Fredrik Andersson

Those who know me knows that I'm into in beautiful architecture and art, but I'm of course also fascinated by beauty in nature. National Geographic is one of the sites I regularly visit and today I read about this crystal cave in Mexico.

I think it looks amazing, like it's from another world.

A few facts:

• The giant crystals are up to 11 meters long and weighing 55 tons.
• The crystals are soft and made from the same common mineral as drywall - it's called gypsum.
• The largest found crystal is 500,000 years old.
• The cave is 65°C hot with 100% humidity, making it impossible for humans to survive more than a few minutes.
• The cave's heat comes from the depths of the Earth. It sits on a set of fault lines. A magma chamber a mile and a half down warms the water that flows throughout the mountain.
• The cave footage was shot on solid-state memory HD video cameras (tape-less) wrapped in plastic bags and pre-heated for three hours prior to entering the cave.

Btw, I think I should get myself a Raman spectrometer. Might come in handy if I find a cave like this some day.