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Cova Gran

Cova Gran

A 32-metre-long cave on the Cingle Blanc, Arbolí, with a descending gallery and a joint chamber. History: visited in 1929 by Salvador Vilaseca and explored by the GES of the CMB in 1979.

Arbolí • Baix Camp 32m 11m

A 32-metre-long cave on the Cingle Blanc, Arbolí, with a descending gallery and a joint chamber. History: visited in 1929 by Salvador Vilaseca and explored by the GES of the CMB in 1979.

Characteristics

Location

From the coll d'Alforja the road heading to l'Arbolí (TV-7012) starts; after a couple of kilometres we come to a crossroads, to the left it goes to l'Arbolí, to the right to la Mussara, we will take the latter (TV-7092). After about 350 metres from the crossroads, we find on the right a cultivated field and at the end of it a flat area where a path begins that heads to l'Alforja, descending the Cingle Blanc by the grau de l'Embut; after a bend to the right we reach the base of the cingle, the path passes between an enormous block and the wall of the cingle, we follow the path until reaching the next bend, this time to the left; right at the bend, a small path leaves head-on, which we will follow for some 50 metres, then turning off to the right and climbing about 30 metres in the direction of the cingle, where there are two gigantic blocks (there are cairns, data from 2012); at the base of the left-hand block we will find the mouth no. 1 of the avenc dels Ossos; a few metres before reaching it, we will follow a small path in a W direction that passes to the left of the mouth of the cova de l'Esquerda, the small path turns towards the N in the direction of the cingle and shortly before reaching it we will pass by the mouth no. 4 of the avenc dels Ossos; we will follow the small path until reaching the wall of the cingle, we will continue to the left along its base, about twenty metres, where we will find ourselves facing the mouth of the cave.

Map

Entrances

Always verify coordinates and access conditions before setting out.

  1. Gran, Cova

    Elevation: 745 m

    41.223862, 0.955165
    UTM 31T (ED 50) 328699 4565828
Download all entrances as GPX

Photos

Cova Gran - Photo, Arbolí, Baix CampView image
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Espeleoindex · CC BY-NC 4.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ · Image © its author.

Image 1 of 3

Description

Morphology

The mouth, situated at the foot of the cingle, places us in a descending gallery with the floor covered with leaves from the dense vegetation outside; at the base of the ramp we find an intersection of joints that form a chamber of notable proportions; towards the E, the gallery continues for a few metres until it becomes impassable, but the outside light can be seen.

Other details

The GES of Club Muntanyenc Barcelonès, in their work published in 1980 (2), mention the cova del Nan, 4 metres long; we suppose that it is a narrow fissure that connects with the cova Gran but whose narrowness makes it impassable; in fact, from inside the cova Gran the outside light can be seen.

History

Although long known to the local people, the first visit of which there is a record is the one made in 1929 by Salvador Vilaseca Anguera, from Reus; he carried out archaeological studies in a series of caves situated on the Cingle Blanc, calling them coves d'Arbolí and cataloguing them alphabetically with the letters from A to N; he published these studies in 1934.

In more modern times the cavity received sporadic visits from speleologists. The GES of the CMB during 1979 explored all the cavities of the Cingle Blanc, publishing the results in 1980 in the magazine Sota Terra 1; currently the municipality of l'Arbolí is incorporated into the comarca of Baix Camp, but at different periods it had been in the Conca de Barberà and also in the Priorat.

Except for la Cova del Rufino, which Vilaseca catalogued with the letter “C”, and the avenc dels Ossos with the letter “M”, the GES, faced with the uncertainty of knowing which letter corresponded to each cavity, chose to give new names to all the cavities that were not known by some specific name.

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Bibliography

  1. Borrás, J.;Miñarro, JM.;Talavera, F.(1984).-”el baix camp, el priorat i la ribera d'ebre”. Catàleg Espeleològic de Catalunya (vol. 7):1-283. Ed. Políglota. Barcelona.
  2. Montoriol, A.(1980).-”Noves cavitats obertes als Motllats”. Sota Terra (1):28-38. GES – CMB. Barcelona.

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