Optymistychna Petschera
| Optymistychna Petschera
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 the stretch of land above the cave |
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| Location: | Ukraine | |
| Height : | 234 m | |
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Geographic location: |
48 ° 44 ′ 33 " N , 25 ° 59 ′ 37" E | |
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| Type: | Plaster cave | |
| Discovery: | 1966 by M. Sawtschin and A. Soljar, later by Lviv speleologists | |
| Overall length: | 262 km | |
| Level difference: | 15 m | |
| Particularities: | Longest cave in Europe, longest gypsum cave in the world. | |
The Optymistytschna Pechera ( Ukrainian Оптимістична печера or Optymistytschna- Höhle ; German for "Optimistic Cave") is a gypsum karst cave on the western edge of the Podolian Plate in western Ukraine, southwest of the village of Korolivka . They are characterized by narrow and narrow crevices and passages that connect larger cavities with different gypsum crystals and efflorescence. The geological layer in which the cave is located is an approx. 20 m thick tertiary marine deposit made of limestone, shell limestone, clays and loams.
Dimensions
The Optymistytschna cave is the longest gypsum cave in the world, with a measured length of 262 km, it is also the longest in Europe and the fifth longest cave on earth. It reaches a maximum depth of 15 m.
It belongs to a number of partly huge gypsum caves in Podolia . North of the Optymistytschna cave is another large gypsum cave, the Oserna ( Lage ), with a total length of 128 km, the second largest gypsum cave in the world.
Geographical location
The gypsum karst area with the two giant cave systems and many smaller gypsum caves is located on the plateau of the Podolian plate approx. 12 km southwest of the small town of Borschtschiw , 15 km north of the river Dniester , near the village of Korolivka. The next major cities are Kamjanez-Podilskyj in the east and Chernivtsi in the south. About 100 km to the north is the city of Ternopil (Ternopol). The gypsum karst region of Podolia is only part of an extensive gypsum karst that extends in the north of the Carpathian Mountains from the border with Romania to the Prypiat marshes and into Poland; one of the largest contiguous gypsum karst areas, far larger than the gypsum karst areas of Asia Minor, the Urals or the Harz Mountains. Eleven caves with corridor lengths of over 1000 meters are known in the Podolian Karst, including the five longest gypsum caves on earth.
The Optymistytschna lies in a mostly 15 to 30 m thick layer of plaster from the Upper Tertiary ( Neogen ). In the central and western part of the cave, the thickness of the gypsum increases to 60–70 m. Its corridors, which are laid out in almost right-angled intersecting systems of crevices , form a huge network, a maze that is branched out like a labyrinth in plan, mostly low, often denuded passages. Sometimes cave passages are suffocated in washed-in sediments . Clay minerals and other impurities ( carbonates ) are also stored in the cave-forming gypsum formation , which remained as fine-grained sediment when the gypsum was dissolved and removed. In order to spare cave explorers long passages that only have to be overcome by crawling, spacious trenches have been dug in the sediment of the passages.
Discovery and Exploration
The Optymistytschna Petschera was discovered in 1965 by the Lviv speleologists M. Sawtschin, V. Wassiljew, I. Katschkowsky, I. Maljawina and systematically explored in the following two decades. The cave was first explored in 1966 when, on May 8th, M. Sawtschin and A. Soljar came across a narrow entry hole while digging a water channel, which led them into a cave labyrinth after about 100 m. In the years between the discovery and 1975, Ukrainian cave explorers from Lviv and Ternopil played a key role in exploring the largest gypsum cave. In 1977 it belonged to 280 known gypsum caves in the gypsum karst areas of the former Soviet Union, which made up about 90% of the known gypsum caves on earth. The Optymistytschna was soon one of the caves with the most extensive duct systems.
Since then about 50 research projects have been carried out in the Optymistytschna. In the last few years the research activity has decreased noticeably, hardly any measurements are carried out. The total length of their measured corridors was given in 2006 as 215 km. The network of the cave passages is partly very closely meshed, so that the floor plan of the cave only extends over an area of about two square kilometers. This peculiarity of the Podolian gypsum caves led to the designation as maze cave ( maze cave ) in the specialist literature .
The temperature in the cave is around 8 ° C in the western parts of the cave (in the thicker layer of plaster) and between 9 and 10 ° C in the eastern parts. The shape of the passages in the Optymistytschna depends on the fissures and layers of the plaster, their connection to the narrow fissure system causes the lattice-like, labyrinthine character of the cave. In the finely crystalline plaster of Paris on the lowest floor there are corridors with rounded, low, flat or narrow, crevice-like profiles. In the coarsely crystalline plaster of paris, round or rectangular profiles with horizontal ceilings or in the form of triangles standing on top formed. In the transition areas there are galleries up to 10 m high with strongly structured profiles. Large halls are located in places with intense fissures or collapsed false ceilings. Tubular chimneys extend into the overlying limestone layers, high dome-like rooms with dome-shaped ceilings formed when these chimneys collapsed.
The first mentions of the cave can be found in publications by Polish geologists , local historians and archaeologists . In older literature, the cave is often mentioned in the Russian spelling of its name Optimistitscheskaja , in reports in English as Optimist Cave .
Tourist development and guided tours
The Optymistytschna Petschera has not yet been developed for tourism. Individual tours must be organized through direct contact with the speleological associations in Lviv, Tarnopol or Khmelnytskyi . The National Park Administration “Podilskij Towtry” in Kamianets-Podilskyj can also organize individual guided tours to the many other gypsum karst caves (Kristalnaja, Atlantida) that can be found in the wider area.
literature
- WN Dubljansky: The plaster caves of Ukraine.
- Alexander Klimchouk, Vjatscheslav Andrejchouk: Karst breakdown mechanisms from observations in the gypsum caves of the Western Ukraine: Implications for Subsidence Hazard Assessment. In: Speleogenesis and Evolution of Karst Aquifers. The Virtual Scientific Journal. 1/1/2003, Union International of Speleology & International Geographic Union, p.2-20, ISSN 1814-294X
Web links
- Andy Hall: The Giant Gypsum Caves of the Western Ukraine. 1990, accessed February 19, 2012 .
- The Cave "Optimistic" - the gypsum giant. The Fund of Support Scientific and Creative Initiatives, February 4, 2010, accessed February 19, 2012 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Bob Gulden: Worlds longest gypsum caves. In: GEO2 Committee on long and deep caves. National Speleological Society (NSS), October 15, 2011, accessed February 19, 2012 .
- ↑ Новини Печера Оптимістична. 2017, Retrieved September 25, 2018 (Russian).
- ^ A b Bob Gulden: Worlds longest caves. In: GEO2 Committee on long and deep caves. NSS, June 12, 2012, accessed June 20, 2012 .