Giant Krystalz

[MJ12]

About 900 feet below the surface, there is a chamber filled with gypsum. It's the same stuff that goes in the drywall in your house, only in Naica it spent half a million years parboiling in a chamber filled with magma-heated water.


Suddenly miners showed up and started pumping the mineral-rich broth out to get at valuable silver and lead deposits nearby. The result is a cavern filled with crystals 36 feet long and weighing in at up to 55 tons, easily the largest in the world.

"When we first arrived at the Naica mine, Manuel and his crew took us inside without wearing the special cooling suits. This was in order to get us used to what REAL heat is like. There is a steel door protecting the cave and as soon as you pass through it, the temperature hits you like a truck.

But as soon as you get your first glimpse of the incredible crystals, you want to keep going deeper. We were inside for only 14 minutes, which was pushing the danger limits without cooling suits. When we exited, the staging area was a "cool" 41 Celsius. My heart was pounding and I was completely soaked in sweat, my shirts, pants, socks & boots... Everything. All we could do was sit, drink and rest."

http://news.discovery.com/earth/naica-big-pics.html

 

[Ravioli]

Im having dejavu like crazy right now. Wasnt this posted here not too long ago? Maybe i saw it somewhere else.

Cool stuff nontheless.

 

[Darkside55]

 

[Maestro]

Old news.

 

[Warped]

we have a gypsum mine about a mile from my house, very cool to explore but we never got to far in for fear of dying

 

[VirusType2]

There's a TV special on this that I saw. Probably Discovery channel or something.

Apparently, they can't use conventional equipment, so the stuff they bring only allows them to travel into there for about 30 minutes. Therefore, investigation of this place is extremely inhibited, and so there are chasms that they are unable to explore. Really curious to see further in.

But as soon as you get your first glimpse of the incredible crystals, you want to keep going deeper. We were inside for only 14 minutes, which was pushing the danger limits without cooling suits. When we exited, the staging area was a "cool" 41 Celsius. My heart was pounding and I was completely soaked in sweat, my shirts, pants, socks & boots... Everything. All we could do was sit, drink and rest."

Yeah, it's deadly. They managed to get some progress on the TV show.

Also, one guy has been conducting tests on how long it takes those crystals to form so large, and it was some crazy amount of time... can't remember - at least millions of years.

 

[Raziaar]

Dammit...

I was on the initial post still. Did a ctrl-f and searched for superman... searched for fortress, searched for solitude.

Nothing...

I scroll down to make my post and what do I see? Disappointment!

 

[Vegeta897]

Watch out! There's going to be a giant crystal falling from above where you tunneled in and it'll stab you in the head!

Come on, how can you not think of The Core when you see this.

 

[Reginald]

Watch out! There's going to be a giant crystal falling from above where you tunneled in and it'll stab you in the head!

Come on, how can you not think of The Core when you see this.

I try my hardest not to think of The Core.

Ever again.

 

[Tollbooth Willie]

I wanna smoke the shit out of it.

 

[Raziaar]

The sucky thing is these will undoubtedly be destroyed.

 

[Tyguy]

The sucky thing is these will undoubtedly be destroyed.

there will be a strip mall down there in a few years time

 

[VirusType2]

The sucky thing is these will undoubtedly be destroyed.

What? Inevitably? Sometime when the Earth explodes?

 

[Tollbooth Willie]

What? Inevitably? Sometime when the Earth explodes?

When I smoke those massive mother f*ckers up.

 

[Maestro]

When I smoke those massive mother f*ckers up.

No no no, willie! It's gypsum crystals, not crystal meth! Sorry to disappoint you.

 

[DEATHMASTER]

Giant popsicles!