The deepest cave in the world
Summer and autumn were successful for researchers of the Krubera-Voronya cave, located in the region of Mount Arabica (Abkhazia). In January 2001, this cavity became the deepest in the world (1710 m). It takes about 5 days to visit the deepest known point of this cave, even light and on already hung ropes, and a research expedition usually lasts at least a month.
After the long-term efforts of many expeditions, the permanent leader of which was Yuri Kasyan, the cavers of the Ukrainian Speleological Association (UCA) were the first in the world to go down in a natural cave deeper than 2 km. The goal of the UkrSA Call of the Abyss project has been achieved. However, the exploration of the cave did not stop there.
In the summer of 2005, a team of cavers from England, Australia, the USA, Greece, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Italy, Ukraine, Russia and Abkhazia managed to reach a depth of 2140 m when the team explored a branch of the cave, previously discovered by Ukrainian cavers at around 1966 m, but not passed. The expedition totaled 68 participants, it was organized by the Keyvex team led by Muscovite Denis Provalov.
Three previous expeditions of this team were overshadowed by serious incidents and injuries, but in September of this year, “Keyvex” smiled good fortune in the competition with speleologists of the UCA to reach the bottom of the Krubera-Voronya cave. Firstly, this time no one was hurt, and secondly, they managed to go down to a record depth so far.
During the expedition, comprehensive studies were carried out to determine the exact depth of the cave: topographic survey of the main course, hydro-leveling (particularly accurate measurements of the depth of the cave based on the difference in pressure of the water column at different levels), multiple baron-leveling (similar to the previous method, based on measuring the difference in atmospheric pressure) .
Also, wells leading to the main course of the cave were climbed up: in the Crimea meander area (220 m depth) to a height of 80 m, a traverse with a 30 m rise in the Game Over well (2070 m) was also completed. Yuri Kasyan did not want to rest on his laurels and organized the next expedition in the fall to the deeper cave.
Muscovites took part in it at the invitation of the UCA (as part of its cooperation with the Commission of speleology and karstology of the Moscow center of the Russian Geographical Society): cavers from the Perovopeleo team and a group led by Tatyana Nemchenko, which in the early 1980s, together with Daniel Usikov, reached the bottom of the legendary Snezhnaya cave? Mezhennogo - a complex, not completed and still blockage, blocking the further path deep into the Earth.
The results of the USA expedition turned out to be “more modest": it was not possible to go deeper than the Keyvex team, possibly due to heavy rains and, as a result, obstruction of siphons in the vicinity of the famous bottom of the cave. The leading USA diver Gennady Samokhin could not even get closer to the new siphons passed by the Kaveks. Nevertheless, this expedition cannot be called unsuccessful, but rather the opposite.
Here is what Yuri Kasyan writes: “Six people worked in the Nekuybyshev branch of the cave, the leader Kirill Markovskaya (Kharkov). During the work in the blockage (640 m), 12 m were walked vertically and about 15 cubic meters of stones, gravel, clay, etc. were extracted from the bottom. On the last day of work, the guys came close to the mouth of the next well. The stones thrown into it flew to a depth of 30-40 m. It remained to disassemble the remains of the blockage and clean the mouth of the well.
According to the guys, there is a maximum of half work left. As often happens, one more day was not enough. We plan to continue in August 2006. " So, another branch of the deepest cave on the planet “went” down. And why not just this branch to become deeper than the previous ones? And suddenly, if you look at the plan of the cave, you can assume that we are talking about its parallel trunk, which may not have a connection with the already completed sections of the Krubera-Voronya.
Muscovites also did a great job. The cavers of the Perovo? Speleo team completed a study of the ascending branch in the Lamprechtsofen tributary. The inflow flows into the main channel at a depth of 570 m. Partially, it was passed by expeditions of the UkrSA and Keyvex. For four work shifts, the Perovites climbed it approximately 100 new meters vertically. When climbing, we used a puncher and climbing methods using ITO (artificial fulcrum), part of the route was covered by free climbing.
Ascent was carried out along the mainstream. The branch ended in narrowness, beyond which a blockage of large blocks was clearly visible. Another survey was made of the new site (P. Lyubimov, E. Kuzmin and P. Demidov participated in its first ascent). Despite great efforts, another promising direction of the cave was further impassable. Well, when exploring caves, this is also an important result.
“Closing” promising areas significantly saves the time and effort of the next research expeditions. Tatyana Nemchenko with her group (A. Degtyarev, V. Solomentsev) carried out hydro-leveling to a depth of 1215 m in order to independently confirm the true depth of the cave.
Measurement results are now being processed. The general results of the summer-autumn season of exploration of the Krubera-Voronya cave suggest that large geographic discoveries are still awaiting us in this deepest cave of the Earth (the passage of its new sections previously inaccessible to humans). Paradoxically, 100 meters in height and about 10 km in distance remained from the bottom of the cave to the sea.
Perhaps the bottom of the cave will be a practically horizontal channel with an underground river. So far no one can say where and how the water flows from the cave. Or maybe Krubera? Raven will be below sea level, like the famous Vaucluse cave in France. Then its depth will be able to reach astounding magnitude. So far, one thing is clear: it's too early to put a point in her research!
After the long-term efforts of many expeditions, the permanent leader of which was Yuri Kasyan, the cavers of the Ukrainian Speleological Association (UCA) were the first in the world to go down in a natural cave deeper than 2 km. The goal of the UkrSA Call of the Abyss project has been achieved. However, the exploration of the cave did not stop there.
In the summer of 2005, a team of cavers from England, Australia, the USA, Greece, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Italy, Ukraine, Russia and Abkhazia managed to reach a depth of 2140 m when the team explored a branch of the cave, previously discovered by Ukrainian cavers at around 1966 m, but not passed. The expedition totaled 68 participants, it was organized by the Keyvex team led by Muscovite Denis Provalov.
Three previous expeditions of this team were overshadowed by serious incidents and injuries, but in September of this year, “Keyvex” smiled good fortune in the competition with speleologists of the UCA to reach the bottom of the Krubera-Voronya cave. Firstly, this time no one was hurt, and secondly, they managed to go down to a record depth so far.
During the expedition, comprehensive studies were carried out to determine the exact depth of the cave: topographic survey of the main course, hydro-leveling (particularly accurate measurements of the depth of the cave based on the difference in pressure of the water column at different levels), multiple baron-leveling (similar to the previous method, based on measuring the difference in atmospheric pressure) .
Also, wells leading to the main course of the cave were climbed up: in the Crimea meander area (220 m depth) to a height of 80 m, a traverse with a 30 m rise in the Game Over well (2070 m) was also completed. Yuri Kasyan did not want to rest on his laurels and organized the next expedition in the fall to the deeper cave.
Muscovites took part in it at the invitation of the UCA (as part of its cooperation with the Commission of speleology and karstology of the Moscow center of the Russian Geographical Society): cavers from the Perovopeleo team and a group led by Tatyana Nemchenko, which in the early 1980s, together with Daniel Usikov, reached the bottom of the legendary Snezhnaya cave? Mezhennogo - a complex, not completed and still blockage, blocking the further path deep into the Earth.
The results of the USA expedition turned out to be “more modest": it was not possible to go deeper than the Keyvex team, possibly due to heavy rains and, as a result, obstruction of siphons in the vicinity of the famous bottom of the cave. The leading USA diver Gennady Samokhin could not even get closer to the new siphons passed by the Kaveks. Nevertheless, this expedition cannot be called unsuccessful, but rather the opposite.
Here is what Yuri Kasyan writes: “Six people worked in the Nekuybyshev branch of the cave, the leader Kirill Markovskaya (Kharkov). During the work in the blockage (640 m), 12 m were walked vertically and about 15 cubic meters of stones, gravel, clay, etc. were extracted from the bottom. On the last day of work, the guys came close to the mouth of the next well. The stones thrown into it flew to a depth of 30-40 m. It remained to disassemble the remains of the blockage and clean the mouth of the well.
According to the guys, there is a maximum of half work left. As often happens, one more day was not enough. We plan to continue in August 2006. " So, another branch of the deepest cave on the planet “went” down. And why not just this branch to become deeper than the previous ones? And suddenly, if you look at the plan of the cave, you can assume that we are talking about its parallel trunk, which may not have a connection with the already completed sections of the Krubera-Voronya.
Muscovites also did a great job. The cavers of the Perovo? Speleo team completed a study of the ascending branch in the Lamprechtsofen tributary. The inflow flows into the main channel at a depth of 570 m. Partially, it was passed by expeditions of the UkrSA and Keyvex. For four work shifts, the Perovites climbed it approximately 100 new meters vertically. When climbing, we used a puncher and climbing methods using ITO (artificial fulcrum), part of the route was covered by free climbing.
Ascent was carried out along the mainstream. The branch ended in narrowness, beyond which a blockage of large blocks was clearly visible. Another survey was made of the new site (P. Lyubimov, E. Kuzmin and P. Demidov participated in its first ascent). Despite great efforts, another promising direction of the cave was further impassable. Well, when exploring caves, this is also an important result.
“Closing” promising areas significantly saves the time and effort of the next research expeditions. Tatyana Nemchenko with her group (A. Degtyarev, V. Solomentsev) carried out hydro-leveling to a depth of 1215 m in order to independently confirm the true depth of the cave.
Measurement results are now being processed. The general results of the summer-autumn season of exploration of the Krubera-Voronya cave suggest that large geographic discoveries are still awaiting us in this deepest cave of the Earth (the passage of its new sections previously inaccessible to humans). Paradoxically, 100 meters in height and about 10 km in distance remained from the bottom of the cave to the sea.
Perhaps the bottom of the cave will be a practically horizontal channel with an underground river. So far no one can say where and how the water flows from the cave. Or maybe Krubera? Raven will be below sea level, like the famous Vaucluse cave in France. Then its depth will be able to reach astounding magnitude. So far, one thing is clear: it's too early to put a point in her research!
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