This short article discusses the effects of temperature on speleothems found away from cave entrances.

Fractured, Truncated Stalactites and Stalagmites

At Wombeyan Caves, the self - guided tour of Fig Tree Cave takes the visitor through the large Fig Tree Cave, then through the Creek Cave and back out through Victoria Arch: a splendid tour.

There are a number of broken speleothems in this cave. The more spectacular one is called the "Large Fallen Stalactite" and was discussed in detail in my paper, "Physical evidence for past cold-climate events at Wombeyan Caves, NSW: Broken speleothems and other relict features within Fig Tree Cave and Victoria Arch" Helictite, (2025) 50: pp1-25 See Helictite - Journal of Australasian Speleological Research. Abstract: A preliminary study of broken speleothems and speleogens in Fig Tree Cave, Wombeyan Caves, NSW, suggests that a combination of cave geometry, chimney effect and past climatic conditions caused ice build-up in the cave during past ice ages. As temperatures fluctuated around freeze and thaw, stresses from ice expansion broke large speleothems and fractured bedrock in flakes. This empirical approach is supported by physical calculations of stress on a measured stalactite and extrapolated estimates of cave temperatures during the last glacial maximum. Additional support for the argument is based on the appearance of possible cold-temperature speleothems and bedrock grooves.
I gave a shorter presentation on the same topic to the ACKMA conference at Wellington, NSW, and this can be seen in the ACKMA journal edition 141 2025 pages 18 - 25. "Did permanent ice exist in karst caves in Australasia during the Last Glacial Maximum?"
Abstract: Some caves at Wombeyan contain broken speleothems and speleogens. These appear to be relicts of cold- climate processes in the past. Preliminary studies suggest that this was enhanced by the chimney effect combined with past climatic conditions during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), allowing ice to build up in the caves. The stress from freeze-thaw was sufficient to fracture the calcite. Additional support is based on the appearance of possible cold-temperature speleothems and bedrock grooves. We briefly discuss the possibility that cold-climate processes may have operated in other caves in Australia and in south-east Asia during the LGM. This article was presented at the ACKMA Wellington conference and is based on Rowling (2025) which has a lot more references and goes into more technical detail.

At Wombeyan, one can see various broken or truncated speleothems in other caves. The following caves appear to have had some ice breakages in the past:

• Fig Tree Cave and Victoria Arch
• Junction Cave
• Wollondilly Cave and Mulwaree Cave
• Kooringa Cave
• Basin Cave
• Guineacor Cave
• Tinted Cave

There may be many more.