Pit cave

A pit cave, shaft cave or vertical cave—or often simply called a pit (in the US) and pothole or pot (in the UK); jama in

Pit caving

Techniques

Exploration of pit caves ("vertical

]

History

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Pit caving was pioneered by the English

During World War II, a team composed of Pierre Chevalier, Fernand Petzl, Charles Petit-Didier and others explored the Dent de Crolles cave system near Grenoble, France. It became known as the deepest cave in the world (658 m (2,159 ft)) at that time. The lack of available technical equipment during the war forced Chevalier and his team to innovate and develop their own. The scaling-pole (1940), nylon ropes (1942), use of explosives in caves (1947), and mechanical rope ascenders (Henri Brenot's "monkeys", first used by Chevalier and Brenot in a cave in 1934) can be traced historically to the exploration of the Dent de Crolles cave system.

In the late 1950s, American caver, Bill Cuddington, further developed the

• The deepest individual
  Vrtoglavica Cave in Slovenia
  .
• The second deepest pitch is Patkov Gušt at 553 m (1,814 ft) in the Velebit mountain, Croatia.
• Lamb Leer, Somerset, England, was entered by a 25 m (82 ft) pitch as early as the 17th century.
• Hranice Abyss, Czech Republic, is the deepest underwater cave in the world, the lowest confirmed depth (as August 2022) is 519,5 m (450 m under the water level),^[2] the expected depth is 700–800 m.
• Pozzo del Merro, Italy, is the world's second deepest underwater pit cave, the deepest part reached (as of October 2014) is 392 m (1,286 ft).
• Gouffre Mirolda, Haute-Savoie, France has a depth of −1,733 m (−5,686 ft).^[3]

United States

• El Capitan Pit, Prince of Wales Island, Alaska, USA, at 598.3 ft (182.4 m) is the deepest vertical shaft in the United States.
• Fantastic Pit,
  Ellisons Cave System, Georgia
  , USA, at 586 ft (179 m) is the deepest freefall pit in the lower 48 United States.
• Stupendous Pit, Rumbling Falls Cave, Tennessee, USA, is a 202 ft (62 m) pit that drops into a 26 acres (110,000 m²) chamber.
• Hellhole, West Virginia, USA, has a 154 ft (47 m) entrance drop and was the site of development of the single rope technique in the 1950s and '60s.
• Natural Trap Cave, located in the Bighorn Mountains of Wyoming, is 85 ft (26 m) deep and home to one of the largest fossil discoveries in North America.

Mexico

• Sótano de Las Golondrinas ("Cave of Swallows"), San Luis Potosí, Mexico, at 1,094 ft (333 m), is the deepest known freefall drop in the western hemisphere.
• Cenote Poza El Zacatón, Tamaulipas, Mexico, is the world's deepest cenote at 339 m (1,112 ft)

China

CCTV announced that in Shaanxi Province 49 pit caves have been found.^{[citation needed]} The largest one is 500 m in diameter. The caves are in pristine condition, as they lie in inaccessible mountains.^[4]

• Tian Xing, China : deepest know chinese pit at −1 026 m

Gallery

• 
  Fluted pothole, England
• 
  Pit cave PP2, Slovakia
• 
  Cave in Archbald Pothole State Park, United States

See also

• Cenotes and Blue holes (vertical cave sinkhole filled with water)
• Pit crater
• Pitch (vertical space)
• List of sinkholes

References

External links

Media related to Pit caves at Wikimedia Commons