Gorna Karanska cave

Further information

Based on its age it can be attributed to the so called “old caves”. This is confirmed by the enormous stalactites that divide it into an anteroom and a central part. It contains calcite crystals – helectites. During the sixth International cave expedition something rather peculiar about the cave – the blocking in its southern part is gravitational and younger than the one in its northern part, which has a tectonic origin. Moreover, it is found that the crystallization of the secondary formations has passed two stages. During the first stage crystalline calcite was formed from solutions with a lower temperature and poorer in minerals. In the second stage, the aragonite crystallized from hotter solutions saturated with richer substances. Strontium was also involved in this step. This stage took place after the formation of the gravitational blockage.

Under the shed, where the two entrances of the cave start, a small hearth and fragments of Thracian ceramics from the Old Iron Age were found.

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