Cave of Crystal Giants
Hotter Than Hades
The fragile, icy-looking selenite crystals belie the cave’s deadly heat. In the few steps from the tunnel to the opening of the cave, temperatures go from miserably warm to hotter than Hades — 150 degrees with 100-percent humidity, making it impossible for humans to survive more than a few minutes. According to Giuseppe Giovine, an Italian physician who attended a group of scientists allowed to explore and document the cave, when temperatures rise above 113 degrees, the body tries to shed heat. But in 100-percent humidity, sweat cannot evaporate. The heat is trapped inside the body. Within five minutes, Giovine said, cells start to die. One after another, organs fail.
“The heart cannot withstand the elevated blood pressure and heart rate levels that are reached,” Giovine said. Hallucinations are common, then loss of consciousness and, eventually, death.
The cave’s heat comes from volcanic activities below the Earth. Naica is a mountain that sits on a set of fault lines. A magma chamber four miles down warms the water that flows throughout the mountain. This hot water was critical to the formation of the crystals. The water trapped in the cave was saturated with gypsum that covered the walls and floor and eventually crystallized in the constant temperature, growing over thousands of years into the crystal cave. The crystal cave was underwater until it was discovered. Giant pumps working around the clock keep the entire mine clear of water for business operations.
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