In the early days, primitive people used
caves as place of dwellings; they used them for various other purposes like
burial or sites for religious practices. These caves are formed due to various
geological processes like water erosion, pressure, atmospheric influences,
digging, etc. Here is a list of six of the record holding caves of the world;
this includes greatest total length, deepest, largest passage and much more…
1.
Greatest Total Length Cave - Mammoth Cave, Kentucky, USA
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| Mammoth Cave, the greatest total length cave in the world Image courtesy: Wikipedia |
The total length of Mammoth Cave is 628
kilometers and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1981. Mammoth Cave is
inside the Mammoth Cave National Park in Kentucky, USA; the total area of the
park is 52,830 acres. This cave system is very stable as they are made of
limestone strata that are capped by sandstone. The national park was
established mainly to preserve this cave system, Mammoth Cave. One can witness
the endangered Kentucky cave shrimp, an eyeless shrimp at Mammoth Cave.
2.
Longest Surveyed Underwater Cave – Sistema Ox Bel Ha, Quintana Roo,
Mexico
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| Sistema Ox Bel Ha cave, longest surveyed underwater cave |
Ox
Bel Ha means “Three Paths of Water” in the Mayan language. In the last week
of March 2011, Sistema Naranjal was connected to Sistema Ox Bel
Ha to make it the longest surveyed underwater cave; before this connection, it
was Sistema Sac Actun that was the longest surveyed underwater cave system. The
total length of Ox Bel Ha is 233.43 km.
3.
Deepest Known Cave - Krubera Cave, Abkhazia, Georgia
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| Krubera Cave or Voronya Cave, meaning "Crows' Cave" Image source: nationalgeographic |
Krubera Cave, also known as Voronya Cave or
Voronja Cave is believed to be the deepest known cave; it was measured from the
highest entrance to the lowest point of the cave. This cave is close to 2,000
meters deep. In Russian, Voronya Cave means Crows’ Cave; it was called so as
one can see a large number of crows nesting at the entrance pit.
4.
Deepest Vertical Shaft or Vertical Drop Cave – Vrtoglavica Cave,
Slovenia, Italy
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| Vrtoglavica Cave, the deepest vertical shaft cave. Image source |
Vrtoglavica
Cave is located inside a mountain called Kanin Mountain; this mountain lies
in the Slovenian part of the Julian Alps. What is a vertical shaft? A vertical
shaft is a place in the cave where the caver has to abseil, meaning, he/she has
to descend using controls like a rope. The total depth of the cave is 603 m. Vrtoglavica
means vertigo; there are no documented proofs to know why the cave was called
the Vrtoglavica cave.
5.
Largest Passage – Son Doong Cave, Quang Binh Province, Vietnam
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| Hang Son Doong Cave, the largest passage cave famous for fast-flowing underground river Image source |
In Vietnamese language, Hang Son Doong mean
“Mountain River Cave”; this is a cave in Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park in the
Quang Binh Province of Vietnam. This cave is famous for its largest fast-flowing
underground river. It was in the year 1991 this cave was found by a local man
named Ho-Khanh; earlier to its discovery, people were afraid to cross the cave due
to the whistling sound or noise made by the underground river.
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