Nature’s crystal palace

Slow-growing crystals formed over thousands of years in Mexico cave

Mexico’s Cueva de los Cristales, or Cave of Crystals, may look like Superman’s Fortress of Solitude. But unlike its comic book counterpart, this cave’s assortment of supersized crystals took a lot longer than a few minutes to grow.

The gypsum crystals in Mexico’s Cueva de los Cristales, or Cave of Crystals, grow a mere billionth of a meter per day, the slowest growth rate ever measured in a crystal, a new study finds.