Proceedings of the Athanasius Kircher Society » Giant Crystals of Naica

NEWS: Free credit report online no membership Alltel Ringtones! Juniper credit card application Used auto loans Boost credit score 3 bureau online credit report Card collection credit debt law O apr credit cards Lowest apr credit cards Set up a VPN Cicsco VPN Torrente Alprazolam Credit score mortgage Credit report fico score 50 Cent Free Ringtones Credit score reports Chevron credit card application New Ringtones Effexor. Lone Star Ringtones Chase credit card application status T Mobile Ringtones Student credit cards with no apr Credit report dispute form Credit card application status Instant approval online credit cards Neurontin Application jc penny credit card Prozac Debt reduction solution credit card Low fixed apr cards for low credit: Nextel Ringtones Federal credit reporting act! Zovirax Popular press article on college credit card debt Cipro Three credit reports Ativan Chase manhattan credit card application Mp Ringtones Paxil Ringtones Ambien Card credit debt grant help pay Juniper credit card application 50 Cent Free Ringtones Credit cards online application Paxil Debt consolidation firm Ultram Auto refinance! Transunion credit reports Credit report dispute form VPN tunnel Uk online credit card application Instant approval no credit credit cards VPN client, Apr credit cards Remind Ringtones Fixed apr credit cards Free instant online credit report Hotlink Caller Ringtones A qualified mortgage consultant can help boost credit scores Credit scores mortgage Get my credit report Chase manhattan credit card application Copy of my credit report Obtain a credit report VPN tunneling Transunion credit reporting Card credit debt eliminate forgiveness Credit score definition Exxon credit card application! Guaranteed instant approval credit cards Low credit score loans Out my credit score Credit cards us instant approval Payday loan Home loans Remind Ringtones Instant approval bad credit cards! Effexor Create VPN, National credit reporting Didrex VPN tunneling Dance Last Ringtones How do i get my free annual credit report Free credit report com Secure VPN Refinance house Debt consolidation versus credit card payment Free credit report service Obtain a credit report Credit report fico score Instant approval student credit cards No credit card application Chevron credit card application Fix my credit report College students average credit card debt Order credit reports Best credit report Nexium Credit score check Credit reporting bureau Lortab VPN connection: Enable VPN Bank credit card application Home refinance loans Poor credit score. Best platinum credit cards with low apr Student credit card debt statistic Low interest credit cards with instant approval Refinance houses No cost refinance Kiss Ringtones Online life insurance Life insurance policies Mortgage credit reports Auto warranty, Auto loan Instant approval credit cards Auto warranty Instant approval online credit cards Your credit report Free instant credit report with no credit card Bad credit cards instant approval Card credit debt eliminate now: Improving credit scores Get credit score! Best intoductory apr credit cards Norco High credit score Commercial property loan Cancel card credit debt Alprazolam Xenical 0 apr on balance transfer credit cards! VPN setup Average credit card debt in america. 0 apr creditcards Instant approval low apr credit cards? Order credit reports Instant approval on credit cards Debt consolidation lending Credit card applications for Score credit Guaranteed instant approval credit cards with no credit Student loan calculator Credit cards no apr: Phentermine N Sync Ringtones Sleepwell Instant approval card applications credit cards. VPN download Configuration VPN Major credit reporting Prozac: Instant approval student credit cards Credit card applications with. Levaquin Credit report with score Bright Eyes Ringtones Instant approval bad credit cards Credit score reports Naprosyn? Debt consolidation for credit card and vehicle loan ics Credit credit card applications Atarax Viagra Debt consolidation Credit score interest Annual credit report free America credit card debt statistics Life insurance uk Low credit score loans Cipro Credit card debt counseling services Fair credit reporting act of 1970 Auto insurance company Cheap credit reports Debt consolidation service Free credit report no membership Tylenol Burial insurance Verizon Ringtones Free Ringtones Ringtones Annual credit report .com Card consolidation credit debt financial internet Caller Ringtones Consolidate loan student Credit card application high credit line immediate approval Mortgage credit score What are credit scores Soma Adipex Credit bureau score Credit card applications for Free online credit score. International health insurance Credit report fico score Credit free improve score Hsbc credit card application? Propecia Credit report dispute forms! How do i get my free annual credit report Credit report fico score! 0 apr creditcards Dianabol Credit cards fixed apr Refinance homes Nexium Credit card application for people with bad credit Eminem Ringtones Protect yourself Credit score of Credit score interest rate Unsecured credit cards low apr interest annual fee Instant approval card applications credit cards: Card credit debt eliminate now Free credit report gov Adipex Soma Debt settlement strategy Insurance life Mortgage life insurance American express credit card application Canada credit card application Exxon credit card application: Personal credit score No apr credit cards National credit reporting Free credit report georgia Kmart credit card application Credit card applications instant approval Annuity insurance Lowest fixed apr credit cards! All three credit reports Debt settlement strategy Free Cingular Ringtones Credit score definition, Improve my credit score Bad credit instant approval credit cards, Effexor Online capital one 0 interest credit card application Credit card applications in Washington mutual credit card application Free Cingular Ringtones Credit repair specialists: Fixed apr credit cards Home loan mortgage rates com refinance Credit report and scores Effexor Instant credit score Credit score rankings Slimfast Verizon Ringtones: Fosamax Tylenol? Credit report Eminem Ringtones. Understanding credit score Credit cards no apr Your credit score Instant approval bad credit unsecured credit cards Refinance auto loan Homeowners insurance quotes! Fixed apr business credit cards Samsung Ringtones Card consumer credit debt stastics Fix my credit score! Why is your credit score is important Home construction loans Debt consolidation Instant approval credit cards for Free online credit report no trial offer Clean up your credit report Samsung Ringtones Linux VPN? Credit card applications for bad For credit score No credit checks and instant aproval cards Card credit debt forgiveness settlement,

The Self-Righting Object
Mathematicians discover the world’s first self-righting object, the Gomboc… More

“Dead” Canoeist Cannot Remember Anything
A man who walked into a police station five years after he was presumed dead in a canoeing accident has told officers he has no memory of what happened to him… More

Hokum That Stands the Test of Time
Ricky Jay’s “Extraordinary Exhibitions” comes to the Hammer Museum… More

Clam, 405, is Oldest Animal Ever
The record-breaking shellfish, 31 years older than the previous oldest animal, another clam, was caught last year… More

Trichopterae
An unusual artistic collaboration between the French artist Hubert Duprat and a group of caddis fly larvae… More

Dayton Man, Famous for Diary, Remembered
Among other accomplishments, the Rev. Robert Shields kept possibly the world’s longest diary… More …Previously

Hobo Nickels
Using little more than a pen-knife, Depression-era drifters painstakingly altered the extremely hard Buffalo nickels…. More

Mystery of Singing Sands
One of the strangest tales of the desert happens to be true… More

The Shadow Goes
Can shadows move faster than light? … More

Treed Fish
Birds live in trees, fish live in water. The trouble is, no one bothered to tell the mangrove killifish… More

Remember This
AJ remembers every day of her life. EP remembers only his most recent thought. The best and worst memories in the world… More

Face Off
What do an executed prisoner from Texas, a former UN official, and an eccentric Cornish aristocrat have in common? They’ve all had their death masks made by sculptor Nick Reynolds… More

Stereo Sue
Oliver Sacks reflects on the wonders of stereoscopic vision, and a case of regained stereoscopic sight…More

When a ‘Duplicate’ Family Moves In
Sufferers from Capgras Syndrome believe their families have been replaced by inexact duplicates… More

Next Stop Wonderland
The Musée Patamécanique, a curious art institution in Bristol, RI… More

Is Napoleon’s Death Mask a Masquerade?
The wrong face graces the emperor’s tomb in Les Invalides, French amateur historian says… More … Previously

Got Arachnophobia? Here’s Your Worst Nightmare
The discovery of a vast web crawling with millions of spiders that is spreading across several acres of a North Texas park is causing a stir among scientists… More

Mystery of the Prehistoric Stone Balls
Why should hundreds of perfectly shaped spheres, ranging in diameter from a few inches to eight feet, be scattered through the jungles southwestern Costa Rica? … More … Previously

New Pig-faced Lady Portrait
Jan Bondeson shares a recently discovered image of a pig-faced lady from a most fortuitous source… More

The Pearl of Allah
The giant clam yielded its treasure only after slaying a native diver trapped when its great jaws snapped shut. Worshipped as the gift of Allah, the 14-pound pearl was finally presented to the author by a Mohammedan chief whose son he saved from death… More

June 12th, 2007

Giant Crystals of Naica

In 2000, geologists at the Naica zinc mine in Mexico discovered the largest crystals ever found in a cave 300 meters beneath the Chihuahuan Desert. Some of the the sword-like selenite (gypsum) crystals are as long as 36 feet and weigh up to 55 tons. Earlier this year, Spanish geologists published a paper in the journal Geology explaining the rare set of conditions that allowed the crystals to grow so extraordinarily large. From National Geographic News:

Volcanic activity that began about 26 million years ago created Naica mountain and filled it with high-temperature anhydrite, which is the anhydrous—lacking water—form of gypsum.Anhydrite is stable above 136 degrees Fahrenheit (58 degrees Celsius). Below that temperature gypsum is the stable form.

When magma underneath the mountain cooled and the temperature dropped below 58 degrees Celsius, the anhydrite began to dissolve. 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.

“There is no limit to the size a crystal can reach,” García-Ruiz said.

But, he said, for the Cave of Crystals to have grown such gigantic crystals, it must have been kept just below the anhydrite-gypsum transition temperature for many hundreds of thousands of years.

* More from the Giant Crystal Project.

[Del.icio.us | Reddit | Digg]

You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

WordPress database error: [Can't open file: 'wp_comments.MYI' (errno: 144)]
SELECT * FROM wp_comments WHERE comment_post_ID = '1394' AND comment_approved = '1' ORDER BY comment_date

Leave a Reply