Caves of the Val d'Aran
The Val d'Aran contains 70 cavities: 16 caves and 54 pits, with 8,512 m of total passage and a maximum depth of 571 m. The Sistema de la Bargadèra is the cavity with the greatest vertical drop in Catalonia. Limestone predominates (53), followed by marble (9) and granite (4).
The Val d'Aran region has 70 catalogued caves, including 54 potholes and 16 caves. The longest is Sistema de la Bargadèra (2,100m). 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 Val d'Aran has 70 catalogued cavities: 16 caves and 54 pits. Together they total 8,512 m of passage and reach a maximum depth of 571 m. As for lithologies, limestone predominates (53), followed by marble (9), granite (4), slate (2) and sandstone (2).
The Sistema de la Bargadèra, in 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 has 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 total passage, and the Sistema de Sarrahèra, an underground traverse with a vertical drop of 102 metres accessed via the Cauva de Sarrahèra and the Horat de Sarrahèra.
The Horat Der Unhòla is a large karstic 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. Also listed are the Cigalèra Deth Bacivèr, 163 m deep in Naut Aran, discovered in 1978 and explored and surveyed by the ERE-CEC in 1982, and the Horat Deth Bo, a 250 m underground stretch of the Malo river to the SE of the Plan de Beret.
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
- 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/