Krubera Crow is the deepest karst cave in the world. Krubera-Voronya cave - the deepest cave in the world
From time immemorial, people have been trying to unravel the secrets of nature, and then conquer them. Build planes and skyscrapers, dive on sea depths, climb the tops of the mountains and, of course, go underground and explore the caves.
The deepest cave in the world
Over the years, many underground Goths have been found and studied. Here is a list of the deepest deepest caves in the world
Cave Krubera-Voronya
The deepest cave found is in Abkhazia. In 1960, it was discovered by Soviet speleologists. And over the next decades, scientists went deeper and deeper.
Expeditions conducted in the cavity of the karst cave over the next half century found small forks at a depth.
The last record belongs to Gennady Samokhin. He found that the depth of the cave is 2196 m.
In the Krubera-Voronya cave there are no laid tourist routes; you can go down to the bottom only as part of one of the speleological expeditions, which are held several times a year to explore the cave cavity.
How to get there
mountain range Arabica is located 15 kilometers northeast of the Gagra resort. You can get to the depths of the Krubera-Voronya karst cave only as part of expeditions, with special speleological equipment and appropriate climbing skills.
The resort town of Gagra is located 20 km from the Russian-Abkhazian border. The most convenient way to get to Gagra from Adler is through the Psou border checkpoint. IN summer time You can get from the airport or the Adler bus station to Abkhazia by minibuses that run several times an hour. The distance from Adler to Gagra is 33 km.
Shuttle Buses and minibuses connect Gagra with other resorts of Abkhazia - Pitsunda, New Afonomi and Sukhum.
Location
The Krubera-Voronya karst cave is located in the Arabika mountain range, in the north-west of Abkhazia.
The second deepest cave in the world is also located in Abkhazia. It was found by Russian speleologists relatively recently, in 1990. Today, scientists have reached a depth of 1830 m.
Initially, the cave looked like a small gap in the rock with a very strong draft of air. The cave was named Sarma. Sarma is the strongest wind that periodically blows on Lake Baikal. Its speed is 40 - 50 m/s.
Location
The cave is located on Mount Arabica. The height above sea level exceeds 2000 meters. Sarma Cave is a karst cave of subvertical type and is a string of halls and wells united by tunnels and stiles.
perspective
Sarma Cave is one of the deepest and the most beautiful caves peace. The explored depths are of great value for world speleology. Scientists believe that the depth of the cave in the future may exceed 2 kilometers.
The third deepest cave in the world is also located in the Caucasus. Soviet scientists first descended into it in 1971. On this moment dungeons have been explored to a depth of 1760 meters, the total length of the passages is about 32 kilometers.
It is located in the Khypstinsky massif, in one of the spurs of the Bzybsky Range in the thickness of the Cretaceous and Jurassic dolomitic limestones.
The depths of the caves included in the system
Illusion -832 m., Mezhenny -569 m., Snezhnaya -1361 m. IN Great Hall(depth 120-160 m from the surface) - the largest underground snowfield in the territory former USSR- a snow cone with an ice core, the height of which periodically changed in different years from 25 m (according to surveys in 1971-74) to the maximum possible height of 60 m (observations in 2002-2005). The volume of snow and firn varied from 50 to 96 thousand m3. respectively. At the bottom are the Throne Hall and Hall X - the largest underground halls in Abkhazia. Their dimensions are: Throne Hall - 309 m by 109 m with a ceiling height of up to 40 m; Hall X - 250 m by 70 m with a ceiling height of up to 50 m.
Other major halls
Universitetsky, Anfilada (in fact, three adjacent halls under the same name), the halls of Hope, Victory, Dolmen, Expectations, Gremyachiy, Clay Blockage, IGAN, Penelope, Vienna, Cosmos. All of the listed halls, except for the Bolshoi and Universitetsky ones, are confined to the cave river, being by their genesis superfluous landslides. On the way from the upper underground river receives large tributaries (expenditure up to 10-15 l / s in low water): Nevsky Creek, Novy Creek, Zayachiy Creek, Delusions, Struyka, Gremyachiy Creek (falls from the ceiling of the hall like a waterfall). At the bottom of the cave leads to largest tributary Snezhnaya River - Novaya (Tatyanina) River (debit is estimated as a third of the debit of the main channel). However, the junction of these two rivers has not yet been discovered.
The caves are located in the Austrian Alps. locals known about it since the 10th century, but real research began to be carried out only at the beginning of the 20th century. During this time, scientists have established that the depth of the cave is 1632 m. and allows you to make the deepest through traverse in the world.
Where is located
Lamprechtsofen Cave is located on the Leogang Mountains (de:Leoganger Steinberge) in the Northern Limestone Alps.
Its main entrance is a spring cave at the foot of the ridge, located at an altitude of 664 m above sea level.
In the Alpine region of Haute-Savoie, in France, there is one of the deepest caves in the world - Cave Mirold. This is the second deepest cave in France.
For a long time Mirolda was the deepest cave in the world, today the depth of the French grottoes is 1626 meters.
In 1990, its depth was 1221 meters, and in January 2003, after a group of speleologists passed it, the depth increased to 1733 meters. The height difference of this cave is 1750 meters, and its length is 9 kilometers. The entrance to the cave is located at an altitude of 1880 meters above sea level.
Mirold Cave - the deepest karst abyss the globe. It forms a sparsely branched system of galleries and bends. different levels with small wells. The Mirold Cave is an international object for study by scientific expeditions.
Our planet is fraught with many mysteries and interesting places. Some of them have been fully mastered by mankind, and some, even after much research, still need additional study. The deepest cave in the world, Krubera-Voronya, located in Abkhazia, is also considered a mystery. For many years now, scientists all over the planet have been trying to unravel its age-old secrets.
The history of the name of the cave
The Krubera-Voronya Cave in Abkhazia is located in the Arabica Mountains. It consists of numerous wells, interconnected by galleries and stiles. The waters of the cave give life to the shortest river on the planet, Reprua, which flows into the Black Sea. Its length is no more than eighteen meters.
The cave reaches a depth of about 2200 meters. It was first studied by speleologists from Georgia (1960) and was originally named after the scientist Alexander Kruber. At that time, its depth was mastered only up to ninety-five meters.
The second study was destined to take place only in 1968, thanks to speleologists from Krasnoyarsk Territory. When studying it to a depth of two hundred and ten meters, they used the name Siberian.
The next study of the cave was carried out in the eighties by Kyiv speleologists. They gave her another name - Crow. In this case, scientists worked at a depth of up to three hundred and forty meters.
Cavers records
Due to the hostilities that engulfed the territory of Abkhazia, the Krubera-Voronya cave became completely inaccessible for speleologists. On the map of world exploration, it remained a mysterious place for some time.
However, already at the end of the 90s, cavers from Kyiv resumed the study, and the group subsequently reached a depth of one thousand four hundred and ten meters. And January 2001 was marked by a new mark - 1710 m, which became the world record result of scientists who are members of the Ukrainian Speleological Association.
Further breakthrough was marked by the efforts of the Cavex team, which in August 2003, despite incredible difficulties, reached a depth of 1680 meters. A year later, the following records appeared. Members of the same expedition reached the mark of 1775 meters, and members of the Ukrainian Speleological Association - up to 1840 meters. And already in October 2004, the history of world speleology was replenished for the first time by overcoming a two-kilometer barrier.
Until recently, the depth record of 2191 meters was held by the researcher G. Samokhin (August 2007). It should also be noted the high results achieved by women. So, the Lithuanian S. Pankene reached a depth of two thousand meters one hundred and forty centimeters.
About the entrance to the cave
The entrance, which has a cave Krubera-Voronya, is located at an altitude of 2250 meters above sea level. But there are two more accesses. These are the entrances to such caves as Genrihova Abyss and Kuibyshev. They are further up the mountainside. A hundred meters lower than the entrance to Voronya, there is access through the Berchil cave. The total length of such a bundle is more than two thousand meters deep.
The presence of many large caves V mountain system Arabica has long been considered by scholars. Indeed, even at the beginning of the twentieth century, the leading karstologist Martel from France, conducting research in these places, concluded that there were huge underground voids in the mountains.
However, access to the deepest cave was discovered only in the 60s. But because of the rather narrow passage, the Georgian speleologists (even after discovering the well) had to retreat from the desired work. And only in 2002, members of the Russian-Ukrainian team were recognized as the discoverers of the deepest cave in the world.
Overcoming record results
Relatively recently, in 2012, scientists from the Hebrew University conducted another study of the world-famous cave. The team members have been preparing for this event for several years. The primary goal of the group of scientists was to study the cave itself, its depth and underground sources, as well as understanding the development of the climate that once existed on Earth. However, in addition to this, one of the amazing results of their work was the discovery unstudied species fish living in the purest water at a depth of more than two thousand meters.
The Krubera-Voronya Cave attracts many scientists. The study of its depths has repeatedly become a kind of competition in achieving new results. So, this time the Ukrainian researcher, who is part of the expedition, reached a record depth - 2 meters 196 centimeters below the Earth's surface. To get into the extreme parts of the cave, speleologists had to use ropes and dive into very cold water. Unfortunately, one of the expedition members tragically died during the experiments.
In addition, another record result was broken. The Israeli scientist L. Feigin was in the cave for twenty-four days, which was the longest period spent underground.
Shooting a cave
Of course, not only for speleologists, but also for many photographers, the Krubera-Voronya cave is of great interest. Photos taken on great depth, are something unusual and incredible. The famous photographer S. Alvarez made a considerable number of wonderful pictures dedicated to the work of speleologists. Prior to that, he worked on religious, cultural and research photographs, collaborating with publications such as Time, National Geographic Magazine, Travel Holiday, Adventure, Delta Sky. But for some time now, shooting caves has become his serious hobby.
A new kind of beetle
The Krubera-Voronya Cave opens up new opportunities not only for speleologists. Excursion within the framework organized by Spanish biologists did not make us wait long for new results. They discovered a yet unexplored species of ground beetles. They are among the deepest-living underground insects, feeding on decaying organic matter and fungi. Representatives of the Duvalius species also have eyes, which are used in pitch darkness closer to the surface of the earth. Biologists are sure that many more can be found in this various kinds beetles living in a restricted area such as a cave or an island.
cave explorers
Cavex cavers have put a lot of effort into uncovering new secrets of the deepest cave in the world. After all, it was the daredevils from this team who for the first time managed to go down the entire length of the underground well to a depth of 1710 meters.
At the same time, the Krubera-Voronya cave was subjected to a phased study. Cavex quite often stumbled upon dead-end galleries or insignificant windows in the walls of wells, but all of them inevitably led to the beginning of a new path. Already in 2001, scientists reached new depths, which became a world record result. The open expanse of the cave ended with a sparkling hall with a lake, called the "Hall of Soviet speleologists". Thus, it was emphasized that this achievement was made possible thanks to the work of several generations of scientists.
Reasons for long studies
In 2001, the Krubera-Voronya cave officially received the title of the deepest on the planet, beating the previous champions - the Austrian Lamprechtsofen cave and the French Pierre and Jean Bernard.
To understand its true depth, it is necessary to present at least seven eiffel towers standing on top of each other. Why, then, did many speleologists not be able to establish the true dimensions of the cave for so long? most main reason there has always been a lack of technical means. In addition, the formidable and too narrow passages posed a mortal challenge to many researchers.
And yet mysterious cave still attracts scientists with its incredible underground waterfalls, tunnels and wells, forcing them to make more and more new discoveries.
Just imagine what it is like to go down into the cave, smell the clay, earth and hear the silence. And if this cave goes underground for more than a kilometer… TravelAsk will tell you where the deepest cave in the world is located.
In the bowels of the earth
The deepest cave is located in Abkhazia, in the Arabica mountain range. It is called Krubera Cave or Crow Cave. Its depth is 2199 meters. This is the only known to man cave, the depth of which exceeds 2 kilometers.
The main entrance to the cave is located in the Orto-Balagan tract at an altitude of about 2250 meters above sea level. In August 2014, the second entrance to the cave was opened: it is located 3 meters higher than the first one.
The Crow's Cave is a series of wells connected by stiles and galleries. It must be exciting to go down to the depths of such natural wells. But everything is not so simple: there are siphons here - tunnels filled with water partially or completely. Therefore, cavers have to overcome the path under water.
The wells themselves in some places are very wide that the edges are not visible even with a flashlight. How does it feel to hang in the dark, dangling in this dungeon, when even a lantern does not illuminate the walls around, and infinity under your feet? Speleologists certainly can tell a lot of interesting things. And the smell of damp underground, and the fact that even without diving into the water you are all wet, since the humidity here is very high. And the fact that in this cave is not at all quiet, as it might seem: dripping and oozing from everywhere The groundwater, and these sounds echo in the cavities of the cave.
The Krubera cave has many branches. It divides into 2 main branches at a depth of 200 meters. One of them is Nekuibyshevskaya, 1697 meters deep, the second is the Main Branch, its depth is 2196 meters. The latter, in turn, at around 1300 meters diverges into many other branches.
The cave was discovered in 1960 by Georgian speleologists who explored it to a depth of 95 meters. For almost the past 50 years, it has been regularly visited by scientists. Knowledge about the mysterious underground passages multiplied with each new descent. For several decades, each regular speleological expedition has announced reaching a new depth: 210, 340, 710, 1410, 1710 meters. Whole auction. Everyone tried to set their own record.
Research continued until 2013, when a depth of 2196 meters was reached. In 2014, scientists found a new entrance to the cave: and thus its depth increased to 2199 meters.
How to get there
Ordinary tourists will not be able to visit the cave: only as part of a speleological expedition, which come several times a year. In addition, it is not so easy: you need special equipment and climbing experience. However, you can admire the mountain ranges.
The Arabica mountain range is located 15 kilometers northeast of the Gagra resort. The resort is easily accessible from Adler: the distance between them is only 33 kilometers.
The Krubera-Voronya cave, which is located in Abkhazia, is the deepest in the world. It is located in the area of the Arabica mountain range, its depth is 2190 meters. deepest karst cave is a series of numerous wells connected by galleries and stiles.
This "abyss" has an entrance, which is located above two thousand meters above sea level. From a depth of about 1000 meters, the central branch branches, going further into the depths with its numerous "tentacles".
The Krubera-Voronya Cave holds more than one world record. Its underground waters give life to the most short river on the planet - Reprua, which has a length of only 18 meters. She, after her short takeoff, flows into the Black Sea.
The deepest cave in the world is the Krubera-Voronya cave.
An interesting fact related to bottomless cave”, is that an animal from a number of springtails lives here, which existed 450 million years ago. Scientists discovered it at a depth of 1980 meters and this underground dweller gave the name Plutomurus ortobalaganensis. I would like to note that no one lives deeper than this creature in the world.
The cave was first discovered and explored by speleologists from Georgia in 1960. They studied it to a depth of 95 meters. Then the cave got its first name in honor of A.A. Kruber, who was the father of Russian karst studies. Many expeditions plunged deeper and deeper underground, reaching new levels. Courage these people do not hold. Their courage was rewarded with more and more interesting discoveries.
Krubera-Voronya cave in Abkhazia.
The second part of the name - Voronya, the cave received in the mid-80s of the twentieth century. This is how Kyiv speleologists named it, who explored the cave to a depth of 340 meters. To date, the record for diving in Krubera-Voronya belongs to a speleologist from Ukraine, Gennady Samokhin. He managed to descend to a depth of 2191 meters in 2007.
USA expedition to the Krubera-Voronya cave, August 2004. Video.
Already passed more than 2.000 meters down.
Speleologists first learned about the existence of the Krubera-Voronya cave in the Arabika mountain range in Abkhazia in 1960. Then they managed to descend only 95 meters. The cave was classified as shallow and forgotten about for 8 years. During the second attempt to explore the cave, speleologists reached a depth of 210 meters, the third expedition reached 340 meters.
From that moment on, each subsequent expedition set itself the main goal of descending as low as possible. However, with each new descent, only the number of discovered passages and branches grew, while the exact depth of the cave continued to remain a mystery. In 2001, another team of cave explorers reached a record depth of 1710 meters, which made it possible to officially classify the Krubera-Voronya cave as the deepest cave on the planet.
The Arabica mountain range, in which the cave is located, is located 15 kilometers northeast of the Gagra resort.
Krubera-Voronya is a sub-vertical karst cave. It consists of a series of wells connected by passages and galleries.
The first entrance to the cave is located at an altitude of about 2250 m above sea level in the Orto-Balagan tract. The second entrance to the cave, which was discovered in August 2014, is located 3 meters higher than the first.
At a depth of 200 meters, the cave branches into two main branches: Nekuibyshevskaya (in 2010, the depth is 1697 m) and the Main branch (the current depth is up to 2196 m). Starting from a depth of 1300 meters, the main branch branches into many other branches.
More than 8 siphons are known in the bottom part (located at depths from 1400 to 2144 m). The cave is located in a limestone layer, while the bottom part from a depth of 1600 meters is laid in black limestone.
Until June 2001, the deepest cave in the world was the Lamprechtsofen cave, 1632 meters deep, located in the Northern Limestone Alps, until the expedition of the Ukrainian Speleological Association with the participation of Moscow speleologists set a world record, reaching a mark of 1710 meters in the Krubera-Voronya cave.
The mark of 1710 meters for the cave was not the limit. During subsequent expeditions, speleologists announced that they had reached a new depth.
In 2004, the Krubera-Voronya cave became the only famous cave in the world with a depth of more than 2000 meters. On October 19, for the first time in the history of speleology, they overcame a 2-kilometer barrier - 2080 m.
You can get into the cave only as part of one of the speleological expeditions, and even then only if you have the appropriate climbing skills and special speleological equipment.
In 2005, within the framework of the regular UCA expedition, hydraulic leveling was carried out to clarify the depth of the cave. A series of subsequent expeditions by the rival Cavex and UCA teams were engaged in diving the bottom siphons, increasing the depth of the cave several times.
At the moment, the cave has been explored to a depth of 2197 meters. The current record belongs to speleologist Gennady Samokhin.
There are still unexplored branches in the Krubera-Voronya cave. Whether they will lead to new records or to a dead end is still unknown.
Exploration of the cave continues to this day.
