Hang Son Doong cave:

World’s largest

Last week we enlightened you about the different types of caves that exist around the world. as we explained most of these caves that have so far been explored and documented are grouped according to their geological features. Some of these caves are record holders as the largest cave, the longest cave ,the deepest cave and so on . Today we feature a rather recent discovery which has taken over the title of the biggest or longest cave in the world which was attributed to the Mammoth cave system in Kentucky, with 367 total miles.

The Hang Son Doong cave or cavern which means ‘mountain river cave,’ is located in Vietnam. Hidden in rugged Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park near the border with Laos, the cave is part of a network of 150 or so caves, many still not surveyed, in the Annamite Mountains. It was created two to five million years ago by river water eroding away the limestone underneath the mountain. In areas where the limestone was weak, the ceiling collapsed creating huge skylights. The fascinating cave was discovered a couple of years ago by a team of British cave explorers .In fact,it was in the spring of 2009, that Hang Son Doong was first visited by a member of the first expedition. During the first expedition about two and a half miles of this fascinating cavern had been explored and only the confrontation of a 200-foot wall of muddy calcite had stopped further explorations . The team of explorers had named it the Great Wall of Vietnam. Then a year later seven hard-core British cavers, a few scientists, and a crew of porters had gone back to find out what secrets lay hidden inside the cavern and what they had discovered is simply amazing.....

They have disclosed that the size of the Hang Son Doong caves is mind blowing. According to these explorers, the huge cave is filled with an enormous shaft of sunlight resembling a waterfall through an enormous hole in the ceiling of the cave which is at least 300 feet across.

The cave floor is said to comprise a tower of calcite that is more than 200 feet tall covered in ferns, palms, and other jungle plants. With stalactites hanging around the edges of the massive skylight like petrified icicles and vines dangling hundreds of feet from the surface the cave is said to portray what the world may have looked like millions of years ago.Even though there may be caves which are recorded to be longer than this newly discovered cave the experts believe that Hang Son Doong is the largest going by the gigantic size of the cave.

The explorers have said that a mile into the cave, it is large enough for a 747 air plane to fly through.They also claim that the large sink hole which is 300 feet across and 800 feet above, is tall enough for an entire New York City block of 40-story buildings to fit in.And what is more there is said to be an entire jungle with trees reaching a hundred feet inside the cave! They say that there are deeper caves too such as the Krubera-Voronja, the ‘crow’s cave’ which plunges 7,188 feet in the western Caucasus Mountains of Georgia.But they say only a a few can compare to hang on Doong when it comes to large passages .At the time of the discovery of Hang Son Doong, the largest passage was thought to be Deer Cave in Malaysian Borneo’s Gunung Mulu National Park, which was recently surveyed at 1.2 miles long, 500 feet wide, and 400 feet tall. . But as the explorers would eventually determine, using precise laser instruments, Hang Son Doong is more than 2.5 miles long with a continuous passage as wide as 300 feet and, in places, over 600 feet high.

As we explained earlier the explorers who were prevented from going farther into the cavern due to the Great Wall of Vietnam during the first expedition had succeeded to get over this huge wall after about 20 hours of drilling. And would you believe what they had discovered at the top in a dried up pool? Cave pearls. Now if you are wondering what cave pearls are they are a geological formation resembling real pearls.

These unusual cave pearls are formed when a drop of water from the ceiling hits the limestone floor and throws up a speck of rock. This grain is jostled in its little cup of stone every time a drop hits it. Over thousands of years, a solid, almost perfectly round calcite pearl is formed.

These are very rare and are usually only as big as a marble, but the explorers say the cave pearls found at Hang Son Doong are the size of baseballs.

Cave pearls are formed when a drop of water from the ceiling hits the limestone floor and throws up a speck of rock. This grain is jostled in its little cup of stone every time a drop hits it. Over thousands of years, a solid, almost perfectly round calcite pearl is formed.

The scientists have named the place where the pearls were discovered as Pearl Harbour.

The Son Doong cave may be the world’s largest cave passage discovered at present but scientists believe that there are bigger caves still hidden from the view of cave explorers, especially in the Amazon rain forest. So we cannot say that Son Doong cavern will hold the title for ever. Just as much as Malaysia's Deer cave had to bow out of the scene, some day Son Doong will also have to step aside when yet another such big cave is discovered .Till such time, let us feast our eyes on the world's largest cave.

Facts and pix: Internet

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FAST FACTS

* The cave is located near the Laos-Vietnam border .

* It has a large fast-flowing underground river inside.

* The cave was initially discovered by a local man named Ho- -Khanh in 1991. However, the local jungle men were afraid of the cave for the whistling sound it made from the underground river.

* It was made known to the public in 2009 when a group of British scientists from the British Cave Research Association, led by Howard and Deb Limbert, conducted a survey in Phong Nha-Ke Bang from April 10-14, 2009.

* The biggest chamber of Son Doong is over five kilometrers in length, 200 metres high and 150 metres wide. With these dimensions, Son Doong overtakes Deer Cave in Malaysia to take the title of the world's largest cave.

* A stalagmite that resembles a dogs’s paw has been named The Hand of Dog by the explorers.

* Measurements made at the top of the wall had revealed that from the bottom of Passchendaele to the ceiling is 654 feet.

* At 262-by-262 feet (80-by-80 meters) in most places, the Son Doong cave beats out the previous world-record holder, Deer Cave in the Malaysian section of the island of Borneo.Deer Cave is no less than 300-by 300 feet (91-by-91 metres), but it's only about a mile (1.6 kilometrers) long.

By contrast, explorers walked 2.8 miles (4.5 kilometres) into Son Doong, in Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park, before being blocked by seasonal floodwater and they think that the passage is even longer.

* The team found an underground river running through the first 1.6 miles (2.5 kilometres) of the limestone cavern, as well as giant stalagmites more than 230 feet (70 metres) high.

* The explorers surveyed Son Doong's size using laser-based measuring devices.Such modern technology allows caves to be measured to the nearest millimetre.

* However, the title of the world's largest cave chamber is held by Sarawak Chamber in the Deer Cave . (Malaysian section of the island of Borneo) . It's recorded to be three times the size of Wembley Stadium" in London.