The Tăușoare-Zalion Reserve is a

cave system Caves or caverns are natural voids under the Earth's 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 underground (such as rock s ...

located in the deeply forested areas of the

Rodna Mountains Rodna Mountains (, ) are a subdivision of the Inner Eastern Carpathians in northern Romania. The name comes from the nearby Rodna Veche village. At , is the highest peak in all of the Eastern Carpathians. The main ridge of the Rodna Mountain ...

Bistrița-Năsăud County Bistrița-Năsăud () is a county (județ) of Romania, in Transylvania, with its capital city at Bistrița. Name In Hungarian language, Hungarian, it is known as ''Beszterce-Naszód megye'', and in German language, German as ''Kreis Bistritz-N ...

, in

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

. The Tăușoare Cave was discovered in 1955 by a teacher, Leon Bârte. Located at an altitude of , it has a length of and a depth of , making it the deepest and the third longest cave in Romania. The protected underground area covers . The cave features rare minerals, such as

mirabilite Mirabilite, also known as Glauber's salt, is a hydrous sodium sulfate mineral with the chemical formula Na2SO4·10H2O. It is a vitreous, colorless to white monoclinic mineral that forms as an evaporite from sodium sulfate-bearing brines. It is ...

and

anthodite Anthodites (Greek language, Greek ἄνθος ''ánthos'', "flower", ''-ode'', adjectival combining form, ''-ite'' adjectival suffix) are speleothems (cave formations) composed of long needle-like crystals situated in clusters which radiate outwa ...

s, being second in Romania in value of anthodites, after the Peștera Vântului in the

Pădurea Craiului Mountains The Pădurea Craiului Mountains are in the northwestern part of the Apuseni Mountains of the Carpathian Mountain range, located between the and the Beiuș Depression. The Dealurile Vestice (Western Hills) are located to the west of these moun ...

. In 1986, geologists have found cave and brown bear bones in the cave. A few bones were transformed by the Palaeolithic man who inhabited the cave into tools. These were given to somebody to study and publish them, but nothing happened. Not even the information from the 1988 article which mentioned these have made it to the archaeological literature.

References

External links

Tăușoare-Zalion Reserve
(archived at the Wayback Machine)
National Agency for Protected Natural Areas - Romania
Caves of Romania Geography of Bistrița-Năsăud County {{Romania-stub