Krubera Cave
Krubera Cave (Georgian: კრუბერის გამოქვაბული or კრუბერის ღრმული, romanized: k'ruberis gamokvabuli or k'ruberis ghrmuli, Abkhaz: Ӡоу Аҳаҧы; also known as Voronya Cave, sometimes spelled Voronja Cave) is the second-deepest-known cave on Earth, after the Veryovkina Cave. It is located in the Arabika Massif of the Gagra Range of the Western Caucasus, in the Gagra District of Abkhazia, an occupied region of Georgia.
| Krubera Cave (Voronya Cave) | |
|---|---|
Location Krubera Cave (Voronya Cave) (Georgia) | |
| Location | Abkhazia, Georgia |
| Coordinates | 43°24′35″N 40°21′44″E |
| Depth | 2,199 m (7,215 ft) |
| Length | 16.058 km (9.978 mi) |
| Elevation | 2,256 m (7,402 ft) |
| Discovery | 1960 |
| Geology | Limestone |
| Entrances | 6 |
| Translation | Crows' Cave (Russian) |
The difference in elevation of the highest cave entrance (Arbaika) and its deepest explored point is 2,199 ± 20 metres (7,215 ± 66 ft). It became the deepest-known cave in the world in 2001 when the expedition of the Ukrainian Speleological Association reached a depth of 1,710 m (5,610 ft) which exceeded the depth of the previous deepest-known cave, Lamprechtsofen, in the Austrian Alps, by 80 metres (260 ft). In 2004, for the first time in the history of speleology, the Ukrainian Speleological Association expedition reached a depth greater than 2,000 metres (6,600 ft), and explored the cave to −2,080 m (−6,824 ft). Ukrainian diver Gennadiy Samokhin extended the cave by diving in the terminal sump to 46 metres' depth in 2007 and then to 52 m in 2012, setting successive world records of 2,191 m and 2,197 m, respectively. Krubera is one of the two known caves on Earth deeper than 2,000 metres.