MicroFactzzz#0161 · 🌍 Strange Earth
Miners in Mexico Stumbled Into a Cave Full of Crystals the Size of a Bus
Mexico's Cave of Crystals in Naica hides gigantic selenite columns that grew for hundreds of thousands of years in perfectly stable conditions.
In 2000, miners working a lead and silver mine in Naica accidentally broke into a chamber filled with gypsum (selenite) crystals up to several dozen feet long and weighing tons apiece.
The crystals were able to reach such gigantic sizes because the cave sat flooded for hundreds of thousands of years in water at an almost constant temperature of about 58 degrees Celsius — perfectly stable conditions that let the minerals grow slowly and continuously, instead of forming small, jagged crystals.
The inside of the cave is so hot and humid that a person without a special cooling suit and breathing mask can survive only about fifteen minutes before risking heatstroke.
Once the mine was pumped dry to reach the metal deposits below, the crystals stopped growing and started slowly deteriorating — but scientists managed to study and document them thoroughly before groundwater levels were allowed to rise again.
Sources
- General knowledge / encyclopedic sources
This fact is based on generally available knowledge, not a single, citable source. See how we approach verification.
Krulicza Nora
Want to go deeper?
- Strange Earth
This Cave in Vietnam Is So Massive It Has Its Own Clouds and Jungle Inside
Son Doong in Vietnam is one of the largest known caves on Earth — so enormous that trees grow and clouds form inside it.
Learn more → - Strange Earth
This Cave in Austria Hides Ice Formations That Have Been Growing for Thousands of Years
Eisriesenwelt in Austria is the world's largest ice cave open to visitors, with ice formations stretching many meters deep into the mountain.
Learn more → - Strange Earth
The Grand Canyon Is Missing an Entire Billion Years of Earth's History
New research shows the gap in the Grand Canyon's rock record opened hundreds of millions of years earlier than geologists believed for a century and a half.
Learn more → - Strange Earth
These Rocks 'Walk' Across the Desert on Their Own — and No One Saw It Happen for Decades
Boulders on the dried-up Racetrack Playa in Death Valley leave long trails behind them, even though nobody ever moves them.
Learn more →