Duboko u planinama sjevernog Meksika, blizu grada Naica postoji jedinstvena pećina zvana Pećina Kristalnih Džinova. Otkrivena 2000 godine pljeni pažnju naučnika geologa, avanturista i biznismena. Međutim sama pećina je zaštićena od pogleda znatiželjnika prirodnim i ljudskim preperekama toliko da je uživo kristale vidjelo tek šačica ljudi. Ostali se mogu zadovoljiti samo fotografijama.
Deep in the mountains of North Mexico near mining town of Naica a unique cave exist called the Cave of Crystal Giants. it was discovered in year 2000 and it captures the curiosity of adventurers, scientists and Entrepreneurs alike, ever since. But the cave is protective of its secrets, protected by extreme nature of the place and by people operating the mine in which was found. because of that the cave was seen only by handful of people. Rest of us can see it only through photographs and documentaries.
Povijest otkrića ide ovako: / The history of the discovery goes like this:
Na mjestu gdje se nalazi pećina već dosta dugo postoji rudnik srebra, jedan od najizdašnijih u Meksiku a možda i u svijetu. Rudari su godinama išli u dubinu zemlje tražeći taj plemeniti metal. Često se događa da kopajući tako nailaze na zatvorene pećine u dubinama zemlje, obično potopljene vodom koja se uliva u rudnik praveći poplave. I u ovom slučaju scenario je bio isti, rudari su prodrli u pećinu, a vrela voda iz pećine je poplavila rudnik. Poslje više dana ispumpavanja radnici su uspijeli isušiti vodu, zatim su ušli u novootkrivenu pećinu i imali su što da vide:
At the place where the cave was found a huge mine of silver exist, one of the biggest in mexico and the world. Miners dig deep to find minerals and often they find underground water flooded caves which than flood the mine. In this case the scenario was the same, miners managed to open the cave (by accident) and hot water from the cave flooded the mine. After several days of pumping workers managed to dry the flood and managed to enter the cave to see an otherworldly scenery:
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Čitava pećina je pokrivena kristalima, većina su visoki 5 ili 6 metara pa čak do 12 metara protežući se poput stubova svugdje dokle pogled pruža. Na žalost ovo otkriće je prošlo relativno nezapaženo, vlastima u rudniku nije bilo u interesu da otkrivaju postojanje ovih kristala iz straha da ne izazovu poplavu znatiželjnika koja bi ih ometala u daljnjoj exploataciji srebra u rudniku. Međutim glas se ipak nekako probio van, i svjet je postao svijestan novog prirodnog svijetskog čuda.
The entire cave is covered with huge crystals, most 5 to 6 m (16 to 20 feet), some even 12 m (40 feet). Unfortunately initial discovery went unnoticed, the mine authorities were reluctant to publicly acknowledge the existence of the cave due to fear it will bring all sorts of adventure bound people which would interfere with the mineral exploitation. But the news went out eventually and the world became aware of newly discovered natural wonder.
Međutim iako su vlasti u rudniku važan faktor u spriječavanju okolnih znatiželjnika da posjete ovu pećinu najvažniji faktor u stvari su uslovi unutar pećine. Nime pećina se nalazi na nekoh 300 metara ispod površine, temperatura u njoj je oko 58 stepeni C, a vlažnost je oko 100%. Ovo čini da je ljudsko tijelo hladnije od okoline i voda se tokom disanja direktno kondezira u plućima praktično utapajući posjetitelje. Bez zaštitnog odjela koje ima ugrađeno hlađenje i disajnog aparata u pećini je moguće izdržati tek oko 10 minuta, a čak i sa opremom jedva malo više od 30 minuta. Zbog toga, pećina je dostupna samo opremljenim ekipama istraživača koji nemaju problema sa nabavkom takve opreme.
Although the mine authorities are important factor in preventing people getting to the cave, more important factor are the extreme conditions inside cave. The cave is situated about 300 m (about 1000 feet) below ground, temperature inside is near 58 C (136 F) and humidity is full 100%. This means that human body is the coldest place in the cave and water during breathing is condensing directly inside lungs, effectively drowning the person. Without a special environment suit with built in breathing apparatus and cooling the person can stay inside cave only for 10 min and even with full protection you can withstand the extreme environment for about 30 min. Because of this the cave is accessible only to well equipped crews of researchers whom does not have problems to acquire such gear.
Od čega se kristali sastoje i kako su nastali? / From what those crystals are made ad how they came to be?
The crystals are made of a mineral selenite one of many forms of well known gypsum. They have formed through crystallization in extreme environment. Right below the cave (and mine) a pocket of magma exist which were heating the water inside the cave. The hot water leached the gypsum mineral from surrounding rocks and became saturated with it in a form known as Anhydrite or dry gypsum (note, dry gypsum is a mineral without water inside its molecular structure but still can be dissolved in it in that form and retain a dry structure). After a millenia the magma pocked receded downward and the temperature inside cave dropped. Because of this dissolved mineral went through a change, temperature fell below 60 C (140 F) and anhydrite started to absorb surrounding water changing in to normal gypsum and than precipitate on surrounding cave walls as crystals of selenite.
Kako je temperatura i dalje bila taman na granici hidracije (58 stepeni C) cijeli proces se odvijao veoma polako što je omogućilo kristalima da narastu do nevjerovatnih razmjera. i tako je bilo sve do 2000 godine kada su rudari prodrli u nju, ispustivši svu vodu vani. Zanimljivo, sami kristali su nevjerovatno mekani, tvrdoće poput ljudskih noktiju, veoma krhki. Procijenjena starost kristala je oko 500 000 godina računajući da ova vrsta kristala raste brzinom od 0.5 do 1 mm godišnje.
As the temperature was constant, around 58 C (136 F) for a long time (many thousand years) just on a border of anhydrite hydration the process was very slow and crystals were able to grow to giant sizes. All of that happening until 2000 when the cave was breached, water drained and all of it discovered. Interesting the crystals are very soft, hard as human fingernails an very fragile. The oldest crystals in the cave were estimated to be around 500 000 years old with rate of growth of 0.5 to 1 mm annually (0.02 to 0.04 inch).
Kakva će biti sudbina ovog nevjerovatnog mjesta? / What is the future of this place?
Postoje čisto tehnički problemi zaštite ovog mjesta. Naime kristali su toliko veliki da će se vremenom početi savijati pod težinom (jer više nema vode da podupire kristale) i lomiti se. Takođe gasovi iz zraka će prodirati u kristale stvarajući hemijske reakcije koje će na kraju zamagliti kristale. S druge strane pećina će uvijek biti izvan dohvata masovnijeg turizma zbog nedostupnosti i ekstremnih uslova u njoj. Takođe i rudničke vlasti ne vide ovu pećinu kao prioritet, čak je vide kao smetnju ekspanziji rudnika zbog medijske pažnje i velikog interesovanja naučnih krugova.
The purely technical problems to protect this cave, exist. The crystals are so big that they will start to bend and brake under their immense weight because the water which supported them is drained out. Also gases from the atmosphere will penetrate its structure making crystals losing their shine and becoming dull and grey. The cave will always be out of limits to most of the visitors due to its extreme environment. Also the mine officials do not se the preservation of this cave as a priority, even perceive it as a nuisance preventing in some way the expansion of the mine due to media and scientists attention.
Postoje predlozi da se cijelo pdručje pećinestavi pod zaštitu UNESKO-a na veliko negodovanje dotičnih vlasnika rudnika. S druge strane naučni značaj ove pećine je ogroman ali zbog loših uvijeta u pećini istraživanja idu sporo. Jedan od ciljeva je i otkriti dali u pećini postoji bilo kakav oblik života, pogotovu u dubljim djelovima pećine koji još nisu bili izloženi uticaju vanjskog zraka i možda se još nalaze pod vodom (naime niko još nije uspio obići cijelu pećinu i u većini slučajeva speleolozi su prodrli tek nekoliko desetina metara oko ulaza).
The plan exist to declare the cave and surroundings as a World Heritage Site under UNESCO protection. On the other hand the relevance of this find in the science community is huge but extreme environment inside cave prevents the research to progress with any significant speed. One of major goals is to check if any native lifeforms exist inside cave, especially deeper inside where pockets of original water still might exist.
S druge strane postoji čitav niz sličnih pećina u okolini koje sadrže kristale samo puno manjih veličina, mnoge od kojih su do danas devastirane od strane lokalnih prospektora koji kopaju kristale i prodaju zainteresovanim turistima. Naime čitavo područje je relativno siromašno i ljudi krpaju svoj budžet nedozvoljenim rudarenjem po okolini, ništa nepoznato kao i drugdje u svijetu gdje lokalni ljudi iskopavaju umjetnine u blizini arheoloških nalazišta ili fosile u blizini paleontoloških nalazišta i prodaju ih na crnom tržištu. Nije isključeno i da će sama pećina džinovskoh kristala doći na red eventualno.
Also around this area many caves exist with similar setup just with much, much smaller crystals, many of which were damaged by local prospectors whom mine those to sell to the passing tourists. The entire area is relatively poor and many residents engage in freelance mining (many times illegally) to get some extra fiances to make ends meet each month. This is not unheard of as this kind of activity plague all important find sites around world, archaeological, paleontological, geological (like this one) as local population is searching those areas for interesting finds to sell on black market. We can assume that this cave will not be protected forever from this kind of exploitation.
U svakom slučaju opstanak ovog mijesta je upitan, međutim s druge strane čitav niz naučnih spoznaja čeka da bude otkriveno, duboko pod zemljom i možda još novih i neviđenih ljepota koje su bile skrivene milijonima godina.
Postoji i nekoliko dokumentaraca koji se mogu naći po netu o ovome, Discovery-a i Nacionalne Geografije.
In any case the future of this cave at this moment is uncertain but on the other hand many discoveries still await inside, deep underground and maybe more of such caves exist to dazzle us with their beauty, hidden from sight for millions of years.
Several of documentaries exist about this topic made by Discovery and National Geographic, it is a good idea to check those.
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