The Cave with Corals
By Diana Ungureanu/ Chisinau/ Moldova.ORG/ -- In the Cut Massif from Romania there is a cave where grow real underground corals. It is a special and protected cave because of its beauty and importance.
A great part of the Cut Massif is composed of crystalline rocks, except the south part, named also Little Cut, which is composed of limestone. In this part of the massif, accessed from Jiu Valley toward the Field of Neagu and Campusel, there are numerous karst formations, the best-known of them being the Cave with Corals from Campusel.
The cave was discovered in 1970, by the members of caving club “Alive Fire”, from Bucharest. A year later there was made the plan of the cave and in 1972 it was declared a speleological reservation.
The Cave with Corals is located under the Cioaca Peak (of Valcan Mountains, Cut Massif), at an altitude of about 100 m. In front the confluence of the Western Jiu with Scorota, it ascends on the right slope of Jiu a level difference of about 110 meters through an area with plenty of bushes and isolated trees. There is no path, so you should not venture without a guide who knows well the area.
It is a linear cave with a total length of 83 m, a fossil, in a descendent order. Even at the entrance you get in a high gallery of 2-4 m, with widths that vary between 5-8 m and which can narrow to 1 m at the point called the Altar.
The cave surface is very destroyed because of the blocks that fallen from the ceiling. After 50 m you will enter in another gallery via a vault of 5 m, on which basis there starts the Hall with Coral Mosses, with a height of 5-7 m and length of 30 m.
The coral mosses and clusterites had ideal conditions for growing in the cave. Chromatics and shapes of the corals are various, creating a great diversity of colors, from white to reddish-brown. No doubt, the Cave with Corals is one of the most beautiful caves with coral form crystals from Romania.
Unfortunately, a great part of this beauty was destroyed by those who wanted to do at home a corner with corals. Today, the cave is closed and protected and the access isn’t allowed.
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