The largest cave in the world. The most amazing caves in the world

On December 27, 1966, the Cave of the Swallows in Mexico, the largest well cave in the world, was discovered. In terms of depth, the Swallow Cave ranks 2nd in Mexico and 11th on Earth. We decided to talk about the ten most unusual caves in the world.

Cave of karst origin, located in Mexico, in the state of San Lui Potosi. It looks smaller than it really is. The shape of the cave resembles a bottle: the entrance to the cave is 55 meters, and in depth it expands to 130-160 meters. The depth reaches 376 meters, which is commensurate with the height of the Empire State Building (381 meters without a spire). The famous New York skyscraper Chrysler Building, whose height reaches 319 meters, could easily be placed in the cave. Black swifts live in the cave, but the name is derived from the Spanish word Golondrinas (“swallow”).

In the morning, flocks of birds fly in a spiral, gaining height until they reach the exit of the cave. In order not to disturb the calm life of swifts, descents into the cave are allowed only at certain times: from 12:00 to 16:00. In addition, a collision with a flock of birds during a free flight is very dangerous: the cave, which has become a Mecca for fans of extreme sports, is a serious test even for very experienced and physically prepared base jumpers. The descent into the cave takes about 20 minutes with climbing equipment and about 10 seconds with a long parachute jump, while the parachute can only be opened at a strictly defined time: at 6-7 seconds of falling. Climbing up takes about two hours and requires good climbing and physical fitness.

carlsbad cave

The 250-million-year-old Carlsbad Cave is part of a chain of 80 karst caves in the Guadalupe Mountains in southeastern New Mexico, USA. The depth of the cave is 339 meters, the total length of all passages and halls is about 12 kilometers.

The largest hall has the shape of the letter T with dimensions in two directions of 610 and 335 meters, a height of up to 87 meters and an area of ​​5.7 hectares. The cave is a system of huge halls and galleries and is famous for the special beauty and grace of mineral formations. Carlsbad Cave was formed during the deposition of thick layers of limestone in the rock. Small cracks formed in this limestone, into which water seeped through, dissolving softer minerals and forming caves and tunnels.

In all the caves of the Carlsbad chain, stalactites formed fantastic figures: Bashful Elephant (Shameful Elephant) looks like an elephant turned back to the passage, Rock of Edges (Century Rock) is a lone giant stalagmite. The caves have become a haven for a colony of bats: at dusk, the entrance to the caves turns black due to the nocturnal inhabitants flying away to hunt.

crystal cave

It is located in the Mexican desert of the state of Chiahua at a depth of 300 meters and was found while drilling a local mine. The cave is famous for giant crystals of selenite, a mineral, a structural variety of gypsum. The largest of the found crystals has a size of 11 meters in length and 4 meters in width, with a mass of 55 tons. These are the largest natural crystals ever found on the planet. The cave is also known for its unusual climate: it is very hot here. Temperatures reach 58 °C with 90–100% humidity, which makes it very difficult to explore the cave. Even with equipment, being in a cave usually does not exceed 20 minutes. Access to the cave is open only to scientists.

Han Son Dung Cave

The largest cave on planet Earth, Han Son Dung, which means "Mountain River Cave", is located in Vietnam. It was discovered only in 2009 by a group of British researchers. The largest hall of the cave has a total length of more than 5 thousand meters, the total length of the cave is presumably 9 thousand meters. The halls and corridors are 100 meters wide and 200 meters high.

The cave is unusual in that many years ago, gaps formed in the roof of the cave, through which light and plant seeds entered the underground halls. Now you can find real jungle in the cave. In addition, another interesting rare phenomenon attracts speleologists: cave pearls form in the cave. This rare view pearl grows itself in puddles of lime water. Its composition differs little from traditional shellfish pearls, but it does not have a beautiful mother-of-pearl luster.

Photo: travel times.ru

Abyss of Three Bridges

Limestone cave of the Jurassic period, a karst sinkhole in Lebanon 255 meters deep, whose age is 160 million years. The cave owes its name to the fact that the opposite walls of the abyss are connected by three bridges, each of which hangs over the other. Passes through them powerful waterfall. For thousands of years, the water from the stream slowly washed away the limestone and gradually destroyed the vaults of the cave. After the appearance of the upper bridge, it was destroyed for a long time by vertical and ring erosion, which, in combination with a series of collapses, created the middle and lower bridges.

Fingal's Cave

The famous sea cave is located on the tiny island of Staffa in Scotland. rain and sea ​​water they drilled a whole system of caves on it, the largest of which is named after the giant Fingal, the hero of the Irish epic, who built a dam connecting Scotland and Ireland.

The main hall of Fingal's Cave is 75 meters long, 20 meters wide and 14 meters high, and the entrance to it is so narrow that it is impossible to get there by boat. In the Gaelic language, the cave was called Uam Bin, "Cave of Melodies": the huge hall of the cave repeatedly repeats the sounds of the surf, and the whole cave literally sings. An interesting fact is that when the famous author of the "Wedding March" composer Felix Mendelssohn visited the cave in 1829, he was so amazed by the amazing play of sounds and echoes that it inspired him to create an overture called "The Hebrides, or Fingal's Cave".

The cave is also famous for its impressive basalt colonnade. correct form. Most columns are 6-sided, but there are also 3-sided and 8-sided ones. They acquired such an unusual shape due to the long process of crystallization of volcanic lava. According to legend, these are the remains of piles driven into the bottom of the Irish Sea by the giant Fingal.

Marble Caves of Chile

Marble Caves - the main attraction of Lake Lago General Carrera in Chile and one of the most beautiful places in Patagonia. They are also called the marble cathedral (Marble Cathedral or Las Cavernas de Marmol), which is a maze of beautiful geological formations. In fact, the walls of the cave labyrinth are not made of marble, but of limestone. Numerous tunnels and columns have been formed due to the impact of waves over the past 6200 years.

Most famous caves- Marble Cathedral, Marble Cave and Marble Chapel. All three grottoes are part of the peninsula and used to be completely flooded with water. The glacier that filled the lake melted over time, the water level dropped significantly, revealing marble labyrinths to the world, partially filled with turquoise water. Tourists can explore the caves in a small boat or kayak, but only if the weather is good and calm.

Reed Flute Cave

Reed Flute Cave is an amazingly beautiful cave near the Chinese city of Guilin. One of the largest karst caves in the region, reaching a length of 240 meters. The cave got its name from a special type of reed growing around it, from which some of the best flutes in all of China have been made since ancient times. The age of the cave is at least 180 million years, it was formed due to the destruction of quartz rocks by water. The cave is famous for stalactites, stalagmites and other bizarre mountain formations, and thanks to the illumination and reflection in the underground lake, it gives the impression of frozen actions, which the Chinese gave poetic names: “Crystal Palace”, “Dragon Tower”, “Pine in the Snow”, “Dawn in the Lion’s Grove", "Red Threshold" and so on.

Dragon Cave

The Dragon Cave is located in Kastoria, in northwestern Greece. The cave is considered unique and is the only cave in Greece with 7 fresh underground lakes and 10 halls of various sizes (the largest is 45x17 meters) and 5 tunnels. The depth of the cave reaches 600 meters, but cavers have not yet advanced further than 300 meters. The cave got its name thanks to the legend of the dragon, which zealously guarded the gold mine. Anyone who mustered the courage to sneak into his domain, he incinerated with his gaze and killed with flames from his mouth. In addition, the entrance to the cave resembles the mouth of a dragon. The cave is also famous for its special air circulation system and special microclimate.

Jeita Grotto

Jeita Grotto is a complex of two separate but interconnected karst limestone caves with a total length of almost 9 kilometers. The caves are located in the Nahr al-Kalb valley in the Jeita settlement, 18 kilometers north of the Lebanese capital Beirut. Caves and grottoes have been known since Paleolithic times. The lower cave was discovered in 1836 by priest William Thomson, an American missionary. You can only get here by boat, as the cave is filled with an underground river that provides drinking water over one million Lebanese. The upper galleries were discovered in 1958 by Lebanese speleologists. They consist of a series of separate chambers, the largest of which reaches a height of 120 meters.

Here is one of the largest stalactites in the world with a height of 8.2 meters. In one of the caves, the remains of an ancient foundry were found, where swords were supposedly made. The giant stalactites of the caves create beautiful compositions, thanks to which the Jeita Caves were among the 28 finalists of the Seven New Wonders of Nature competition.

Caves served as a refuge for man at the dawn of civilization. And today, these underground voids attract brave speleologists who seek to penetrate as deep as possible to the heart of the Earth.

Today's top ten contains largest caves in the world. Two of them are located on the territory of Abkhazia, which allows hundreds of Russian tourists to visit these natural monuments every year.

Optimisticheskaya is the largest gypsum cave in the world. It is located on the territory of Ukraine in the Ternopil region. The cave has not been explored to the end, but the length of the corridors known to speleologists is 230 km.

9. Ox Bel Ha

The name of this system of underwater caves, translated from one of the Indian dialects, means "three ways of water." The system is located in Mexico on the Yucatan Peninsula, the total length of the corridors is 256 km.

8 Jewel Cave System

Located in South Dakota, the cave system has a total length of more than 257 km. In the galleries of the cave there are strong drafts, the gusts of which reach 15 m/s. The maximum depth of the cave is 192 meters.

7. Lamprechtsofen

This cave system is located in the Austrian state of Salzburg. Its length is 38 km, and the maximum depth is 1,632 meters. It is noteworthy that the practical Austrians built a mini-power plant in the cave, which produces energy from the flow of an underground river.

6. Mammoth Cave

Located in the state of Kentucky (USA), the karst cave is considered the longest in the world. The length of the studied part of the crossings exceeds 587 km. The cave was discovered in 1797. Its maximum depth is 115 meters.

5. Snowy

One of the deepest caves in the world is located in Abkhazia. Its depth is 1,753 meters, and the length of all corridors, sometimes quite low, is more than 24 km. "Snezhnaya" is a system of three caves, which are interconnected without siphons - underwater tunnels filled with water.

4. Skocjan Caves

The cave system, located in the mountains of Slovenia, has a length of 6 km. The height of the arches reaches 50 meters. There are more than 30 underground waterfalls in the cave system, there is also a 15-meter stalagmite, nicknamed the Giant.

3. Sarawak Grotto

Located on the island of Borneo, the grotto is 400 meters wide, 700 meters long and up to 70 meters high. The grotto is part huge cave Gua-Nasib-Bagus. Only trained tourists are allowed on an excursion to Sarawak; a visit to the grotto lasts all day.

2. Krubera Cave

It is also called the Crow Cave, and it is located in the Gagra Range in the territory of Abkhazia. The cave has two branches and is the deepest in the world. The depth of the first branch is 2,196 meters, the second - 1,300 meters.

1. Son Doong Cave

The world's largest cave located in Vietnam, 500 km from Hanoi. The height of the arches of the cave is up to 240 meters, the width is 100 meters, and the length of passages and corridors has been studied so far for only 6.5 km. Speleologists discovered the grotto in 2005, although locals have known about Son Doong since 1991.

The largest caves are complex systems of passages and halls, often with a total length of up to several tens of kilometers. Caves are an object of study for speleology. Speleotourists make a significant contribution to the study of caves.

Caves according to their origin can be divided into five groups: tectonic, erosional, ice, volcanic and, finally, the largest group - karst. Caves in the entrance part, with suitable morphology (horizontal spacious entrance) and location (close to water), were used by ancient people as comfortable dwellings.

Caves by origin

Karst caves

Most of these caves. It is karst caves that have the greatest length and depth. Karst caves are formed due to the dissolution of rocks with water, so they are found only where soluble rocks occur: limestone, marble, dolomite, chalk, as well as gypsum and salt. Limestone, and even more so marble, dissolves very poorly with pure distilled water. Solubility increases several times if dissolved carbon dioxide is present in water (and it is always present in natural water), but limestone still dissolves poorly compared to, say, gypsum or, moreover, salt. But it turns out that this has a positive effect on the formation of extended caves, since gypsum and salt caves not only quickly form, but also quickly collapse.

A huge role in the formation of caves is played by tectonic cracks and faults. According to the maps of the explored caves, one can very often see that the passages are confined to tectonic disturbances that can be traced on the surface. Also, for the formation of a cave, a sufficient amount of water precipitation is necessary, a successful form of relief: precipitation from a large area should fall into the cave, the entrance to the cave should be located noticeably higher than the place where groundwater is discharged, etc.

Many karst caves are relic systems: the water flow that formed the cave left it due to a change in the relief, either to deeper levels (due to a decrease in the local basis of erosion - the bottom of neighboring river valleys), or ceased to enter the cave due to a change in the surface catchment, after which the cave goes through various phases of aging. Very often, the studied caves are small fragments of an ancient cave system, opened up by the destruction of the enclosing mountain ranges.

The evolution of karst processes and their chemistry are such that often water, having dissolved mineral substances of rocks (carbonates, sulfates), after some time deposits them on the vaults and walls of caves in the form of massive crusts up to a meter or more thick (cave marble onyx) or special for each cave of ensembles of mineral aggregates of caves, forming stalactites, stalagmites, helictites, draperies and other specific karst mineral forms - sinter formations.

IN Lately more and more caves are being opened in rocks traditionally considered non-karst. For example, in the sandstones and quartzites of the mesas of the tepui mountains of South America, the caves of Abismo Guy Collet with a depth of −671 m (2006), Cueva Ojos de Cristal with a length of 16 km (2009) were discovered. Apparently, these caves are also of karst origin. In a hot tropical climate, under certain conditions, quartzite can be dissolved in water.

Another exotic example of the formation of karst caves is the very long and deepest cave in the US mainland, Lechugia Cave (and other caves in Carlsbad National Park). According to the modern hypothesis, it was formed by the dissolution of limestones by rising thermal waters saturated with sulfuric acid.

Tectonic caves

Such caves can arise in any rocks as a result of the formation of tectonic faults. As a rule, such caves are found in the sides of river valleys deeply cut into the plateau, when huge rock masses break off from the sides, forming sagging cracks ( sherlops). Seizure cracks usually converge with depth in a wedge. Most often they are covered with loose deposits from the surface of the massif, but sometimes they form rather deep vertical caves up to 100 m deep. Sherlops are widespread in Eastern Siberia. They are relatively poorly studied and probably occur quite often.

erosion caves

Caves formed in insoluble rocks due to mechanical erosion, that is, worked out by water containing grains of solid material. Often such caves are formed on the seashore under the action of the surf, but they are small. However, the formation of caves, worked out along the primary tectonic cracks by streams going underground, is also possible. Quite large (hundreds of meters long) erosional caves are known, formed in sandstones and even granites. Examples of large erosion caves can be T.S.O.D. (Touchy Sword of Damocles) Cave in gabbro (4 km/−51 m, New York), Bat Cave in gneisses (1.7 km, North Carolina), Upper Millerton Lake Cave in granites (California).

Glacial caves

Another type of glacial caves are caves formed in a glacier at the point where intraglacial and subglacial waters exit at the edge of glaciers. Meltwater in such caves can flow both along the glacier bed and over glacial ice.

A special type of glacial caves are caves formed in glaciers at the exit point of underground thermal waters located under the glacier. Hot water is capable of making voluminous galleries, however, such caves do not lie in the glacier itself, but under it, since the ice melts from below. Thermal ice caves are found in Iceland, Greenland and reach considerable sizes.

Volcanic caves

These caves are formed during volcanic eruptions. The lava flow, cooling down, is covered with a solid crust, forming a lava tube, inside of which molten rock is still flowing. After the eruption has already, in fact, ended, the lava flows out of the tube from the lower end, and a cavity remains inside the tube. It is clear that lava caves lie on the very surface, and often the roof collapses. However, as it turned out, lava caves can reach very large sizes, up to 65.6 km long and 1100 m deep (Kazumura cave, Hawaiian Islands).

In addition to lava tubes, there are vertical volcanic caves - volcanic vents.

Caves by type of host rocks

archaeological finds

Primitive people used caves all over the world as a dwelling. Even more often, animals settled in the caves. Many animals died in the cave-traps, starting from steep wells. The extremely slow evolution of caves, their constant climate, and protection from the outside world have been preserved to us great amount archaeological finds. These are pollen of fossil plants, bones of long-extinct animals (cave bear, cave hyena, mammoth, woolly rhinoceros), rock paintings of ancient people (Kapov caves on Southern Urals, Divya in the Northern Urals, Tuzuksu in the Kuznetsk Alatau, Niah-Caves in Malaysia), tools of their labor (villages Terrible, Okladnikova, Kaminnaya in Altai), human remains different cultures, including Neanderthals, up to 50-200 thousand years old (Teshik-Tash cave in Uzbekistan, Denisova cave in Altai, Cro-Magnon in France and many others).

The caves may have played the role of modern cinemas.

Water in the caves

Water, as a rule, is found in many caves, and karst caves owe their origin to it. In the caves you can find condensate films, drops, streams and rivers, lakes and waterfalls. Siphons in caves significantly complicate the passage, require special equipment and special training. Often there are underwater caves. In the entrance areas of the caves, water is often present in a frozen state, in the form of ice deposits, often very significant and perennial.

Air in the caves

In most caves, the air is bad for breathing due to natural circulation, although there are caves in which you can only be in gas masks. For example, guano deposits can poison the air. However, in the vast majority of natural caves, air exchange with the surface is quite intense. The reasons for the movement of air are most often the temperature difference in the cave and on the surface, so the direction and intensity of circulation depend on the season and weather conditions. In large cavities, the movement of air is so intense that it turns into wind. For this reason, air draft is one of the important features when looking for new caves.

cave deposits

Holy ascetics who lived in caves:

• “And Lot went out of Segor and dwelt in the mountain, and his two daughters with him, for he was afraid to dwell in Segor. And he dwelt in a cave, and his two daughters with him” (Genesis 19:30)
• “And the Prophet Elijah went into the cave there and spent the night in it” (1 Kings 19.9)

cave houses

Many peoples made dwellings in caves, as they were easy to keep clean and maintain a constant temperature throughout the year.

• Sassi Di Matera

Healing caves

In many medical institutions there are rooms called "salt caves". The walls are lined with potash salt bricks, and patients spend some time in them, listening to music and getting a healing effect.

Entertaining caves

Horror caves are known as a part of amusement parks, cafes and bars, finished under a cave.

underground cavities

In addition to caves that have access to the surface and are available for direct study by man, in earth's crust there are closed underground cavities. The deepest underground cavity (2952 meters) was discovered by drilling on the coast of Cuba. In the Rhodope Mountains, an underground cavity was discovered at a depth of 2400 meters while drilling. On the Black Sea coast in Gagra, underground voids were discovered by drilling at a depth of up to 2300 meters.

Notes

1. Maruashvili, 1969; TSB; Schukin, 1980; Monkhouse, 1970.
2. Mineral aggregates of karst caves
3. "About silicate bradykarst tropical zone”, Maksimovich G. A. // Hydrogeology and karst science. Issue. 7. Perm, 1975: 5-14.
4. History of the Sylphuric Acid Theory of Speleogenesis in the Guadalupe Mountains, New Mexico, 2000.
5. OTHER CAVES , Compiled by: Bob Gulden.
6. Save Millerton Lake Cave
7. Images from the Millerton Lakes Cave System
8. Reynaud L., Moreau L. Moulins Glaciaires des Temperes et Froids de 1986 a 1994 (Mer de Glace et Groenland). Actes du 3e Symposium International Cavites Glaciaires et Cryokarst en Regions Polaires et de Haute Montagne, Chamonix-France, 1er-6.XI.1994. Annales Litteraires de l'universite de Besancon, N 561, serie Geographie, N 34, Besancon, 1995, p. 109-113.
9. Krubera Cave: Profile. Ukrainian Speleological Association (1999-2010) // speleogenesis.info. Archived from the original on November 27, 2012. Retrieved November 26, 2012.
10. Worlds deepest caves, Compiled by: Bob Gulden
11. I. Kudryavtseva, D. Lury Geography / S.T. Ismailova. - Moscow: Avanta +, 1994. - T. 3. - S. 472. - 638 p. - ISBN 5-86529-015-0
12. Message to the caving mailing list CML#13657 , Yu.Kasyan, 09/10/2012.
13. Message to the caving mailing list CML#13648 , P. Rudko, 08/28/2012.
14. Message to the caving mailing list CML#10132 , A. Shelepin, 09/18/2007.
15. Worlds longest caves, Compiled by: Bob Gulden
16. Paleolithic of Altai
17. Prehistoric caves named as first cinema halls
18. Wind in the Caves, A.L. Shelepin, 1995, KSK Library

About ten kilometers from the city of Kuala Lumpur are the Batu caves (karst caves), with a 42-meter statue erected at the entrance in honor of the Hindu god Murugan.

Marble Caves, Chile

The main attraction of Lake Lago General Carrera, the Marble Caves in bluish hues is one of the unique and beautiful places in the world, located on the border between the countries of Chile and Argentina. beautiful music for relaxation

Son Doong Cave (Hang Sondong)

The largest and one of the most beautiful caves on the planet is located in Vietnam and is called Son Doong. The cave is striking in its scale - its height is about 200 meters, and its width is up to 150 meters.

Thamlod cave

Located in the Thai province of Mae Hong Son, Thamlod Cave is one of the most ancient caves in the country. It is very popular with archaeologists and tourists.

Mendenhall Glacier Caverns

The picturesque Mendenhall Glacier, located in Alaska, is famous for its amazing ice caves, with its fantastic world.

Giant Crystal Cave

In the desert of Mexico, at a depth of three hundred meters, lurks wonderful world giant crystals.

Kyaut Sae Cave in Myanmar

Another one on the list of amazing caves is the place where a Buddhist temple was erected, Kyaut Sae Cave, striking in its views and size.

Vatnajokull glacier and its caves

On the imposing European glacier Vatnajokull (which means “glacier that gives water”) there are picturesque caves in the ice.

Phraya Nakhon Cave in Thailand

Not exactly a cave, but rather a valley 50 meters wide and 65 meters deep, over which hang walls covered with vegetation and stalactites.

Muntovsky volcano cave

Here is a cave of indescribable beauty, created by lava, ice, geysers and light, located in Kamchatka, not far from Muntovsky volcano.

Reed Flute Cave in China

A fabulously beautiful karst cave that looks like a fantasy world is located in Guilin, China.

No human building can compare with the greatest caves in the world in beauty and grandeur. We offer you a selection of the twenty most stunning caves and grottoes from all over the world.

Caves are one of the most amazing creations of nature. Among the many dirty and damp "sheds" come across real palaces and temples, as if created in mockery of the architectural tricks of people. No human building can compare with the greatest caves in the world in beauty and grandeur. We offer you a selection of the twenty most stunning caves and grottoes from all over the world.

1. Crystal Cave (Cueva de los Cristales), Mexico

The Cave of Crystals was discovered in 2000 by the Sanchez miner brothers, who were digging a new tunnel in the mine complex. It is located at a depth of 300 meters under the city of Naica, Chihuahua, Mexico. The cave is unique in the presence of giant crystals of selenite. The largest of the found crystals has a size of 11 m in length and 4 m in width, with a mass of 55 tons. This is one of the largest known crystals. It is very hot in the cave, temperatures reach 58 ° C with a humidity of 90-100%. These factors make it very difficult for people to explore the cave, making it necessary to use special equipment. Even with equipment, being in a cave usually does not exceed 20 minutes.

2. Waitomo Glowworm Cave, New Zealand

The Waitomo Caves are truly a masterpiece of nature, over which she has worked for many millions of years. For many centuries, the ocean has ruled here, creating bizarre limestone outgrowths and mysterious intricacies of passages. And then the water receded, forming a system of about 150 caves. The most famous of them is Glowworm Cave. She's inhabited amazing creatures– Arachnocampa Luminosa. These are fireflies that can only be found in New Zealand. Their green-blue glow makes the arch of the cave look like a starry sky on a frosty night.

3. Blue Grotto (Grotto Azzurra), Italy

This beautiful cave is only accessible from the sea. The name "Blue Grotto" comes from the bright blue color of its waters. The entrance to the cave is very small and lets in a small amount of light, which gives the water its bright color.

4. Vatnajokull Glacier Cave, Iceland

Sunlight, scattered over the surface of the Svínafellsjökull glacier, draws amazing pictures on the vaults of the ice cave, creating the illusion of being on sea ​​depth. The depth of the underground passage does not exceed 50 meters, and the width of the cave is only 10 meters. IN winter months crackling is heard inside, caused by the movement of the glacier.

Such pure azure and blue hues are the result of the absence of air bubbles in the ice. You can see colored ice under certain weather conditions; one of them is the absence or minimal amount snow on the surface. Intense sky blue ice is best seen in January and February; it is during this period that shades of azure, framed by snow cover, look fantastic.

You can get into the cave only in the winter months: narrow ice passages are accessible to tourists only with the onset of frost. At other times, being here can be dangerous; melting ice vaults often collapse under a mass of snow.

5. Phraya Nakhon, Thailand

This is not actually a cave, but a huge valley that is 65 meters deep and 50 meters wide, with overhanging walls covered in plants and stalactites. At certain hours of the day, light enters the interior, illuminating the small temple.

6Marble Caves Of Patagonia, Chile

Despite their name, they are made of ordinary limestone, but there is an opinion that in the depths of the caves there are the purest deposits of marble. The walls of the Chilean landmark have a surprisingly beautiful bright blue color, and the blue water of the lake doubles the impression of what they see. It is also worth mentioning that the caves consist of many labyrinths and tunnels, over the creation of which the coastal waves worked hard.

7. Ice caves near Mutnovsky volcano, Russia

A small and very beautiful snow cave on the slope of the Mutnovsky volcano.

8. Dongzhong Cave, China

Dongzhong Cave (whose name is simply translated as "cave") is located in the village of Mao in the Chinese province of Guizhou. Since 1984, the cave has been equipped as an elementary school.

9. Fingal's Cave, Scotland

Famed sea cave washed into the rock sea ​​water, on the island of Staffa, part of the Inner Hebrides group. The walls are made up of vertical hexagonal basalt columns 69 meters deep and 20 meters high. For three centuries it has been a place of artistic pilgrimage and has inspired the work of many famous artists, musicians and writers.

10. Reed Flute Cave, China

Reed Flute Cave (Ludi Yan) is an amazing creation of nature, located in the city of Guilin (China). A special type of reed grows around the cave, from which in the old days the best flutes in all of China were made, it was this fact that served as the basis for this beautiful name. Ludi Yan Cave, like Waitomo Cave, has illumination, but not natural, but "artificial" - artificial. With its help, the Chinese successfully emphasize the beauty of the flawless creation of nature. Multi-colored lights playfully paint stalactites and other bizarre rock formations, making the cave even brighter and more fabulous.

11. Fantastic Pit at Ellison's Cave, Georgia, USA

If you are an extreme, and besides, an amateur speleologist, then Allison Cave is ideal for you, namely its Fancy Mine, 179 meters deep.

12. Kyaut Sae Cave in Myanmar

Few people know about this cave, but nevertheless it impresses both with its size and the fact that a Buddhist temple is located in it.

13. Son Doong Cave, Vietnam

The largest cave in the world. It is located in Central Vietnam, in the province of Quang Binh, in national park Phong Nha Kebang, 500 kilometers south of Hanoi and 40 kilometers from the provincial center - Dong Hoi. This cave has been known to locals since 1991, in April 2009 it was discovered by a group of British speleologists. The cave has an underground river that floods some parts of the cave during the rainy season.

14. Eisriesenwelt Ice Cave, Austria

The Eisriesenwelt caves are the largest system of ice caves on our planet available for viewing. In translation, Eisriesenwelt means "giant ice world." The caves are located in the Alps in Austria at an altitude of 1641 meters and consist of 30 thousand cubic meters. meters of ice. These caves were formed by the waters of the Salzach River, which eroded limestone rocks over thousands of years. Currently, the riverbed is below the entrance to the caves.

The Eisriesenwelt caves were discovered by accident as early as 1849. For a long time only hunters and poachers knew about them. The date of the official discovery of the Eisriesenwelt caves is considered to be 1879, when the Austrian naturalist from Salzburg, Anton von Posselt-Czorich, first penetrated 200 meters deep into the caves. A year later, he published a detailed account of his discovery in a mountaineering magazine, but this information did not arouse due interest.

15. Orda Cave, Russia

Orda Cave is the longest underwater gypsum cave in Russia and one of the longest in the world. This place is a real paradise for divers. The cave begins with the Crystal Grotto. In the northwestern corner of this grotto is Lake Ledyanoe. The move on the left will lead to the next grotto - the Ice Palace. Lake Main is located here, and a little further - Lake Teploe. Through these lakes, divers enter the mysterious underwater part of the cave. The water here is extremely clean, transparent, bluish in color and very cold (+ 4 degrees)

16. Carlsbad Caverns, USA

Under the arches of the mountains of Guadalupe in the state of New Mexico, endless labyrinths of halls, tunnels and corridors are hidden, the main inhabitants of which are bats. The charm of Carlsbad caves becomes more charming and mysterious with the advent of twilight. The park and the caves got their name in honor of the nearby city of Karlsbad.

17. Barton Creek Cave, Belize

This cave has not only extraordinary natural beauty, but is also a living witness to the household items of the ancient Mayans who inhabited this area more than 2000 years ago. In it you can see many grandiose stalactites and stalagmites, ancient jugs and religious bowls of the May Indians, traces of religious human sacrifices.

18. Jeita Grotto Caves, Lebanon

a complex of two caves in Lebanon, 20 kilometers north of Beirut. In 1836, the upper cave was discovered by William Thomson, and the lower cave was discovered by Lebanese speleologists in 1958. The length of the Upper Cave is 2200 meters, but only part of it, which is 750 meters long, is open to tourists. There are three halls in the Upper Cave, each of which is 100 meters or more in height. There are unique underground reservoirs, very beautiful crevices, various stalagmites and stalactites. The length of the Lower Cave is much larger than the Upper Cave and is equal to 6900 meters

19. Kango Caves, South Africa

Caves Cango (Cango Caves), tacitly called the wonder of the world. The caves are famous for their "Organ Hall" - stalactites descending along the walls form something resembling a large organ here, which, combined with music and lighting effects, makes an indelible impression on visitors

20. Aven Armand Cave, France

A special funicular lowers visitors 50 meters deep into the tunnel, which is 200 meters long. There suddenly turns out to be a huge hall in which Notre Dame Cathedral could easily fit.