Cave of Kruber-Voronya in Abkhazia

Our planet contains many mysterious and interesting places. Some of them have mastered humanity in full, and some even after much research still need additional study. Some of the deepest in the world cave Krubera-Voronya, located in Abkhazia, is also considered a mystery. For many years scientists of the whole planet have been trying to unravel its secular secrets.

History of the name of the cave

The cave of Krubera-Voronya in Abkhazia is located in the massif of the Arabica Mountains. It consists of numerous wells, connecting with each other through galleries and crossings. 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. For the first time it was studied by speleologists from Georgia (1960) and initially received a name in honor of the scientist Alexander Kruber. At that time its depth was mastered only to ninety-five meters.

The second study was destined to take place only in 1968, thanks 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 took up in the eighties the Kiev speleologists. They gave her another name - Crow. In this case, scientists worked at a depth of three hundred forty meters.

Records of speleologists

Because of the military operations that swept the territory of Abkhazia, the cave of Krubera-Voronya became completely inaccessible to speleologists. On the world map, it remained a mysterious place for a while.

However, already in the late 90s speleologists from Kiev began to study the study, and the group subsequently reached the depth of one thousand four hundred and ten meters. And January 2001 was marked by a new mark - 1710 m, which became a world record result of scientists who are members of the Ukrainian speleological association.

Further breakthrough marked the efforts of the team Cavex, 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 level of 1775 meters, and the members of the Ukrainian Speleological Association - up to 1840 meters. And already in October of 2004 the history of world speleology was replenished for the first time by a two-kilometer turn.

Until recently, the record for the depth of 2,191 meters was recorded by the researcher G. Samokhin (August 2007). It is also necessary to note the high results achieved by women. So, Lithuanian S. Pankene reached the depth of two thousand meters one hundred and forty centimeters.

About the entrance to the cave

The entrance, which has the cave Krubera-Voronia, is at an altitude of 2,250 meters above sea level. But there are two more accesses. These are entrances to such caves as Henrykhova Abyss and Kuibyshev. They are further on the slope of the mountain. A hundred meters lower than the entrance to the Crow, 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 a lot of large caves in the mountain system of Arabica scholars had long been assumed. Even in the early twentieth century, the leading carstologist Martel from France, conducting research in these places, concluded that there are huge underground cavities in the mountains.

However, access to the deepest cave was discovered only in the 60's. But because of the rather narrow passage to the Georgian speleologists (even after the discovery of the well), we had to retreat from the desired works. And only in 2002, the pioneers of the deepest cave of the world were recognized members of the Russian-Ukrainian team.

Overcoming record results

More recently, in 2012, scientists of the Hebrew University conducted another study of the world-famous cave. Preparation for this event, the team members 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 once existing climate on Earth. However, in addition, one of the stunning 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.

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

In addition, another record result was beaten. The Israeli scientist L. Feigin was in the cave for twenty-four days, which became the longest period spent underground.

Shooting a cave

Of course, not only for the speleologists, but also for many photographers, there is a huge interest in the cave of Kruber-Voronya. Photos taken at great depths are something unusual and incredible. The well-known photographer S. Alvarez made a considerable number of remarkable pictures devoted to the works of speleologists. Prior to that, he worked on photographs of religious, cultural and research topics, working with publications such as Time, National Geographic Magazine, Travel Holiday, Adventure, Delta Sky. But for some time now his shooting has been a serious hobby for caves.

New species of beetles

Not only for cave explorers opens new opportunities for the cave Krubera-Voronya. The excursion in the framework of research works, organized by Spanish biologists, did not make long to expect new results. They discovered a yet unknown type of beetles. They are among the deepest underground insects, feeding on decomposing organics and fungi. Representatives of the Duvalius species also have eyes that are used in pitch darkness closer to the surface of the earth. Biologists believe that in this karst cave you can find many more different species of beetles that live in a restricted area, such as a cave or an island.

Conquerors of the Caves

The Russian-Ukrainian group of cavers Cavex has made a lot of efforts to discover new secrets of the deepest cave of the world. After all, it was the bravest of this team that managed to descend the entire length of the underground well for a depth of 1710 meters.

At the same time, the cave Krubera-Voronya was subjected to a phased research. Cavex quite often stumbled upon dead-end galleries or minor windows in the walls of the 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 opened cave space ended in a sparkling hall with a lake called "The Hall of Soviet Speleologists". Thus, it was stressed that this achievement was made possible through the work of several generations of scientists.

Causes of long research

In 2001, the cave Krubera-Voronia officially received the title of the deepest on the planet, bypassing previous record holders - the Austrian cave Lamprechtsofen and the French Pierre Saint Martin, as well as Jean Bernard.

To understand its true depth, it is necessary to present at least seven Eiffel towers facing each other. Why, how many speleologists could not so long establish the true size of the cave? The most important reason has always been the lack of technical means. In addition, the intractable and too narrow passages were a mortal challenge to many researchers.

And yet the mysterious cave still attracts scientists with its incredible underground waterfalls, tunnels and wells, forcing to do more and more new discoveries.