This paper puts together the vast information available about the Naica caves, from the discovery of the Cueva de los Cristales in 2000 to the more recent investigations addressing mineralogy, microclimatology and the use of gypsum speleothems as a palaeo-environmental proxy.
Special attention has been paid to novel research lines that have started to use the speleothems of Naica as a study case, particularly in fields such as Astrobiology and Planetary geology.
Moreover, the conservation challenges which these caves will face in the near future as consequence of the end of mining activities have also been addressed in this article.
