• News
    • Tech News
    • AI
  • Gadgets
    • Apple
    • iPhone
  • Gaming
    • Playstation
    • Xbox
  • Science
    • News
    • Space
  • Streaming
    • Netflix
  • Vehicles
    • Car News
  • Social Media
    • WhatsApp
    • YouTube
  • Advertise
  • Terms
  • Privacy & Cookies
  • LADbible Group
  • LADbible
  • UNILAD
  • SPORTbible
  • GAMINGbible
  • Tyla
  • FOODbible
  • License Our Content
  • About Us & Contact
  • Jobs
  • Latest
  • Topics A-Z
  • Authors
Facebook
Instagram
X
TikTok
Snapchat
WhatsApp
Submit Your Content
Reason why extraordinary cave of crystals is deadly to humans

Home> Science

Published 15:17 8 May 2024 GMT+1

Reason why extraordinary cave of crystals is deadly to humans

The cave's humidity is near 100%.

Rebekah Jordan

Rebekah Jordan

Caves can be exciting to explore - but not when they're a threat to human life.

One such cave in Chihuahua, Mexico is so unique but holds a deadly secret.

The underground cavern, lying 300 metres (980 feet) beneath the Earth, is filled with some of the world's largest natural crystals, some as large as trees.

Interestingly, it was discovered by accident in 2000 when miners drilling into a lead, zinc, and silver mine near the town of Naica uncovered a chamber full of towering, milky-white crystals.

Advert

JAVIER TRUEBA / MSF / SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY
JAVIER TRUEBA / MSF / SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY

'It's the Sistine Chapel of crystals,' stated Juan Manuel García-Ruiz, a geologist with the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), and a researcher who studied the cave.

Fault lines run beneath the Sierra de Naica Mountain, and about 26 million years ago, magma pushed toward the surface through these faults.

This resulted in the mountain's formation along with the jumbo-sized crystals.

Advert

As beautiful as the crystals are, the scene can't be appreciated long in there as the same environment is deadly to humans.

The cave's temperature stands at 58 degrees Celsius (136 degrees Fahrenheit), sometimes going above that.

Moreover, the humidity is almost 100% – a level at which sweating has no cooling effect on the body.

Because of this, people need proper protection to stay in the cave for longer than 10 minutes.

Advert

JAVIER TRUEBA / MSF / SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY
JAVIER TRUEBA / MSF / SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY

Without proper protection, staying longer than 10 minutes is dangerous, as fluid can condense in the lungs and prove fatal.

Hence why this is a no-tourist zone.

Furthermore, the condensation makes surfaces extremely slippery, making the cave's crystals a dangerous expedition.

Advert

Now the fact that it's deadly to humans keeps the majority of us away, the good news is research can still be done in the cave by those who enjoy the wilder side of life.

For example, scientists are learning about undiscovered microorganisms that thrive in these extreme conditions.

'Other people have made longer-term claims for the antiquity of organisms that were still alive, but in this case, these organisms are all very extraordinary - they are not very closely related to anything in the known genetic databases,' said Dr. Penelope Boston, director of Nasa's Astrobiology Institute in Moffett Field, California.

Featured Image Credit: JAVIER TRUEBA / MSF / SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY
Science
Earth

Advert

Advert

Advert

Choose your content:

a day ago
3 days ago
6 days ago
  • kinpanama / TikTok
    a day ago

    Truth behind tentacled 'creature' seemingly emerging from inside 'meteorite' after video goes viral

    Could it be Cthulhu?

    Science
  • ABC
    a day ago

    Doctor reveals what really happens to your body when you go under anesthesia

    It's some people's biggest fear

    Science
  • Katarzyna Ledwon-Zarzycka / Getty
    3 days ago

    Scientists create world's first ever 'time crystal' that could end up on $100 bills

    It could be used as an anti-counterfeit measure

    Science
  • Bill Turnbull/NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images
    6 days ago

    Experts reveal heartbreaking reason thousands of victims of 9/11 have still not been identified

    Almost half of the remains are still not identified to this day

    Science
  • Every bizarre thing humans have left on the moon from excrement to gold
  • Worrying reason the Moon was just added to a watchlist of cultural sites under threat
  • Supercomputer makes worrying prediction for how long humans will survive on Earth
  • Concerning reason the world's deepest hole had to be sealed up