10 Deepest Caves in the World

Image via Brian Masney

Long ago, our ancestors were using caves as shelter from wild animals and the forces of nature. Perhaps, this base necessity however, has always been eclipsed by man’s curiosity and desire to explore the mystical and enigmatic air inside the abyss. In the past, Environmental Graffiti has explored some amazing uses of caves – from discotheques, temples and underground cities to hotels and primary schools. That’s only scratching at the surface however. Today, with all sorts of equipment, caving has turned into something of an extreme sport - it involves climbing, crawling and sometimes even swimming. Looking at the most extreme end then, what about those caves that create the enigma, that fuel the stuff of legends; caves that appear bottomless and that seem to extend to the very center of the earth? What are the ten deepest caves on our planet?

10. Cehi 2

Slovenia’s deepest cave was mapped by Italian explorers from the Club Alpino Italiano of Trieste. They published a very interesting document, called Progressione 50: although it’s in Italian, you can see how the expedition went inside the Cehi 2 (or Ceki 2). The cave, which is in the Canin Massif, is located in the Western Julian Alps, on the Italian-Slovenian border. The alpinists managed to go as deep as 4928 feet (1502 m). To put this in perspective, the depth is over twice the height of the tallest man-made structure in the world.

Image via 1, 2

9. Sima de la Cornisa - Torca Magali

This is a caving system in the Picos de Europa mountains in Spain. An international team of speleologists including Valencian Silvino Villa and the Belgian Jan Masschelein explored the cave last summer and managed to go down, in what they call a “bottomless pit”, to 4944 feet (1507 m).

Image via 1

8. Shakta Vjacheslav Pantjukhina

As you notice from the next few items on the list, the Bzybsky Massif in Georgia is renowned and very rich in caves. More than 400 are present and just one of them that made it to our list of the deepest caves in the world is the Shakta Vjacheslav Pantjukhina. It’s 4948 feet (1508) m deep.

Image copyright 1

7. Sarma

The seventh deepest cave in the world is in the Caucuses range, in Abkhazia, Georgia and it goes down up to 5062 feet (1543 m). Speleologists that attended the expeditions from December 18, 2007 to January 12, 2008, mentioned that Sarma has the biggest potential to surpass Voronja and break the world record for being the deepest cave. They are still exploring the interior of this unfathomable enigma.

Images via 1

6. Torca del Cerro del Cuevon also known as T-33 and La Torca de las Saxifragas

Together, these two form the deepest cave in Spain. Located in the Picos de Europa mountains in the northern coast of the country, there are very few entrances to the cave, thus rendering it incredibly difficult to explore, so much so, that is considered to be the most technically difficult in the world. It took explorers 3 days to go to 5213 feet (1589 m) down.

Images via 1

5. Reseau Jean Bernard

Also known as the Gouffre Jean-Bernard or simply Jean Bernard, this is a 5256 feet (1602m) deep cave in the French Alps, in Samoëns. The cave has at least 8 entrances and was first discovered by the Groupe Vulcain back in 1959. Until 1980, it was considered to be the deepest cave in the world. Despite this, professional cavers consider the Jean Bernard not very interesting to climb.

Images via 1

4. Vogelshacht and Lamprechtsofen

A Polish Expedition (pdf link) connected the two caves: Vogelshacht and Lamprechtsofen, located in the Leoganger Steinberger area, in Salzburg, Austria. The cave system has so far been proven to be 5354 feet (1632 m) deep. Incredible really, that’s over a mile. Notwithstanding this, explorations continue, so this could be only the tip of the iceberg.

Images via 1, 2, 3

3. Gouffre Mirolda

From 9 to 12 January in 2003, an expedition exploring the Gouffre Mirolda cave in France, found that it was connected with the Lucien Coudlier, breaking the record for the world’s deepest cave . The cave measured 5685 feet (1733m) while the world record at the time was 5610 feet (Voronja cave). It was the first cave to be explored below 1 km. The record however, was beaten within a matter of years.

Images via 1, 2

2. Illuzia-Snezhnaja-Mezhonnogo

Two times larger than the world’s deepest cave, the Illuzia-Snezhnaja-Mezhonnogo cave is the second deepest in the world. Located on the Bzyb massif in Abkhazia, Georgia, the cave is renowned for being dangerous and very difficult to work in.

Images via 1

A team lead led by Aleksey Shelepin, in July 2007, came out with a very spectacular discovery giving birth to the cave system Illuzia-Sneznaja-Mezonnogo. Apparently there are two caves, Illuzia (Illusion) and Sneznaja (Snowy), that connect together and go down 5,751 feet (1,753 meters).

1. Krubera-Voronja Cave

Also known as the Cave of Kruber, Voronja is the deepest cave in the world with recent measurements extending to a total depth of 7188 feet (2191 m). It was the first cave to be explored to a depth of more than 2 km down.

Images via 1, 2, 3

On August 5^th 2007, an international expedition with 56 members went in and the interesting thing is, they said that the cave system could be deeper. “The caving game is far from over. It won’t be; not as long as deeper abysses call out to be explored” said Alexander Klimchouk, a renowned speleologist.

The Crows’ Cave (that what it means) is located in Georgia in the Arabika Massif of the Gagra Range, near the coast of the Black Sea.

Original here

$2 Billion Wind Turbine Order Is Largest Ever

Texas oilman T. Boone Pickens has placed an the largest ever order for wind turbines: he ordered 667 wind turbines from GE, each costing $3 million dollars, making the total order $2 billion. Pickens plans to develop the world’s largest wind farm in the panhandle of Texas.

The $2 billion order is just one quarter of the total amount he plans to purchase. Once built, the wind farm would have the capacity to supply power to over 1,200,000 homes in North Texas. Each turbine will produce 1.5 megawatts of electricity. The first phase of the project will produce 1,000 megawatts, enough energy to power 300,000 homes. GE will begin delivering the turbines in 2010, and current plans call for the project to start producing power in 2011.Ultimately, Picken’s company, Mesa Power, plans to have enough turbines to produce 4,000 megawatts of energy, the overall project is expected to cost $10 billion and be completed in 2014.

Mesa Power has leased sparsely populated land in the Texas panhandle, where the wind often blows during daylight hours when energy needs are highest. Texas’ Competitive Renewable Energy Zones (CREZ) transmission lines will deliver what Pickens hopes will be “cost effective and reliable electricity generated by renewable energy power projects.”
Original here

Ireland to hunt nightmare fishing nets in north Atlantic

DUBLIN (AFP) - Ireland is to tackle the growing problem of so-called "ghost nets" that are destroying fish stocks in the northeast Atlantic Ocean, the Irish Sea Fisheries Board said Sunday.

The organisation said a series of pilot clean-up schemes, involving one Spanish and three Irish ships contracted to retrieve some of the thousands of kilometres of lost, dumped and abandoned nets, will run from June to September.

The scheme -- Operation Deepclean -- is being funded by the European Union at a cost of more than 500,000 euros (775,000 dollars) and will also seek to estimate the extent of the problem off the British and Irish coasts.

"The retrieval exercise will alleviate the problem of ghost fishing and help prevent further fish being caught in these nets," said Dominic Rihan, from the Irish Sea Fisheries Board.

"We also hope to get an estimate of the amount of lost nets in the particular areas."

"Ghost nets" are so called because they drift in the ocean after being abandoned or dumped and some have been found to be still catching fish and ensnaring other marine life for up to three years.

The fish are caught and die in the nets. The effect has been devastating with stocks of deepwater sharks falling to about 20 percent of original levels in less than 10 years.

It has been a growing environmental problem since the mid-1990s when a fleet of up to 50 vessels began gillnet fishing on the continental slopes in areas like Rockall and the Hatton Bank.

Most of the boats are based in Spain but registered in Britain, Germany and non-EU countries like Panama.

But although they seek to catch monkfish and deepwater shark, they also snare other species like halibut and ling.

No one is certain of just how many ghost nets there are either floating or fouling the seabed.

A joint Irish, Norwegian and British study from 2002 estimated that 1,254 kilometres (620 miles) of 600 by 50 metre (1,970 by 164 feet) sheets of nets were being lost every year but there was a reluctance to talk about the problem in the industry.

Original here