Geologists rejoice — rocks are in the news again! The longest known calcite formation was discovered in 2001 near Fort Stanton, NM and the news has just been released to the press. This time I can’t say, “Yeah, I already knew that.”
The calcite stream is pure white (hence referred to as the Snowy River) and was formed underground in a pre-existing channel cut into soft sedimentary rock. In the place of a karst stream, explorers found shiny calcium carbonate. No stalactites, large geode-like crystals or diagenesis, just a pure field of milk-white calcite, meandering its way through a lengthy cave system.
I’m glad scientists revere this formation and have taken the pains to preserve its integrity.
So as not to contaminate the formation, scientists who go into the passage change shoes and in some cases, clothes when moving from the clay edges to the Snowy River formation … The round trip to the south end requires 16 changes of shoes.
Calcite is the crystalline form of calcium carbonate, the mineral that contains your daily dose of calcium. You may also know it as a rock in the metamorphosed and more ubiquitous form of marble. The beauty of calcite is that it exhibits birefringence, i.e. possesses two refractive indices. If you were to stick a straw in liquid calcite (no such thing, but humor me), you would see two refractions of the straw beneath the liquid line. The picture below demonstrates this mineralogical quality of calcite.
Exit nerd.
The capitalist in me wants to know .. “How can I, or someone I may advise, make some money off this find?” (And typically who does?)
Also, is there any environmental implication to the find? Will real estate values go up, or down, or sideways.. and why?
Tell them to go into pharmaceuticals, as I’m waiting for the top to blow on the real estate market. Bubble, meet pin.
As the article says:
“Scientists believe the new passage could yield information on everything from specialized bacteria to underground drainage.
“The chemical byproducts of these bacteria may have pharmaceutical applications and there are other things biologists and biochemists can learn.”
Since the formation exists in a cave which is already a national natural landmark (usually includes the land above), I doubt it will affect real estate values any.