These odd formations found inside an abandoned Russian fortress are apparently the result of the Russian Army testing their alternative to napalm. The heat generated from the napalm was so intense it melted the actual bricks in the building, forming these creepy icicle like things dripping from the ceiling.
From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by Jake.
Maybe they used unfired clay bricks. Those would melt readily.
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermobaric_weapon
The term thermobaric is derived from the Greek words for “heat” and “pressure”: thermobarikos (????????????), from thermos (??????), hot + baros (?????), weight, pressure + suffix -ikos (-????), suffix -ic.
A thermobaric weapon (or solid fuel-air explosive) uses the gaseous products (H2, H2O, CO and CO2) of an initial explosion for an afterburning of reactive solids. Because their reaction with atmospheric oxygen only produces solid oxides the blast wave is primarily generated by heat of combustion ("thermobaric") instead of expanding explosion gases. This makes thermobaric explosives more effective in oxygen deficient environments such as tunnels, caves or underground bunkers.
Rather than providing protection as they would from conventional explosive ammunition, structure interior walls, particularly cement or other hard surfaces, magnify and channel the shockwaves created by a thermobaric detonation. The stronger the walls, the higher the pressure’s reflective effect. The turbulent mixing of fuel with ambient oxygen is induced by the presence of walls through enhanced mixing from three different types of instabilities as well as from enhanced chemistry from temperature and pressure velocity gradient in differing fuels,creating a piston type afterburn reaction in enclosed structures.
To be honest in the third picture on the site, the walls do look melted. . .
It does look like a kind of strange place to test napalm like substances, I'll admit. . .
But I like the idea of bricks melting, and I don't really see anything to the contrary that convinces me the bricks DIDN'T really melt. . .
So,
Neat! Melted bricks! That looks very nifty. I wish I could do that to the ceilings in my underground napalm testing site! It's a charming effect. :D
don't ya mean stalactites?