This photo face like it could have been taken on another major planet – mineworker harvesting dilithium , perhaps . But this cave full of grotesque crystals is locate in Mexico , and the crystals themselves are a variety of gypsum , one of the most common constituent on Earth . What geological processes caused the crystals to get so freaking big?The winder to the crystals ’ formation is an upwelling of magma beneath the cave organisation . The passion have the anhydrite in entrap pockets of groundwater to form selenite ( a form of gypsum ) , which formed into crystal . commonly , something finally disrupts this process . There are crystals all over the world , some of them quite declamatory , but none quite as enormous as these . This special cave remained in full closing off , with a steady temperature from the magma and a static environs in which the crystals were constantly bathe in H2O . This allowed them to grow for X of grand of years . Some crystals are more than 30 infantry long and count more than 50 tons . In the mid 1980s , the cave was debilitate ( accidentally ) by miners , but it was n’t discovered until 2000 . Today , Cueva de los Cristales is protected by a steel threshold , put in place by the excavation company that owns the cave . Visitors are modified , but the lack of water means the vitreous silica could finally break down under their own free weight , or lose their translucent stunner as natural gas infiltrate the cave . Image by : Carsten Peter , Speleoresearch & Films . Cavern of Crystal Giants.[National Geographic ]
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