Jenolan Caves
The Jenolan Caves ( " Jenolan Caves " ) are a group of cave in the World Heritage-listed Blue Mountains, a mountain range in the Australian state of New South Wales, about 130 km west of the center of Sydney. The word Jenolan means " high mountain " in the language of the aborigines of the tribe of Gundungarra.
It is in these caves with an age of 340 million years, are the oldest discovered open limestone caves in the world.
Formation
The limestone deposits, which houses the caves is formed by sedimentation and compaction of lime slurries. It came into contact with lava and was repeatedly tectonically moved. In the limestone Jenolan Caves hardly find fossils. The limestone deposit is karstified by carbonic acid weathering, the caves were formed.
Special
Special features include the " lobster tail" stalagmites in the Nettle Cave: It is fossilized stromatolites, where cyanobacteria interact with the crystal. They are estimated to be a minimum age of 20,000 years.
According to a study published in the Australian Journal of Earth Sciences study from 2006, the Jenolan Caves incurred prior to at least 340 million years ago in the era of carbon. Previously, these limestone caves were considered to be only a few thousand years old, until 1999 it was estimated her age at about 100 million years. Dating was made possible by a new method, a variant of conventional potassium - argon method, which is used in prospecting for oil.
Development
The Gundungarra knew the caves Binoomea ( dark place ) and mostly shunned him. Jenolan Caves were discovered by white men for the first time from ranchers James Whalan 1838; However, his brothers Charles and Alf take the discovery for himself to complete. Even more likely, that the rustler James McKeown sought shelter from pursuers.
The first tourism started already in the 1880s. The cavers oriented themselves with ropes, with which they could find their way back, as well as eye-catching features that served as landmarks. Candles, which they carried with them, the lights were. For the first time in 1880 a cave was lit by electricity and in 1887 the first electric light was installed permanently - several years before Sydney was electrified.
1898 Cave House was built in its present form. Nowadays it includes restaurants, a hotel and a souvenir shop.
Around 20 major caves are known, of which 11 are accessible with tours to the public. Individual structures are particularly illuminated.
- Imperial Cave: discovered in 1879. There are many marine fossils and bones from the Tasmanian devil.
- Lucas Cave: 1860 and discovered the most visited cave. It was named after a local politician John Lucas. The Cathedral, the largest chamber in the Lucas Cave system is also used for cultural events. There is a music and light animation for each tour.
- Chifley Cave: 1880 discovered and then almost immediately fitted with electric light, so it was the world's first electrified cave at all. Named after the Prime Minister Ben Chifley. Two of the chambers are decorated with colored light.
- Orient Cave: Discovered in 1903 and public since 1917.
- Temple of Baal Cave: 1904 detected. The Temple of Baal Cave consists of two chambers, one of which is dominated by the 9 meter high Angel's Wing. There are several Excentrique. There is a light and audio show.
- Nettle Cave: The Nettle Cave has natural daylight and can be visited with an audio tour as only one without a leader. It contains the " lobster backs ", stromatolites, which were shaped by light and wind and are estimated to be at least 20,000 years.
By car can be the Jenolan Caves Katoomba, the heart of the Blue Mountains, reached in about 90 minutes. The last part of the road is a one-way route around noon and can be driven only in the direction of the caves. Every year, 250,000 tourists Jenolan Caves.