In Spain, A CRYSTAL CAVE

A gigantic cave of crystals has been discovered in an old silver mine in Spain.









The geode, which is eight metres (26ft) long and crammed full of gypsum prisms, has been put under police guard to prevent souvenir hunters from raiding the extraordinary natural phenomenon.

The geologist who announced the find, Javier Garcia-Guinea, wants to turn the site into a tourist attraction.

He told BBC News Online that up to 10 people could sit inside the geode - an object normally small enough to hold in your hands.

"Bending your body between the huge crystals is an incredible sensation," he said. "When I was young I dreamt of flying, but never to go into a geode internally covered with transparent crystals


Rumours of the existence of a giant gypsum geode had been circulating among mineral collectors since December.

But it was only on 28 May that Javier Garcia-Guinea, from the Spanish Council for Scientific Research (CSIC) in Madrid, finally managed to track down the cave.

"The crystals are absolutely transparent and perfect," he said. The geologist has searched the international literature and can find no other object to compare in size.

The geode - essentially a rock cavity which has become lined with crystalline deposits - is eight meters in length, 1.8 metres wide and 1.7 metres high (26 feet by six by six).

The crystals of gypsum - hydrous calcium sulphate - are about half a metre in length.


The giant geode may have formed at the same time as a geological event called the Messinian salinity crisis. At this time, about six million years ago, the Mediterranean Ocean evaporated, depositing thick layers of salts. The same, salt-saturated fluids could have filled up the Spanish geode, which lies near the coast.

The drying out of the Mediterranean was probably caused by a restriction in the straits of Gibraltar, the sea's only connection with rest of the Earth's oceans.


Javier Garcia-Guinea has blocked the entrance to the geode with five tonnes of rock and called in the police to guard the location. After a period of scientific study, he hopes the cave can be turned into a major local tourist attraction.

"The next possibility is to drill a hole to fix a window in the geode to show the tourists. Almeria is little town with nice beaches just four kilometres from the mine and is well known to English holidaymakers."

June 12, 2000 - BBC


http://www.crystalinks.com/crystalcave.html

I cant believe no one was willing to reply to this post...maybe more wish to see this cave, so I am replying just to bring it back to the attention of the people who will appreciate this article.

I completely missed that last time, but then I wasn't here much in July...

I have some pictures I downloaded at work, but I don't have the info here at home, so this is kindof a bookmark for me. There is another cave recently found (I think in 2007) in Mexico or something that is basically selenite crystals that are 3 - 4 feet THICK, and 40 feet long or so. I will post it tomorrow. My nephews came to work with me one day and thought it was photoshopped (there is a man standing on top of a crystal in the cave). Its absolutely amazing! I would LOVE to be able to go into those mines.

Thanks THEY! I hope you can post them tomorrow...if not then, well anytime soon! I want to see that. Truth is often stranger than fiction! What I would give to spend some time with those crystals....yes!

Hi all,


Just for "comment", and contribution:


Historic photo of a 14 m long spodumene "log" excavated in 1904 (in South Dakota, USA)
*Photo source : G.M. Schwartz and reproduced from Economic Geology, vol. 20 (1925)


but the "cool" kind that you're talking about:

661 pounds, from Switzerland

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/526087/the_b...rystal_on_erth/


As usual, claims of the "biggest" anything are argued over length and mass.


ciao,

T.Roc

Ok, here is what I promised.

[URL=crystals in Mexico's Naica mountain in the Chihuahuan desert]crystals in Mexico's Naica mountain in the Chihuahuan desert[/URL]

or

http://www.crystalinks.com/mexicocrystals.html

Also, I did a google once using this phrase - http://www.crystalinks.com/mexicocrystals.html - and found a ton more articles that had even more pictures. Some pictures are good, some are poor quality, some are small, some are big..... But trust me, I have almost every picture downloaded. They are soo cool!

I have a chunk (log) of selenite that weighs about 8 pounds, and a candle holder that weighs about 3 pounds, but WOW. I want one!!!

Troc, that crystal is amazingly clear for its size. Thank you!

ps - this is one of the pics that I usually have on my desktop.



here is my favorite

Amazing stuff you guys thanks Troc I am happy to see that others are interested. That 14m long spodumene log is pretty incredible.
Then here comes THEY "to blow us both out of the water"! (american expression) well They...that is going to be pretty hard to top at all I think.
I have to know where all these crystals are I am going to go check on the articles. Also your link Troc...incredible stuff !
Thanks again!
*toothy smile*

This post has been edited by tikay on Dec 7 2007, 07:54 PM

Im stealing those pictures to share with others and I downloaded the metacafe video-clip...It's beginning to feel a bit like Christmas!

mele kalikimaka y'all

tikay, When I was four years old my father was the first full-time electrician at Carlsbad Caverns. I grew up in geological splendor and have visited other remarkable caves including the "Reed Flute" cave in China. Stalactites and stalagmites can rival crystals in their amazing beauty and length of time in formation. "Hooikaika oi aku makou." Hawaiian for "We try harder!"

The fascination for me photojack is in the crystal...I have seen beautiful stalagmites & stalagtites in the caves I have been in, in the appalachian mountains...they are tremendous & stupendous, yes, but I am mostly interested in the way crystals conduct energy, if conduct is the right word for it.

I imagine what quartz like that one in metacafe is producing, and why? And what it could be used for...and I imagine what could be done with them in a healing atmosphere...we wierdos use crystals in healing...even a small one works some magic see...a stalagmite is not made of the same stuff, thats all.
I'll need to see what they are formed of, because the water that causes their formation is carrying ...hmmm...I am curious, I guess I have no idea what they are formed of. I assumed the surrounding minerals, clays & soils mixed together. Wow thanks for bringing this to my attention. I am going to have to do some research on that now!

Caves are so cool really, I have been in one, that hardly anyone ever visited, that was used in escapes during the times of slavery (abolition) and in there was a huge( maybe 40 feet diameter) huge for any cave Id been in, almost circular room, that was called the ballroom...ironically....I doubt any waltzing went on in there. It was so supra dark and incredibly quiet.....like nothing else ever experienced (((even the womb has it's lights and sounds))) , no-where else in the world is like the quiet darkness of a cave.

Nice hearing from you, sounds like you had fun spelunking with your papa!
My dad was an electricion at a nuclear plant in Tennessee. Good pay but not somewhere to take your kids to work!

mahalo nui loa
(thank you very much)

This post has been edited by tikay on Dec 8 2007, 08:48 PM

WOW...the Reed Flute Cave!


http://www.molon.de/galleries/China/Guanxi/Reed/

Thanks again photojack.

tikay, Mahalo nui loa for the link to the Reed Flute Cave. I took pictures just like those when I was there. That reflecting pool and those colors are unimaginable until you have been there. I took long time exposures in the Carlsbad Caverns when I visited 44 years later, and I was pleased with the colors and detail, but it was nothing like that one in China. I remember a TV show decades ago where someone tuned the stalactites in a cave and created an "organ" played with a keyboard using the vibrations from those formations! Is that on YouTube?

I have often wondered about this. The energy and healing powers of crystals is considered pseudoscience, yet a friend of mine swirled a crystal over the palm of my hand, and I felt a hot spot in my hand. How do you explain what I felt if it truly is pseudoscience? I wasn't told before hand what to expect, or what I would feel, so it isn't the placebo effect. But still I wonder.

I think crystals can heal anything. You see, if you just give me one of those big ones, I'll start to feel a lot happier very quickly .

It's the same for me with anything big and shiny .

- Gehn

Me too! Every time I see a gorgeous HUGE crystal, I look at it and wonder how I could ever get one of those up on my property.........

Guess I will just have to accept the fact that the only thing truly cool that will ever stand (as a monolith) will be my lightning struck cedar snag. At least that makes ME happy. But if you ever steal a mondo crystal, I will hide it for you!