JPL
Careers
Education
Science & Technology
JPL Logo
JPL Logo
Image

Naica Mine, Chihuahua, Mexico

Oct. 2, 2007
The Naica mine in Chihuahua, Mexico, with its enormous gypsum crystals, may well be called the 'Queen of the Giant Crystals localities.' This image was acquired by NASA's Terra satellite on February 16, 2004.

The Naica mine in Chihuahua, Mexico, with its enormous gypsum crystals, may well be called the "Queen of the Giant Crystals localities." Though the Naica mine is no show mine, but still a working lead-zinc mine hosted in layered limestones, the first of several crystal caves was discovered in 1910. This "Cave of the Swords" contained extraordinary large sword-like selenite (gypsum) crystals up to 2 m long. In 2000 another crystal cave system was discovered at 300 m depth, even more spectacular than the original cave. Inside were free growing gypsum crystals up to 12 m long and 2 m in diameter. The ASTER image uses SWIR bands 4, 6, and 8 in RGB. Limestone is displayed in yellow-green colors, vegetation is red.

The image was acquired February 16, 2004, covers an area of 26 x 23.5 km, and is located near 27.8 degrees north latitude, 105.5 degrees west longitude. The photo of crystals was taken from: http://www.thatcrystalsite.com/.

The U.S. science team is located at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. The Terra mission is part of NASA's Science Mission Directorate.

Download JPG
Download TIFF
Target
  • Earth
Spacecraft
  • Terra
Instrument
  • Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER)
Credit
NASA/GSFC/METI/ERSDAC/JAROS, and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team

Keep Exploring

Related Topic

News .

NASA Measures Underground Water Flowing From Sierra to Central Valley

Mission .

Surface Water and Ocean Topography

News .

NASA Scientists and Satellites Make Sense of Earth’s Subtle Motions

News .

NASA Space Missions Pinpoint Sources of CO2 Emissions on Earth

News .

Watch the Latest Water Satellite Unfold Itself in Space

News .

NASA Awards Launch Services Contract for Sentinel-6B Mission

News .

NASA Launches International Mission to Survey Earth’s Water

News .

NASA Sensors to Help Detect Methane Emitted by Landfills

News .

Latest International Water Satellite Packs an Engineering Punch

News .

Water-Tracking SWOT Satellite Encapsulated in Rocket Payload Fairing

About JPL
Who We Are
Executive Council
Directors
Careers
Internships
The JPL Story
JPL Achievements
Documentary Series
Annual Reports
Missions
Current
Past
Future
All
News
All
Earth
Solar System
Stars and Galaxies
Subscribe to JPL News
Galleries
Images
Videos
Audio
Podcasts
Apps
Visions of the Future
Slice of History
Robotics at JPL
Events
Lecture Series
Team Competitions
Speakers Bureau
Calendar
Visit
Public Tours
Virtual Tour
Directions and Maps
Topics
JPL Life
Solar System
Mars
Earth
Climate Change
Exoplanets
Stars and Galaxies
Robotics
More
Asteroid Watch
NASA's Eyes Visualizations
Universe - Internal Newsletter
Social Media
Get the Latest from JPL
Follow Us

JPL is a federally funded research and development center managed for NASA by Caltech.

More from JPL
Careers Education Science & Technology Acquisitions JPL Store
Careers
Education
Science & Technology
Acquisitions
JPL Store
Related NASA Sites
Basics of Spaceflight
Climate Kids
Earth / Global Climate Change
Exoplanet Exploration
Mars Exploration
Solar System Exploration
Space Place
NASA's Eyes Visualization Project
Voyager Interstellar Mission
NASA
Caltech
Privacy
Image Policy
FAQ
Feedback
Site Managers: Veronica McGregor, Randal Jackson
Site Editors: Tony Greicius, Naomi Hartono
CL#: 21-0018