Ayalon Cave

Coordinates: 31°54′37″N 34°55′39″E / 31.91028°N 34.92750°E / 31.91028; 34.92750
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Ayalon Cave
Large chamber with cave lake in Ayalon Cave
Map showing the location of Ayalon Cave
Map showing the location of Ayalon Cave
LocationRamla, Israel
Coordinates31°54′37″N 34°55′39″E / 31.91028°N 34.92750°E / 31.91028; 34.92750
Depth100 metres (330 ft)
Length2,700 metres (8,900 ft)
Discovery2006
GeologyLimestone

The Ayalon Cave (

crustaceans along with four terrestial animals, one of them a species of blind scorpion – with many more expected to be discovered.[2]

Discovery and description

According to historian Roy Marom, the existence of significant caves on the site was known to the ancients. In the 16th century, the site is recorded as Mazraʽat šīḥah /Mazraʽat šīḥa/ [54], “the farm of the pit, cavity, ditch”, from Aramaic šyḥ’, exemplifiying and motivated by the fact that the site has dozens of caves and underground caverns. In the 19th century, the site was known as muġur šīḥa ("Shiha Caves").[3]

The cave was rediscovered in 2006 when a small opening was discerned in the quarry.[4]

The cave, 100 metres (330 ft) deep, extends 2,700 metres (8,900 ft) including its branches, which makes it the third-largest limestone cave in Israel.[5]

Significance

According to Professor

bacterium which feeds on sulfur which serves as the only organic matter available for the next higher level of organisms to feed on. The cave has offered an ecological refuge for species whose relatives living at the surface have been wiped out by climatic changes and catastrophic events over millions of years, and offers a unique sample for the study of long-term ecological changes in the area.[5]

Ecosystem

Photosynthesis-free food chain

As the cave was completely cut off from the outside environment, it sustained an independent

oxidizing the sulfide compounds in the water, and derive organic compounds using carbon dioxide from the air. These compounds form the basis of the cave's ecosystem. The temperature and salt content of the cave's water indicates that it originates from sources deep underground. Although this cave is part of an aquifer fed by rain falling in the mountains to the east, which happens to be one of the main potable water sources for Israel and the Palestinian territories, chemically more complex sources can create local pockets with very specific water composition.[citation needed
]

New species

Researchers announced that they had discovered eight species previously unknown to science, all without eyes, comprising four aquatic crustacean species and four other species of terrestrial crustaceans and springtails.[5]

A species of eyeless

Akrav israchanani, from the Hebrew word for scorpion, "akrav", and honouring the researchers who identified it, Israel Naaman and Hanan Dimentman.[5]

2021 destruction threat averted

The cave is located on the premises of a limestone quarry owned by the cement manufacturing Nesher Industries.

runoff water in winter so as to avoid flooding by the Ayalon River, the quarry with the Ayalon Cave having been proposed as a possible catchment pool.[1] Various scientists and the Israel Nature and Parks Authority have been opposed to the idea, with an online public signature collection supporting their position.[1]

Scientists argued that a massive influx of surface runoff water, which is totally different from the groundwater on which the unique cave ecosystem is based, would be sure to destroy it.[1] The intervention by Israeli and foreign researchers and the public petition has saved the cave's ecosystem, the authorities deciding for a different technical solution.[6]

Access

The cave is not accessible to the public. Only a small number of researchers are allowed to enter.[5]

See also

References

  1. ^
    Times of Israel
    . 4 June 2021. Retrieved 22 March 2024.
  2. ^ "Unique Underground Ecosystem Revealed by Hebrew University Researchers Uncovers Eight Previously Unknown Species." Hebrew University Press release, 31 May 2006. Re-accessed 22 March 2024.
  3. ^ Marom, Roy; Zadok, Ran (2023). "Early-Ottoman Palestinian Toponymy: A Linguistic Analysis of the (Micro-)Toponyms in Haseki Sultan's Endowment Deed (1552)". Zeitschrift des Deutschen Palästina-Vereins. 139 (2).
  4. ^ "Scientists Discover Prehistoric Cave With Eight New Species in Ramle". Haaretz. Retrieved 2024-02-25.
  5. ^ a b c d e "One year later, 'Noah's Ark' cave is no longer a safe haven". Haaretz. 19 July 2007. Retrieved September 16, 2018.
  6. ^ "Unique Ayalon Cave ecosystem saved from destruction", Lior Peleg for Israel Hayom, 14 Sep 2021. Accessed 22 March 2024.
  7. ^ Sârbu, Şerban M. "The fascinating biology of stinky caves", - ARPHA Conference Abstracts, 25th International Conference on Subterranean Biology, Cluj-Napoca, 18-22 July 2022. Re-accessed 23 March 2024.
  8. ^ Chiciudean, I., Russo, G., Bogdan, D.F. et al. "Competition-cooperation in the chemoautotrophic ecosystem of Movile Cave: first metagenomic approach on sediments." Environmental Microbiome 17, 44 (2022). Permanent doi.org/10.1186/s40793-022-00438-w. Re-accessed 23 March 2024.
  9. ^ "The True History of Ancient Jewish Underground Hiding Places in Israel". Ariel David for Haaretz. 18 January 2024. Retrieved 22 March 2024.

External links

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