Caves of the Garraf
The Garraf area contains 192 cavities: 125 pits and 67 caves, with a total length of 6,101 m and a maximum depth of 193 m. la Falconera, the Forat de la Ruda and the Avenc Leia are among the most notable cavities.
The Garraf region has 192 catalogued caves, including 125 potholes and 67 caves. The longest is la Falconera (600m) and the deepest is Forat de la Ruda (193m). Most caves are found in limestone.
Length adds each cave once (a system counts once), and depth is that of the deepest cave, canyons excluded.
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The Garraf is a region with 192 recorded cavities: 125 pits and 67 caves. Together they total 6,101 m of passage and reach a maximum depth of 193 m. The dominant lithologies are limestones (185 cavities), followed by dolomites (5), travertines (1) and conglomerates (1).
Among the longest cavities are la Falconera, with 600 m, the main spring of the Garraf massif, known since ancient times and explored both speleologically and underwater since 1899; the Forat de la Ruda, with 450 m, and the Avenc Benjamí-digón, with 240 m. As for depth, the Forat de la Ruda reaches 193 m, followed by the Avenc Leia, with 110 m, and the Avenc del Vallaric, with 103 m.
Other notable cavities are the Avenc Leia, discovered in December 2016 by the GES-Garraf and made known in 2018, and the Avenc dels Arítjols, with 92 m of depth and an 80 m shaft discovered in 2014 by the GREC. The Avenc Benjamí-digón, in the Campgràs area, Sitges, was located in 1969, and the Avenc del Vallaric has an entrance shaft of 52 m and a vertical passage down to the -103 level.
Map
Municipalities
The figures of these places do not add up to the total: a cave can be in more than one place, or in none when its location has no lower level.
The 20 longest
- 1la FalconeraSitges, Barcelona600 m
- 2Forat de la RudaSitges, Barcelona450 m
- 3Avenc Benjamí-digónSitges, Barcelona240 m
- 4Avenc del VallaricSitges, Barcelona215 m
- 5Avenc LeiaSitges, Barcelona180 m
- 6Cova del Gegant-llargaSitges, Barcelona180 m
- 7Avenc Hanna SvacbrocSitges, Barcelona135 m
- 8Avenc Emili SabatéSitges, Barcelona134 m
- 9Avenc dels ArítjolsSitges, Barcelona130 m
- 10Avenc del Penya-segat de la FalconeraSitges, Barcelona105 m
- 11Avenc de la PletaSitges, Barcelona104 m
- 12Avenc del LlampSitges, Barcelona90 m
- 13Avenc Ramon VallsSitges, Barcelona90 m
- 14Avenc dels AragallsSitges, Barcelona85 m
- 15Avenc de l'ArboçSitges, Barcelona83 m
- 16Cova del CongreSitges, Barcelona77 m
- 17Avenc de les SerpsSitges, Barcelona73 m
- 18Cova NegraSant Pere de Ribes, Barcelona69 m
- 19Avenc dels BessonsSitges, Barcelona67 m
- 20Avenc del MiradorSitges, Barcelona65 m
The 20 deepest
- 1Forat de la RudaSitges, Barcelona193 m
- 2Avenc LeiaSitges, Barcelona110 m
- 3Avenc del VallaricSitges, Barcelona103 m
- 4Avenc Benjamí-digónSitges, Barcelona95 m
- 5Avenc dels ArítjolsSitges, Barcelona92 m
- 6la FalconeraSitges, Barcelona81 m
- 7Avenc del Penya-segat de la FalconeraSitges, Barcelona80 m
- 8Avenc de la PletaSitges, Barcelona75 m
- 9Avenc Ramon VallsSitges, Barcelona74 m
- 10Avenc del LlampSitges, Barcelona73 m
- 11Avenc Hanna SvacbrocSitges, Barcelona65 m
- 12Avenc de l'ArboçSitges, Barcelona60 m
- 13Avenc dels AragallsSitges, Barcelona55 m
- 14Avenc SantsSitges, Barcelona51 m
- 15Avenc del MiradorSitges, Barcelona47 m
- 16Avenc de la PalmeraSitges, Barcelona45 m
- 17Avenc dels BessonsSitges, Barcelona39 m
- 18Avenc Emili SabatéSitges, Barcelona39 m
- 19Avenc dels NegresSitges, Barcelona34 m
- 20Avenc de la Riera de la FalconeraSitges, Barcelona33 m
50 of 192
Source: Espeleoindex (espeleoindex.com), modified. CC BY-NC 4.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/