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Author Topic: Stupendous Mexican underground find  (Read 3271 times)

polaris

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Stupendous Mexican underground find
« on: January 30, 2010, 07:30:07 pm »


Dear All,

Something I have been putting together over the last week that if you haven't seen you must!!!

Herewith some Links that show something that if you haven't seen you need to! This find the other year was stupendous and is completely mind blowing... and something that previously could only be dreamt about... until now! The mining Co. is going to preserve this remarkable find, and I wouldn't doubt it will quickly become one of the top great natural wonders of the World, and, hopefully a UN heritage project.
 
BBC iPlayer has good pics. and the documentary:-

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00qbvyc/How_Earth_Made_Us_Deep_Earth/
 
 
National Geographic:-
 
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/04/photogalleries/giant-crystals-cave/index.html
 
For more info., type into Google: giant crystal cave mexico
 
Hope you find it interesting!
 
Regards, Bernard
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Arrow5

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Re: Stupendous Mexican underground find
« Reply #1 on: January 30, 2010, 08:26:36 pm »

Amazing, thanks for pointing it out to us.
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..well can you land on this?

The long Build

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Re: Stupendous Mexican underground find
« Reply #2 on: January 30, 2010, 08:33:09 pm »

Beats the crystals we made at school   :-))l
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polaris

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Re: Stupendous Mexican underground find
« Reply #3 on: January 30, 2010, 08:55:47 pm »


LOL! {-) Beats anything I have ever seen and that's a fact!... the things dreams are made of! Real science fiction! O0
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polaris

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Re: Stupendous Mexican underground find
« Reply #4 on: January 30, 2010, 08:56:39 pm »


Glad you liked the Links.
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polaris

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Re: Stupendous Mexican underground find
« Reply #5 on: February 01, 2010, 06:34:35 pm »


Dear All,

And the next one is:-

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Colin Bishop

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Re: Stupendous Mexican underground find
« Reply #6 on: February 01, 2010, 06:38:03 pm »

Saw them on TV, absolutely incredible.

Colin
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polaris

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Re: Stupendous Mexican underground find
« Reply #7 on: February 01, 2010, 06:42:31 pm »


... and the next is:-

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polaris

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Re: Stupendous Mexican underground find
« Reply #8 on: February 01, 2010, 06:52:41 pm »


Dear Colin,

Have been doing some gnrl. preservation research on this for quite a while - together with all the many others. Incredible isn't it. Can't go again now until blasted teeth etc. have settled.

If anyone want's more pics. please let me know.

Regards, Bernard
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Colin Bishop

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Re: Stupendous Mexican underground find
« Reply #9 on: February 01, 2010, 06:56:52 pm »

It's mind boggling to imagine the processes which created those crystals.

Colin
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polaris

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Re: Stupendous Mexican underground find
« Reply #10 on: February 01, 2010, 07:11:27 pm »


Dear Colin,

Well, yes and no, it's actually relatively straight forward in the crystalography sence, but certainly incredible in the procedure. 500 million years in creation maybe, but the actual inception was quite quick. The 'art' now is the preservation.

If anyone wishes to see the BBC2 prog. again (How the Earth Made Us), please see the Link below. you can download the BBC iPlayer prog. and keep the whole thing on your PC. Just follow the dirs.. Yes, it is 657MB of your harddrive, and downloads at 2Mb/s, but it is worth your while!

Regards, Bernard

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00qbvyc#clips
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polaris

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Re: Stupendous Mexican underground find
« Reply #11 on: February 01, 2010, 08:46:11 pm »


...and this...

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polaris

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Re: Stupendous Mexican underground find
« Reply #12 on: February 01, 2010, 08:47:37 pm »


...and this...! %)
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Damien

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Re: Stupendous Mexican underground find
« Reply #13 on: February 01, 2010, 11:51:34 pm »

Absolutely STUNNING Thanks for sharing Polaris.
Damien.
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polaris

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Re: Stupendous Mexican underground find
« Reply #14 on: February 02, 2010, 05:59:26 pm »


Dear Damien,
 
Have been preparing this on/off during the day.
 
I am very pleased to share the info., and am glad you liked the pics. and found the matter interesting. The more people who know about this place and something about them the better, it all helps to ensure their protection and preservation. I know it's off track re boats/ships, but Chit Chat does carry varied subjects so I just thought people might like to see these things... they are so mind bogglingly incredibly unique!!! It just goes to prove - yet again - that there is nothing new under the Sun!!! Had this been considered in someone's mind for construction for a film set it would probably not have been done, being thought too far fetched even for Sci-Fi!!! Here is some background info. that I keep as brief as possible.
 
The main cavern (one of three thus far), at the Naica Mine (Naica, Chihuahua Province, Mexico), is 1000ft below surface (not as deep as it sounds when you consider that Dolcoath Mine, Cornwall was at one kilometre in 1923 - 500m in 1820), the largest crystal is a min. of 11m in length, and weighs apx. 56 tonnes - some crystals are over 6 ft. broad, with a growth age calculated to apx. 500M years. The caverns are near - or in effect can be said to be part of - the Naica Fault, an area kept away from for quite a while due to suspicion/concern of flooding. The Main cavern temp. is 50C, with humidity at 100% so this is obviously human lethal in a short space of time (as one miner nearly found out not long after it was found - shouldn't have been there anyway). Even with custom breathing gear and wrap coolers, 20mins. is the max. stay duration, but it is still very body 'difficult'/stressful. The mine as a whole is hot anyway, and kept to 40C - 45C with humidity at apx. 50% by, what are in effect, large air conditioning plants - on similar lines to the deep S.African Au/dia. mine units.
 
One of the prev. large caverns found is lined with metre length 'spear' crystals over it's surfaces, and another is slightly smaller but has different formations (heavy clusters and 'sheets' as opposed to spears). The crystal structure variation between caverns is due to different hydrothermal flow and cooling parameters: there is a magma heat source at apx. 3km below, so it's a question of where the source flows originate for each chamber - basically how close to the heat (& mineralising), source and the ascending route. It is strongly suspected there are other caverns to be found since (& while), the geology remains constant, so, whether this mine becomes a UNESCO / World Natural Heritage site or continues with lead/silver/zinc production (both or three!), remains to be seen. (Personally I would like to see UNESCO fund Ground Probing Radar surveys to test for voids ahead and below any underground development levels, likewise geophysics in whatever form(s) might be considered appropriate for any given situation). The problem is it is a very productive mine and obviously gives much employment, so you can't just stop it... at the same time it must not be forgotten that it was the mining opers. in the first place that found everything, so if carefully proceeded with it is probably best that production and development continues. All mines eventually become worked out of course, so it's a question of how can the caverns/crystals and mining coexist happily until exhaustion is reached. After mining finishes, there is then the problem/cost of pumping water (apx. 16k gallons/min. inflow), and who is going to pay that cost? If of course more caverns were to be found, there is little doubt that the Naica Mine could be made into a very important International academic and tourist facility, and might well pay most of it's way after a set-up period - it certainly would if Corporate sponsorship was sought to back up any UNESCO funding.
 
So, all in all, the place has hopefully a very interesting future indeed: the caverns and crystals are being well looked after in the meantime by many academic and professional bodies/people, and, the mining Co. (Penoles), deserves much accolade for being very responsible, considerate, and accommodating - indeed a fine example to other mining Co's who have destroyed countless tons of world class mineral examples, when, with just a little effort and added expense they could have been saved/mined - and at profit as well.
 
I hope you and maybe some others might find this interesting. As-&-when any news filters down to me about other finds, etc., etc., I will update. Here is another interesting Link: http://www.minsocam.org/MSA/collectors_corner/arc/naicagyp.htm For the technically minded, please find below a brief paper on the deposit.
 
Regards, Bernard
 
Compositionally distinct, saline hydrothermal solutions, Naica Mine, Chihuahua, Mexico
R. J. Erwood, S. E. Kesler, and P. L. Cloke
Univ. Toronto, Dep. Geol., Toronto, Ont., Canada


Naica is a chimney-manto, limestone-replacement, skarn-sulfide deposit typical of those that have yielded much of the silver, lead, and zinc production of the western hemisphere. Fluid inclusions in fluorite deposited throughout late skarn and most sulfide mineralization at Naica provide the first direct observations of main-stage fluids in these deposits. The inclusions can be divided into three compositionally distinct groups: (A) liquid + vapor (119 degrees -379 degrees C homogenization temperatures), (B) liquid + vapor + halite (237 degrees -- 369 degrees C; salinities of 31-43 equiv. wt % NaCl containing less than 12% KCl); (C) liquid + vapor + halite + sylvite (277 degrees - 490 degrees C; 52-63 equiv. wt % NaCl containing 22-31% KCl) with some high temperature inclusions (565 degrees -684 degrees C; approximately 40 equiv. wt % NaCl with approximately 25% KCl). Types A, low-salinity B, and high-temperature C inclusions homogenize by vapor disappearance. High-salinity type B and most type C inclusions homogenize by halite disappearance. Evidence for boiling is seen in type A and low-salinity type B inclusions.Types A, B, and C inclusion solutions occupy relatively small, compositionally distinct fields in the NaCl-KCl-H 2 O system. High-salinity type B and most type C solutions were apparently saturated with halite. The composition of high-temperature, unsaturated type C solutions could have been controlled by equilibration with granitic rock and that of saturated, low-temperature solutions could have been controlled by halite subtraction. Wide and completely overlapping spatial distribution of all three inclusion types, combined with the fact that all three solutions are fully miscible, requires that the three compositionally distinct solutions were present in the deposit at different times. The most likely order of appearance of the solutions was C, then B, and finally A with pressures considerably above lithostatic during C solution activity, lower but still exceeding lithostatic during early B activity, and hydrostatic during late B and throughout A time.

This record provided courtesy of AGI/GeoRef.
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polaris

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Re: Stupendous Mexican underground find
« Reply #15 on: February 11, 2010, 02:21:36 pm »

Dear All,

Hereby hangs the tail that I am working on - per info. below. To flood means an albeit temporary temp./pressure transition scenario (however brief), that might instigate the deposition of an opaque phase (that has not occurred before), thereby rendering the 'display' considerably different if pumped out at a later date. 'Ambient pressure' is all important, since temp. is not the only parameter that must be considered - temp. and pressure are very closely combined. If kept 'as is', well, somebody must pay for moving the water, but if flooded, who carries the can of 'spoil' responsibility of the display once and if seen again. If the rising solutions are as rich as they were (v.partic. to begin with), and if the temp. and pressure quickly restore there is no problem (if engineered to be), but it's the 'what-ifs' that give a headache - and there are quite a few! All part of life's sweet mystery!!!

Another p.graph..

Regards, Bernard

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polaris

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Re: Stupendous Mexican underground find
« Reply #16 on: February 11, 2010, 02:26:17 pm »


Blast it, duplicated!

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polaris

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Re: Stupendous Mexican underground find
« Reply #17 on: February 11, 2010, 02:28:20 pm »


My new hand size mineral specimen!!!
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polaris

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Re: Stupendous Mexican underground find
« Reply #18 on: February 16, 2010, 07:38:18 pm »


Dear All,

Time for the official website. Here is all for those that might be interested.

Regards, Bernard

http://www.naica.com.mx/
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polaris

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Re: Stupendous Mexican underground find
« Reply #19 on: March 09, 2010, 10:18:20 am »


Dear All,

The main and official website covering research at the Naica Mine has been updated. I pass the Link on for your interest.

Regards, Bernard

http://www.naica.com.mx/english/index.htm
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