iD Ideas Discoveries March 2017

height of the main

entrance point

425 feet

underground

mine entrance

4,545 feet above

sea level

original

groundwater level

water level

presence

of ore

limestone

ramp

NAICA

MOUNTAINS

2,625 feet

underground

A TREASURE CHAMBER

1,000 FEET BENEATH THE GROUND

For three years scientists in cooling suits

hailing from six different countries had

explored the chambers of the Naica cave.

Among other things they measured cavities

and crystals and took samples of rock to

learn more about prehistoric earthquakes

and groundwater fl uctuations, and in the

process they stumbled upon three more

crystal caves (see the diagram at right).

Since the selenite columns were gradually

disintegrating due to the infl owing air, the

cave chambers have since been sealed.

As soon as the chambers are flooded, the

crystals will begin to grow again.

A

s the men enter the cave, a tremendous

wall of heat slams into them. Then the

view opens onto an enchanted magic

forest — a labyrinth of huge interlaced

crystal columns. In 2000, Mexican miners came

across this unique natural wonder by chance in

the mountains of Naica. It presents researchers

with a mystery: How could these glittering giants

have formed? Today we know: It all began with a

dying underground volcano 25 million years ago.

The ascending magma carried ore deposits and

minerals, which would later form into crystals.

The crystals were only able to grow as tall as trees

because stable conditions prevailed in the cave

for millennia: Without the deeper-lying magma

chambers, which kept the rock and groundwater

at a constant temperature and ensured a steady

supply of sulfur and calcium, the crystals would

never have been able to reach such sizes or they

would long since have broken into pieces.

HEAT CHAMBER

Thanks to temperatures of around

120°Fandhumidityofover90%,

geologists describe the Naica cave

as “the most inhospitable research

laboratory in the world.” Only with the

help of special protective suits can

researchers survive up to 50 minutes

in the realm of the crystal giants.

WHAT MAKES A CRYSTAL

THE CAVE FROM ABOVE

giant crystal

opening

temperature measurement

0 FT 30

POSITION OF

THE CAVES

Cave of

the Crystals

Eye of

the Queen

Cave of

the Candles

Cave of

the Swords

90°F

112. 3 ° F

112. 3 ° F

114°F

entrance longest crystal

1

1

2

2

3

3

4

950 feet^4

underground

PHOTO: DPA.ILLUSTRATION: NGS.

N