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Avenc de les Forques

Avenc de les Forques

Avenc de 21 metres de fondària a Vandellòs i l'Hospitalet de l'Infant.

Vandellòs i l'Hospitalet de l'Infant • Baix Ebre28m21m

A 21-metre-deep pit in Vandellòs i l'Hospitalet de l'Infant, with a first 6-metre shaft and a 14-metre drop, explored in 1966 and revisited in February 2024.

Characteristics

Location

Going along the A-7 heading South, at the height of the Vandellòs nuclear power station it becomes the N-340, and after kilometre 1121 we find a roundabout (Cruïlla de l'Almadrava), where we will take, on the right, the old road (now N-340A). We will follow it until, after 2,100 metres, we cross the bed of the barranc de Cap de Terme and the Calafat gravel pit. Immediately after passing the right slope of the ravine we will find a dirt track on the right, which we will follow for 1100 metres until we find a temporary pool on the hydrographic right of the ravine. Just in front of the pool and on the opposite side, at eight metres, is the mouth of the pit, behind a cubic stone block one metre high. A small path, recently cleared by hunters (February 2024), leads directly from the track to the pit.

Mapa

Entrances

Always verify coordinates and access conditions before setting out.

  1. Avenc de les Forques

    Elevation: 107 m

    40.949255, 0.822497
    UTM 31T (ETRS89) 316722 4535407
Download all entrances as GPX

Photos

Avenc de les Forques - Photo, Vandellòs i l'Hospitalet de l'Infant, Baix EbreView image
Click to enlarge

Espeleoindex · CC BY-NC 4.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ · Image © its author.

Image 1 of 9

Description

Morphology

A first 6-metre shaft is followed by a new 14-metre drop, this second part of the pit being quite well decorated with concretions and laterally joined with remains of small cavities of vertical development.

Speleothems

At present the cavity is very dry and the wall formations are highly decalcified.

Progression

The cavity has been equipped with Inox M8 parabolds at the mouth, and another located one metre below the ledge at the base of the 6-metre shaft, on the left side.

History

Explored by Josep Castell and his group in 1966, when he was then a member of the ERE-CEC. It was later visited by members of the SIE – CEA who made a new survey (unpublished to date).

Years later it was the object of biospeleological research by our friend Floren Fadrique, who is the one who tells us that the correct name is Avenc de les Forques and not de la Forca as the first explorers called it.

Many years passed without any news of the cavity and with very erroneous location data, since instead of being in the barranc de les Forques, as was to be expected from the name, it turns out to be in the neighbouring ravine, that of Lleriola.

Once again our friend Floren, thanks to contact with a hunter who knew the exact location, accompanies him at the end of February 2024 and visits it again. Inside, a “graffiti” made by the first explorers in 1966 is still preserved.

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Bibliography

  1. Borràs, J.; Miñarro, J.M.; Talavera, F.(1984).-”el Baix Camp, el Priorat i la Ribera d'Ebre”. Catàleg Espeleològic de Catalunya (vol.7):127-129. Ed. Políglota. Barcelona.
  • Actualització de dades de situació, coordenades i fotografies facilitades per Floren Fadrique. Fotos exteriors d'Alfons Tejedo.
  • Actualització de fitxa d'equipament i fotografies facilitades per Juli Serrano (SIE-CEA) i Francesc Rubinat (ERE-CEC). Març de 2024.

Source: Espeleoindex (espeleoindex.com), modified. CC BY-NC 4.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/