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Čolnici-Obrh Cave is not a 'usual' cave as it is a vent-hole and a spring of the Obrh brook (Jezerščica brook) which flows into the intermediate lake Cerkniško jezero. The entry into the cave was discovered already in the year 2007 by the spelunking team of DLKJ led by Slovenian geographer Matej Kržič, but further exploration was not possible due to the nature of the cave, which is in the epifreatic zone (maybe even freatic zone), meaning the cave is below the water. The low rainfall from 15th to 17th September 2011 dried the siphons, making entry possible through tight passages to the dried subterranean riverbed. The visualization displays the cave from the entry with tree roots hanging from the roof of the narrow passage through passages in dolomite with manganese oxide and yellowish mud. The walls of the dried riverbed and the roof feature extraordinary “micro-chimneys,” likely caused by rapid subterranean water flow capturing air bubbles. The current visualization covers 1500 m of the cave. On the same day, the exploration team discovered over 1000 new meters of cave, including caverns with 1.5 m long thin stalactites (Slovenian: spaghetti) and skeletons of Ice Age bears.
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virtual excursion