The Pulpí Geode

Cliff brought home one of the magazines from the plane because he knew I would love to see this article. There is an enormous geode, as big as a school bus, that is now open to the public.

The Pulpí Geode is a giant geode in an old mine near the town of Pulpí in Spain. It was found in 1999 but has recently opened to the public.

Spain’s Crystal Clear

An enormous shimmering cave opens to the public

The sleepy Spanish village of Pulpi does not look like the kind of place one would expect to find a giant cave of treasured items. Imagine the surprise then, of the team of geologists who stumbled upon one of the world’s largest crystal geodes in the abandoned Mina Rica silver mine there 20 years ago.

A geode is a spherical rock formation that contains hollow cavities filled with glimmering crystals. But the one in Pulpi stands out due to its size and the exceptional transparency of its gypsum crystals. And, now that the mine is open, it’s the largest geode in the world available to the public, roughly the size of a school bus.

“The Pulpi Geode’s crystals are so transparent you could read a book through them.” Says geologist Francis Fernandez Amo, adding that the mine is home to numerous smaller geodes and an impressive network of underground chambers measuring as much as 130 feet in height. “Some resemble subterranean cathedrals.” says Amo.

Isabelle Kliger
American Way Magazine

You’ve no doubt seen a geode.  A geode is usually a roundish rock formation, often lined with crystals.

This geode is enormous. Not only is it huge, but the gypsum crystals lining it are remarkably pure and clear.  The average crystal is 20″ long, with many crystals nearly 6′ or 7′ long!

The geode was found in 1999. I was able to find a PDF about it from when it was first found on the Way Back Machine. Above is one of the photos from the PDF.

I copied it to here, in case it disappears:
Cuaderno de Campo De Jaravia Historia, Geologia y Mineralogia
(Jaravia Field Notebook History, Geology and Mineralogy)

These are just some of the photos from the PDF.

This is an excerpt from the section about the geode, translated by Google.

THE “GIANT GEODE”

In December 1999, a research team of this magazine was in Mina Rica collecting samples and sending photographs for this article. One of the members of the team changed a wooden ladder to gain access to what looked like a small well, but of little depth, and saw a wide stain of plaster, with a small cavity and large broken glass. the proximity of the excavation. Rocarara crusts were removed to check the continuity of the hole, which effectively extended beyond what the sight allowed to reach. He had to climb into the mouth of the cavity and, with great complication, enter between the huge points of the crystals that impeded the entrance to the geode. There was a point in which it was impossible to continue advancing, but the extraordinary length of the hole could be contemplated and its spectacular covering of large plaster crystals. An attempt was made to photograph the interior, but the lack of space prevented the flash light from penetrating, and some first plans were inevitable, making it impossible to take photos other than those of the entrance. The geode was abandoned and sampling continued by other sectors of the mine.

A few weeks later he returned and the cover of the cavity was de-finitely removed, entering for the first time on January 1, 2000. A geode 9 meters long by 2 high could be recognized, with pro-fusion of plaster crystals of decimetric dimensions. The first interior photographs were made, which are reproduced on these pages. The floor of the geode, also covered by crystals, contained a grayish dust layer that did not affect the roof crystals, evidencing a maintained air circulation. Months later, the news of the finding came to the knowledge of the University of Almeria, which contacted the CSIC, and members of these entities visited the geode, led by Almeria collectors. In anticipation of a possible usurpation of the news and aware of the difficulty of in situ inhibition without the extraction, when less partial, of crystals of the same

BOCAMINA opened on the internet a web of opinion in which a programmed work of geode extraction was postulated, as has already been done in other similar frozen cases. This was done even against a misunderstood conservationism which, by the way, has never worried geological heritage. The CSIC addressed the national press and organized a phenomenal stir in the media, unleashing the most absurd headlines (Calvo, 2000). With the intervention of Excmo. Pulpí City Council and the Environment Agency, at the request of the aforementioned organizations, access to the laminate was closed with rubble, rendering useless of the level 14 hole in the MineRica Mine. A surveillance service was also temporarily established and a multilateral commission was created for the study of lageoda, in which the discoverers were flagged with interested accusations of apology of the plunder. The work that BO-CAMINA carried out for the present article was interrupted and its researchers were slandered to give way to a “high level” scientific study, directed by the CSIC. Since the closure of the mine, it does not seem to have emanated from the commission any concrete technical-economic proposal on the way to carry out the visits of the public or the works to be carried out to make this possible, although they gave some suggestions that , because of its inconsistency, it is not of interest to comment.

Currently, the surveillance service is not maintained. However, there has been an expectation in the face of the possible tourist exploitation of the mine, if not satisfied, it will deceptive the illusions that so lightly were sown.

Cuaderno de Campo De Jaravia Historia, Geologia y Mineralogia
(Jaravia Field Notebook History, Geology and Mineralogy)
Translated by Google

“The Pulpi Geode’s crystals are so transparent you could read a book through them.” Says geologist Francis Fernandez Amo, as quoted by Isabelle Kliger in the American Way Magazine article.