Jaskinia Wielka Śnieżna ("great snowy cave") is a

limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...

cave Caves or caverns are natural voids under the Earth's Planetary surface, surface. Caves often form by the weathering of rock and often extend deep underground. Exogene caves are smaller openings that extend a relatively short distance undergrou ...

system in Mount Małołączniak in the Western Tatra Mountains, of the

Carpathian Mountains The Carpathian Mountains or Carpathians () are a range of mountains forming an arc across Central Europe and Southeast Europe. Roughly long, it is the third-longest European mountain range after the Ural Mountains, Urals at and the Scandinav ...

System, in southern Poland. The cave is within Tatra National Park. With the length of , and vertical range of , it is the longest, largest, and deepest cave in

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

Morphology

Wielka Śnieżna has five entrances: * Jaskinia Śnieżna ("snowy cave") – – discovered in 1959 * Jaskinia nad Kotlinami ("cave over the kettles") – – discovered in 1966, connected to Śnieżna in 1968 * Jasny Awen ("light aven") – – first explored in 1959, connected to Wielka Śnieżna in 1978 * Jaskinia Wielka Litworowa ("great

angelica ''Angelica'' is a genus of about 90 species of tall Biennial plant, biennial and Perennial plant, perennial herbaceous, herbs in the family Apiaceae, native to temperate and subarctic regions of the Northern Hemisphere, reaching as far north as ...

cave") – – connected to Wielka Śnieżna in 1995 * Jaskinia Wilcza ("

wolf The wolf (''Canis lupus''; : wolves), also known as the grey wolf or gray wolf, is a Canis, canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of Canis lupus, subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, includin ...

cave") – – discovered in 1996, connected to Wielka Śnieżna in 1999 They are connected by a complicated system of shafts and passages. Several of them contain underground trickles, waterfalls, pools, or siphons. The cave is drained by a

karst spring A karst spring or karstic spring is a Spring (hydrology), spring (exsurgence, outflow of groundwater) that is part of a karst hydrological system. Description Because of their often conical or inverted bowl shape, karst springs are also known i ...

known as Lodowe Źródło ("icy spring").

Exploration

Jaskinia Śnieżna was discovered in 1959 by

caver Caving, also known as spelunking (United States and Canada) and potholing (United Kingdom and Ireland), is the recreational pastime of exploring wild cave systems (as distinguished from show caves). In contrast, speleology is the scientific ...

s from

Zakopane Zakopane (Gorals#Language, Podhale Goral: ''Zokopane'') is a town in the south of Poland, in the southern part of the Podhale region at the foot of the Tatra Mountains. From 1975 to 1998, it was part of Nowy Sącz Voivodeship; since 1999, it has ...

. In 1960, it was explored to a depth of , which made it, at that time, the fourth-deepest cave in the world. In the subsequent years, the cave was intensively explored and connected with other caves. Exploration in the 1960s bottomed out at a

sump Sump may refer to: * An infiltration basin used to manage surface runoff water and recharge underground aquifers * Sump (cave), a permanently flooded section of a cave, where an underground flow of water exits the cave into the earth such that t ...

or siphon, a U-shaped tunnel filled with water, at a depth of . In 1972, cavers using

scuba diving Scuba diving is a Diving mode, mode of underwater diving whereby divers use Scuba set, breathing equipment that is completely independent of a surface breathing gas supply, and therefore has a limited but variable endurance. The word ''scub ...

gear were able to push past the sump for the first time. Their exploration pushed down to a depth of . Subsequent efforts have found the cave to be deep. Exploration of the cave is still ongoing, including attempts to connect the cave to Śnieżna Studnia, second-largest cave in Poland.

References

External links

Jaskinia Wielka Śnieżna
– with a map {{DEFAULTSORT:Jaskinia Wielka Sniezna Limestone caves Wild caves Caves of Poland Western Tatras Tatra County Landforms of Lesser Poland Voivodeship

Morphology

Exploration

See also

References

External links