Tuesday, February 16, 2010

What else is out there?


What is it?
1) Microscopic salt crystals.
2) A  Hollywood sound stage in a futuristic saga?
3) A Fly's POV of a landing strip atop a grey-haired man.
4) None of the above.

If you answered 4, you're right.  I found this online today and  was awestruck. This cave in Mexico is deep and very hot (near magma) and was filled with boiling hot water before miners discovered there was lead and silver to be mined. So they pumped out the water and look what they found!

Naica Crystals!  Weighing hundreds of tons!  Apparently this stuff is gypsum, the same stuff they use in drywall. But this has been 'cooking' for millions of years into this amazing display of crystal.  A real crystal cave!

A filmmaker decided this was too good to miss, so he went down and filmed the exploration of this chamber. (coming soon to a PBS station near you.) They had to wear cooling suits just to be in that room, which averaged 120* F. So there was a limited exposure allowed.

Isn't that crazy beautiful?

Sadly, whenever they finish mining that silver, they'll stop pumping out the water. It'll fill up again and disappear.

But you have to wonder: If something this beautiful exists deep in the earth, what  other hidden wonders have we not yet discovered?  What have we blundered over or destroyed without even noticing?

How delicate it all is.

12 comments:

Debra She Who Seeks said...

That is so incredibly beautiful! And HUGE! Merlin would have loved living in that crystal cave, LOL!

stregata said...

Awesome! I am sure there is much more wonder hidden in this earth - maybe best we don't discover them - because mankind has a tendency to destroy things...

Bonnie Zieman, M.Ed. said...

How amazing Barbara! Such hidden beauty. The light of love also reveals much human beauty too.

Funny, I have a mixed-media painting that I called "Crystal Cave" - not knowing that there really was such a thing.

Sarah Sullivan said...

Given my DH's obsession with mineral secimens...I have seen this picture...freaking amazing. The first time I saw this I thought it was a trick too...I so want to go there!!
Given the amount of mining around here...I often wonder the same thing. We have some just stunning pyromorphites from the lead and silver mines in the area...I hav to wonder how many of these stunning plates of crystals were destroyed as people dug for the silver!!
Wonderful post hon. BTW..I always call you first when I am blue! You crack me up girl!! Love you bunches, Sarah

Matty said...

We have "Crystal Cave" nearby in Kutztown, Pa. It's quite a tourist attraction. But it doesn't have the pretty colors shown here.

Barbara said...

Debra, Yes, I so thought of you as I was cruising around the internet and found this. Now this is what Merlin must have had in mind. Maybe not so hot, though! Lol!

Barbara said...

Renate, Yes, it's all so interconnectd and yet we blithely take it out, one piece at a time. Native Americans understood this in a way we never, apparently will.

Barbara said...

Bonnie, I was telling Debra that I'd read Mary Stuart's Crystal Cave when I was a kid (so had she) and I had always imagined what one would actually look like. Hence, I suppose, my fascination with Geodes. But this is one big geode, huh? Awesome.

Barbara said...

Sarah, I figured you might have. I really want to see the PBS special on it.

Snap--I agree!

Matty --Wow, really? Penn. has all that coal, too, right? Must be some silver down there, too... It must be a little cooler than this place though. I'd love to see it!

clairedulalune said...

Hi Barabara, I have just recently watched a programme on this very topic recently. I was spell bound! ((hugs))

Chatty Crone said...

Man, I must be out of it - I have never heard of crystal caves and I have no idea how you found them.

I will agree with you and say they are just beautiful.

I bet there are millions of things out there we will never know about. Life is so full of such wonderful wonderful wonders.

sandie

A Palmer said...

Incredibly beautiful. What a privilege to be there wouldn't it be?