Artificial Helictites and Gypsum Flowers

Abstract

Deposits quite similar to natural helictites were formed in the laboratory by allowing solutions of different salts to evaporate. These deposits indicate that natural helictites grow at the free end and assume their crooked shape as a result of the chance orientation of crystals. Artificial formations similar to gypsum flowers suggest that the natural gypsum flowers grow at the attached end and assume their curvature, not as a result of strain, but by a more rapid growth on one side than on the other.