Cova des Pont

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Cova des Pont

Cova des Pont 51.jpg
Location: Manacor , Mallorca , Spain
Geographic
location: 		39 ° 30 '27.5 "  N , 3 ° 17' 48.2"  E Coordinates: 39 ° 30 '27.5 "  N , 3 ° 17' 48.2"  E
Cova des Pont (Balearic Islands)
Cova des Pont
Geology: limestone
Type: Dripstone cave , karst cave
Lighting: No
Overall length: 1075 meters
Level difference: 33 meters

The Cova des Pont ('bridge cave ') is a stalactite cave on the east coast of the Spanish Balearic island of Mallorca . It is one of several karst caves on the Can Frasquet estate south of S'Estany d'en Mas in the municipality of Manacor , which are collectively known as the Coves des Pirata ('pirate caves'), which indicates their location near the sea. The Cova des Pont is subaquatically connected to the Cova des Pirata and Cova de sa Piqueta and forms with them a joint cave system 3091 meters long , of which 1190 meters are under water.

location

Path to the cave entrance

The entrance to the Cova des Pont is located 480 meters from the east coast of Mallorca at Cala Falcó within the nature reserve Cales Verges de Manacor . The next town, S'Estany d'en Mas, is 1080 meters to the north, the bay of Cala Varques 830 meters to the south and the historic fortified tower Son Fortesa 1840 meters to the west.

The cave entrance with a metal grille door is 170 meters northwest of the path from S'Estany d'en Mas to the buildings of Can Frasquet under tall trees amidst bushes. From there, the main room of the Cova des Pont , the great hall (Sala gran) , extends about 70 meters to the north. Further corridors lead to the east and south. The total length of the cave is 1075 meters, the greatest width 40 meters. About 190 meters southeast of the entrance there is a connection to the Cova des Pirata . The cave entrance is 26 meters above sea level , the difference in height of the cave is 33 meters in total.

Name and story

Bridge behind the entrance

The Cova des Pont , like the other “pirate caves” in the area, was created by karstification of the limestone . It was first mentioned in 1884 by Rafael Lozano and expanded into a show cave in 1897 on the occasion of an agricultural exhibition as well as the fairs and festivals in Manacor . After a change of ownership, the privately owned Cova des Pont was closed to the public again in 1920. Today hardly anything is left of the renovations to the show cave. The cave owes its name to a bridge ( Pont in Catalan ) that was built over an eight-meter-deep depression at the entrance. This is located at an opening in the cave a little over twelve meters wide, created by a collapse in the ceiling.

Schematic sketch of the Cova des Pont after Edouard Alfred Martel

Informed by the painter Gaston Vuillier , who visited the cave in 1898, the French cave explorer Édouard Alfred Martel visited the Cova des Pont and the neighboring Cova des Pirata in 1901 and published schematic sketches of the two caves in 1903. In 1926 he commented on the Cova des Pont to the effect that the bridge at the entrance probably dates from the time of the Moors (until 1229). However, this is doubtful, there is no record of the time the bridge was built. It rises on 28 rows of sandstone segments (each about 40 × 30 cm), which form a barrel vault that spans a length of 3.60 meters with a bridge width of 3.50 meters. Ceramic finds at the foot of the bridge suggest that it dates from the 17th century.

A detailed mapping of the Cova des Pont was carried out from 1971 to 1977 by the Speleo Club Mallorca (SCM) . The exploration of the underground lakes in 1988/89 by the Cwmbran Caving Club (CCC) led to the discovery of a narrow flooded gallery in 1989, which is a connection to the Cova des Pirata . The most famous lake in the cave is the 575 m² Llac Victòria (Lago Victoria) . From 2002 to 2006, the underground lakes of the Cova des Pont were explored by divers from the Grup Nord de Mallorca (GNM) . With the established length of 1075 meters, the Cova des Pont is the sixth longest cave in Mallorca. Since 2006 the cave has been classified as an "area of ​​community importance" (GGB or English SCI) according to Natura 2000 of the fauna-flora-habitat directive of the European Union .

  • Views of the cave

  • Cave entrance at the burglar boiler

  • Burglary cauldron from inside the cave

  • Rock formation

  • Water in the great hall (Sala Gran)

Others

On Holy Saturday 2017, the speleologists Francesc Gràcia and Guillem Mascaró from the Grup Nord de Mallorca (GNM) dived from the Cova de sa Piqueta into the underwater cave system for research purposes , where the guide rope broke and both of them lost their orientation. Because of the exhausted oxygen supply, only Mascaró was able to reach the exit alone, Gràcia remained in an air chamber about 100 meters long and 40 to 50 meters wide. It was not until Easter Monday , shortly before midnight on April 17th, that Gràcia was rescued from the cave system after 60 hours by emergency services, including the special diving unit GEAS of the Guardia Civil and divers of the GNM .

literature

  • Pedro Estelrich: Las cuevas del Pirata de Manacor (Mallorca) . Guía y descripción de sus principales maravillas. Palma de Mallorca 1905 ( espeleologiabibliografia.blogspot.de [accessed on July 19, 2016] partial view).
  • Mateo Vadell, Juan Antonio Zaragoza, Rafael Jordana, Lluc García, Francesc Gràcia, Bernat Clamor: Nuevas aportaciones al conocimiento de la fauna cavernícola terrestre de las Coves del Pirata, Cova des Pont, Cova de sa Piqueta y la Cova des Xots . In: Endins . No. 29 . Comité Balear d'Espeleologia, Palma de Mallorca 2006 ( raco.cat [PDF; accessed July 19, 2016]).
  • Francesc Gràcia, Bernat Clamor, Pere Gamundí, Joan J. Fornós, Peter Watkinson: Cavitats Subaquàtiques de la Franja Litoral de Mallorca . In: Francesc Gràcia, Joaquín Ginés, Guillem Xavier Pons, Antelm Ginard, Damià Vicens (eds.): El Carst: Patrimoni Natural de les Illes Balears (Endins 35) . Publicació d'Espeleologia, Federació Balear d'Espeleologia, 2011, ISSN  0211-2515 , Sistema Pirata - Pont - Piqueta (Manacor), p. 112–114 (Catalan, ibdigital.uib.cat [PDF; 38.7 MB ; accessed on July 19, 2016]).

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Pedro Estelrich: Las cuevas del Pirata de Manacor (Mallorca) . Guía y descripción de sus principales maravillas. Francisco Soler Prats, Palma de Mallorca 1905, p. 1 ( espeleologiabibliografia.blogspot.de [accessed July 19, 2016]).
  2. ↑ Francesc Gràcia, Bernat Clamor, Pere Gamundí, Joan J. Fornós, Peter Watkinson: Cavitats Subaquàtiques de la Franja Litoral de Mallorca . In: Francesc Gràcia, Joaquín Ginés, Guillem Xavier Pons, Antelm Ginard, Damià Vicens (eds.): El Carst: Patrimoni Natural de les Illes Balears (Endins 35) . Publicació d'Espeleologia, Federació Balear d'Espeleologia, 2011, ISSN  0211-2515 , Conclusions: Sistema Pirata - Pont - Piqueta (Manacor), p. 130 (Catalan, ibdigital.uib.cat [PDF; 38.7 MB ; accessed on July 19, 2016]).
  3. ^ Rudi Pfister, Stephanie Rost: Coves del Pirata. Description of foreign caves. www.caveseekers.com, July 19, 2016, accessed July 19, 2016 .
  4. ↑ a b c Francesc Gràcia, Bernat Clamor, Joan J. Fornós, Damià Jaume, Mateu Febrer: El sistema Pirata - Pont - Piqueta (Manacor, Mallorca): Geomorfologia, espeleogènesi, hidrologia, sedimentologia i fauna . In: Endins . No. 29 . Comité Balear d'Espeleologia, Palma de Mallorca 2006, p. 29 (Catalan, imedea.uib-csic.es [PDF; 1.1 MB ; accessed on July 19, 2016]).
  5. ↑ a b Miquel Trias, Francesc Mir: Les Coves de la Zona de Can Frasquet - Cala Varques . In: Endins . No. 4 . Comité Balear d'Espeleologia, Palma de Mallorca 1977, p. 24–26 (Catalan, raco.cat [PDF; 9.3 MB ; accessed on July 19, 2016]).
  6. ↑ Francesc Gràcia, Bernat Clamor, Pere Gamundí, Joan J. Fornós, Peter Watkinson: Cavitats Subaquàtiques de la Franja Litoral de Mallorca . In: Francesc Gràcia, Joaquín Ginés, Guillem Xavier Pons, Antelm Ginard, Damià Vicens (eds.): El Carst: Patrimoni Natural de les Illes Balears (Endins 35) . Publicació d'Espeleologia, Federació Balear d'Espeleologia, 2011, ISSN  0211-2515 , Sistema Pirata - Pont - Piqueta (Manacor), p. 112 (Catalan, ibdigital.uib.cat [PDF; 38.7 MB ; accessed on July 19, 2016]).
  7. ↑ Cova des Pont. mallorcaverde.es, August 8, 2010, accessed July 19, 2016 (Castilian).
  8. ↑ a b Miquel Trias, Francesc Mir: Les Coves de la Zona de Can Frasquet - Cala Varques . In: Endins . No. 4 . Comité Balear d'Espeleologia, Palma de Mallorca 1977, p. 21 (Catalan, raco.cat [PDF; 9.3 MB ; accessed on July 19, 2016]).
  9. ↑ a b Jochen Duckeck: Cova des Pont. Bridge Cave. showcaves.com, August 31, 2015, accessed July 19, 2016 .
  10. ^ Antoni Pasqual, Maria Esperança Nicolau: Anàlisi dels grafits de sa Cova des Pirata i de sa Cova des Pont (Manacor) . In: Endins . No. 29 . Comité Balear d'Espeleologia, Palma de Mallorca 2006, p. 66 (Catalan, ibdigital.uib.es [PDF; 304 kB ; accessed on July 19, 2016]).
  11. ↑ Joaquín Ginés, Angel Ginés: Les Coves Turístiques de les Illes Balears: Antecedents i Estat de la Qüestió . In: Francesc Gràcia, Joaquín Ginés, Guillem Xavier Pons, Antelm Ginard, Damià Vicens (eds.): El Carst: Patrimoni Natural de les Illes Balears (Endins 35) . Publicació d'Espeleologia, Federació Balear d'Espeleologia, 2011, ISSN  0211-2515 , p. 339 (Catalan, ibdigital.uib.cat [PDF; 38.7 MB ; accessed on July 19, 2016]).
  12. ↑ Pedro Estelrich: Las cuevas del Pirata de Manacor (Mallorca) . Guía y descripción de sus principales maravillas. Francisco Soler Prats, Palma de Mallorca 1905, p. 22–23 ( espeleologiabibliografia.blogspot.de [accessed July 19, 2016]).
  13. ↑ Miquel Trias, Francesc Mir: Les Coves de la Zona de Can Frasquet - Cala Varques . In: Endins . No. 4 . Comité Balear d'Espeleologia, Palma de Mallorca 1977, p. 25 (Catalan, raco.cat [PDF; 9.3 MB ; accessed on July 19, 2016]).
  14. ↑ Miquel Trias, Francesc Mir: Les Coves de la Zona de Can Frasquet - Cala Varques . In: Endins . No. 4 . Comité Balear d'Espeleologia, Palma de Mallorca 1977, p. 26 (Catalan, raco.cat [PDF; 9.3 MB ; accessed on July 19, 2016]).
  15. ↑ Francesc Gràcia, Bernat Clamor, Joan J. Fornós, Damià Jaume, Mateu Febrer: El sistema Pirata - Pont - Piqueta (Manacor, Mallorca): Geomorfologia, espeleogènesi, hidrologia, sedimentologia i fauna . In: Endins . No. 29 . Comité Balear d'Espeleologia, Palma de Mallorca 2006, p. 26–27 (Catalan, imedea.uib-csic.es [PDF; 1.1 MB ; accessed on July 19, 2016]).
  16. ↑ Natura 2000. Site ES5310056. natura2000.eea.europa.eu, March 2015, accessed on July 19, 2016 (English).
  17. ↑ Sophie Mono: Lost in the Underworld . In: Mallorca newspaper . No. 885 . Editorial Prensa Ibérica, Palma April 20, 2017, p. 8–9 ( mallorcazeitung.es [accessed April 29, 2017]).
  18. ↑ The wonder of Cala Romàntica . In: Mallorca Magazin . No. 16/2017 . Grupo Serra, Palma April 20, 2017, p. 8 .

Web links

Commons : Cova des Pont  - Collection of images, videos and audio files