Naica Cave - Mexico's Cave of Crystals

[RobinGriffiths]

Also with so much attention, with people in orange suits in attendance with a ready worldwide audience ready to visit an unique site why would they want to flood it any time soon ?

What's the value of whatever they are mining compared to the uniqueness of the site ?

 

[speleotel]

And I thought it was just me thinking it was a photoshop job for the stills? so its a bit of bluescreen trickery as well for the video work? They just keep showing the same bits the same views; for the stills, in the catalogue and now on the programme.  :blink:

 

[paul]

And I thought it was just me thinking it was a photoshop job for the stills? so its a bit of bluescreen trickery as well for the video work? They just keep showing the same bits the same views; for the stills, in the catalogue and now on the programme.  :blink:

There are many, many other references to Naica Cave and the Giant Crystals, for example http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/04/photogalleries/giant-crystals-cave/index.html. A lot of trouble to go for an elaborate hoax, especially since the cave was found in 2000?

 

[Peter Burgess]

The new BBC4 series on the history of chemistry is a much better science production - Thursday evenings.

 

[cap n chris]

A lot of trouble to go for an elaborate hoax, especially since the cave was found in 2000?

Oh, I don't think so: GB Cavern was discovered in the 1940s and yet we're still keeping up the tradition of taking photographs of cavers stood in quarries in the middle of the night to prolong the myth!

 

[caving_fox]

What's the value of whatever they are mining compared to the uniqueness of the site ?

The crystals are of course priceless.


Well the value of the mine products is some. The pretty crystals have zero monetry value, and actually allowing people into see them probably delays/halts mine production so they may have a negative value. If the company then has to spend money to prevent the natural flooding from happening, they definetly have a cost rather than a value. Hence I'm entirely unsurprised that the company isn't interested in preserving them.

 

[SamT]

http://www.manataka.org/~manataka/page1985.html

Given the uniqueness of the formation I would not have expected this. If you were to walk on a pristine calcite floor in muddy boots in this country you would be crucified. So, do they have some strange system of boot exchange to ensure that you only walk on the crystals in soft, mega clean slipper type footwear or what?

It looks like they do indeed have such a system. Did you see the changing room/control room, paper lined floor, draft curtains, everything looking pristine and thats at the bottom of a mine!!
I think if you turned up in your warbac cordura and wellies just after a trip down wigmore, they may not let you in.

Pretty amazing place.

 

[ttxela]

What's the value of whatever they are mining compared to the uniqueness of the site ?

The crystals are of course priceless.


Well the value of the mine products is some. The pretty crystals have zero monetry value, and actually allowing people into see them probably delays/halts mine production so they may have a negative value. If the company then has to spend money to prevent the natural flooding from happening, they definetly have a cost rather than a value. Hence I'm entirely unsurprised that the company isn't interested in preserving them.

I don't know of course, but I got the impression from the programme that they were going to flood the chamber in a sort of controlled way back to the conditions they found it in. Surely the best preservation there could be?

 

[RobinGriffiths]

Great quote from here http://www.stormchaser.ca/Caves/Naica/Naica.html

the terrain was so difficult to walk on that we had to be extremely cautious not to slip and fall. Doing so would could get you impaled on a sharp crystal and would require a dangerous and difficult rescue.

.. the perils of walking on giant crystals...


Robin

 

[gus horsley]

The crystals are gypsum which appear to have formed very recently (in fact until the cavern was broken into) by hot sulphur-laden fluids derived from an active volcanic region rising up through chalk or limestone, thereby depositing calcium sulphate,  Presumably, if the process had been left undisturbed the cavern would have completely filled with crystals to form a dense impenetrable mass.

 

[Les W]

A lot of trouble to go for an elaborate hoax, especially since the cave was found in 2000?

Oh, I don't think so: GB Cavern was discovered in the 1940s and yet we're still keeping up the tradition of taking photographs of cavers stood in quarries in the middle of the night to prolong the myth!

:chair: 

 

[graham]

...
a dense impenetrable mass.

Is W/L still posting here then?

 

[RobinGriffiths]

Given the lack of evidence otherwise, I assume people are comfortable with people walking on giant crystals on the assumption they may be lost to flooding in a few years time? Why in that case do we care about muddy tat in squalid holes in the UK, which may be there for perpetuity, but are muddy tat nevertheless.



Robin

 

[mikem]

but are muddy tat nevertheless

Coz it's our muddy tat - go find yer own!

Mike