The Blauhöhle is the largest known

cave Caves or caverns are natural voids under the Earth's Planetary surface, surface. Caves often form by the weathering of rock and often extend deep underground. Exogene caves are smaller openings that extend a relatively short distance undergrou ...

system in the

Swabian Alps The Swabian Jura ( , more rarely ), sometimes also named Swabian Alps in English, is a mountain range in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, extending from southwest to northeast and in width. It is named after the region of Swabia. It is part of th ...

in southern

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. The Blauhöhle presumably originated in a time when the

Danube The Danube ( ; see also #Names and etymology, other names) is the List of rivers of Europe#Longest rivers, second-longest river in Europe, after the Volga in Russia. It flows through Central and Southeastern Europe, from the Black Forest sou ...

still flowed through the Blau valley. Since the shifting of the Danube, several small rivers, the

Schmiech Schmiech is a small river in the Swabian Alb, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Its source is a karst spring. It flows into the Danube in Ehingen. See also *List of rivers of Baden-Württemberg A list of rivers of Baden-Württemberg, Germany: A * ...

, the Ach, and the Blau, have flowed through this valley. The cave system begins about 21 meters under water at the base of the

Blautopf The Blautopf (German for ''Blue pot'') is a Spring (hydrosphere), spring that is considered the source of the river Blau (Danube), Blau in the karst landscape on the Swabian Jura's southern edge. It is located in Blaubeuren, Alb-Donau-Kreis, Bad ...

. It continues west and northwest, rising and falling several times until after a horizontal distance of about it comes above the level of

ground water Groundwater is the water present beneath Earth's surface in rock and soil pore spaces and in the fractures of rock formations. About 30 percent of all readily available fresh water in the world is groundwater. A unit of rock or an unconsolidat ...

and opens into the second big air-filled chamber. The maximum depth of the cave under water is . This chamber was first discovered in 1985 by Jochen Hasenmayer, who named it ''Mörikedom'' (Mörike Cathedral, named after

Eduard Mörike Eduard Friedrich Mörike (; 8 September 18044 June 1875) was a German Lutheran pastor who was also a Romantic poet and writer of novellas and novels. Many of his poems were set to music and became established folk songs, while others were used b ...

). Hasenmayer's diving accident in the Wolfgangsee resulted in a long break in its exploration. For several years the cave has been explored by the ''Arbeitsgemeinschaft Blautopf'' (Blautopf Study Group, or Consortium), a team of cave divers from several different regional groups. This group has made progress exploring the cave, including making exact measurements of the way to the ''Mörikedom''. The improvement of underwater breathing technology, especially the

rebreather A rebreather is a breathing apparatus that absorbs the carbon dioxide of a user's exhaled breath to permit the rebreathing (recycling) of the substantial unused oxygen content, and unused inert content when present, of each breath. Oxygen is a ...

, has allowed for longer dives carrying less weight. The discovery of the ''Wolkenschloss'' (Castle of Clouds), another large, air-filled cavern, and the so-called ''Landweg'' (land-way), a long, open cave

river A river is a natural stream of fresh water that flows on land or inside Subterranean river, caves towards another body of water at a lower elevation, such as an ocean, lake, or another river. A river may run dry before reaching the end of ...

behind the Mörikedom, were great successes for the ''Arbeitsgemeinschaft''. Hasenmayer continued his attempts to explore the cave system in his cave

submersible A submersible is an underwater vehicle which needs to be transported and supported by a larger ship, watercraft or dock, platform. This distinguishes submersibles from submarines, which are self-supporting and capable of prolonged independent ope ...

, '' Speleonaut''. Since 2002 the ''Arbeitsgemeinschaft Höhle und Karst Grabenstetten'' (Cave and

Karst Karst () is a topography formed from the dissolution of soluble carbonate rocks such as limestone and Dolomite (rock), dolomite. It is characterized by features like poljes above and drainage systems with sinkholes and caves underground. Ther ...

Consortium A consortium () is an association of two or more individuals, companies, organizations, or governments (or any combination of these entities) with the objective of participating in a common activity or pooling their resources for achieving a ...

of Grabenstetten), as a part of their work on a neighboring cave system, the ''Vetterhöhle'', have attempted to dig a dry entrance into the Blauhöhle. In 2006 several large caverns were discovered in the ''Vetterhöhle'', and in the autumn a connection was discovered between the ''Vetterhöhle'' and the ''Wolkenschloss''. Also in the autumn of 2006, the ''Arbeitsgemeinschaft Blautopf'' discovered a chamber at the end of the Landweg, measuring long by wide by 50 m high, which was named ''Apokalypse''. The groups are now also working with yet another Arbeitsgemeinschaft on a

sinkhole A sinkhole is a depression or hole in the ground caused by some form of collapse of the surface layer. The term is sometimes used to refer to doline, enclosed depressions that are also known as shakeholes, and to openings where surface water ...

north of

Blaubeuren Blaubeuren () is a town in the district of Alb-Donau near Ulm in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. it had 11,963 inhabitants. Geography Geographical location The core city Blaubeuren lies at the foot of the Swabian Jura, west of Ulm. Neighbori ...

, which is believed to be connected with the ''Blauhöhle'' beyond the ''Apokalypse''.

References

External links

*
Tourist Information page of the nearby city of Blaubeuren
*
Homepage of the Arbeitsgemeinschaft Blautopf
*
Results of diving explorations in the Blauhöhle with cave map
*

*
Presentation of research in the Hessenhaudoline
*
Press release about the discovery of the connection between the Blauhöhle and Vetterhöhle

{{DEFAULTSORT:Blauhohle Caves of Germany Limestone caves Landforms of Baden-Württemberg Wild caves