The Haitón del Guarataro is a

solutional cave A solutional cave, solution cave, or karst cave is a cave usually formed in the soluble rock limestone. It is the most frequently occurring type of cave. It can also form in other rocks, including chalk, dolomite, marble, salt beds, and gypsum. ...

system in the

Sierra de San Luis Sierra (Spanish for "mountain range" and "saw", from Latin '' serra'') may refer to the following: Places Mountains and mountain ranges * Sierra de Juárez, a mountain range in Baja California, Mexico * Sierra de las Nieves, a mountain range i ...

Falcón State ) , anthem = , image_map = Falcon in Venezuela.svg , map_alt = , map_caption = Location within Venezuela , pushpin_map = , pushpin_map_alt = , pushpin_mapsiz ...

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

, south-east of Curimagua. It is the deepest

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

cave in Venezuela, and the entrance is a tourist attraction within the

Juan Crisóstomo Falcón National Park The Juan Crisostomo Falcón National Park ( es, Parque nacional Juan Crisóstomo Falcón), also known as the Sierra de San Luis, is in the southern part of the Falcón state in Venezuela. It has an area of covering the municipalities of Bolív ...

. A large entrance shaft in diameter leads via drops of , , and to a stream passage which follows the dip down for a distance of about to the north to where it eventually chokes. An upstream passage is intercepted which runs south for about to the base of a shaft. The cave has a depth of , and a total passage length of . It was first explored and surveyed in April 1973 by members of the Venezuela '73 British Karst Research Expedition. It is formed in

Oligocene The Oligocene ( ) is a geologic epoch of the Paleogene Period and extends from about 33.9 million to 23 million years before the present ( to ). As with other older geologic periods, the rock beds that define the epoch are well identified but the ...

reef A reef is a ridge or shoal of rock, coral or similar relatively stable material, lying beneath the surface of a natural body of water. Many reefs result from natural, abiotic processes— deposition of sand, wave erosion planing down rock out ...

al limestone. A faunal survey was undertaken during the exploration of the cave, but only a few cavernicoles were recorded. They included

cave crickets The orthopteran family Rhaphidophoridae of the suborder Ensifera has a worldwide distribution. Common names for these insects include cave wētā, cave crickets, camelback crickets, camel crickets, Hogan bugs, spider crickets (sometimes shortene ...

, phalangodid harvestmen, a depigmented troglophile garnmarid shrimp ( ''Hyalella meinerti'') found in a large pool, and a troglobitic trichopolydesmid millipede found on the roof of the terminal chamber.

References

External links

The Venezuela '73 British Karst Research Expedition survey of Haitón del Guarataro

Video of a December 2018 descent by members of the Sociedad Venezolana de Espeleologia
Haiton del Guarataro underground camp

{{Commons category, Haitón_del_Guarataro, Haitón del Guarataro Geography of Falcón Caves of Venezuela Limestone caves Wild caves Tourist attractions in Falcón