chapter 14 section 1 mexico moving to the city. farm work done by mexican campesinos is usually done...
TRANSCRIPT
Farm work done by Mexican campesinos is usually done by hand. This includes
plowing the land and harvesting the crops.
Life in small Mexican villages is different than in
large cities since people are more likely to know one
another in a small village.
Lastly, along with pollution, traffic and inadequate housing, people in Mexico City face the problem of
work shortage.
Recently Mexico’s economic outlook changed for the better. This was due to the signing of the North America Free
Trade Agreement.
A migrant worker is a worker or laborer who travels from one area
to another area, to pick crops while they are in season.
The cave is called Cueva de los Cristales, which means Cave of Crystals. It contains some of the world’s largest known crystals.
They measure as long as 36 feet.
Cueva de los Cristales is relatively small and has a very rare, but stable environment. Inside the cave, it is about 136 degrees
Fahrenheit and is full of natural mineral-rich water, which helped the crystals form. They were found recently while mining at the
Naica Mountains in Mexico.
This is the Cave of Crystals’ antechamber, and the brothers
who found it gave it a nickname.
They called it “Queen’s Eye, because it resembled an eye.”
The crystals are found in a cave, about 950 feet below the ground.
The mines which contain gold, zinc, lead, and copper are one half mile
below the ground.
The Naica Mountains are said to have formed 26 million years ago from
volcanic activity.
The mountains were filled with lava, which
formed into sedimentary rock full
of high mineral content, known as anhydrite gypsum.
As temperatures cooled, it began to dissolve, dripping the minerals (sulfate and calcium) in the water. This dripping of minerals lasted millions of years.
These “mega-crystals” need a great amount of humidity and over 120 degrees Fahrenheit,
to keep their form. A door was built to separate the Cave from the rest of the mines.
This is the Cave of Swords and is closer to the surface, at about 400 feet below the ground. The cave’s dagger-like crystals are
about a yard in length. Their smaller sizes are due to the quicker cooling of temperatures than the higher temperatures in the caves
with the larger crystals below.