Krubera-Voronya Cave in Abkhazia

2024 Author: Harold Hamphrey | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:06

Our planet is fraught with many mysterious 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, scientists around the planet have been trying to unravel its age-old secrets.

History of the name of the cave

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 1968thanks to speleologists from the 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.

Speleologist 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 in the late 90s, speleologists from Kyiv resumed research work, 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.

The next breakthrough was 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 the 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,Lithuanian S. Pankene reached a depth of two thousand meters one hundred and forty centimeters.

About the cave entrance

The entrance to the Krubera-Voronya cave 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 in the Arabica mountain system, scientists have long assumed. 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.

Breaking record highs

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 ofamazing results of their work was the discovery of unexplored species of fish living in the purest water at a depth of more than two thousand meters.

Krubera-Crow Cave attracts many scientists. The study of its depths has repeatedly become a kind of competition in achieving new results. So, this time, a Ukrainian researcher, who is part of the expedition, reached a record depth - 2 meters 196 centimeters below the Earth's surface. To get to the extreme parts of the cave, cavers had to use ropes and dive into very cold water. Unfortunately, one of the expedition members tragically died during the experiments.

Besides, another record result was broken. Israeli scientist L. Feigin was in the cave for twenty-four days, which was the longest period spent underground.

Shooting the cave

Of course, not only for speleologists, but also for many photographers, the Krubera-Voronya cave is of great interest. Photos taken at great depths 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.

New species of beetles

Not just for caversKrubera-Voronya cave opens up new possibilities. A research tour 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 believe that many more different species of beetles can be found in this karst cave, living in a limited area, such as a cave or an island.

Cave explorers

The Russian-Ukrainian group of cavers Cavex has made a lot of efforts to reveal 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 descend 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.

Reason for long research

In 2001, the Krubera-Voronya cave officially received the titlethe deepest on the planet, beating previous record holders - the Austrian Lamprechtsofen cave and the French Pierre Saint Martin, as well as Jean Bernard.

To understand its true depth, you need to imagine 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? The main reason has always been the lack of technical means. In addition, the formidable and too narrow passages posed a deadly challenge to many researchers.

Nevertheless, the mysterious cave still attracts scientists with its incredible underground waterfalls, tunnels and wells, forcing them to make more and more new discoveries.