October 31, 2008

Beautiful!

Mining operation in Mexico reveals cave of giant crystals, some more than 30 feet long.

Geologist Juan Manuel García-Ruiz calls it "the Sistine Chapel of crystals," but Superman could call it home.

A sort of south-of-the-border Fortress of Solitude, Mexico's Cueva de los Cristales contains some of the world's largest known natural crystals — translucent beams of gypsum as long as 36 feet (11 meters).

Take a look at these beauties:


There's a guy standing on them.

5 comments:

Phil said...

How fucking cool is THAT?!!

Anonymous said...

That seems like a good example of the 'self-similarity' of fractals -- if that man wasn't in the pic, you wouldn't know if the crystals pictured were microscopic scale or 6" size (I NEVER would've guessed that these crystals could get THIS big!)

Anonymous said...

Way Cool

Anonymous said...

An earlier article about the discovery (pre-2001), with several more pictures.

Anonymous said...

Holy cats! Those are amazing.