Giant Crystal Cave; It is located 300 meters below Mexico’s Naica Mine. The cave, located deep in the Mexican desert, contains deadly crystals over 600,000 years old. The awe-inspiring cave contains the largest crystals discovered in the world. Although the huge crystals found in the cave are rare examples of its kind, the atmosphere of the cave resembles a different planet.
The Crystal Cave was discovered by chance in 2000 by miners working in the silver and lead mines in Naica, Mexico. The huge crystals found in the cave are 11 meters long and weigh 55 tons. These crystals consist of selenite, which is used to make drywall. The crystals, filled with minerals, formed from a hot water solution and took about half a million years to grow. While the crystals inside the cave were growing, the temperature reached a scorching level.
Why the Cave is Deadly
The depths of the cave open into the magma chamber. For this reason, the temperature of the cave is 50 degrees. However, when combined with the relative humidity, it rises above 90 degrees. The average temperature in the cave is 105 degrees unbearable. It is not possible to stay in the cave, which is one of the most challenging places in the world, for 15 minutes without special protective gear. People who entered the cave for the purpose of examining; It enters with a special cooling suit with a cooling package inside and special backpack breathing devices that allow breathing the cooled air.
Despite all the equipment, it is not possible to stay in the cave for more than 45 minutes. When this period is exceeded, the body begins to lose brain processes due to the extremely high temperature. For this reason, the risk of people falling into deep pits in the cave or getting stuck in a sharp crystal is quite high. Camera and similar equipment to be used in the cave must be preheated. Many cameras with moving parts do not work in this environment.
Formation of Crystal Cave
As a result of the volcanic activities experienced in the region millions of years ago, Naica Mountain in the Chihuahuan Desert was filled with anhydrite, a type of anhydrous gypsum. When the magma cooled, the anhydrite began to dissolve and mixed with the cave waters, enriching it in terms of minerals. These waters formed with the heat in time and formed huge crystals. There are very few places where the crystals that continue to grow with the formation of suitable conditions are preserved in their purest form. In this regard, the cave is one of the caves where the largest and purest crystals are found.
There is a magma chamber under the cave located on the ancient fault. As the magma heats the groundwater, the mineral density in the water increases. The waters containing the minerals containing gypsum filled into the cave and remained this way for about 500 thousand years. Since the temperature of the water was always above 50 degrees, the formation and growth of crystals continued. But silver miners pumped groundwater out to go deeper. For this reason, the growth of crystals stopped due to the withdrawal of all the water inside the cave.
The Mexican government has closed this cave to visitors because of the risk it poses. Mining activities in the region were also stopped in order to protect the cave. With the cessation of mining, the water drainage process also stopped and the cave started to fill with natural water again.
