Erdbach cave
| Erdbach cave
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| Location: | Westerwald , Germany | |
| Height : | 443 m above sea level NN | |
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Geographic location: |
50 ° 41 '7.5 " N , 8 ° 11' 44.5" E | |
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| Type: | Karst cave | |
| Overall length: | 1,943 m (as of 2019) | |
| Level difference: | 96 m | |
The Erdbach cave near Breitscheid in the Westerwald is the deepest cave in Hesse at almost 100 m . It is located in the middle of the Breitscheid-Erdbach karst area , which arose from a Devonian coral reef.
Description and karst spring Erdbachauslauf
What makes the Erdbachhöhle is that the "Erdbach" in Breitscheid in a sinkhole trickles, flows through the cave and 110 m vertical meters deep near the town Erdbach again as a strong karst spring comes to light. The water needs between 14 and 35 hours for the distance of around 1,200 m as the crow flies, which has been proven by dye tests. It was also found that the amount of water at the re-emergence of the Erdbach (karst spring Erdbachauslauf) is significantly greater than the amount of water seeping into Breitscheid. Thus, the karst spring seems to be fed by underground water inlets.
The Erdbach cave has the character of a shaft- canyon system and has only a few sintered jewelry . It has not yet been fully researched and is not publicly available.
history
In 1965 it was possible to enter the cave for the first time after a new stream swirl broke in. The cave was explored in the two following years over a length of almost 500 m and up to 96 m depth. Due to a flood, the cave entrance was then flooded again and only reopened in autumn 1991.
After years of excavation, in 1997 the breakthrough to a cave system over 1,000 m long was made from the neighboring "Schwinde C". In 1999 a connection to the Erdbach cave could be established via a siphon . Thus the "Erdbach cave system" with a total length of 1,800 m is also the second largest cave system in Hesse after the autumn maze-advent cave system , which is only a few hundred meters away.
In August 2013, large parts (approx. 1.8 km / as of early 2017) of the underground Erdbach were discovered from the autumn labyrinth Advent cave system. The 80 m as the crow flies to the Erdbach cave system, which was previously missing despite attempts at diving, could not yet be entered underground.
Both caves are part of the "Erdbacher Höhlen" nature reserve , which also includes the "Große" and "Kleine Steinkammer" caves located approx. 1 km to the east above the village of Erdbach.
See also
Web links
- Research in the Erdbach cave
- Speleological Working Group Hessen eV
- Teaching project "Dyeing trials on the Erdbach"
Individual evidence
- ^ Longest and deepest caves in Germany - Arge Grabenstetten. Thilo Müller and Andreas Wolf, ARGE Höhle & Karst Grabenstetten eV, June 2019, accessed on June 25, 2019 .
- ↑ 350 new cave meters explored on Mittelhessen.de