Cova dels Meandres de Sal

Access to the cave is from inside the mine, descending through a fissure located where the retreat in the roof of the water inrush point met the wall of the mining gallery. The first drop is 7 metres deep and leaves you on a floorless ledge that nevertheless allows you to follow an excavation level. All the passages of the cavity (except the Superior gallery) share common characteristics: they are intricately meandering, with continuous arms of meanders that are constricted and hanging at different elevations, many of them unexplored; the gallery sections are very vertical, and often the roof cannot be seen. The Superior gallery, unlike the rest of the galleries, is very straight and wider than it is high, although its floor is traversed by an excavation, which gives it a “T”-shaped cross-section. In fact it follows the original phreatic conduit which, when intercepted, caused water to enter the mine: the transition from phreatic to vadose conduit is quite evident. It ends choked with coarse sediments, clearly identifiable with the cobbles of the Cardener riverbed; at the terminal point we are about 60 metres from the river and a dozen metres below its level. The Fèlix gallery runs below the Frits Künzel gallery, with between 15 and 25 metres of vertical separation depending on the location. The Cascades gallery follows the line of the Sant Onofre ramp, from which it is separated vertically by about 40 metres.

The Fèlix gallery originated because of the great flood of 10 June 2000. Although they correspond to the same incision, both galleries have few interconnections, since the intermediate sections are impassable and the evolution at depth is very irregular. One of the existing connections is the Pas del Xiulet. Along the entire exploration the watercourse is not seen, since it runs through the Riu gallery; this is a lower gallery, narrow, difficult to progress through and only partially explored. The Cascades gallery is found downstream of the Confluència; where there is a constricted meander cutoff, a waterfall with a drop of up to 3 metres is generated, some of which had to be descended with ropes at the time, although now the river flows through a narrower channel. Currently, 2020, the cavity, due to its formation in saline material, has undergone substantial changes compared with the initial description; in the exploration carried out on behalf of the mining company on 19 November 2000 at the Sant Onofre ramp, it was flooded below 140 metres and this level was rising at a rate of 3 cm per hour. The company that operates the mine set up a pumping system to keep the flooding at a level prudent for its interests; nevertheless, the lower levels of the cave would already be under water. The latest data we have from the explorations carried out in 2017 suggest that some gallery remains collapsed by mud, while in others the route may even have increased.

Continuing along it, you enter the Fritz Künzel gallery and further on you would reach the Superior gallery; if we decide to continue descending through the fissure we will end up reaching the point known as la Confluència. Here a new 7-metre drop places us near the active watercourse: upstream is the Fèlix gallery; downstream the Cascades gallery. The Fritz Künzel gallery is an excavation level through which one often has to advance using opposition techniques, although no equipment needs to be installed. Its exploration is very athletic and entertaining, with some delicate steps above the fissures; the different levels of galleries and the numerous constricted meanders give it a labyrinthine appearance in many places, making it easy to get lost. The excavation of the gallery took place with the rains of autumn 1999. After travelling about 600 metres one can access the Superior gallery. The Fèlix gallery is the most comfortable and quickest gallery to explore since it has no difficult passages and is done on flat ground. The Cascades gallery gains slope and one has to keep overcoming small steps. 1500 metres of gallery were explored, but currently the lower half of this route is under water due to the flooding of the mine.