Boybuloq Cave

Boybuloq Cave (also known as Boy Bulok) is a limestone cave in Uzbekistan which has the greatest depth of any known cave in Asia. Because of its elevation in the Gissar Range, near Uzbekistan's highest village, the cave and surrounding area are inaccessible much of the year due to snow.

Boybuloq
Boy Bulok
Coordinates38°23′45″N 67°31′47″E
Depth1,415 metres (4,642 ft)
Length14,800 metres (48,600 ft)
Elevation2,650 metres (8,690 ft)
Discovery1984
GeologyJurassic limestone [1]
Entrances1

The cave contains fossilized dinosaur footprints, and the upper entrance has long been frequented by locals accessing a nearby spring. It was first explored by speleologists in 1984, and subsequent expeditions have mapped 14,800 metres (48,600 ft) of passages, plumbing a total depth of 1,415 metres (4,642 ft). The cave could connect with nearby Vishnevsky Cave, and extend much deeper and become the deepest cave in the world.

Description

Boybuloq Cave is located around 60 kilometres (37 mi) from the town of Boysun in the Gissar Range of mountains.[2][3] It lies above Dehibolo, Uzbekistan's highest village, with the cave entrance located 2,650 metres (8,690 ft) above sea level.[4][5] Owing to its remote location the area is inaccessible from late January to mid April due to snow.[3]

It is the deepest known cave in Asia having been explored to a depth of 1,415 metres (4,642 ft) from the entrance.[3] At the lowest discovered level a water-filled siphon currently blocks further exploration.[2] It is thought that it has the potential to be the deepest known cave in the world, with a theorised depth of 2,500 metres (8,200 ft) making it deeper than the 2,212-metre (7,257 ft) Veryovkina Cave.[2] The explored length of the cave is 14,800 metres (48,600 ft).[5]

History

The cave entrance has been known to locals for a long time as a water spring is nearby.[2] It was entered by a local carpenter in 1971 who was looking for water during a period of drought. He did not return and remained missing despite searches by local people.[3] Speleologists entered the cave in 1984 and the next year Russian explorers discovered and returned the body of the carpenter.[3][5] Some 14 expeditions were made over the next few years by the Russians with some involvement from Italian speleologists and the full depth of 1,415 metres (4,642 ft) was reached by 1992.[6]

Expeditions resumed in 2007 and a 25-man joint Russian-French-Swiss series of expeditions was carried out from 2018.[1][6] One key focus of the expeditions, which will continue in 2019, was to search for a connection to the nearby Vishnevsky Cave, the second deepest cave in the area.[3] The 2018 expeditions mapped more than 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) of new passages in the caves and discovered several promising leads for new explorations.[1] A series of dinosaur footprints were also discovered near the Boybuloq Cave entrance by a team from the Yekaterinburg Caving Club and explorations of the Vishnevsky Cave reached a new depth of 735 metres (2,411 ft).[1][5]

See also

References
  1. "Cave explorers discovered dinosaurs footprints during the study of deep karst caves in Uzbekistan" (in Russian). Chrdk. RSNF. 1 September 2018. Retrieved 7 January 2019.
  2. "Boy-Bulok cave". Asia Adventures.
  3. Qobil, Rustam (27 December 2018). "Lost in Asia's deepest cave". BBC News. Retrieved 7 January 2019.
  4. "Boy-Bulok – deepest cave in Uzbekistan explored". Kun.uz. 22 October 2018. Retrieved 7 January 2019.
  5. "Russian Cavers Explored More Than 30 Caves in 2018". Russian Geographical Society. 18 December 2018. Retrieved 7 January 2019.
  6. Tsurikhin, Evgeny; Loginov, Vadim; Sauro, Francesco; Breitenbach, Seb (2014). "Exploration of High Altitude Caves in the Baisun-Tau Mountain Range, Uzbekistan". 2013 ICS Proceedings: Exploration and Cave Techniques: 148. Retrieved 7 January 2019.
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