Pegasus Research Consortium

Earth Sciences => This Magnificent Planet => Topic started by: sky otter on September 09, 2013, 06:57:18 pm

Title: World's Largest Cavern
Post by: sky otter on September 09, 2013, 06:57:18 pm

you guys will hafta go to the link to see the vid and pics..cause I am too lazy to move them.. it takes me forever..but I did find some youies that are .. wow
this is as close as I want to get.. I’ve been underground and I don’t like it..but wow to the whole thing..thinking about soma and his caves and matrix too

(http://darianculbert.com/wp-content/uploads/hang-son-doong-cave.jpg)

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/07/son-doong_n_3873341.html?utm_hp_ref=mostpopular


World's Largest Cave, Son Doong, Prepping For First Public Tours
The Huffington Post  |  By Suzy Strutner
Posted: 09/07/2013 9:16 am EDT  |  Updated: 09/09/2013 3:35 pm EDT

The Son Doong Cave in Vietnam is the biggest cave in the world. It's over 5.5 miles long, has a jungle and river, and could fit a 40-story skyscraper within its walls.

But nobody knew any of that until four years ago.

A local man discovered the cave entrance in 1991, but British cavers were the first to explore it in 2009. Now, tour company Oxalis is running trial tours of the cave and accepting sign-ups for real six-day tours to take place next year.

The man who discovered Son Doong didn't go in because the entrance he found had too steep a drop. On next year's tours, visitors will rappel 80 meters to enter Son Doong.



mind blowing pictures.. the size alone is awesome


just type in the name there are several youies..here's just one


[youtube]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOsSg67tpV8[/youtube]



really go check out the pics at the link
 8)
Title: Re: World's Largest Cavern
Post by: The Matrix Traveller on September 09, 2013, 08:40:33 pm
Awesome Video Sky,

I wonder just how many caves or Caverns are still unknown, which have No access to them,
and are deep within the earth's crust ?

Especially deeper than 5 Km ?
Title: Re: World's Largest Cavern
Post by: sky otter on October 03, 2014, 11:31:45 am
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/09/29/worlds-largest-cave-photos_n_5900454.html?utm_hp_ref=mostpopular



'Supercave' In China Takes Title As World's Largest Cavern, And The Photo Is Pretty Unreal
 


 The Huffington Post    | By  Jacqueline Howard   

 Posted:  09/29/2014 2:08 pm EDT    Updated:  09/30/2014 10:59 am EDT

It's hidden beneath rolling hills, can be reached only via an underground stream, and now it has been named the world's biggest cave chamber: meet Miao Room.
A photographer’s lights illuminate the green-hued Getu He river in the Miao Room -- now ?considered the world’s largest cave chamber by volume. The Miao Room volume measurement exceeds Sarawak Chamber in Malaysia, the past title-holder, by about 10 percent. Credit: © Carsten Peter/National Geographic News



(http://i39.servimg.com/u/f39/13/55/53/83/o-imag11.jpg)

Yes, a new measurement of China's vast Miao Room cavern shows that the cave chamber encompasses some 380.7 million cubic feet (10.78 million cubic meters). That beats out the past title-holder, Sarawak Chamber in Malaysia. However, the Malaysian cave chamber is still the world's largest by surface area (around 1.66 million square feet).

"To me this is like discovering that K2 is larger than Everest," Tim Allen, an expedition co-leader who studied the Chinese cave, told National Geographic. He was referring to K2, the Himalayan peak that is taller than all other mountains on Earth except Everest.

(http://i39.servimg.com/u/f39/13/55/53/83/o-imag10.jpg)




Beneath southern China’s landscape of cone-shaped peaks, arches, and spires, researchers have discovered some of the world's largest underground chambers. In 2013 a British-led expedition used a laser scanner to measure several cave systems in unprecedented detail, including Gebihe, whose Miao Room (modeled here from the original laser data), with a maximum height of 627 feet. Click on the photo above for a closer look at the map. Art Credit: Stefan Fichtel, Ixtract Gmbh. Scan Data Preparation: Joe Beeching

The Miao Room chamber, which is found within the Gebihe cave system at China's Ziyun Getu He Chuandong National Park, was first mapped with laser scanning surveys in 2013, National Geographic reported. Then researchers reprocessed those scans with help from scientists at the University of Lancaster in the U.K. to determine the volume and size of the Miao Room.

The measurements were announced at the Hidden Earth 2014 national caving conference, held in England from September 26-28.

More photos of China's supercaves are available on National Geographic Magazine.
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/china-caves/
Title: Re: World's Largest Cavern
Post by: rdunk on March 16, 2015, 04:23:34 pm
A cave is a cave is a cave, but 87 miles long?? Probably won't ever be considered one of the "Wonders of the World", but this may be right up there with most in terms of uniqueness - and in a Vietnamese national park.

Apparently this cave has many of the features that are usually only found on the surface, like animal life, a rainforest, lakes, beaches, and a river. This cave was originally discovered by a local farmer in 1991, and was first explored by British experts in 2009.

There are several pics and other information on the cave found in the below DiscloseTV link. $2300 for a guided tour anyone?? :))


- Read more:
http://www.disclose.tv/news/a_farmer_saw_a_hole_in_a_rock_but_the_inside_has_amazed_the_whole_world/115414#ixzz3UaoKNsEr

Here is one pic! (http://cdn.newsner.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/2cuev-600x399.jpg)
Title: Re: World's Largest Cavern
Post by: zorgon on March 16, 2015, 05:55:29 pm
I have merged three threads under the heading World's Largest Cave

Seems every time someone says that they find a bigger one. I was just about to post the following article and did a search

Seems there is a little confusion on the net between Son Doong Cave in Vietnam and Er Wang Dong Cave in Chongquing province of China

In fact some images look the same?

Er Wang Dong
The cave so huge it has its own weather system: Explorers discover a lost world with thick cloud and fogs trapped inside


The cave system was discovered in the Chongquing province of China by a team of cavers and photographers
Caver Robbie Shone, from Manchester, said a few of the caves had previously been used by nitrate miners but had not been properly explored
The network, which includes 'cloud Ladder Hall' measuring around 51,000 metres squared, has water sources and vegetation of the floor
By SARAH GRIFFITHS


dventurers have stumbled across a cave so enormous that it has its own weather system, complete with wispy clouds and lingering fog inside vast caverns.
A team of expert cavers and photographers have been exploring the vast cave system in the
Chongquing province of China and have taken the first-ever photographs of the natural wonder.
They were amazed to discover the entrance to the hidden Er Wang Dong cave system and were stunned when they managed to climb inside to see a space so large that it can contain a cloud.

(http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2013/10/02/article-2441450-1875542400000578-292_964x640.jpg)
The view from a small window in the wall of the vast Niubizi Tian Keng in the Er Wang Dong cave system, where clouds form inside the huge spaces. Three tiny explorers can be seen negotiating the heavily vegetated floor


This opening looked the same but on closer look the trees in back are different and the depth is different 

(http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2013/10/02/article-2441450-1875526800000578-98_964x640.jpg)
An intrepid cave explorer ascends a rope hanging from the Niubizi Tian Keng. This photograph is one of the first-ever images taken of one of a cave so large it has its own weather system

Lots more images of both  I will post more 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2441450/Er-Wang-Dong-cave-China-huge-weather-system.html

Title: Re: World's Largest Cavern
Post by: zorgon on March 16, 2015, 06:11:30 pm
Er Wang Dong (Chinese; literally: "Second Royal Cave") is a large cave in the Wulong Karst region, in Wulong County of Chongqing Municipality of China.

Current known length of its passages is 42,139 metres (138,251 ft) with a maximum depth of 441 m (1,447 ft). It is large enough to contain its own weather system. The cave starts in the 195 m (640 ft) deep Niubizi tiankeng ( "ox nose sinkhole") and also contains the 295 m (968 ft) deep Qingkou tiankeng.

Er Wang Dong cave has formed in Lower Ordovician limestone and is located close to another very large cave system - San Wang Dong.

Both caves were explored by Hong Meigui Cave Exploration Society. Local people make weather forecast based on the observations in Niubizi tiankeng - if there is a fog coming from the cave, rain is expected.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Er_Wang_Dong

Official Chinese Cave Site
The Underground Fossil Corridor - Er Wang Dong)" (in Chinese). The Official Government Website of Houping Township, Wulong County. November 5, 2009. Retrieved October 2, 2013.
http://hpx.cqwl.gov.cn/Html/23/zjhp/hply/2009-11/4211.html
Title: Re: World's Largest Cavern
Post by: zorgon on March 16, 2015, 06:14:09 pm
S?n ?oòng Cave (hang S?n ?oòng, "Mountain River cave" in Vietnamese) is a solutional cave in Phong Nha-K? Bàng National Park, B? Tr?ch District, Qu?ng Bình Province, Vietnam.

As of 2009 it is the biggest known cave in the world, and is located near the Laos–Vietnam border. Inside is a large, fast-flowing underground river. It was formed in Carboniferous / Permian limestone.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S%C6%A1n_%C4%90o%C3%B2ng_Cave

Son Doong cave is World's largest cave, discovered in 2009
http://www.sondoongcave.org/

(http://www.sondoongcave.org/images/hang-son-doong-cave-vietnam0.jpg)
Title: Re: World's Largest Cavern
Post by: zorgon on March 16, 2015, 06:24:25 pm
(http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2013/10/02/article-2441450-18755CA600000578-595_470x423.jpg)

Now lets add to this the Huge Cave in Mexico

(http://s.ngm.com/2008/11/crystal-giants/img/crystal-cave-615.jpg)

From Jules Verne Journey to the Center of the Earth

(http://media.designingdisney.com/sites/default/files/resize/images/journey-center-earth/5-verne-250x373.jpg)

Look familiar?  The Earth may not be totally hollow as once believed but it sure seems to have a lot of Hollow Spots

(http://ourfunnyplanet.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/Crystal-Cave-of-the-Giants.jpg)

Please feel free to add more images of all the caves  Just label them right LOL I am going to put all this together on the website


And THIS as well...

Huge 'Ocean' Discovered Inside Earth

http://i.livescience.com/images/i/000/001/250/i02/070228_beijing_anom_01.jpg?1296070288

Scientists scanning the deep interior of Earth have found evidence of a vast water reservoir beneath eastern Asia that is at least the volume of the Arctic Ocean.

Huge Underground "Ocean" Found Beneath Asia

(http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/images/thumbs/070227-ocean-asia_170.jpg)

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/02/070227-ocean-asia.html

A giant blob of water the size of the Arctic Ocean has been discovered hundreds of miles beneath eastern Asia, scientists report.
http://www.livescience.com/1312-huge-ocean-discovered-earth.html
Title: Re: World's Largest Cavern
Post by: rdunk on March 16, 2015, 07:24:20 pm
Thanks Z! A "whole lot of big caving go'in on"!! :) Might be a title for a new song there!! :)
Title: Re: World's Largest Cavern
Post by: Shasta56 on March 17, 2015, 04:30:20 pm
I like the Cave of the Winds down south of me, and I'd like to see Carlsbad Caverns.  I do not, however,  have any interest in doing the Tom Sawyer/ Becky Thatcher bit.   I can get lost without being in a cave.

Shasta
Title: Re: World's Largest Cavern
Post by: zorgon on March 17, 2015, 05:07:40 pm
Mammoth Caves Kentucky

(http://www.jessstryker.com/national-parks/mammoth-cave/photos/cave-historic-entrance-1.jpg)

I was in all those caves in the Kentucky/ Tennessee Mountains. We even found one private cave in the hills... The owner was a real Hillbilly,,, handed us a railroad lantern and said "have fun, don't get lost" and let us take our rock picks along :D  The first room was an old civil War cave where they made gunpowder with the potassium nitrate all over the cave walls. That room was lit... the rest miles of twisting tunnels with cross trails and pits  and us with only a coal oil lantern.

LOL didn't stay long :P

Mammoth Caves at that time they said they had over 600 miles of UNCHARTED caves

One of the bottomless holes 

(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e7/Mammoth_Cave_National_Park_001.jpg)

Mammoth is a huge tourist trap now paved walkways, endless stair cases and electric lighting. Lots of stalactites etc

(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/42/Mammoth_Cave_Mammoth_Dome.jpg)

Looking back to the light on the River Styx that flows through the caves  Beyond here (behind camera) it is dark  pitch black dark and endless

(http://www.travelstar1.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/cave-0017.jpg)
Title: Re: World's Largest Cavern
Post by: zorgon on March 17, 2015, 05:22:09 pm
Lost Sea Tennessee

Sweetwater Lake deep underground... this is where ll our water is going to. Deeper and deeper into the Earth

(http://www.lakescientist.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/lost-sea-sweetwater-tennessee.jpg)

Glass bottom boat tours on the lake that has underwater lights lets you see the blind cave fish that live here (and did so before we came along) Divers have tried to find bottom in this lake... so far as I know they haven't yet

The lake is fed by Ruby Falls  an underground water fall taller than Niagara Falls. On the tour they turn out the lights so you can experience what the cavers feel. They shine a single helmet light to a spot 200 ft or so up the cave wall to a small hole (that I would get stuck in)  This hole is where the first person to find the caves entereted  crawling through tight passages.

Imagine groping in front of you and NOTHING  You shine your light and it hits NOTHING but you hear the water fall... drop a small stone and wait and NOTHING :P so you have to crawl out backwards.

A passage no wider than this (there are hundreds all directions

(https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3392/3512240893_67e9e08429.jpg)

Now what would possess someone to even try that blind? :P

(https://farm7.staticflickr.com/6147/6015660447_c0e1623115_b.jpg)
Title: Re: World's Largest Cavern
Post by: zorgon on March 17, 2015, 07:32:34 pm
India and Japan Discovered Moon Caves Long Before NASA Orbiter Did ...
by Sallye Painter


(http://cdn.topsecretwriters.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/moon-cave.jpg)

In July 2014, the news flashed around the world that NASA had discovered holes in the moon’s carters that led to underground caves. NASA also stated that they believed these holes and caves could one day support astronauts by providing shelter.
NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter cataloged over 200 holes, or what NASA calls lunar pits, that range from 16 feet to 2,952 feet in diameter.

The pits were found “using a new computer algorithm that automatically scanned thousands of high-resolution images of the lunar surface from LRO’s Narrow Angle Camera (NAC)” that was developed by Robert Wagner of Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona.

“A habitat placed in a pit — ideally several dozen meters back under an overhang — would provide a very safe location for astronauts: no radiation, no micrometeorites, possibly very little dust, and no wild day-night temperature swings,” Wagner is quoted on the NASA website. (1)

The NASA discovery of hundreds of moon holes is outstanding and marks an amazing find, but not the first moon holes to be discovered. In 2009 and 2010, two other space agencies made the discovery of lunar holes. In 2009, India’s Chandrayaan-1 mission discovered a huge moon hole followed by Japan’s KAGUYA mission discovery of a moon hole on the far side of the moon.

http://www.topsecretwriters.com/2014/08/india-japan-discovered-moon-caves-long-nasa-orbiter/

India Scientists Discover Huge Moon Hole on Chandrayaan-1 Mission

In 2008, India launched its first lunar spacecraft, Chandrayaan-1, in collaboration with the ESA (European Space Agency). Collaboration between different space agencies isn’t as unusual as it may sound.

In fact, SpaceRef  reported in September 2009 that NASA had a M3 (Moon Mineralogy Mapper) on board the Chandrayaan-1 that professors from Brown University and other institutes used to detect water on the moon.

During the Chalndrayaan-1 mission, India scientists discovered a huge moon hole that was 393 feet in diameter and over a mile long. The India research team published a paper in 2011 outlining their discovery and also hypothesized the possibility of using the hole for a future human base on the moon.

They describe how the lava structure would be able to protect a moon colony. The hole would provide protection from the various hazards found on the moon such as micro-meteor impact, moon dust, extreme temperature fluctuations and the most important threat to human life, radiation.

In their paper, the scientists explained how the natural properties of the lava structure provided environmental control. The interior of the hole is almost a constant temperature of -4 degrees Fahrenheit (oF) compared to the moon surface temperature range between 266oF and -292oF.

In February 2011, Silicon India published the news of the “giant underground chamber on the moon” and discussed how scientists felt the hole or pit could be used to establish a base for future astronaut missions to the moon. The scientists were quoted that such a permanent base was important for further lunar exploration.

In 2010, the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) announced the discovery of a moon hole during its lunar mission, KAGUYA. The vertical hole was discovered on the far side of the moon.

The hole was significantly smaller than the one discovered by the India lunar mission. The Japanese mission measured the hole as 213 feet in diameter and 289 feet deep. The hole was discovered in the “Oceanus Procellarum (Ocean of Storms)” a known lava region.

In February 2011, Silicon India published the news of the “giant underground chamber on the moon, which they feel could be used as a base by astronauts on future manned missions to moon”. The scientists were also quoted saying that such a permanent base was important for further lunar exploration.

The new computer algorithm that allowed scientists to scan NASA high-resolution images of the moon’s surface made finding lunar pits or holes a faster and very successful process with hundreds of new discoveries. The India and Japan missions that hallmarked the discovery of lunar holes may one day become the cornerstones for building human settlements on the moon.

(http://assets.inhabitat.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2014/07/NASA-Lunar-pit-caves-3.jpg)

(http://d1jqu7g1y74ds1.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/lunar-pit-2.jpg)
Title: Re: World's Largest Cavern
Post by: zorgon on March 17, 2015, 07:39:20 pm
Could This Lunar Cave Provide Shelter for a Future Moon Colony?

Quote
Since 2009, NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera has found over 200 pits on the Moon's surface. They range in size from about 16 feet (5 meters) across to more than 2,950 feet (900 m) in diameter. They tend to be located either in large craters with impact melt ponds (areas of lava that formed from the heat of the impact and later solidified) or in the lunar maria (dark areas on the moon that are extensive solidified lava flows hundreds of miles across). "Maria" is the Latin word for "seas," and are named as such because that's what the ancients thought they were.

(http://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s--qirXk5Qw--/c_fit,fl_progressive,q_80,w_636/vvfkihrmtyb6qp2ckrci.jpg)

[youtube]iQLWIuaNg68[/youtube]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQLWIuaNg68

(http://danielmarin.naukas.com/files/2014/03/Captura-de-pantalla-2014-03-17-a-las-22.24.04.png)
Title: Re: World's Largest Cavern
Post by: zorgon on March 17, 2015, 07:46:49 pm
Mars Caves
Mars Orbiter discovers that Mars has caves


(http://static.uahirise.org/images/2011/details/cut/ESP_023531_1840.jpg)

Quote
It is probably inevitable that man will at some point travel to Mars, and chances are it will be a company behind the expedition rather than NASA but at least now we know that they’ll be able to do some cave spelunking thanks to a discover by NASA’s Mars Orbiter which is currently sending incredibly high-rez images back to earth.

One of the most recent and amazing discoveries made by NASA scientists who are pouring over those images is what looks very much like a large cave at the bottom of a large bowl shaped depression on the surface of Mars.

Earlier this year, the CTX camera team saw a crater containing a dark spot on the dusty slopes of the Pavonis Mons volcano. We took a closer look at this feature with HiRISE and found this unusual geologic feature.

The dark spot turned out to be a “skylight,” an opening to an underground cavern, that is 35 meters (115 feet) across. Caves often form in volcanic regions like this when lava flows solidify on top, but keep flowing underneath their solid crust. These, now underground, rivers of lava can then drain away leaving the tube they flowed through empty. We can use the shadow cast on the floor of the pit to calculate that it is about 20 meters (65 feet) deep.

via HiRISE

There are plans for the HiRISE team to acquire a second image of the location and then create a stereo pair which they hope will let them unravel this mystery a little further.

http://www.inquisitr.com/135479/mars-orbiter-discovers-that-mars-has-caves/
Title: Re: World's Largest Cavern
Post by: zorgon on March 17, 2015, 07:52:05 pm
Caves of Mars Project

(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/ec/Mars%3B_Arsia_Mons_cave_entrance_-MRO.jpg/640px-Mars%3B_Arsia_Mons_cave_entrance_-MRO.jpg)

Caves of Mars Project -
was a project funded by the Phase II program by the NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts, with a view to selecting the best potential sites for housing and residential research modules manned mission to Mars.

Caves and other underground structures, including lava caves and canyons, and other depressions Martian would be potentially useful for manned missions, as thick rock surfaces would make it easier to check the temperature and reduce the solar radiation that could seriously jeopardize the health of astronauts. They may also offer access to minerals, gases, ice cream groundwater, and can develop underground life there, which there probably will be sought.

The program also worked on the design of inflatable modules and other similar structures that could be helpful for astronauts.

(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/ef/Mars_caves_from_NASA_orbiters.jpg/1024px-Mars_caves_from_NASA_orbiters.jpg)

In Polish
http://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caves_of_Mars_Project

Title: Re: World's Largest Cavern
Post by: zorgon on March 17, 2015, 07:56:35 pm
January 04, 2011
NASA Mars Orbiter Spots Caves on Red Planet


(http://www.dailygalaxy.com/.a/6a00d8341bf7f753ef0148c748f3dc970c-pi)

Quote
Huge pits or caves pumcture a bright, dusty plain near the Martian volcano Ascraeus Mons in an image  taken between October 1 and November 1 by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO). Caves and other underground structures, including lava tubes, and canyon overhangs would be potentially useful for manned missions to the Red Planet, providing shielding from both the elements and intense radiation that a Mars mission would expose astronauts to. They might also offer access to minerals, gases, ices, and any subterranean life that the crew of such a mission would probably be searching for.

Released in December, the image is among a series of new views snapped by MRO's HiRISE camera that show intriguing geological features on Mars. Each image covers a strip of Martian ground 3.7 miles (6 kilometers) wide and can reveal a detail about as small as a desk—and so far no sign of Star Wars monsters.

MRO's sister orbiter, Mars Odyssey, first noticed the two deep pits—which are about 590 feet (180 meters) and 1,017 feet (310 meters), —a year earlier using its infrared camera, THEMIS.

"When compared to the surrounding surface, the dark interiors of the holes gave off heat at night but were cool by day," said Alfred McEwen, principal investigator on the HiRISE camera. "So we then decided to target these with MRO because this thermal information may be evidence for these being caves—but the jury is still out on that."

The MRO has been studying Mars since 2006, beaming back more data than all other past and current missions to the planet combined.

(http://www.dailygalaxy.com/.a/6a00d8341bf7f753ef0147e13f8801970b-pi)

http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog/2011/01/nasa-spots-caves-on-red-planet.html
Title: Re: World's Largest Cavern
Post by: zorgon on March 17, 2015, 07:59:39 pm
HiRise A Pair of Small Pit Craters
PSP_009488_1745


(http://static.uahirise.org/images/2008/details/cut/PSP_009488_1745_cut_c.jpg)

Quote
Pit craters exist in volcanic regions across Mars, and form when surface materials collapse into large underground cavities. Such pits are generally bowl-shaped, filled with sediment, and are relatively shallow when compared with their diameters.

Recently, a small number of anomalous pit craters were identified with strikingly different visible and thermal characteristics such as: sheer cliff walls; deep interiors that can extend out-of-sight beneath the surface; and temperature fluctuations that behave unlike any known feature on Mars.

The pair of pit craters visible here are the smallest “anomalous” pits known to exist at this time. These have either vertical or sub-vertical interior walls (not visible from a nearly overhead viewing perspective), and each pit is deep enough that sunlight does not hit the floor when it’s at the zenith. Unfortunately, the only thermal-infrared camera currently orbiting Mars cannot resolve features this small, so the temperature characteristics of these pits must remain unknown for now, underscoring the need for a high-resolution thermal instrument on future missions.

Intriguingly, when pit craters on Earth have similar characteristics to the pair shown here, they often have cave entrances in their bases connecting to large underground networks. Current investigations are determining whether the anomalous Martian pits may be shown to contain such entrances.

The ability to detect and explore Martian caves is of intense interest to many disciplines in planetary science. Caves may expose entire sets of stratigraphic layers, providing windows into Mars’ geologic and atmospheric histories.

Cave environments can also protect organic life from extremely harsh conditions on the Martian surface, and may provide future human explorers with secure habitats. Accordingly, caves are considered among the most promising locations to find preserved evidence of past or present microbial life.

Furthermore, the challenges associated with Mars cave exploration may inspire a range new technologies, such as advanced robotics and target-specific landing capabilities.

Written by: Glenn Cushing/ Circe Verba   (22 October 2008)

http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/PSP_009488_1745
Title: Re: World's Largest Cavern
Post by: zorgon on March 17, 2015, 08:04:59 pm
Mars Caves Might Protect Microbes (or Astronauts)

(http://i.space.com/images/i/000/004/708/original/091023-sky-light-02.jpg)
A possible opening to a subsurface cave system on Mars. Scientists say these structures could be a possible safe haven for Mars-bound astronauts. They could also preserve any evidence of potentia

A series of newly discovered depressions on the Martian surface could be the entrances to a cave system on the red planet.

Hints of subsurface tunnels have been found in images of Mars before, but the new evidence is more suggestive, said Glen Cushing, a physicist with the U.S. Geological Survey who discovered the possible caves.

http://www.space.com/7440-mars-caves-protect-microbes-astronauts.html
Title: Re: World's Largest Cavern
Post by: dreb13 on March 18, 2015, 04:58:57 am
I'd be hesitant to investigate any caves on the Moon or Mars.

You never know, It might not end up being a cave after all

(http://www.galaxyfaraway.com/gfa/wp-content/gallery/millenium_falcon/nocave.jpg)
Title: Re: World's Largest Cavern
Post by: Shasta56 on March 21, 2015, 08:43:19 pm
Ooh!  Z's Mammoth Cave pics have me hankerin to visit Kentucky and Tennessee.   Never been to either state.  That could be a maiden voyage for my daughter,  my grandkids and me.  I have to work more and save money.

Shasta
Title: Re: World's Largest Cavern
Post by: astr0144 on May 16, 2016, 08:44:42 pm
A Farmer Noticed This Hole In A Rock, But What's Inside Has Astounded The Whole World


(http://naijapicks.com/uploads/1451899608%E2%80%9D_%E2%80%9DSon-Doong-2.jpg)

The S?n ?oòng Cave in Vietnam is the largest cave in the world. A tour inside the cave is something extraordinary; it contains a jungle, a river and it has plenty of room for a skyscraper with 40 floors!

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The enormous cave is located 280 miles south of the capital Hanoi, in the Vietnamese national park Phong Nha-K? Bàng. Tag along in this underground world and be inspired by nature's beauty.

Hang S?n ?oòng translates to 'mountain river cave' in Vietnamese. It was created 2-5 million years ago by river water eroding away the limestone underneath the mountain.

It was found in 1991 by a local farmer named H? Khanh, but the first people who actually explored the cave were British experts in 2009.


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It contains its own animal life, lakes, rain-forest, beaches and a river.

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The cave has also rare pearls that are formed when water laden with minerals dripping from a cave's ceiling, falls too quickly to form a stalagmite. Instead, the dripping water forms a small ball of mineral deposits that grows into a small mineral pearl.

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http://naijapicks.com/posts/962/a-farmer-noticed-this-hole-in-a-rock-but-whats-inside-has-astounded-the-whole-world
Title: Re: World's Largest Cavern
Post by: space otter on March 16, 2017, 06:16:09 pm


humans mess up another one..sigh


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/son-doong-cave-vietnam-cable-car-plan_us_58c67dc2e4b054a0ea6ba11f?section=us_science

In Vietnam, A Rush To Save The World’s Largest Cave From The Masses
“Caves are fragile environments. They don’t regenerate very quickly, and once they’re broken, they’re broken.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xNVGuizNpA

The world’s largest cave, the mammoth Hong Son Doong in Vietnam, is a relative babe-in-arms when it comes to natural history: The cavern was first discovered in 1991, then lost, then found again before it was first explored in 2009. But less than a decade later, environmentalists are scrambling to save the site from thousands of tourists and a development company set on thrusting a cable car into its depths.

Located in Phong Nha-Ke Bang national park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Son Doong stretches more than 5.5 miles underground, reaches heights of 650 feet and is home to its own jungle, ecosystem and river. Just one tour company has a concession to venture into the cave, and only a few hundred people are allowed inside the fragile environment every year. But that could soon change.

HuffPost RYOT spoke with local activists, cavers and the spelunkers who first explored Son Doong about the local government’s secretive plans that may allow developers to build a massive cable car project that’d bring more than 1,000 people to the cave each day.

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JASON SPETH/HUFFPOST RYOT
Despite its size, Son Doong wasn’t discovered until 1991. It was lost again for nearly two decades and was fully explored for the first time in 2009.
Such threats are not new.

In 2014, a group of local activists helped stave off a proposal to build a $212 million, 6.5 mile-long cable car throughout Phong Nha-Ke Bang park that would traverse parts of Son Doong. The announcement drew widespread condemnation despite assurances from the cable car company, Sun Group, that it would be an environmentally friendly way to view the park that’d bring “thousands of jobs for the poor local people.”

Any plans at Son Doong would likely echo another project, completed by another company last year, at the country’s Mount Fansipan, one of the tallest peaks in the region. The site is now home to a cable car that cut a journey that used to take three days on foot down to 20 minutes. The system can now bring 2,000 people to the summit every hour, and, like the country’s iconic Ha Long Bay, has become a hive of tourist activity.

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JASON SPETH/HUFFPOST RYOT
Vietnam’s Son Doong cave, the largest in the world, could hold a 40-story skyscraper inside. The pristine ecosystem has its own river and jungle.


A Facebook group operating under the name Save Son Doong has called on the Vietnamese government to again reject the proposal, saying the “project must be stopped before it has a huge and damaging impact on the Son Doong cave and the ecosystem of the entire Phong Nha-Ke Bang national park,” a Change.org petition organized by the group says.

Those concerns were echoed by the British Cave Research Association, the group that declared Son Doong the largest of its kind and, alongside the explorer Howard Limbert, led the first expedition to the site.

“Caves are fragile environments. They don’t regenerate very quickly, and once they’re broken, they’re broken,” Deb Limbert, a team leader for the group, told HuffPost RYOT.

Government officials in the province of Quang Binh, where Son Doong is located, have told local media there are no plans to support a new cable car project.

In March, HuffPost RYOT filmed a representative of the cable car company traveling to the cave with Phong Nha-Ke Bang park employees.

Take a look at more photos of Son Doong cave below.

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JASON SPETH/HUFFPOST RYOT
Environmentalists worry a cable car would damage the cave’s fragile ecosystem.




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JASON SPETH/HUFFPOST RYOT
An underground river helped carve out the Son Doong cave over millions of years.





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JASON SPETH/HUFFPOST RYOT
The cave has been protected from the masses by its relative inaccessibility.


CORRECTION: An earlier version of this article included two pictures of Hang En cave instead of Son Doong.
Title: Re: World's Largest Cavern
Post by: zorgon on March 16, 2017, 06:25:16 pm
That is the problem with these things...  whether to lock them up so only a select few get to ever see them  or allow tourists to experience it

The Great pyramid was closed to inside visitors because of their breathing
Title: Re: World's Largest Cavern
Post by: Irene on March 16, 2017, 06:36:57 pm
This kind of thing is why I stopped traveling. I was bad for the environment and traveling has become a major pain in the a**.

A cable car in a cave? Stupid.

They should limit visitors. Those that are allowed in should be fitted with rebreathers and severely penalized for touching anything. Anything.

Can't watch the video. It's in that GD 3D crap.  >:(