Slovenian cavers surpass depth of 1000 metres
Ljubljana, 13 September - Cavers from the Ljubljana Cave Exploration Association surpassed a depth of 1000 metres in a cave under the highland glacial karst area on the Kanin mountains. The newly discovered cave is one of the 100 deepest caves in the world, said Matic Di Batista, president of the association.
Bovec
Cavers from the Ljubljana Cave Exploration Association.
Photo: The Ljubljana Cave Exploration Association
The newly discovered cave in a cave system called the "Abyss of the Sleeping Dinosaur" is also the tenth in Slovenia with a depth of more than 1000 metres.
Cavers started exploring the Abyss in 2007, but abandoned the exploration because they could not find a way forward at a depth of 300 metres.
They said that advanced lighting has now enabled them to go further. In the four expeditions undertaken earlier this year, the cavers have reached a depth of 730 metres.
Their exploration continued last weekend, as they discovered that the cave goes even deeper, eventually leading them to a chamber at a depth of 1040 metres.
"The cave is about two kilometres long. It is also interesting because from a depth of 350 metres onwards, we were accompanied by a rather large amount of water, which disappeared several times and then reappeared at a lower depth."
"During the latest operation, we explored and measured a total of 580 metres of new underground tunnels," the cavers said in their report.