FEATURE STORY EC Doctor’s journey to The Crystal Cave with 60 Minutes An unexpected call from a 60 Minutes producer For hundreds of thousands of years, “The giant gypsum crystals are like frozen found Greenslopes Private Hospital’s Director of groundwater saturated with calcium sulphate pillars of ice, similar to Superman’s Fortress of Emergency off on a spectacular journey to the filtered through the many caves at Naica, Solitude. The difference is that the Crystal Cave centre of the earth, to a magical place known as warmed by heat from the magma below. is far from frigid, and in fact is quite the opposite the Crystal Cave, deep into the deadly heart of a As the magma cooled, water temperature and can be quite dangerous. The catch is that the Mexican lead mine. inside the cave eventually stabilised and extreme environment needed to produce such remained static at about 52 degrees Celcius. massive crystals is incompatible with human life,” After two years of planning and negotiation At this temperature minerals in the water began Dr Rosengren said. the 60 Minutes team received two weeks’ notice converting to selenite (a form of gypsum) and to mobilise a crew to the province of Chihuahua “The experience in the caves can best be molecules of which were laid down like tiny in central Mexico where they would have only described as excruciatingly hot, stunningly bricks to form crystals. four days’ access to secure this amazing story. beautiful, and potentially deadly, and it was my As one of Australia’s leading emergency Inside the Cave of Crystals, conditions job to make sure the crew stayed outside the medicine specialists with a keen interest in remained unchanged for thousands of years danger zone. Even with ice suits and protective adventure medicine, Dr David Rosengren and the crystals steadily grew. Only around 1985, gear the heat and humidity were oppressive and jumped at the opportunity to be part of when miners using massive pumps lowered the each visit inside the cave lasted about 10 to 12 this once in a lifetime experience. water table and unknowingly drained the cave, minutes before we had to get out to avoid our did the growth of the crystals stop. bodies overheating. The conditions were tough But this is not the first time Dr Rosengren has for the crew who had to do several trips to set travelled with the 60 Minutes crew, having been The limestone cavern and the world’s up camera and sound gear before we could even at the centre of a story about potential causes largest crystals were discovered in 2000 by two begin to film.” of illness and recent deaths of trekkers on the brothers drilling nearly a thousand feet below Kokoda Track a few years back. ground in the Naica mine, one of Mexico’s most The site remains part of a functioning mine productive, yielding tonnes of lead and silver and is locked to any access to protect the cave This time 60 Minutes was keen to have each year. and the mine. Apart from the geologists and Dr Rosengren join the crew because of the scientists who undertook extensive scientific unique environment and conditions they “There have been very few people allowed survey in 2007–08 and stories covered by would encounter in the Crystal Cave. to enter the cave so I feel very privileged to be National Geographic in 2008 and BBC in one of them,” Dr Rosengren said. In many caves and mines the temperature 2010, the 60 Minutes crew including Dr David remains constant and cool, but the Naica “It is extraordinary – the walls and floor Rosengren and British Geologist, Dr Dougal mine gets hotter with depth because it lies of the cave are covered in blocks and clusters Jerram have been some of the select few that above an intrusion of volcanic magma about of the crystal formations some of which span have been able to witness this extraordinary a mile below the surface. Within the cave 11–12 metres and 1.5 metres cross section. It is wonderland firsthand. itself, the temperature leaps to in excess of 45 estimated that the oldest crystals would be in degrees Celcius with 100 percent humidity – an excess of 600,000 years old. Nothing on this environment that is incompatible with human life. scale has ever been seen before.” As one of Australia’s leading emergency medicine specialists with a keen interest in adventure medicine, Dr David Rosengren jumped at the opportunity to be part of this once in a lifetime experience. 5 4 6 GPHnews
GPH News Winter 2012
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