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Caving in Tunisia is a relatively rare sport in the country. Caving emerged in the late 1970s and includes a limited number of practitioners. Tunisia has a number of sites suitable for the sport.
The caving club of Bizerte began in 1979, in the youth house in the city, and particularly aroused the interest of the club Youth Science Bizerta. In 1981, a second club was opened in Zaghouan, while Tunisian speleologists began to participate in national and international speleological meetings.
The two massive caves Jebel Serj and Jebel Bargou are important places for caving. They culminate respectively 1,309 and (m) 1,268 m and are oriented southwest and northeast. The first of these is composed of two parallel ridges separated by deep notch. All of the backbone is formed by massive Aptian land whose limestone's reef summit are almost all of outcrops. The sides of the djebel are very pronounced, forming a safe fold structure.
The site is interesting, both from the ecological point of view and that of archeology. There are sources emerging in wild vegetation and Roman ruins such as the bridge Sidi Amara.
There are many caves, the most important step is the cave of El Kef Biadh whose access is via a series of wells or galleries, most of which come from mining. The first large room of 1,608 m long and 267 metres deep shelters concretions and huge boulders; its walls are covered with bushes of Eccentric. The hall ends with a diaclases which opens on a well. It measures about 150 metres long and 50 metres wide. The vault is located some thirty metres above the ground.
It then goes to the second room that looks much like the previous one with the presence of concretions and basins . This last room is closed on a crack up to two metres above the ground. There is a significant colony of bats. The second room is over 200 meters long and 75 metres wide and has a vault located about forty metres above the ground in places.
The cave Nefza is an extension of the mine Ghanguet Kef at Jebel El Damous which peaked at about 202 metres. The latter is formed by land dating from the Cretaceous, the Eocene, and the Oligocene. At these sites are deposits of zinc and lead.
The cavity, with a total length of 310 metres and a height of 60 metres, contains a tectonic accident: its cross section shows a general shape of a triangle with a straight wall western wall and a shaped Eastern staircase reversed. A gallery of thirty metres, covered in concentric circles and ovals, about eight metres above the ground, leads to a first room that leads to two lanes of forty metres in length, at different levels, leading to a large room in which there are two columns of stalagmites. A narrow conduit leads to a third room containing concretions and eccentrics. At this level, progress is blocked by a narrow conduit.
The region of Joumine has land dating to the Triassic and Cretaceous. The caves in this area are located more precisely in the region Errouaha.
Access to the cave of El Blida is difficult: it is entered through a narrow conduit that leads to a very small room leading into the main room; the passage between these two rooms is made through a slope of approximately 20°.
Access to the cave of Bou Touil is relatively easy: the entrance is from a fairly broad which leads to narrow corridors on the left side. It leads to a large room with good stalactites and stalagmites and columns. A large, steep (about 45 ° to 50 °) corridor in the back is ended by a narrow passage that stops the progression. This cave has been subject to a thorough study, including petrography and mineralogy analysis performed on many samples.
The Ichkeul cave is located in the Jebel Ichkeul, located about twenty kilometres from the city of Bizerte in the National Park Ichkeul covering an area of 12,600 hectares including a lake of 8,500 hectares. Limestone, dolomite, and marble rocks date from Triassic and Jurassic and are located above a collapsed ditch.
The cave itself has a narrow entrance allowing access to a vast room with large cracks along the length of the walls and showing several cavities. The room is followed by a narrow corridor formed by the wall and giant calcitic concretions, which ends with a stack of 32 metres. On the sides of the second room there are draperies, small stalactites and young stalagmites. The cave is well lit and ventilated, and it has a diverse wildlife, including bats, birds and reptiles.
A stalactite is a type of formation that hangs from the ceiling of caves, hot springs, or manmade structures such as bridges and mines. Any material that is soluble, can be deposited as a colloid, or is in suspension, or is capable of being melted, may form a stalactite. Stalactites may be composed of lava, minerals, mud, peat, pitch, sand, sinter, and amberat. A stalactite is not necessarily a speleothem, though speleothems are the most common form of stalactite because of the abundance of limestone caves.
A stalagmite is a type of rock formation that rises from the floor of a cave due to the accumulation of material deposited on the floor from ceiling drippings. Stalagmites may be composed of lava, minerals, mud, peat, pitch, sand, sinter and amberat.
Crystal Cavern(s), also known throughout the years as Alabama Caverns and McClu(n)ney Cave, is a small cavern containing crystal formations located in Clay, Alabama, USA.
A lava tube is a natural conduit formed by flowing lava which moves beneath the hardened surface of a lava flow. Tubes can drain lava from a volcano during an eruption, or can be extinct, meaning the lava flow has ceased, and the rock has cooled and left a long cave.
Cave of the Mounds, a natural limestone cave located near Blue Mounds, Wisconsin, United States, is named for two nearby hills called the Blue Mounds. It is located in the southern slope of the east hill. The cave's beauty comes from its many varieties of mineral formations called speleothems. The Chicago Academy of Sciences considers the Cave of the Mounds to be "the significant cave of the upper Midwest" because of its beauty, and it is promoted as the "jewel box" of major American caves. In 1987, the United States Department of the Interior and the National Park Service designated the cave as a National Natural Landmark.
Ohio Caverns is a show cave located 30 miles (48 km) from Dayton, Ohio near West Liberty, in Salem Township, Champaign County, Ohio in the United States. A popular tourist destination and member of the National Caving Association, it is the largest of all the cave systems in Ohio and contains many crystal formations. Approximately 90% of its stalactite and stalagmite formations are still active. The cavern system was originally an aquifer, holding an underground river of melted glacier water. This river eventually receded to lower levels of the ground and is now unseen.
Ballıca Cave, is a small cave situated at 6 km (3.7 mi) southeast of Pazar, Tokat Province, Turkey. The cave is 600 m (2,000 ft) southeast of the village Ballıca.
Carlsbad Caverns National Park is an American national park in the Guadalupe Mountains of southeastern New Mexico. The primary attraction of the park is the show cave, Carlsbad Cavern. Visitors to the cave can hike in on their own via the natural entrance or take an elevator from the visitor center.
Crystal Grottoes is the only show cave in the U.S. state of Maryland. It is located on Maryland Route 34 between Boonsboro and Antietam National Battlefield.
The Castellana Caves are a karst cave system located in the municipality of Castellana Grotte, in the Metropolitan City of Bari, Apulia, southern Italy.
El Soplao is a cave located in the municipalities of Rionansa, Valdáliga and Herrerías in Cantabria, Spain. It is considered unique for the quality and quantity of geological formations (speleothems) in its 17 miles length, 6 of which are open to the public. In it are formations such as helíctites and curtains. Its formation dates back to the Mesozoic, in particular the Cretaceous period 240 million years ago. The entrance is at 540 metres in the Sierra Soplao Arnero.
Chil-Ustun Cave is located in the Southwest of Kyrgyzstan in the Osh Mountains, 3.5 km from Aravan.
The Villars Cave, in French Grotte de Villars or Grotte du Cluzeau, was occupied during the Lower Magdalenian by Cro-Magnon hunter-gatherers. The cave is part of the French commune of Villars in the northern Dordogne département. Besides its enormous wealth in beautiful stalactites, stalagmites and similar calcite deposits it contains cave paintings and some engravings. The Villars Cave and the Rouffignac Cave are the biggest known cave systems in the Dordogne.
The Unicorn Cave in Austria is situated in the Hohe Wand Nature Park near Dreistetten in Lower Austria and may be reached on signposted hiking trails in ca. 20 minutes from Dreistetten aus. The cave was discovered in 1927 by Otto Langer senior and opened as a show cave in 1930. In 1964 the structures built by Otto Langer junior were modernised. Guided tours that take about 20 minutes are laid on from Easter to the end of September on Sundays and public holidays.
The Grotte de Rosée is located near Éhein in the municipality of Engis, in Belgium. It has been classified as Wallonia's patrimoine immobilier exceptionnel de la Région wallonne, and can be visited only by accredited scientists.
Mahendra Cave is a cave located in Pokhara-16,batulechaur, Kaski district, close to the Kali khola, is the large limestone cave. It is a rare example of a cave system in Nepal containing stalagmites and stalactites. The cave attracts thousands of tourists every year. A statue of Hindu lord Shiva can be found inside the cave.
The Gruta do Carvão is an ancient lava tube located on the outskirts of the municipality of Ponta Delgada on the island of São Miguel in the Portuguese archipelago of the Azores.
Calthemite is a secondary deposit, derived from concrete, lime, mortar or other calcareous material outside the cave environment. Calthemites grow on or under, man-made structures and mimic the shapes and forms of cave speleothems, such as stalactites, stalagmites, flowstone etc. Calthemite is derived from the Latin calx "lime" + Latin < Greek théma, "deposit" meaning ‘something laid down’, and the Latin –ita < Greek -itēs – used as a suffix indicating a mineral or rock. The term "speleothem", due to its definition can only be used to describe secondary deposits in caves and does not include secondary deposits outside the cave environment.
Grotta Regina del Carso is a Karst cave in the village of San Michele del Carso in the municipality of Savogna d'Isonzo. The cave is not open to public, and the access is managed by Talpe del Carso/Kraški Krti speleological group, headquartered in the vicinity of the entrance.
Solkota Cave Natural Monument is a karst cave 2.3 km to the north of village Kumistavi, known for nearby Prometheus Cave Natural Monument, in Tskaltubo Municipality in Imereti region of Georgia. Cave is located on the left bank of river Semi, 379 meters above sea level.