A group of nine Czech speleologists are
leaving for south Iran on Sunday to explore the local salt
caves, Jiri Bruthans from Charles University (UK) has told
CTK, adding that the month-long expedition is already the
seventh trip within what was originally a student project.
Bruthans,
an expert from UK's Hydrology Institute, has taken part in
all expeditions so far.
He said that there is a world-unique salt karst with cave
systems, blind valleys and chasms in south Iran on the
Persian Gulf coast. The system includes the world's second
longest salt cave, the 5,190-metre-long Cave of Three
Nudes, which was discovered and explored by the previous
expeditions.
By determining the age of the sediments on the coast and
the plant remnants in the caves, the Czech explorers
managed to reconstruct the history of the karst that dates
back to more than 100,000 years ago, Bruthans said.
The upcoming expedition's goal is to discover further
caves and beat the record of the world's longest cave,
Malham, situated in Israel.
To beat the record, they have to discover at least 500
metres of further cavities.
Many caves still remain completely unexplored by people,
said Bruthans.
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Source: Prague
Daily Monitor
