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Gypsum is a common mineral, with thick and extensive evaporite beds in association with sedimentary rocks. Deposits are known to occur in strata from as far back as the Archaean eon. [16] Gypsum is deposited from lake and sea water, as well as in hot springs, from volcanic vapors, and sulfate solutions in veins.
Orda Cave (Ординская, Ordinskaya) is a gypsum crystal cave found underneath the western Ural Mountains. The mouth is near the shore of the Kungur River just outside Orda, Perm Krai in Russia. The cave system stretches over 5.1 kilometres (3.2 mi) with around 4.8 kilometres (3.0 mi) over the overall length being under water. [1]
Speleothems inside Optymistychna Cave. The entire cave lies under a 2 km square area in a layer of Neogene period gypsum that is less than 30 metres (98 ft) thick. [7] [9] The passages tend to be fairly small, no more than 3 metres (10 ft) wide and 1.5 metres (5 ft) tall for most, although at intersections they can be up to 10 metres (33 ft) tall. [7]
Stalagmites, stalactites, and draperies by a pool. Lechuguilla Cave offers more than extreme size. It holds a variety of rare speleothems, including lemon-yellow sulfur deposits, 20-foot (6.1 m) gypsum chandeliers, 20-foot (6.1 m) gypsum hairs and beards, 15-foot (4.6 m) soda straws, hydromagnesite balloons, cave pearls, subaqueous helictites, rusticles, U-loops, and J-loops.
When the overall temperature of the cave started to drop below 56 °C (133 °F), the hydrothermal and sedimentary anhydrite crystals dissolved, and gypsum (CaSO 4 · 2 H 2 O) crystals formed. [7] The hydrated sulfate gypsum crystallized at an extremely slow rate over the course of at least 500,000 years, forming the enormous crystals found ...
The gypsum is mostly in the form of alabaster. There are several types of alabaster found at the site, including pink, white, and the rare black alabaster. This black alabaster can be found in only three veins in the world, one each in Oklahoma, Italy and China. Another form of gypsum can be found in the many selenite crystal formations. [4]
Location of the Swords and Crystal caves with the gypsum crystals within the conceptual block diagram of Naica mine. The Cave of the Crystals is a cave approximately 300 m (1,000 ft) below the surface in the limestone host rock of the mine, about 109-metre (358 ft) long, with a volume of 5,000 to 6,000 cubic metres (180,000 to 210,000 cu ft). [7]
The Xiaozhai Tiankeng is 626 meters (2,054 feet) long, 537 meters (1,762 feet) wide, and between 511 and 662 meters (1,677 and 2,172 ft) deep, with vertical walls. Its volume is 119,349,000 m³ and the area of its opening is 274,000 m 2. This material has been dissolved and carried away by the river.