The Cave Of The Crystals

The Fortress of Solitude - a magical place of power for the fictional hero Clark Kent

. While the imagery of the fortress has changed over the years, it is mainly conceived of as a place of extreme cold and gigantic frozen crystals. A very imaginative landscape to which the cartoon hero Superman, sometimes retreats. Recently however, a real life crystal wonder has been discovered in Mexico, untouched for millions of years. Known as the Cave Of The Crystals, it's a magical and mysterious cave system that rivals anything that DC comics can offer.

The Cave of the Crystals is a massive underground chamber connected to the Naica Mine, in the Mexican state of Chihuahua. It is the site of some of the largest natural mineral formations ever discovered, with the heaviest, made of selenite, measuring 36 feet long and weighing 55 tons. The spot was originally discovered in 1910 by miners, who uncovered a cavern that they dubbed 'Cueva de las Espadas'.

Underground magma pockets contributed to the formation of the crystals, as Naica is actually on top of a fault line, and the initially discovered area was called 'Cave of Swords'. The gypsum-rich groundwater filled the spaces for nearly half a million years, resulting in the massive mineral formations. The giant crystal cavern was discovered in 2000, no one realizing that Cueva de las Espadas was just the beginning. The floor and walls are comprised of these immense formations, just as in the Fortress of Solitude conception - some so big you can easily walk on them.

Further drilling in 2009 revealed a new cave, which has been named the Ice Palace; it contains formations which are smaller, some tiny enough to resemble threads or cauliflower. All of the crystals are made of selenite, a clear mineral which is a type of gypsum, comprised of calcium sulfate. No organic matter such as ancient bacteria has been found as yet, although scientific researchers have taken samples. Unfortunately, all of the cores begin to deteriorate as soon as they are exposed to air.

If you're thinking of strapping on a spelunker's cap and a Superman cape, you may be out of luck. The Cave of the Crystals is actually a very dangerous place to explore, and the Naica Mine is on private property in any case. Humidity measures between 90 and 99 percent, and Temperatures reach up to 136 Fahrenheit, thus making exploration next to impossible. The heat is so intense that visitors without protection can only survive for about ten minutes.

Special cooling suits had to be invented for the trip by the Italian crystallographers in 2006, but they only allowed them to extend their search by twenty minutes. So while it might be impossible to see on your own, if you happen to know (or be) a mineralogist, then your vacation in Mexico could be the start of the best business trip ever conceived.

by: Robert Nickel

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