Prague, May 14 (CTK) – An expedition of Czech speleologists and geologists has uncovered a unique giant underground “cathedral” and passages in the Shaanxi province in southern China these days, which is one of their greatest finds in modern history, daily Pravo reported on Monday.
“The biggest success of the expedition is the find of the more than six-kilometre long Tianxingyan Cave. After getting over the difficult sections, they succeeded in finding a three-kilometre long river passage and a giant underground hall that is 150-metre-long and 200-metre-wide,” expedition participant Zdenek Motycka, chairman of the Czech Speleological Society (CSS), told Pravo.
A team of speleologists and experts from the Science Academy’s Geological Institute uncovered an entrance into the new cave two years ago, but they could not continue due to rainy weather then. They covered only 100 metres of underground passages since the conditions were too technically demanding, Motycka recalled.
The newly found cave complex is unique not in terms of the stalactite decorations, but because of its enormous size.
The largest natural underground hall in the Czech Republic is the main cathedral in Katerina Cave in the Moravian Karst, south Moravia, which is 90-metre-long and 44-metre-wide.
The newly uncovered underground hall in China, which has not been named yet, is about five times larger.
“We will probably return to China this year to continue exploring these underground areas,” Motycka said.
Czech speleologists and geologists have been working in the Shaanxi province for several years. Last year, they found Didonghe Cave with spacious passages.
Moreover, current speleologists make many important finds sitting in front of their computers with the aid of the commonly available Google Earth application, and not in the field with a rope and an ice axe in their hands. They set out on an expedition only after exploring the earth surface electronically.
Czech speleologists have ranked among the world’s top experts since the times of archaeologist, geographer, paleontologist and speleologists Karel Absolon (1877-1960) who won fame with his finds in the Moravian Karst and the Balkans. Modern speleologists follow up his legacy, Pravo writes.
