List of caves in Romania

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The Coliboaia Cave Coliboaia cave.jpg
The Coliboaia Cave

A cave or cavern is a natural void in the ground, [1] [2] specifically a space large enough for a human to enter. Caves often form by the weathering of rock and often extend deep underground. The word cave can also refer to much smaller openings such as sea caves, rock shelters, and grottos, though strictly speaking a cave is exogene, meaning it is deeper than its opening is wide, [3] and a rock shelter is endogene. [4]

List of Caves in Romania

NameLocationNotes
Cuciulat Cave near Letca villageCuciulat Cave is located on the Podișul Someșan plateau, near the village Cuciulat in the commune Letca, Sălaj County, Romania. It contains the oldest known cave paintings in Central Europe. [5] The cave has been known to locals long before World War I, after which it was partially destroyed due to limestone quarrying that included the use of explosives. On 28 July 1978, a team of speleologists (A. Done, F. Cucu, T. Vadeanu, M. Codrescu, Simona Manolescu) from the Emil Racoviță Speleologic Club (Romanian : Clubul de Speologie Emil Racoviţă) explored the cave, noticing the existence of cave rock paintings in one of the caverns. [6]
Hodobana Cave Arieșeni Hodobana Cave is a cave or karst located in Romania. The Hodobana cave is described as the third largest in Romania. Hodobana Cave is believed to be more than 22,000 metres deep. [7]
Movile Cave near Mangalia Movile Cave is a cave near Mangalia, Constanța County, Romania discovered in 1986 by Cristian Lascu a few kilometers from the Black Sea coast. [8] It is notable for its unique groundwater ecosystem abundant in hydrogen sulfide and carbon dioxide, but low in oxygen. Life in the cave has been separated from the outside for the past 5.5 million years and it is based completely on chemosynthesis rather than photosynthesis. [8]
Coliboaia Cave Apuseni Natural Park Coliboaia Cave is located in Apuseni Natural Park, Câmpani, Bihor County, Romania. It contains the oldest known cave paintings of Central Europe, [9] radiocarbon dated to 32,000 and 35,000 years BP, [10] [11] corresponding to the Aurignacian and Gravettian cultures of the Paleolithic period. [12]
Peștera cu Oase near Anina cityPeștera cu Oase is a system of 12 karstic galleries and chambers located near the city Anina, in the Caraș-Severin county, southwestern Romania, where some of the oldest European early modern human (EEMH) remains, between 37,000 and 42,000 years old, have been found. [13] [14]
Peștera Muierilor Baia de Fier commune Peștera Muierilor or Peștera Muierii is an elaborate cave system located in the Baia de Fier commune, Gorj County, Romania. It contains abundant cave bear remains, as well as a human skull. The skull is radiocarbon dated to 30,150 ± 800, indication an absolute age between 40,000 and 30,000 BP. [15] It was uncovered in 1952. Alongside similar remains found in Cioclovina Cave (from ca. 29,000 BP), they are among the most ancient early modern humans in Romanian prehistory.
Bears' Cave Chișcău Bears' Cave is located in the western Apuseni Mountains, on the outskirts of Chișcău village, Bihor County, northwestern Romania. It was discovered in 1975 by Speodava, an amateur spelaeologist group. Bears' Cave received its name after the 140 cave bear skeletons which were discovered on the site in 1983. [16] The cave bear, also known as Ursus spelaeus, is a species of bear which became extinct during the Last Glacial Maximum, about 27,500 years ago. The cave has three galleries and four halls: The Candles Hall, Emil Racovita Hall, The Spaghetti Hall and The Bones Hall. [17]
Peștera Vântului Bihor County Peștera Vântului (Wind Cave) is the largest cave in Romania, with a length of almost 52 km (total length of passages). It is situated in the Pădurea Craiului Mountains on the left bank of Crișul Repede River in the vicinity of Șuncuiuș village, Bihor County. This cave is closed and only accessible to cavers, but there are works going on to develop it as a show cave. The cave is called Peștera Vântului (Romanian for "Wind Cave") because of the powerful draft that can be sensed at the entrance and in the far corners of the cave. The wind is bi-directional, being controlled seasonally. The average temperature in the cave is 11.8˚C.
Scărișoara Cave Gârda de Sus Scărișoara Cave is one of the biggest ice caves in the Apuseni Mountains of Romania, in a part of Carpathian chain. [18] It is considered a show cave and one of the natural wonders of Romania. It has also been described as a glacier cave. [19]
Tăușoare-Zalion Reserve Bistrita-Nasaud County The Tausoare-Zalion Reserve is a cave system located in the deeply forested areas of the Rodna Mountains, Bistrita-Nasaud County, in Romania.
Topolnița Cave Mehedinți County Topolnița Cave is a karst cave located in Mehedinți County, Romania. [20] It is the fourth-longest cave in Romania: only Peștera Vântului, Humpleu-Poienița Cave, and Hodobana Cave are longer. [21] [22] Most speleological sources estimate its length at 20.5 km (12.7 mi), [23] [24] [25] although a length of 22 km (14 mi) has also been reported. [26] Some Romanian news sources report a more conservative 11,000 metres (36,000 ft). [27] [28] It is considered a natural monument of Romania. [29]

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Optymistychna Cave

Optymistychna is a gypsum cave located near the Ukrainian village of Korolivka, Borshchiv Raion, Ternopil Oblast. Approximately 230 km (140 mi) of passageways have been mapped within. As a result, it is the longest cave in Eurasia and the fifth-longest cave in the world, after Mammoth Cave, Sistema Sac Actun, Jewel Cave and Sistema Ox Bel Ha. It is also the longest gypsum cave in the world.

Slovak Paradise

Slovak Paradise is a mountain range in eastern Slovakia. It is a part of the Spiš-Gemer Karst, which in turn is a part of the Slovak Ore Mountains, a major subdivision of the Western Carpathians. It is located between the towns of Spišská Nová Ves in the north and Dobšiná in the south. It is particularly known for its gorges and waterfalls. It is very popular with hikers as it has a number of unusual routes through gorges and waterfalls. There are numerous sections where fixed ladders are used to climb. The area is protected by Slovak Paradise National Park.

Ledenika

Ledenika is a cave in the Northwestern parts of the Balkan Mountains, 16 km away from the Bulgarian city of Vratsa. Its entrance is approximately 830 m above sea level. The cave features an abundance of galleries and impressive karst formations including stalactites and stalagmites. It was first discovered around the beginning of the 20th century and has been open to tourists since 1961. Ledenika Peak on Graham Land in Antarctica is named after the cave, in recognition of its cultural importance.

Scărișoara Cave

Scărișoara Cave, is one of the biggest ice caves in the Apuseni Mountains of Romania, in a part of Carpathian chain. It is considered a show cave and one of the natural wonders of Romania. It has also been described as a glacier cave.

Hölloch

The Hölloch is a 200.4 km (124.5 mi) long cave in the municipality Muotathal in Switzerland. In addition to being the second longest cave in Europe, it is also notable for having a depth of 938.6 m (3,079 ft). The Hölloch is an example of a karst cave system.

Rak Škocjan

Rak Škocjan is a valley and a landscape park, part of Inner Carniola Regional Park in southwestern Slovenia. Administratively, it belongs to the settlement of Rakov Škocjan. Rak Škocjan has been protected since 1949 and is the oldest landscape park in Slovenia.

The Topolnița is a left tributary of the river Danube in Romania. In the central Mehedinți Plateau it descends into Topolnița Cave, eventually emerging at the foot of a hill downstream. It discharges into the Danube in Drobeta-Turnu Severin. Its length is 44 km (27 mi) and its basin size is 360 km2 (140 sq mi).

Porow Cave is a limestone cave in the Zagros Mountains, north of Kermanshah in Western Iran. At 751 m deep, it is the deepest cave in Iran. Joujar Cave has been reported as the second deepest, at 568 m deep.

Kef Toghobeit is a karst cave near the settlement of Bab Taza in Chefchaouen Province, Tanger-Tetouan-Al Hoceima, in northern Morocco. Currently known to be 4,078 m (13,379 ft) long and 722 m (2,369 ft) deep, it is the deepest cave in Morocco, and the third deepest cave in Africa. Although Kef Toghobeit has been well-explored, its full extent is not yet known. Only 1000 caves are known in Morocco, many of them barely mapped, although the geology would suggest that many more do exist.

Coliboaia Cave Cave and archaeological site in Romania

Coliboaia Cave is located in Apuseni Natural Park, Câmpani, Bihor County, Romania. It contains the oldest known cave paintings of Central Europe, radiocarbon dated to 32,000 and 35,000 years BP, corresponding to the Aurignacian and Gravettian cultures of the Paleolithic period.

Cascades de Karfiguéla

The Cascades de Karfiguéla or the Banfora Cascades are a series of waterfalls along the Komoé River in Southwestern Burkina Faso. They are located about 12 km northwest of Banfora and constitute one of the most important tourism sites in Burkina Faso. The Cascades Region gets its name from the waterfalls. The flow of the falls peaks during the rainy season from June to September.

Cuciulat Cave Cave and archaeological site in Romania

Cuciulat Cave is located on the Podișul Someșan plateau, near the village Cuciulat in the commune Letca, Sălaj County, Romania. It contains the oldest known cave paintings in Central Europe.

Anou Boussouil is a limestone karst cave located in the mountains of Djurdjura, Algeria. The cave is 3,200 metres (10,500 ft) long and 805 metres (2,641 ft) deep. The entrance to the cave is 1,074 metres (3,524 ft) up the mountainside. During the springtime rainy season, melting snow pours through a channel leading directly to the cave mouth, continuing the process of erosion. This distinguishes it from other caves in the Djurdjura range, which are inactive and no longer being enlarged through erosion.

Ain ez Zarqa is a natural artesian karst spring located south of Hermel in the Beqaa Governorate, Lebanon. Producing an average of 3,435 gallons per second, it is the main source of the Orontes River. Because of its heavy flow, it is characterized as a first-magnitude spring. It sits beneath the caves at Deir Mar Maroun, an ancient monastery carved into the cliffs that surround the spring. Melting snow from these nearby heights supplements the spring's large groundwater reservoir, in the Jurassic and Cretaceous strata. It is estimated that the spring's phreatic zone reservoir contains as much as 10 billion cubic metres of storage. As a result, its flow has been less affected by overpumping and drought than other springs in the Orontes river basin.

Topolnița Cave

Topolnița Cave is a karst cave located in Mehedinți County, Romania. It is the fourth-longest cave in Romania: only Peștera Vântului, Humpleu-Poienița Cave, and Hodobana Cave are longer. Most speleological sources estimate its length at 20.5 km (12.7 mi), although a length of 22 km (14 mi) has also been reported. Some Romanian news sources report a more conservative 11,000 metres (36,000 ft). It is considered a natural monument of Romania.

References

  1. ↑ Whitney, W. D. (1889). "Cave, n.1." def. 1. The Century dictionary: An encyclopedic lexicon of the English language (Vol. 1, p. 871). New York: The Century Co.
  2. ↑ "Cave" Oxford English Dictionary Second Edition on CD-ROM (v. 4.0) © Oxford University Press 2009
  3. ↑ Moratto, Michael J. (2014). California Archaeology. Academic Press. p. 304. ISBN   9781483277356.
  4. ↑ Lowe, J. John; Walker, Michael J. C. (2014). Reconstructing Quaternary Environments. Routledge. pp. 141–42. ISBN   9781317753711.
  5. ↑ "Romanian Cave May Boast Central Europe's Oldest Cave Art". Sciencemag.org. Retrieved February 22, 2017.
  6. ↑ "Malarstwo jaskiniowe — poza obszarem Hiszpanii i Francji. Jaskinia Cuciulat (Rumunia)". archeofil.pl (in Polish). Retrieved 17 November 2015.
  7. ↑ Encyclopedia of Caves and Karst Science, John Gunn, 2004, p.680.
  8. 1 2 Fox-Skelly, Jasmin (4 September 2015). "The bizarre beasts living in Romania's poison cave". BBC Earth.
  9. ↑ "An Exceptional Archaeological Discovery-The Art Gallery in Coliboaia Cave Apuseni Mountains Romania". Academia. Retrieved 17 March 2015.
  10. ↑ "Central Europe's oldest cave paintings discovered at Coliboaia Cave". Archived from the original on 2014-02-08. Retrieved 2014-02-09.
  11. ↑ "Drawing Paleolithic Romania".
  12. ↑ "Romanian Cave May Boast Central Europe's Oldest Cave Art".
  13. ↑ Fu Q. et al., "An early modern human from Romania with a recent Neanderthal ancestor", Nature 524, 216–219 (13 August 2015), doi:10.1038/nature14558.
  14. ↑ Wilford, John Noble (2 Nov 2011). "Fossil Teeth Put Humans in Europe Earlier Than Thought". New York Times. Retrieved 2012-04-19.
  15. ↑ Higham, T; Ramsey, Cb; Karavanić, I; Smith, Fh; Trinkaus, E (January 2006). "Revised direct radiocarbon dating of the Vindija G1 Upper Paleolithic Neandertals". Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 103 (3): 553–7. Bibcode:2006PNAS..103..553H. doi:10.1073/pnas.0510005103. PMC   1334669 . PMID   16407102.
  16. ↑ Cave Bears. Jan Kowalski. psu.edu
  17. ↑ Travel to Romania - Bears' cave
  18. ↑ Scheffel, Richard L.; Wernet, Susan J., eds. (1980). Natural Wonders of the World. United States of America: Reader's Digest Association, Inc. p. 339. ISBN   0-89577-087-3.
  19. ↑ Scarisoara Ice Cave – the biggest underground glacier in Romania, Travel Guide Romania website, December 24, 2014, retrieved 17 January 2016.
  20. ↑ Scheffel, Richard L.; Wernet, Susan J., eds. (1980). Natural Wonders of the World. United States of America: Reader's Digest Association, Inc. p. 386. ISBN   0-89577-087-3.
  21. ↑ "All you have to know about caving in Romania". Travel Guide Romania. 2013-05-29. Retrieved 2017-10-10.
  22. ↑ "Statistici interesante despre peşterile din România. | Speologie.org". www.speologie.org (in Romanian). Retrieved 2017-10-10.
  23. ↑ "Peştera Topolniţa | Speologie.org". www.speologie.org (in Romanian). Retrieved 2017-10-10.
  24. ↑ Courbon, Paul (1989). Atlas of the Great Caves of the World. Cave Books. ISBN   9780939748211.
  25. ↑ Gunn, John (2004). Encyclopedia of Caves and Karst Science. Taylor & Francis. ISBN   9781579583996.
  26. ↑ Goran, Cristian; Povară, Ioan (2019), Ponta, Gheorghe M. L.; Onac, Bogdan P. (eds.), "Mehedinti Plateau: Epuran-Topolnita Karst System", Cave and Karst Systems of Romania, Cave and Karst Systems of the World, Springer International Publishing, pp. 183–201, doi:10.1007/978-3-319-90747-5_23, ISBN   9783319907475
  27. ↑ "O minune puţin cunoscută – Peştera Topolniţa a doua ca lungime din România". adevarul.ro (in Romanian). 2013-06-07. Retrieved 2017-10-09.
  28. ↑ "REPORTAJ MEHEDINȚI : Peștera Topolnița – sărbătoarea lumii din adâncurile pământului – AGERPRES" (in Romanian). Retrieved 2017-10-09.
  29. ↑ Rennon, Rosemary (2007). Language and Travel Guide to Romania. Hippocrene Books. p. 371. ISBN   9780781811507.
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