The deepest cave: characteristics, location, description of the expedition

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:41

Until recently, the deepest cave in the world was considered the Krubera cave, which goes down to 2,196 meters. However, in August 2017, it lost this status, giving way to the almost unexplored cave S-115, which was later named after the speleologist Alexander Verevkin. This expedition made a real sensation in the world of explorers, turning a hitherto unremarkable geological object into a world record holder.

Which cave is the deepest?

The currently established depth of Verevkina Cave is 2,212 meters. The measurements were made using the lot, since it was not possible to reach the bottom using the immersion.

The deepest cave today has been studied much worse than the Krubera (Voronya) mine. Both sites are located in Abkhazia at a short distance from each other, and it is currently assumed that they may be connected to each other by undergroundmoves.

The status of the deepest cave is not an axiom, since it is established not on the basis of objective data, but on a set of speleological research results, which are still far from complete. Some geological features may not yet be discovered, while others may not be fully understood. Thus, the depth of the Berchilska cave has not yet been determined, but according to preliminary calculations, it should be at least 2,400 meters.

Where is the deepest cave

Verevkina Cave is located in Abkhazia, on the territory of the Arabica Plateau, which is part of the Garsky West Caucasian Range. The mine has one single entrance, located on the pass between the mountains Umbrella and Fortress. This place has coordinates 43°23'52″ s. sh. and 40°21'37 E. e. The distance from the entrance to the Fortress is less than to the Umbrella.

Description of Verevkina Cave

The entrance to the deepest cave is a fairly wide (3 by 4 meters) well that opens on the surface and goes underground for 32 m. This hole is easily visible when viewed from the side.

At the bottom of the entrance well there is a side hole, which cavers called "Zhdanov's pants". Nearby is a 25-meter plumb line that goes to a depth of 115 m. It was this point that became the original limit of the passage of the cave, which is why it was given the code name C-115.

By design, the deepest cave is a narrow crevice in a mountain range. However, in the lower part there is a real natural "metro". Herespeleologists have discovered about 7 kilometers of sub-horizontal passages, the cross section of each of which is more than 2 m.

The bottom of the cave is 300 m below sea level. Therefore, scientists suggest that it may be connected to the Black Sea through underwater tunnels. In the terminal (final) siphon of the cave there is a beautiful turquoise lake 15 meters long and 18 meters wide. It is surrounded by jet-black limestone.

Verevkina Cave is a very inconvenient object for amateur tourism. The descent there is very difficult, and even investing large amounts of money could not improve the situation. Therefore, at the moment, the deepest cave in the world is of interest only to scientists or extreme tourists.

Research history

Verevkina Cave was first discovered by speleologists from Krasnoyarsk in 1968. Scientists were able to pass it up to a mark of 115 m, in connection with which they assigned the name C-115 (in the international registry - S-115).

The second study was made in 1986. This time, scientists from Moscow got down to business, who managed to descend to a depth of 440 m. The cave was renamed P1-7, where the first letter indicated the speleological club (Perovsky). The modern name of this underground facility was assigned in 1986. Thus, they honored the memory of the deceased Soviet speleologist Alexander Verevkin.

Subsequent expeditions to the cave took place between 2000 and 2018. They organizedspeleological clubs "Pereo" and "Pereo-speleo". In total, 7 expeditions were made during this time, as a result of which it was possible to reach a depth of 2,212 meters.

Features of the last expedition

The descent into the cave was very hard work for the explorers. Each of them carried 20 kg of luggage (torches, food, equipment, lanterns, etc.). To communicate with the surface during the descent, scientists had to pull telephone cables behind them. Rest and sleep took place in stone niches.

The lowest point of the cave was reached 4 days after the start of the descent. After that, a camp was set up at a depth of 2,200 meters, where the researchers spent another three days. This time was spent photographing the cave, exploring new corridors and taking invertebrate specimens.

Living organisms

The bottom of Verevkina cave is rich in cave fauna. During the expedition, scientists managed to collect and deliver to the surface 20 previously unexplored species. Most specimens found belonged to the following taxa:

• false scorpions;
• leeches;
• centipedes.

All the inhabitants of the Verevkina cave are ideally adapted to the conditions of underground life at great depths and are not found in other biotopes.