singular_me
28th June 2016, 03:00 PM
not recent discovery
--------------------------------
When inside the great cathedral of crystals, the pressure of intense heat create a gamut of emotions and perhaps hallucinations. One can only remain for a short period of time.
Geologists report that these natural crystal formations are incredibly complex, yet so simple. They have a magical or metaphysical personality independent of their chemical structures. There is a magma chamber two to three miles below the mountain and that heat from this compressed lava travels through the faults up into the area of the mine. Super heated fluids carry the minerals the miners are seeking as well as form the crystals. The mine is ventilated; otherwise, it could not be worked. Some parts, however, are not air-conditioned, such as the Cave of the Crystals, and there you feel the heat from the magma deep below. The fluids travel along the Naica fault, enter voids in the bedrock, and then form entirely natural structures that are not easily explained scientifically.
A combination of conditions allowed the crystals to reach their unparalleled size. First, the mineral-rich underground waters provided the calcium and sulfate minerals that comprise the crystals. But a nearby magma chamber heats the site, providing the warm, consistent temperatures necessary for crystal growth.
At temperatures hotter than 136 Fahrenheit (58 Celsius), gypsum crystals cannot form, and they persist in forming at least down to down to the temperature of 129 Fahrenheit (54 Celsius), the current water temperature. Therefore, as the chamber temperature passed through this range, the minerals came out of solution and deposited slowly onto the crystal surfaces.As the chamber has cooled over millennia, the appropriate conditions for crystal growth have arisen. "From our estimation, this range of temperatures was obtained in the last million years," Garcia-Ruiz told Discovery News from Mexico, on his way to the Naica site for further studies."
These are not the worlds largest crystals, he said. There are larger crystals of garnet and emerald, for example. But they are embedded in rocks, so you can't see their size with a glance the way you can see the exposed beams of gypsum crystals at Naica. Once the mine is stripped of its valuable ores, perhaps decades from now, the pumps will be turned off and the chamber will again fill with water. "In my opinion, this should be preserved as a national monument," Garc’a-Ru’z said. "The probability to have another Naica in the world is almost zero. We should preserve this."
http://www.crystalinks.com/mexicocrystals.html
--------------------------------------
http://giantcrystals.strahlen.org/america/naica.htm
http://www.discoverychannel.com.au/images/the-cave-of-crystals/
http://www.discoverychannel.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/01_north-america-crystal-cave-670x440-naica-mine-4-140806.jpg
http://giantcrystals.strahlen.org/america/giantcrystal.jpg
http://giantcrystals.strahlen.org/america/naica4.jpg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TvcJOXb0YQI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=laMZAJ2L_1Y
--------------------------------
When inside the great cathedral of crystals, the pressure of intense heat create a gamut of emotions and perhaps hallucinations. One can only remain for a short period of time.
Geologists report that these natural crystal formations are incredibly complex, yet so simple. They have a magical or metaphysical personality independent of their chemical structures. There is a magma chamber two to three miles below the mountain and that heat from this compressed lava travels through the faults up into the area of the mine. Super heated fluids carry the minerals the miners are seeking as well as form the crystals. The mine is ventilated; otherwise, it could not be worked. Some parts, however, are not air-conditioned, such as the Cave of the Crystals, and there you feel the heat from the magma deep below. The fluids travel along the Naica fault, enter voids in the bedrock, and then form entirely natural structures that are not easily explained scientifically.
A combination of conditions allowed the crystals to reach their unparalleled size. First, the mineral-rich underground waters provided the calcium and sulfate minerals that comprise the crystals. But a nearby magma chamber heats the site, providing the warm, consistent temperatures necessary for crystal growth.
At temperatures hotter than 136 Fahrenheit (58 Celsius), gypsum crystals cannot form, and they persist in forming at least down to down to the temperature of 129 Fahrenheit (54 Celsius), the current water temperature. Therefore, as the chamber temperature passed through this range, the minerals came out of solution and deposited slowly onto the crystal surfaces.As the chamber has cooled over millennia, the appropriate conditions for crystal growth have arisen. "From our estimation, this range of temperatures was obtained in the last million years," Garcia-Ruiz told Discovery News from Mexico, on his way to the Naica site for further studies."
These are not the worlds largest crystals, he said. There are larger crystals of garnet and emerald, for example. But they are embedded in rocks, so you can't see their size with a glance the way you can see the exposed beams of gypsum crystals at Naica. Once the mine is stripped of its valuable ores, perhaps decades from now, the pumps will be turned off and the chamber will again fill with water. "In my opinion, this should be preserved as a national monument," Garc’a-Ru’z said. "The probability to have another Naica in the world is almost zero. We should preserve this."
http://www.crystalinks.com/mexicocrystals.html
--------------------------------------
http://giantcrystals.strahlen.org/america/naica.htm
http://www.discoverychannel.com.au/images/the-cave-of-crystals/
http://www.discoverychannel.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/01_north-america-crystal-cave-670x440-naica-mine-4-140806.jpg
http://giantcrystals.strahlen.org/america/giantcrystal.jpg
http://giantcrystals.strahlen.org/america/naica4.jpg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TvcJOXb0YQI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=laMZAJ2L_1Y