The Cave that's Home to 30 ft Crystals

Deep underground in northern Mexico, there’s a cave so packed with giant crystals, it looks like Superman’s home. And these aren’t normal crystals. They’re crystals that are over 30 feet long and weigh as much as a car!

It’s called the Cave of the Crystals, and it sits nearly 1,000 feet beneath the surface in Naica, Mexico. The cave was discovered in the year 2000 by miners.

So how did these monster crystals form?

For hundreds of thousands of years, the cave stayed at a very hot, humid temperature, around 136°F (that’s hotter than most saunas!). Underground water full of minerals slowly dripped and flowed through the cave. Over time, this perfect combo of heat and mineral-rich water allowed the crystals, mostly made of gypsum, to grow to jaw-dropping sizes.

But here’s the catch: it’s so hot and humid in there that humans can only stay inside for a few minutes without special gear.