.::. Comarnic Cave .::.

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General Information

In 1947, the Romanian Academy declared Comarnic Cave as a natural reservation. In 1994, the County Council (of Caras-Severin) reconfirmed the state of this natural reservation through law HCJ nr 8/20.12.1994. Finally in the year 2000, under the law 5/2000-Section III, Comarnic was included in the "Protected Natural Zones of National Interest."

The Comarnic Cave is one of the largest cavities in the Banat region, with a total length of 6,201 meters, a depth of 101 meters and a width of 1,081 meters. The galleries lie on 3 different levels: inactive (or fossil), temporarily active (or sub-fossil) and active. There are seven entrances: six of them being located at the inlet and the seventh at the outlet. The complexity of the underground system is significantly outlined by several parameters: development index - 5,74, verticality index - 4,74, extension index - 13,9. Being a complex cavity, of large dimensions, there are represented almost all types of underground formations and morphologies: erosion formations (flowing levels, meanders, laterally extended riverbeds, pillars, steps, erosion made pools, polished floors), corrosion morphologies (corrosion cells, rugged walls, enlarged riverbeds, sharp steps, hieroglyphs, floor and ceiling corrosion remnants, spoons, confluence halls, corrosion cupolas), breakdown morphologies (breakdown cupolas, structural ceilings, tectonic walls, tectonic friction mirrors), chemical precipitation formations (stalactites, stalagmites, columns, walls and floor flowstones and crusts, draperies, floating crystals, pearls, domes, flowstone dams, anemolithes), accumulation and sedimentation formations (blocks accumulation, isolated blocks, detritus fans, drying cracks and crusts, sand and clay deposits, alluvia, alluvial tracts).

The Comarnic Cave was formed mainly along a system of tensional and accompanying fissures. The great majority (95%) of the cave galleries develop into the so-called Upper Plopa limestone, Oxfordian - Kimmeridgian in age (Upper Jurassic), stratified, with well developed siliceous levels. The rest develop into the compact limestone of Anina Valley, Barremian - Aptian in age (Lower Cretaceous).

From a hydrogeologic standpoint, the Comarnic Cave is a binary system, which means two components. The non-karstic component is represented by the Ponicova Creek which drains his waters from impervious terrains. The karst component is represented by the cave himself. Ponicova Creek lose his waters at the contact with the limestone where the upstream entrances of the cave are located. The underground stream passes the limestone bar forming the active level of the cave. The waters go out through a non-penetrable karstic spring, reaching the Comarnic River afterwards. The flow rate of the Ponicova Creek varies between a minimum of 5 liters/second and a maximum of 475 liters/second with an average of 66.4 liters/second. Into the cave the flow has a permanent character in the active level and a temporarily flow character in the temporary active level (or sub-fossil). Rarely, the inactive level (or fossil) can be flooded (ex. the flood in 1997).

The cave's climate is characterized by a one-direction type air flow with a temperature that ranges between 3.4 and 9.8 0C. The water temperature ranges between 2.7 and 9.2 0C and the soil temperature between 0.2 and 9.4 0C, the minima corresponding to the perturbation zone (near the entrances) and the maxima to the stability zone (or profound zone). Relative humidity ranges between 75% and 100%, being related to the hydrogeologic functioning of the system and to the rainfall rate.

Fauna in the Comarnic Cave is represented by 123 terrestrial species (5 of which are bat species) from 24 families and 4 aquatic species. These species can be found throughout the cave, but mainly in the active and temporary active (sub-fossil) galleries or near the seven entrances.

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