Recent from talks
Castellana Caves
Knowledge base stats:
Talk channels stats:
Members stats:
Castellana Caves
The Castellana Caves (Italian: Grotte di Castellana) are a karst cave system located in the municipality of Castellana Grotte, in the Metropolitan City of Bari, Apulia, southern Italy.
The caves, discovered in 1938 by the speleologist Franco Anelli, are situated 1 kilometer (0.62 mi) south of Castellana and are served by the (Grotte di Castellana railway station) on the FSE line Bari-Putignano-Martina-Taranto.
The entrance is represented by an enormous vertical tunnel 60 meters (200 ft) long. The main cave is named "La Grave" (as abyss), and others are named Black Cavern (Caverna Nera), White Cave (Grotta Bianca) and Precipice Cavern (Caverna del Precipizio).
The Caves of Castellana open in south-eastern Murge, a limestone plateau dating back to the upper Cretaceous (ninety-hundred million years ago) and rising 330 metres above sea level. The area of Castellana is characterized by limestone, a sedimentary rock composed largely of calcium carbonate, known as the Limestone of Altamura. The cave system is 3348 meters in length and the point of maximum depth reaches 122 metres. The temperature within the caves is about 18 °C. The caves are open all year round except for Christmas Day and New Year's Day. The visit develops along two itineraries: the first is 1 km long and lasts about 50 minutes while the second is 3 km long and lasts about two hours. The tour timetable changes depending on the season. In addition, during the summer there are also guided night tours. The Grave is the first and the biggest cave of this wonderful speleological complex and it is the only one communicating with the outside. It measures 100 m in length, 50 m in width, and 60 m in depth. Going beyond the Grave stalactites, stalagmites, curtains, and precious crystals continue to embellish everywhere the caves. The names of the environment are the result of the imagination of the early explorers: the She-Wolf, the Monuments, the Owl, the Little Virgin Mary, the Altar, the Precipice, the Desert Corridor, the Reverse Column, the Red Corridor, the Dome up to the last and the most dazzling one, the White Cave.
Castellana's speleological complex is unique among other cave systems thanks to its three peculiarities: the Grave, the White Cave and the concretions.
The Grave of Castellana is a huge natural pantheon thanks to its natural skylight surrounded by a circle of holm-oaks through which a ribbon of clear sky is visible. From the ceiling, a big sunbeam filters down into the darkness and it moves differently according to the time of the day and the season. Within the Grave, the sunlight creates magical effects, firstly draws a huge white screen on the descending walls, secondly, it gives life to a far stalagmite group, called the Cyclopes because they look like sea giants rising out from the chaos of a stormy sea. Finally, it reaches the irregular and dark bottom of the chasm. The southern walls, the big broken curtain,n s, and the green moss-grown columns stay always in the darkness. Beyond these columns, are the majestic architectural structures that nature builds up in the darkness by the passing of time. The Grave is the first huge cave of the cave karst system and the only one communicating with the outside. Its history dates back to ninety-one hundred million years ago in the upper Cretaceous. At that time Apulia was submerged by an old sea where lived large colonies of molluscs and sea vegetables. For millions of years, generations of these life forms-plants and marine mollusks succeeded each other and died, so their empty shells and their carcasses were piled up on the seabed, forming a giant deposit of mud and sand, that with continuous growth was compressed forming limestone layers for a total thickness of several kilometers. Starting 66 million years ago, the gradual raising of the land brought the region to its current aspect. However, the newly emerged land was too rigid and for this reason, it was cut in a multitude of fractures. The eluvial water of large rainfall infiltrated into the subsurface soil and rock and created a massive groundwater aquifer. The physical and chemical effects of water running underground dissolved gradually the limestone and enlarged the fractures. Over geological eras cracks expanded to become galleries and then caverns which became bigger and bigger. In some instances, numerous cracks intersected, leading to frequent collapses. The thickness of the rock separating the cave from the outside had diminished significantly, causing the vault to collapse. This occurred in the Grave of Castellana, allowing the first rays of sunlight to pierce the darkness of the cave.
At the end of the underground itinerary and about 1500 metres far from the Grave there is a small portal dig in an imposing alabaster wall. This is the entrance of the last and the most beautiful caves of Castellana, the White Cave. Suddenly all the wonders of the previous halls disappear compared with the majesty of this corner of heaven. Going on slowly, almost in reverent silence in this underground temple, the astonished visitor is surrounded by the whiteness of alabaster, this is because the cave has been indicated as the most shining cave in the world. A small but spectacular basin, once full of drip water, is now adorned with crystals, which embellish its bottom and walls. Every corner of the cave is adorned with very white and translucent stalagmites. In front of the visitor takes place the final scene: two high and huge columns seem to support the vault of the last hall, embellished everywhere by white stalactites and coral concretions. This is the end and the most enchanting moment of the underground tour that remind the visitor of the power and of the gracefulness of the nature.
The most fascinating feature of the Caves of Castellana are the concretions. This term is used to indicate the mineral deposits that covered the naked walls of a cave by crystallisation of the calcite carried in solution by infiltrating rain water, that had penetrated all the overhanging layers of the rock by a very slow seepage. When the water drips through the roof of an empty cavern, the calcite dissolved in it deposits on the roof and going downwards takes the shape of a stalactite. When the drop of water falls on the floor, the calcite takes the shape of a stalagmite. As time went by, the downwards extension of a stalactite and the progressive growth of the below stalagmite led to the formation of a column. Besides this elementary forms, there is a great number of other concretions such as calcite flowstones, curtains, (which are due to the flowing of water), corals, calcite crystals, (which formed underwater), cave pearls, formed of concentric layers as calcite crystallizes on a nucleus such as a microscopic grain of rock, and the eccentric concretions, which defy gravity. As regards eccentric stalactites, they normally have a small size and break the force of gravity. Unlike other stalactites, they grow multidirectionally in capricious ways, i.e. horizontally to the floor, developing weird curved patterns and even upwardly. They still have no clear origin and even the cave scientists are at variance with the formation of the eccentric stalactites. According to speleology, there are several hypotheses about their origin, but undoubtedly there are several factors for their multidirectional forms. The first factor is the possible presence of draughts in the caves that would drive horizontally the direction of the drops and therefore the growth of the concretion. The second factor has to do with the particular form in which calcite crystallizes. Calcite is a mineral that crystallizes in the trigonal system and has perfect rhombohedral cleavage. The cannula of a stalactite is formed by a series of very small rhombohedra which interpenetrate each other. If, as consequence of several causes, the cannula is perforated on the side, water will come out through that opening and will create an aggregate of other rhombohedra on the side. The third one is the presence of any impurities in the water. They can hinder the growth of a calcite rhombohedron in a direction and thus it can form an aggregate on the side that will follow a different direction.
Hub AI
Castellana Caves AI simulator
(@Castellana Caves_simulator)
Castellana Caves
The Castellana Caves (Italian: Grotte di Castellana) are a karst cave system located in the municipality of Castellana Grotte, in the Metropolitan City of Bari, Apulia, southern Italy.
The caves, discovered in 1938 by the speleologist Franco Anelli, are situated 1 kilometer (0.62 mi) south of Castellana and are served by the (Grotte di Castellana railway station) on the FSE line Bari-Putignano-Martina-Taranto.
The entrance is represented by an enormous vertical tunnel 60 meters (200 ft) long. The main cave is named "La Grave" (as abyss), and others are named Black Cavern (Caverna Nera), White Cave (Grotta Bianca) and Precipice Cavern (Caverna del Precipizio).
The Caves of Castellana open in south-eastern Murge, a limestone plateau dating back to the upper Cretaceous (ninety-hundred million years ago) and rising 330 metres above sea level. The area of Castellana is characterized by limestone, a sedimentary rock composed largely of calcium carbonate, known as the Limestone of Altamura. The cave system is 3348 meters in length and the point of maximum depth reaches 122 metres. The temperature within the caves is about 18 °C. The caves are open all year round except for Christmas Day and New Year's Day. The visit develops along two itineraries: the first is 1 km long and lasts about 50 minutes while the second is 3 km long and lasts about two hours. The tour timetable changes depending on the season. In addition, during the summer there are also guided night tours. The Grave is the first and the biggest cave of this wonderful speleological complex and it is the only one communicating with the outside. It measures 100 m in length, 50 m in width, and 60 m in depth. Going beyond the Grave stalactites, stalagmites, curtains, and precious crystals continue to embellish everywhere the caves. The names of the environment are the result of the imagination of the early explorers: the She-Wolf, the Monuments, the Owl, the Little Virgin Mary, the Altar, the Precipice, the Desert Corridor, the Reverse Column, the Red Corridor, the Dome up to the last and the most dazzling one, the White Cave.
Castellana's speleological complex is unique among other cave systems thanks to its three peculiarities: the Grave, the White Cave and the concretions.
The Grave of Castellana is a huge natural pantheon thanks to its natural skylight surrounded by a circle of holm-oaks through which a ribbon of clear sky is visible. From the ceiling, a big sunbeam filters down into the darkness and it moves differently according to the time of the day and the season. Within the Grave, the sunlight creates magical effects, firstly draws a huge white screen on the descending walls, secondly, it gives life to a far stalagmite group, called the Cyclopes because they look like sea giants rising out from the chaos of a stormy sea. Finally, it reaches the irregular and dark bottom of the chasm. The southern walls, the big broken curtain,n s, and the green moss-grown columns stay always in the darkness. Beyond these columns, are the majestic architectural structures that nature builds up in the darkness by the passing of time. The Grave is the first huge cave of the cave karst system and the only one communicating with the outside. Its history dates back to ninety-one hundred million years ago in the upper Cretaceous. At that time Apulia was submerged by an old sea where lived large colonies of molluscs and sea vegetables. For millions of years, generations of these life forms-plants and marine mollusks succeeded each other and died, so their empty shells and their carcasses were piled up on the seabed, forming a giant deposit of mud and sand, that with continuous growth was compressed forming limestone layers for a total thickness of several kilometers. Starting 66 million years ago, the gradual raising of the land brought the region to its current aspect. However, the newly emerged land was too rigid and for this reason, it was cut in a multitude of fractures. The eluvial water of large rainfall infiltrated into the subsurface soil and rock and created a massive groundwater aquifer. The physical and chemical effects of water running underground dissolved gradually the limestone and enlarged the fractures. Over geological eras cracks expanded to become galleries and then caverns which became bigger and bigger. In some instances, numerous cracks intersected, leading to frequent collapses. The thickness of the rock separating the cave from the outside had diminished significantly, causing the vault to collapse. This occurred in the Grave of Castellana, allowing the first rays of sunlight to pierce the darkness of the cave.
At the end of the underground itinerary and about 1500 metres far from the Grave there is a small portal dig in an imposing alabaster wall. This is the entrance of the last and the most beautiful caves of Castellana, the White Cave. Suddenly all the wonders of the previous halls disappear compared with the majesty of this corner of heaven. Going on slowly, almost in reverent silence in this underground temple, the astonished visitor is surrounded by the whiteness of alabaster, this is because the cave has been indicated as the most shining cave in the world. A small but spectacular basin, once full of drip water, is now adorned with crystals, which embellish its bottom and walls. Every corner of the cave is adorned with very white and translucent stalagmites. In front of the visitor takes place the final scene: two high and huge columns seem to support the vault of the last hall, embellished everywhere by white stalactites and coral concretions. This is the end and the most enchanting moment of the underground tour that remind the visitor of the power and of the gracefulness of the nature.
The most fascinating feature of the Caves of Castellana are the concretions. This term is used to indicate the mineral deposits that covered the naked walls of a cave by crystallisation of the calcite carried in solution by infiltrating rain water, that had penetrated all the overhanging layers of the rock by a very slow seepage. When the water drips through the roof of an empty cavern, the calcite dissolved in it deposits on the roof and going downwards takes the shape of a stalactite. When the drop of water falls on the floor, the calcite takes the shape of a stalagmite. As time went by, the downwards extension of a stalactite and the progressive growth of the below stalagmite led to the formation of a column. Besides this elementary forms, there is a great number of other concretions such as calcite flowstones, curtains, (which are due to the flowing of water), corals, calcite crystals, (which formed underwater), cave pearls, formed of concentric layers as calcite crystallizes on a nucleus such as a microscopic grain of rock, and the eccentric concretions, which defy gravity. As regards eccentric stalactites, they normally have a small size and break the force of gravity. Unlike other stalactites, they grow multidirectionally in capricious ways, i.e. horizontally to the floor, developing weird curved patterns and even upwardly. They still have no clear origin and even the cave scientists are at variance with the formation of the eccentric stalactites. According to speleology, there are several hypotheses about their origin, but undoubtedly there are several factors for their multidirectional forms. The first factor is the possible presence of draughts in the caves that would drive horizontally the direction of the drops and therefore the growth of the concretion. The second factor has to do with the particular form in which calcite crystallizes. Calcite is a mineral that crystallizes in the trigonal system and has perfect rhombohedral cleavage. The cannula of a stalactite is formed by a series of very small rhombohedra which interpenetrate each other. If, as consequence of several causes, the cannula is perforated on the side, water will come out through that opening and will create an aggregate of other rhombohedra on the side. The third one is the presence of any impurities in the water. They can hinder the growth of a calcite rhombohedron in a direction and thus it can form an aggregate on the side that will follow a different direction.
Recent media