Nazodelavo Cave Natural Monument ( ka, ნაზოდელავოს მღვიმე) is a

karst cave Karst is a topography formed from the dissolution of soluble rocks such as limestone, dolomite, and gypsum. It is characterized by underground drainage systems with sinkholes and caves. It has also been documented for more weathering-resistant ro ...

6.8 km to the north from village Akhuti in

Chkhorotsqu Municipality Chkhorots'q'u ( ka, ჩხოროწყუს მუნიციპალიტეტი, ''Çxoroċqus municiṗaliṫeṫi'') is a district of Georgia, in the region of Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti. Its main town is Chkhorots'q'u. Population: 22,3 ...

Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti ( Georgian: სამეგრელო-ზემო სვანეთი) is a region (Mkhare) in western Georgia with a population of 308,358 (2021) and a surface of . The region has Zugdidi as its administrative center, ...

region of

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

. Cave is located on the left bank of river Zana ( Khobi river tributary), 290 meters above sea level. Nazodelavo means the dwelling of Zodelavos. According to cave narratives, it was used as a means of defense in the middle ages.

Morphology

Nazodelavo karst cave formed in a conglomerates of the

Neogene The Neogene ( ), informally Upper Tertiary or Late Tertiary, is a geologic period and system that spans 20.45 million years from the end of the Paleogene Period million years ago ( Mya) to the beginning of the present Quaternary Period Mya. ...

geologic period in Odishi plain karst massif. Cave is 600 m long with main tunnel average width of 4 m and height 3 m. The two main outlets are narrower and shorter than the main cave tunnel. A cold underground river with clear water flows through an erosion canyon in cave floor. In some places depth of the erosion canyon reaches 7-8 meters.ბუნების ძეგლი სოლკოტას მღვიმის ბუნების ძეგლი - წყალტუბო
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Fauna

In the cave and in the surrounding area on the surface there are summer

moth Moths are a paraphyletic group of insects that includes all members of the order Lepidoptera that are not butterflies, with moths making up the vast majority of the order. There are thought to be approximately 160,000 species of moth, many of w ...

s. The inhabitants of the cave include '' Lepidocyrtus, Folsomia '' and ''

Oxychilus ''Oxychilus'' is a genus of small air-breathing land snails, terrestrial pulmonate gastropods in the subfamily Oxychilinae of the family Oxychilidae, the glass snails. Synonyms * ''Aplostoma'' Moquin-Tandon, 1855 * ''Cretozonites'' Kobelt, 1 ...

.''Barjadze, Sh., Arabuli, T., Mumladze, L., Maghradze, E., Asanidze, Z., Kutalia T.
Nazodelavo Cave
2019, Cave Biodiversity of Georgia, Open Access Database. Institute of Zoology at

Ilia State University Ilia State University ISU (Georgian: ილიას სახელმწიფო უნივერსიტეტი) was founded in 2006 as a result of a merger of six different academic institutions with long and varied histories. Currentl ...

References

{{Protected areas of Georgia (country) Natural monuments of Georgia (country) Caves of Georgia (country) Protected areas established in 2013 Geography of Imereti

Morphology

Fauna

See also

References