Friday, April 8, 2011

Naica- Mexico's Crystal Caves


Blog post by Tina Winterlik © 2011

http://tinawinterlik.blogspot.com

Check out these Crystal Caves in Mexico! They are INCREDIBLE!


A team of international scientists explore a Mexican cave filled with giant crystals. With temperatures near 120 degrees Fahrenheit (48.8 Celsius), and over 80 per cent humidity, the cave is one of the deadliest environments on earth.

Without specialized suits and equipment, the scientists would die in minutes.

Their mission: to unlock the secrets of the mysterious ancient crystals, some of the largest ever discovered.

Naica Crystal Cave - Mexico 1


Naica Crystal Cave - Mexico 2


Naica Crystal Cave - Mexico 3


Naica Crystal Cave - Mexico 4



Naica Crystal Cave - Mexico 5


Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naica_Mine
he Naica Mine of the Mexican state of Chihuahua is a working mine that is best known for its extraordinary selenite crystals.[1] Located in Naica in the municipality of Saucillo, the Naica Mine, a lead, zinc and silver mine operated by Industrias Peñoles, is Mexico's largest lead producer. [2] Caverns discovered during mining operations contain crystals of selenite (gypsum) as large as 4 feet (1.2 m) in diameter and 50 feet (15 m) long.

Wikipedia Loves Art at the Houston Museum of Natural Science
This photo of item # [1] at the Houston Museum of Natural Science was contributed under the team name "Assignment_Houston_One" as part of the Wikipedia Loves Art project in February 2009.
Houston Museum of Natural Science Institutional caption: Selenite (gypsum)
Monoclinic calcium sulfate
Naica, Chihuahua, Mexico
 The Cave of Crystals (Cueva de los Cristales) is a cave approximately 1,000 feet (300 m) below the surface in the limestone host rock of the mine. The chamber contains giant selenite crystals, some of the largest natural crystals ever found.[3][4]

The selenite crystals were formed by hydrothermal fluids emanating from the magma chambers below.

The cavern was discovered while the miners were drilling through the Naica fault, which they were worried would flood the mine.