Our planet is fraught with many mysterious and interesting places. Some of them have fully mastered mankind, and some even after much research still need additional study. Krubera-Voronya cave, located in Abkhazia, is also considered a mystery. For many years now, scientists all over the planet have been trying to unravel its secular secrets.
History of the name of the cave
Krubera-Voronya cave in Abkhazia is located in the massif of the Arabica mountains. It consists of numerous wells, interconnected by galleries and climbs. The waters of the cave give life to the shortest river on the planet, Reprois, which flows into the Black Sea. Its length is not more than eighteen meters.
The cave reaches a depth of about 2200 meters. It was first studied by cavers 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 cavers 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 undertaken in the eighties by Kiev cavers. 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 hostilities that swept the territory of Abkhazia, the Krubera-Voronya cave became completely inaccessible for cavers. On the map of world studies for some time it remained a mysterious place.
However, already in the late 90s, cavers from Kiev 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 was the world record result of scientists from the Ukrainian Speleological Association.
Further, the 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 first replenished by overcoming the two-kilometer milestone.
Until recently, the record in depth at 2191 meters was set by researcher G. Samokhin (August 2007). It is also worth noting the high results achieved by women. So, 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 caves such as Genrikhova Abyss and Kuibyshev. They are further down the side of the mountain. 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 in depth.
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, made conclusions about the presence in the mountains of huge underground voids.
However, access to the deepest cave was discovered only in the 60s. But due to a rather narrow passage, Georgian cavers (even after the discovery of the well) had to deviate from the desired work. And only in 2002, the discoverers of the deepest caves of the world were recognized as members of the Russian-Ukrainian team.
Overcoming record results
More 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, besides this, one of the amazing results of their work was the discovery of unexplored species of fish living in clear water at a depth of more than two thousand meters.
Krubera-Voronya Cave attracts many scientists. The study of its depths has repeatedly become a kind of subject of competition in achieving new results. So, this time a Ukrainian researcher, who is part of the expedition, reached a record depth of 2 meters 196 centimeters below the surface of the Earth. To get into extreme sections 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.
In addition, another record result was beaten. The Israeli scientist L. Feigin was in the cave for twenty-four days, which was the longest period spent underground.
Cave photography
Of course, not only for cavers, 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 devoted to the works of cavers. Prior to that, he worked on photographs of religious, cultural and research subjects, collaborating with publications such as Time, National Geographic Magazine, Travel Holiday, Adventure, Delta Sky. But for some time now, shooting his caves became his serious hobby.
A new kind of beetles
The cave of Krubera-Voronya opens up new possibilities not only for cavers. An excursion in the framework of research work, organized by Spanish biologists, did not make us expect long new results. They discovered an unexplored species of ground beetles. They are among the most deep-dwelling underground insects that feed on decaying organics and fungi. Representatives of the Duvalius species have eyes that are used in pitch darkness closer to the surface of the earth. Biologists are sure that in this karst cave you can find many more different species of beetles that live in a limited area, such as a cave or island.
Conquerors of caves
The Russian-Ukrainian group of cavers Cavex has made a lot of efforts to uncover new secrets of the deepest caves in the world. After all, it was the daredevils from this team who first 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 ran into dead-end galleries or small 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 the world record result. The opened cave expanse ended with a sparkling hall with a lake called the “Hall of Soviet Cavers”. Thus, it was emphasized that this achievement was made possible thanks to the work of several generations of scientists.
Reasons for Long Research
In 2001, the Krubera-Voronya cave officially received the title of the deepest on the planet, beating the previous record holders - the Austrian cave of Lamprechtsofen and the French Pierre Saint Martin, as well as Jean Bernard.
To understand its true depth, it is necessary to imagine at least seven Eiffel towers standing on top of each other. Why did so many cavers fail to establish the true size of the cave for so long? The main reason has always been a lack of technical equipment. In addition, insurmountable and too narrow passages threw a deadly challenge to many researchers.
Nevertheless, the mysterious cave still attracts scientists with its incredible underground waterfalls, tunnels and wells, forcing to make more and more discoveries.