SLOVAČKA JAMA NA SJEVERNOM VELEBITU
THE SLOVAK CAVE IN THE NORTH VELEBIT

Summary/Abstract: While surveying the terrain on the 28th July 1995, Slovak cavers B. Šmida and M. Grifik found the entrance of a Slovak cave pot-hole. After nine days of speleo exploration, Slovaks reached the "bottom" at the depth of-514 m. They have also noted the side passage at the depth of-350 m. During summer 1996 Slovaks, together with their colleagues from the University Mountaineering Society "Velebit", continued the exploration of the Slovak cave in the horizontal passage at 350 m of depth. Three weeks later they reached depth of -1000 m. For the first time they observed in the cave an endemic troglobiontic leech named Croatobranchus mestrovi. In October 1996 a group of cavers from Zagreb, members of the societies "Velebit" and "Željezničar", in co-operation with the Croatian Natural History Museum, descended into the cave to the depth of 570 m with aim to collect a specimen of the leech for further scientific research. But, instead of a leech, they found the remnants of the unknown Coleopteran species of genus Radziella. In 1998 and 1999 Croatian-Slovak expeditions, under the leadership of Darko Bakšić and Branislav Šmida, took place with aim to continue survey of the cave. In 1998 Slovak cave was surveyed in two separated passages. Slovak cavers by the end of cavern Pompeji reached the depth of 1022 m, while the Croatian cavers reached in Kalkulovski passage (the continuation of the passage is named Velebni kanal) the depth of 1268 m. In 1999, after eight days of long surveying at the depth of 1254 m, Croatian cavers explored 670 new metres of horizontal passages and reached the depth of 1301 m. Slovak cavers discovered in upper parts passage named Zumpa at the depth of 866 m and Hermanova studnja at -530 m. This depth makes Slovak cave the 17th deepest in the world at the list of the deepest world caves. Important values are length that is 2414 m and included length of 5548 m.

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