Cueva de los Cristales: a Mexican cave with giant crystals
In Naica, a remote location in Northern Mexico, an hour away from the city of Chihuahua, there is a cave where crystals can reach 11 feet long. Until recently, the location was only known for its silver ore, but the discovery of the Cueva de los crystals (Crystal Cave), in 2000, made the place into a tourist attraction.The discovery of the cave, coupled with ore, where most of the inhabitants of Naica works, and the bribes to the authorities are sufficient ingredients to make the place a black market. In addition to the smuggling of silver crystals are also sold at the same time.However, nothing is comparable to these giant crystals. The limestone cave and its crystals was discovered at the beginning of the Millennium by two brothers who were drilling for digging a new tunnel in the mine of Nica, one of the most productive of Mexico, where are extracted tons of silver annually.The geological process of creation of lead and silver also offers the conditions for the formation of crystals and in Nica, the miners have dug enough to reveal these crystals. However, in addition to the beauty of these geological formations an issue that still intrigue geologists is how these crystals have grown so much.Some of the crystals are 11 metres long and weighs 55 tons and is 300 metres deep. The crystals were formed over half a million years ago, resulting in a slow crystallization in aqueous medium saturated with crystals, including the cast, with temperatures of around 58° c.At this temperature the anhydrite, which is abundant in the cave, dissolved in water in the form of plaster, which later crystallized in the form of large crystals. The hot water needed for crystallization, reached temperatures required by that in the immediate vicinity of the Cueva de los Crystals exists a magma chamber, which heated the water.Access to the cave was only possible after the drainage and pumping of water. Due to the proximity of the magma chamber, the temperatures inside the cave reaches temperatures of around 50° C and the humidity is around 90%, which provides a much greater thermal sensation, refers to National Geographic.When you inhale the air of the cave, the lung fluids at a temperature lower than the outside air, they begin to condense in the lungs which is dangerous. Thus it is necessary to enter the site with personal protective equipment. The stay-on-site without cooling material and air mask causes death in just over ten minutes and even with equipment, the stay must not exceed 45 minutes..fancybox-wrap { position: absolute; top:0; left: 0; z-index: 8020; } .fancybox-skin { position: relative; /*margin-top:20px !important;*/ background: #222222; color: #74b32e; text-shadow: none; -webkit-border-radius: 2px; -moz-border-radius: 2px; border-radius: 2px; } .fancybox-opened { z-index: 8030; } .fancybox-opened .fancybox-skin { -webkit-box-shadow: 0 10px 25px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.5); -moz-box-shadow: 0 10px 25px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.5); box-shadow: 0 10px 25px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.5); } .fancybox-outer, .fancybox-inner { position: relative; } .fancybox-inner { overflow: hidden; } .fancybox-type-iframe .fancybox-inner { -webkit-overflow-scrolling: touch; } .fancybox-close{ background: url('wp-content/themes/codistage/styles/fancybox/exit.png') no-repeat; width:25px; height:25px; float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-right:5px; } /*.ngg-gallery-image img{width:565px; height:393px;}*/Cueva de los Cristales1of 20jQuery(document).ready(function($) { var thumbContainerWidth = 0, thumbs = Array(), selectedIndex = 1, thumbIndex = 1, imageOffset = 7; $('.ngg-gallery-thumbnail-box').each(function() { thumbs.push($(this)); }); /*thumbnail navigation */ $('.ngg-greensavers-thumb-next').unbind().bind('click', function(e) { e.preventDefault(); if(thumbIndex<= (thumbs.length-imageOffset)) { $('.ngg-thumbnails-container').stop().animate({ left : -$(thumbs[thumbIndex]).position().left }); thumbIndex++; } }); $('.ngg-greensavers-thumb-prev').unbind().bind('click', function(e) { e.preventDefault(); if(thumbIndex >1) { $('.ngg-thumbnails-container').stop().animate({ left : $('.ngg-thumbnails-container').position().left + ( $(thumbs[thumbIndex-1]).position().left - $(thumbs[thumbIndex-2]).position().left ) }); thumbIndex--; } }); $(window).load(function() { /* set thumbnail container width */ $('.ngg-gallery-thumbnail').each(function() { thumbContainerWidth = thumbContainerWidth + $(this).width() + 10; }); $('.ngg-thumbnails-container').width(thumbContainerWidth); }); });
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