The Cave of Crystals

In 1975, a chamber in the Mexican Naica mine was drained of water in order to prepare it for mining. It remained unexplored until 2000, where upon giant gypsum crystals were found, many of them a meter thick, criss-crossing the intensely hot, humid cave that birthed these extraordinary structures. It is truly mind-boggling to think of the conditions and time it took to grow these beautiful crystals, and even more amazing to think that if they had been left in the mineral rich waters of the cave, they would have continued to grow.