Etna North Territory: Randazzo
Coordinates: 33S 497250E 4184250N (Utm Wgs84) | 37°48'20.2″N 14°58'07.7″E
ELEVATION: 1855 m
Development: +-70 mt total.
Nearest known location: Bear's Dagala
Exploration: Easily accessible and visitable with just lights and helmet.
Taken over by Dario & Paolo Teri (on 13.1.2021)
Notified to the relevant municipality on \\
The cave, very particular for its morphology, is located about 400 linear meters from the famous Dagala dell'Orso on lavas of 1614/24 of type aa. Identifying the entrance to the cave is not easy, as there are 3 openings, not very large. The most downstream part of the cavity consists of a channel with a rather low vault. After about 15 meters a collapse opens on the vault that allows access to the second part of the cave. Here the channel forks into two channels both passable by crouching. There are several concretions of abundant white minerals. After about 20 meters you can glimpse the light that enters from the third opening, which in the morning, creates very fascinating plays of light on the bright green moss grown in this area of ​​the rocky floor. Here the most interesting part of the hypogeum opens. A very large and tapered room. On the left side you descend towards another large “room” about 2,5 meters high on average, where the partial collapse of the vault has exposed the most compact layers of the roof, which from the outside appears to be a typical “tumulus”, a phenomenon of lifting of slab-shaped lava due to the thrust of the lava from the bottom upwards, very common in the long eruption of 1624. At the time of the survey there were no typical men or other signs of human passage, leading to the hypothesis that it could be an unexplored cave or more probably very little known, perhaps by the shepherds of the area. The proximity to the CAI path passing by Dagala dell'Orso would justify a visit to the cave.
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Dario Teri 13 January 2021 Unseen & Little-Known Etna Caves No Responses