Caves and potholes in the Val d'Aran geological unit
Spans: Val d'Aran
Part of the Pirineu Axial major unit, dominated by limestone (76 %). Its caves are spread across Val d'Aran.
High Atlantic Pyrenean valley of the Pirineu Axial, with 70 cavities: 16 caves and 54 pits. The high-altitude limestone and marble karst reaches 8,512 m of passage and 571 m of maximum depth.
There are 70 catalogued cavities in the Val d'Aran geological unit, including 54 potholes and 16 caves. The longest is Sistema de la Bargadèra (2,100m).
Length adds each cave once (a system counts once), and depth is that of the deepest cave, canyons excluded.
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Val d'Aran is a unit of the Pirineu Axial, a high Atlantic Pyrenean valley with high-altitude limestone and marble karst among granite peaks. It contains 70 cavities: 16 caves and 54 pits, with a total passage length of 8,512 m and a maximum depth of 571 m. The lithologies present are limestones (53), marbles (9), granites (4), slates (2) and sandstones (2).
The Sistema de la Bargadèra, at Escunhau, Vielha, is the cavity with the greatest vertical drop in Catalonia: it links the avenc de la Bargadèra and the horat des Lòses (CE-6), with a vertical drop of -571 metres, and reaches 2,100 m of passage. Other notable cavities are the Horat Der Uelh Deth Tor, a pit 169 metres deep explored since 1977 with 1,718 m of passage, and the Sistema de Sarrahèra, an underground traverse with a vertical drop of 102 metres.
The Horat Der Unhòla is a large karst depression and sinkhole with a cavity more than 200 m deep, which includes the Hilat Bernard Magos (T-2) and the Hilat era Ansa dera Caudèra, discovered in 2018. The Horat Deth Bo comprises a 250 m underground stretch of the Malo river, to the SE of the Plan de Beret. The Cigalèra Deth Bacivèr, in Naut Aran (Alt Aran), is 163 m deep with seven shafts and two ledges, and was discovered in 1978 and explored and surveyed by the ERE-CEC in 1982.
Map
The 20 longest
- 1Sistema de la BargadèraVielha e Mijaran, Lleida2,100 m
- 2Horat Der Uelh Deth TorVielha e Mijaran, Lleida1,718 m
- 3Sistema de SarrahèraVielha e Mijaran, Lleida933 m
- 4Horat Der UnhòlaVielha e Mijaran, Lleida835 m
- 5Horat Deth BoNaut Aran, Lleida250 m
- 6Cigalèra Deth BacivèrNaut Aran, Lleida215 m
- 7Uelh Der SescorjadaVielha e Mijaran, Lleida184 m
- 8Horat Dera Dolina GambusaNaut Aran, Lleida160 m
- 9Cauva Dera Hònt HeredaVielha e Mijaran, Lleida150 m
- 10Cauva Deth MarimanhaNaut Aran, Lleida140 m
- 11Horat d'EscunhauVielha e Mijaran, Lleida117 m
- 12Horat Ajsc-44Canejan, Lleida100 m
- 13Horat L5Vielha e Mijaran, Lleida90 m
- 14Horats de MargalidaBossòst, Lleida90 m
- 15Horat Des VaquesVielha e Mijaran, Lleida85 m
- 16Horat de TartèraVielha e Mijaran, Lleida80 m
- 17Horat Gb-5Vielha e Mijaran, Lleida75 m
- 18Horat Ff-2Vielha e Mijaran, Lleida73 m
- 19Horat Ff-1Vielha e Mijaran, Lleida71 m
- 20Cauva Deth HorcalhNaut Aran, Lleida66 m
The 20 deepest
- 1Sistema de la BargadèraVielha e Mijaran, Lleida571 m
- 2Horat Der UnhòlaVielha e Mijaran, Lleida204 m
- 3Horat Der Uelh Deth TorVielha e Mijaran, Lleida169 m
- 4Cigalèra Deth BacivèrNaut Aran, Lleida163 m
- 5Sistema de SarrahèraVielha e Mijaran, Lleida110 m
- 6Horat d'EscunhauVielha e Mijaran, Lleida101 m
- 7Uelh Der SescorjadaVielha e Mijaran, Lleida95 m
- 8Horat Des VaquesVielha e Mijaran, Lleida69 m
- 9Horat Gb-5Vielha e Mijaran, Lleida68 m
- 10Horat L5Vielha e Mijaran, Lleida65 m
- 11Horat Dera Dolina GambusaNaut Aran, Lleida48 m
- 12Cigalèra Deth Malh BlancVielha e Mijaran, Lleida45 m
- 13Horat Ff-1Vielha e Mijaran, Lleida41 m
- 14Eth Hòro Des BarrancsVielha e Mijaran, Lleida37 m
- 15Cauva Deth MarimanhaNaut Aran, Lleida35 m
- 16Horat Ajsc-26Canejan, Lleida35 m
- 17Horats de MargalidaBossòst, Lleida33 m
- 18Horat Ajsc-44Canejan, Lleida30 m
- 19Horat Dera BrumaNaut Aran, Lleida30 m
- 20Horat de TartèraVielha e Mijaran, Lleida24 m
50 of 70
Source: Espeleoindex (espeleoindex.com), modified. CC BY-NC 4.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/