# Cavern of Crystal Giants - Just... well amazing! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 26, 2009, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cavern-of-crystal-giants-just-well-amazing/494412 "2009-04-26T17:17:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2009, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cavern-of-crystal-giants-just-well-amazing/494412/1 "2009-04-26T17:17:10Z")
[Cavern of Crystal Giants](http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2008/11/crystal-giants/shea-text) See videos & photo links to left of article [Here’s just one](http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2008/11/crystal-giants/crystals-photography) > [@](#): > > Massive beams of selenite dwarf human explorers in Mexico’s Cave of Crystals, deep below the Chihuahuan Desert. Formed over millennia, these crystals are among the largest yet discovered on Earth. ---
**Author:** ![Ale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@Ale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ale)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2009, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cavern-of-crystal-giants-just-well-amazing/494412/2 "2009-04-26T17:27:38Z")
Ah, yes; the Naica cave. Amazing, isn’t it? I read about it last year, truly fascinating, I’m think I have a bookmark at the office to the website of the people that are exploring it. I’m too sleepy to read the National Geographic article right now, but on the proyect webpage they describe how they carry out the exploration. The suits they use are actually filled with ice so they don’t bake in the cave, still they can only stay 30 or 40 minutes in there. It’s a very pretty kind of hell indeed. ---
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2009, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cavern-of-crystal-giants-just-well-amazing/494412/3 "2009-04-26T17:41:57Z")
Superman is gonna be pissed when he finds them poking around in the fortress of solitude. ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2009, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cavern-of-crystal-giants-just-well-amazing/494412/4 "2009-04-26T17:53:29Z")
Holy . . . crap . . . truly other-worldly beauty. Thanks for linking. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2009, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cavern-of-crystal-giants-just-well-amazing/494412/5 "2009-04-26T18:36:56Z")
Yes, I saw that in Nat Geo earlier. The photo linked to in the OP looks like it was photoshopped, or a CGI shot from some fantasy movie where people have been shrunk to the size of ants. ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2009, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cavern-of-crystal-giants-just-well-amazing/494412/6 "2009-04-26T19:02:13Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > Yes, I saw that in Nat Geo earlier. The photo linked to in the OP looks like it was photoshopped, or a CGI shot from some fantasy movie where people have been shrunk to the size of ants. Agreed. Honestly I think I would have mentally filed this away as “a definite 'shop” (or scene from a movie) had I seen it on a less reputable site. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2009, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cavern-of-crystal-giants-just-well-amazing/494412/7 "2009-04-26T19:11:41Z")
Amazing. And it does look like the Fortress of Solitude… I thought these linds of crystals formed in molten rock. Was this area volcanic? ---
**Author:** ![UncleBill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/d26b3c/32.png) [@UncleBill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBill)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2009, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cavern-of-crystal-giants-just-well-amazing/494412/8 "2009-04-26T21:02:29Z")
It is hot because the cavern lies above an intrusion of magma, so yeah molten, no volcanic. Yet. ---
**Author:** ![Ale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@Ale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ale)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2009, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cavern-of-crystal-giants-just-well-amazing/494412/9 "2009-04-27T01:04:23Z")
Here’s the page for the [Naica Project.](http://www.naica.com.mx/english/index.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Ruby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/13edae/32.png) [@Ruby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruby)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2009, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cavern-of-crystal-giants-just-well-amazing/494412/10 "2009-04-27T01:36:59Z")
Wowza. Why doesn’t all that walking on the crystals damage them? Couldn’t there be a less intrusive way to investigate the cavern? ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2009, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cavern-of-crystal-giants-just-well-amazing/494412/11 "2009-04-27T05:08:42Z")
> [@wolfman](#): > > Superman is gonna be pissed when he finds them poking around in the fortress of solitude. This reminded me also of the Monolith Monsters (1957): [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/9Rfp56py4GE/hqdefault.jpg "Monolith Monsters") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Rfp56py4GE) This other video shows how hard it is to get images from the cave under those hot conditions: [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/9k22meEcTBM/hqdefault.jpg "EXCLUSIVE! - NAICA GIANT CRYSTALS") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9k22meEcTBM) ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2009, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cavern-of-crystal-giants-just-well-amazing/494412/12 "2009-04-27T13:21:33Z")
There are a couple of hour-long documentaries that sometimes turn up on (IIRC) the National Geographic Channel. > [@Ruby](#): > > Why doesn’t all that walking on the crystals damage them? Any damage caused by people tromping all over them pales in comparison by the damage caused just by being exposed. ---
**Author:** ![Mycroft\_H](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/898d66/32.png) [@Mycroft\_H](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mycroft_H)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2009, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cavern-of-crystal-giants-just-well-amazing/494412/13 "2009-04-27T15:29:10Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > Yes, I saw that in Nat Geo earlier. The photo linked to in the OP looks like it was photoshopped, … Along with **Cisco** , I had the same initial reaction when I sat the magazine photos. It is amazing what nature can provide to entertain and delight us. ---
**Author:** ![thirdname](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d07c76/32.png) [@thirdname](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thirdname)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2009, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cavern-of-crystal-giants-just-well-amazing/494412/14 "2009-04-27T15:44:43Z")
I’d be wary of walking around in there. I wonder how much danger there is of one of those crystals breaking and crushing someone. In some pictures I see people touching the crystals with bare hands. I took an off-trail tour at Carlsbad Caverns once, and touching the various mineral formations was a big no-no. They told us that the dirt or oil from our fingers could stop a formation from growing for 100 years, or something crazy like that. Maybe that doesn’t matter since they drained the water and the crystals aren’t growing anymore.