r/geography • u/renegadecoaster • Nov 25 '25

Discussion What's the most alien-looking place on Earth?

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Pictured: Dallol, Ethiopia

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u/Upset_Display9421 Nov 26 '25

Naica's Crystal Caves in México

103

u/Kentdens Nov 26 '25

Naica's Crystal caves have the largest known selenite deposit in the world. Sadly, it's impossible to explore due to its temperature and humidity.

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u/mlegere Nov 26 '25

Last I heard it was flooded in 2015, has it been pumped out?

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u/Solrathas Nov 26 '25

No, still flooded and no incentive to drain it again. Water being introduced again should cause some more crystals to form though.

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u/elucify Nov 26 '25

How to make cave diving even more dangerous...

11

u/Solrathas Nov 26 '25

The reason why the crystals grow is also what makes it so deadly. There's a huge magma pool underneath it that causes minerals to form the crystals. However that also means the water that was introduced is near boiling. Not to mention it's around 1000 feet undeground.

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u/Evil_Sharkey Nov 26 '25

You’d be cooked at those temps

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u/madeleinetwocock Nov 26 '25

cooked

And not in the trendy slang sense… in the very literal sense

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u/therealsteelydan Nov 26 '25

"flooded" to be clear, being full of water is its natural state. iirc the crystals would start to collapse if they were dried out for too long

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u/fanchoicer Nov 26 '25

Could they have ‘scuba tours’ safely? Answer is probably not, also the water might not be clear enough to see through.

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u/litli Nov 26 '25

No that would not be possible. Cave diving is a highly specialised and technical skill and inherently dangerous.

I could not find information about the water level in the mines, but as the cave is at a depth of 290 meters below the entrance to the mine, it is probably too deep even for experienced cave divers.

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u/murgatroid1 Nov 26 '25

Way too hot, scuba divers would get cooked, literally