Book 27, Question 18
What is the biggest crystal ever found?
In a mine in Naica, Mexico, workers found a cave filled with giant beams of gypsum, a soft white mineral.
Some are about 36 feet long and weigh dozens of tons. They grew slowly for hundreds of thousands of years in warm, mineral-rich water. The cave was so hot and humid that scientists wore cooling suits and could stay only a short time.
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Quick answers
What is the biggest crystal ever found?
Deep below a mountain near Naica, Mexico, miners searching for fresh ore deposits in 2000 came across an unexpected and awesome sight.
Source: American Chemical Society
More fun facts
- The anhydrite slowly enriched the waters with sulfate and calcium molecules, which for millions of years have been deposited in the caves in the form of huge selenite gypsum crystals.
- Massive, milky-white crystals towered around them, filling a horseshoe-shaped cave.
- The mining complex in Naica contains some of the world's largest deposits of silver, zinc, and lead.
- Discovered in 1999 inside an abandoned mine in Southern Spain, Pulpí Geode is the largest crystal 'cave' of its kind in the world.
- The only reason humans can get into the caves today, however, is because the mining company's pumping operations keep them clear of water.
Sources: National Geographic, American Chemical Society, BBC