Posted on 09/09/2009 9:42:26 AM PDT by Squidpup
Crystal Cave of Giants
Naica, Mexico - Sept 3 - 6, 2009
Air Temperature of 50C(122F) + Relative Humidity of over 90% = Humidex Value of 105C (228F) !!
This is one of the most extreme places on the planet.
The Crystal Cave of Giants was accidentally discovered in 2000 by miners working in the silver and lead mine at Naica, Mexico. It lies almost 300 meters (900 feet) below the surface of the Earth and it contains the largest crystals known in the world, by far. The largest crystals are over 11 meters long (36 feet) and weigh 55 tons.
The crystals themselves are made of selenite which is crystallized gypsum, the same material used in drywall construction. Except these crystals formed over a span of about half a million years in a hot water solution, saturated with minerals. The the temperature inside the cave remained very consistently hot for the entire time the crystals were growing.
It is still incredibly hot in the cave due its proximity to a magma chamber, deep underground. The air temperature is 50C with a relative humidity of over 90%, making the air feel like an unbearable 105C (228F) Entering the cave without special protective suits can be fatal in 15 minutes. I will be entering the cave wearing a special cooling suit with chilling packs inside and a specialized backpack respirator which will allow me to breath chilled air. Even with all this equipment, I will still only be able to stay in the cave for no more than 45 minutes at a time.
In extreme heat, the body begins to lose higher brain functions which made the expedition much more difficult with the risk of falling into deep pits, or being impaled on a sharp crystal. All the camera gear needs to be slowly brought up to temperature beforehand by pre-heating it and most cameras with moving parts and tape mechanisms simply will not work at all.
It is as dangerous as it is beautiful. ...snip...
I saw the Discovery channel hour long program about this cave-it was fascinating.
Beautiful!
Superman got that beat.
< |:)~
Doesn’t even look real, was this manufactuered by the same people that staged the Moon landing ;)
Amazing pics! Thanks for posting.
Yep! Pretty darn cool!
So did I.
I love caves.
marker
Dave Bowman passed this way.
"Each step had to be placed carefully. One slip and you could fall and become impaled on a crystal." That sounds like a Kumbaya moment, for sure.
Some people ask why GOD does not show himself to us.
sigh
Cool.
fortress of Solitudidad?
Wow! Absolutely gorgeous!
Fascinating pictures and article. Thank you.
I marvel at small crystals I have found on the ground. This is incredible!
LOL
Did you see this part:
“Air Temperature of 50C(122F)”
I really doubt that! Those guys are wearing friggin parkas!
122F would be cooking them mas rapido!!!!!
I READ THE ARTICLE...
Actually, they’re wearing air conditioning suits. Those big back packs house A/C units, and the body suit keeps the cool air around them. Even so, they have to leave after 20 minutes or so or they’ll start getting heat stroke.
Gnarly Dude! :)
Holy cow!
There was an article about this in a recent National Geographic magazine.
Sounds like it’s nothing even as fancy as AC units...they’re just suits with cold packs (like the ones you use in a cooler to keep your beer cold) in pouches inside. The respirator blows air over other cold packs to cool it down.
If they were truly sealed suits, they could probably stay in there longer than 30-50 minutes. As it is, they sound like a relatively inexpensive solution to allow short trips into the chamber.
}:-)4
That’s cool——I mean hot——I mean cool pics of a hot place....whatever....
Not sure what list this might come under, if any, but the pictures are amazing.
I was just thinking the photos looked like the set of a low budget science fiction movie.
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Thanks colorado tanker. Here's spelunking at you, kid. |
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I think it was National Geographic that ran a show on this amazing cave. It was stunning.
Photo shopped!! ;-) (just kidding)
This is a geode full of spectacular crystals as tall as pine trees, and in some cases greater in circumference. They have formed beautiful crystals that are a translucent gold and silver in color, and come in many incredible forms and shapes. Some of the largest are essentially columnar in shape and stand thirty to fifty feet high and three to four feet in diameter. Many of the smaller examples are four to six feet in circumference, have many incredible geometrical shapes, and probably weigh in excess of ten tons. The columnar pillars are at first the most striking shape, but later I noticed there were thousands of “sharks teeth” up to three feet high placed row upon row and dispersed at odd angles throughout the caverns. While some of the crystals are attached to the ceiling walls and floors of the cave as might be expected, some exist in great masses of spikes and almost float in air. These crystals seem to defy gravity, as they must weigh several tons. - Richard D. Fisher, Photographer/Explorer
Awesome indeed.
To think we used to crawl hundreds of yards on our
bellies over rimstone dams just to see a little gypsom
flower.
*ping of interest* (not political, just purty)
On the serious side that is one amazing cave.
Alright the guy in your picture doesn’t have a suit on, why is he still alive. The article indicates almost instant death if you don’t have a suit(which beggars the question, how did the first people who discovered it survive to tell the tale?).
Really amazing. I just love it.
It’s the one place in Mexico where drug cartels haven’t dumped bodies of their victims.
My first thought as well.
Cheers!
Interesting read, thanks.
“Alright the guy in your picture doesn’t have a suit on, why is he still alive.”
He is sweating though!
Too many witnesses? It must be, for they are not picky about what they defile.
Reading further at the link, you will find that the first time the author went into the cave, it was without a suit to see just how extreme the conditions are. He was only in there for a few minutes and came out drenched, socks and all. It’s an ultimate steam bath, that’s for sure.
You can see in the pic that the guy without a suit is sweating his tail off. I used to work for a company that used dryers, to dry wood, the temp would reach over 400F and occasionally the operator would have to shut the dryer down and crawl up inside to fix the rollers and bearings. the temp would be down to about 200F when you crawled in there and there was a guy standing outside holding onto your ankles and he would pull you out after a set time period(forget now exactly how long). I know that kind of temperature(and pressure)can kill pretty fast.
Wow! That could be a heck of a tourism site.
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