，高约70厘米，位于洞内535米处的高台上。此处岩溶环境非常独特，是一个一半是石灰岩母岩一半钟乳石包围而成的小洞穴，南北通透，长约20余米，不足40平方米，空间狭窄，洞内空气流动平缓，距主洞地下河水面高约10米。
The underwater crystal cone is fully called the underwater calcium mold crystal cone. It is a cone-shaped crystal of calcium carbonate immersed in water without a sharp top. It is surrounded by hard stalactite and loose powdered calcium carbonate crystals in the top ring. The bottom diameter of the crystal cone is about 30 cm, the top diameter is less than 10 cm, and the height is about 70 cm. It is located on the high platform 535 meters inside the cave. The karst environment here is very unique. It is a small cave surrounded by half limestone parent rock and half stalactite. It is transparent from north to south, about 20 meters long and less than 40 square meters. The space is narrow, the air flow in the cave is gentle, and it is about 10 meters high from the surface of the underground river of the main cave.
▲主洞内535米处，大石柱左上方高台为水晶锥的所在地。
小洞穴内一侧的母岩因地质运动产生裂隙，地下水从裂隙渗出在另一侧形成大量钟乳石，而底部则形成了许多大小不一的边石坝池，池水平静，池水注满后会向外缓慢溢出流入其他边石坝，水下晶锥的边石坝池位于小洞穴的中部。
The parent rock on one side of the small cave has cracks due to geological movement, and groundwater seeps from the cracks to form a large number of stalactites on the other side, while many edge stone dam pools of different sizes are formed at the bottom. The pool water is calm, and the pool water will slowly overflow outward and flow into other edge stone dams after filling. The edge stone dam pool of underwater crystal cone is located in the middle of the small cave.
▲小洞穴内局部情况
水下晶锥的发现源于1988年中美两国共同组织的多国联合科考活动（因篇幅有限，关于这次联合科考的情况将在以后的文章中向大家介绍），当时科考人员非常奇怪、非常纳闷：水底下是怎么沉积形成一个如此规整的锥状体钟乳石的？它的形成机制是什么？和这里的环境有什么联系？形成的过程要具备那些条件？遗憾的是这次联合科考任务很多，各国队员签证时间有限，这些疑问便被暂时搁置了起来。
The discovery of underwater crystal cone originated from the multinational joint scientific research activity jointly organized by China and the United States in 1988 (due to limited space, the situation of this joint scientific research will be introduced to you in future articles). At that time, the scientific researchers were very strange and wondered: How did the underwater deposit form such a regular conical stalactite? What is its formation mechanism? What does it have to do with the environment here? What are the conditions for the formation process? Unfortunately, there are many joint scientific research tasks this time, and the visa time of players from various countries is limited, so these questions have been put on hold for the time being.
▲水晶锥原图，图中依稀可见水面上漂浮的白点是钙膜，但尚未连成片。
但是作为科考活动组织方之一——中国地质科学院桂林岩溶地质研究所并没有将这些疑问搁置，而是本着科学严谨的态度，持续不断地派出科研人员来万华岩实地研究，其中不乏顶级科学家如袁道先院士、天坑之父朱学稳、蒋忠诚博士等，历时二十余年，目前最新的研究报告得出的结论是：
“万华岩水下晶锥，发育于溶洞内535米处上方高台边石坝的池水中，首次发现于1988年。它是池水沉积的一种特殊情形。当饱和的碳酸钙岩溶水沿凹凸不平的洞底流动时,在流动过程中因二氧化碳散溢发生碳酸钙沉淀,细流边缘或凹地周边沉积较快,久之便形成田埂状的边石。边石内积水成池，当水流缓慢或停滞时，饱和的碳酸钙岩溶水在水池表面析出，在水面形成钙膜。在适宜的条件下，钙膜变厚加重，或受洞顶滴水冲击产生碎片，沉入池底结晶、叠积成的形似石笋的锥体，即钙膜晶锥。它们分布稀少，多为已脱离生长环境、停止发育的干晶锥。而仍保持池水-滴水-水下沉积生长环境的水下晶锥，目前仅见万华岩洞穴中，生长速度约为1厘米/100年，当属国之稀品”。
目前世界范围内生长中的水晶锥仅两例，万华岩是其中的一例，国内还是唯一的一例。因为它形成方式非常独特，对形成环境的要求极其苛刻，对钟乳石个例的形成原因有着很高的科研价值，又极具观赏性因而被许多科研工作者称为“国宝”。
However, as one of the organizers of scientific research activities, Guilin Institute of karst geology, Chinese Academy of geological sciences did not put these questions aside. Instead, in a scientific and rigorous attitude, it continuously sent scientific researchers to wanhuayan for field research, including some top scientists, such as Academician Yuan Daoxian, father of Tiankeng, Zhu Xuewen and Dr. Jiang Zhongcheng, who lasted more than 20 years, The latest research report concludes that:
"The underwater crystal cone of wanhuayan is developed in the pool water of the high platform side stone dam 535m above the karst cave. It was first discovered in 1988. It is a special case of pool water deposition. When the saturated calcium carbonate karst water flows along the uneven cave bottom, calcium carbonate precipitation occurs due to carbon dioxide overflow during the flow process. The deposition at the edge of the trickle or around the depression is fast, and it will form a ridge shape in a long time Edge stone. The water in the edge stone forms a pool. When the water flow is slow or stagnant, the saturated calcium carbonate karst water precipitates on the surface of the pool and forms a calcium film on the water surface. Under appropriate conditions, the calcium film thickens and intensifies, or fragments are generated by the impact of dripping water from the top of the cave, and sink into the bottom of the pool to crystallize and stack into a cone shaped like stalagmite, i.e. calcium film crystal cone. They are rarely distributed, mostly separated from the growth environment The dry crystal cone that has stopped developing. At present, the underwater crystal cone that still maintains the pond water drip underwater sedimentary growth environment can only be seen in wanhuayan cave, with a growth rate of about 1cm / 100 years, which is regarded as a "rare product of the country".
At present, there are only two growing crystal cones in the world. Wanhuayan is one of them, and it is the only one in China. Because its formation mode is very unique, the requirements for the formation environment are extremely harsh, and the reasons for the formation of stalactite cases are of high scientific research value and highly ornamental, it is called "national treasure" by many scientific researchers.
