The city of Nike is located in Mexico. For a long time, work has been carried out in its mine complex to extract silver, lead and zinc ores. Miners discovered an unusual cave in 2000 and were surprised by the huge crystals of selenite (a type of gypsum). Usually, gypsum is imagined in the form of a building powder, so the shape of the crystal is very unusual for ordinary people.
However, if you were to observe gypsum under a microscope, you would see that its structure can change during the day. During the day, at a certain temperature, crystals begin to form, they can reach one centimeter, but as soon as night falls and the temperature drops, the crystals begin to break down. This happens every day, so it is simply unrealistic to see gypsum crystals outdoors, but it is possible if you visit the Crystal Cave.
Amazing crystals
By the way, there are other caves in which gypsum crystals are located. However, none of them compare to this one, the crystals in other caves are not so perfect and barely reach 4 meters, while the crystals in the Nike cave are ideal, and some of them can be up to 11 meters high. In general, their sizes were limited by the size of the room, maybe if it were larger, then humanity could see taller specimens.
However, the largest crystal of the cave is 11 meters long and 4 meters wide and weighs 55 tons. The cave itself is a horseshoe that used to be filled with water. It is very hot here due to the magma cavities under the cave. The temperature can reach 60 degrees. In addition, it holds almost 100% humidity. Such conditions have been in the cave for thousands of years. Nothing changed, the temperature was constant, and so was the humidity, which created ideal conditions for crystal growth.
Foggy future
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Before the cave was opened, water was pumped out of it, since it was planned to carry out mine work on this site. Therefore, the people who found the cave, one might say, instantly stopped the growth of the crystals. It should also be borne in mind that the crystals themselves, accustomed to certain conditions, will begin to collapse after their change. To begin with, their clouding will begin. This process cannot be stopped, especially if tourists are allowed into the cave, although measures have been taken to preserve the Cave of Crystals (for example, a special door was built that restricts the access of air from the outside and does not allow the temperature to change depending on the environment). Nevertheless, the process has started anyway.
The Cave of Swords, which was discovered earlier in the same mine complex, is proof that changes are inevitable. It was discovered in 1910. She also made a great impression on the visitors. Everyone wanted to have pieces of crystals from this cave, and this concerned not only ordinary visitors, but also owners of museums and private collections. Crystals began to be sold and taken out of the cave, ending up in museums and collections. Now the Cave of Swords is not nearly as beautiful as before, but all because of human intervention.
It is not known what will happen to the Cave of Crystals, but so far researchers are trying to preserve its beauty and restrict access to the object. And in general, constant excursions are hardly possible here, because because of the unfavorable conditions inside the cave, even with special equipment, it is difficult to stay longer than 20 minutes.
Also, the cave is very important for various explorations. For example, a previously unknown mineral was discovered here, and the crystals contain microorganisms from prehistoric times, which will be very interesting for scientists to study. In 2009, a new cave hall was found, called the "Ice Palace". What lies ahead for the cave, massive tourist excursions and crystal sale, or flooding and clogging of these magic crystals for the next generations? Not yet known.
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