Morca Cave

Morca Cave
Morca Sinkhole / Morca Doline
Doline (sinkhole) with the entrance of Morca Cave on the Taşeli Plateau
Location of Morca Cave in Turkey
Location of Morca Cave in Turkey
Location of Morca Cave in the south of Turkey
Coordinates36°18′34.41″N 32°39′37.12″E / 36.3095583°N 32.6603111°E / 36.3095583; 32.6603111
Depth1,276 m
Length5,714 m
Elevation1,950 m a.s.l.[1]
Discovery1996
Entrances1

The Morca Cave is located on the Taşeli plateau of the Taurus Mountains in the south of Turkey. Discovered in 1996, it had reached an explored depth of 1,276 meters and a length of 5,714 meters at the end of 2020. By then, Morca was Turkey's third deepest and eighth longest known cave.[2] It has not been fully explored.

History

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The Morca doline was discovered in 1996 by a team of Turkish cave explorers from the Aspeg (Anadolu Speleology Group Association) with the guidance of a village leader. In the first exploration in 2013, the team reached a depth of 120 meters, and the following year, they reached 447 meters.[3] In 2018, they reached a depth of 919 meters and a length of almost 3 kilometers.[4][5]

In August 2019, Turkish, Bulgarian, Lebanese, and US teams jointly conducted a one-month expedition. They reached a depth of -1210 meters, discovered several waterfalls, one of which was 40 meters high, and a large lake. The total length reached was 4068 meters.[6]

In 2020, Ali Hakan Eğilmez dived into the siphon located at a depth of 1259 meters in the main passage but could only advance about ten meters deeper due to insufficient equipment. He observed a multitude of shrimps and concluded, that several watercourses needed further exploration.[2] In the same year, when measuring another side passage, a depth of -1276 meters was reached, and a labyrinthine system of passages was discovered that requires further exploration.[7]

In early September 2023, US cave explorer Mark Dickey fell ill during an expedition with an international team at a depth of -1120 meters.[8] On September 2, a cave rescue operation[9] involving nearly 200 experienced people (cavers, rescuers, and doctors) from eight countries including the European Cave Rescue Association[10] was launched to provide medical care and by September 11 he was evacuated successfully.[11] He suffered from stomach bleeding,[12] received a blood transfusion[9] and was "fed intravenously” all the way out.[13] Dickey gave the Turkish government credit for his rescue because of the prompt delivery of medical supplies he needed.[14]

Geography and geology

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The cave is located in the district of Anamur, about 20 kilometers northwest of the city, in the province of Mersin.[citation needed] The Morca cave system develops in the orogenic belt in the southern part of the Taşeli Plateau of the central Taurus Mountains. It is situated on the same plateau as the dolines Çukurpınar Cave and the Egma Sinkhole (also known as Peynirlikönü, the deepest cave in Turkey). At an elevation of about 2120 meters,[2]: 90  it presents as a 27 meters deep doline,[citation needed] and transitions into a cave shaft which at the end of 2020 was up to a total depth of 1276 meters and a length of 5192 m.[2]: 89 

The cave lies at the contact point of limestones from the Miocene and the Jurassic-Cretaceous. The cave deepened in the vadose zone (unsaturated aquifer above the water table) due to the uplift of the Taşeli Plateau during the late Pliocene-Quaternary period. Besides limestone, the cave also contains clayey limestone and sediments.[2]: 90 

The cave shafts and underground galleries are further eroded by water and snowmelt, and also under the chemical action of dissolved CO2.[2]: 90  Regular water inflow occurs at depths of 80 meters, 120 meters, 1015 meters, 1030 meters, and 1040 meters.[citation needed] The cave contains an underground river and at least eight side passages, seven of which have different watercourses.[citation needed] As of 2019, investigations regarding a possible karst spring at lower elevation in the area had not yielded results.

Underground biology

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In 2019, researchers discovered a species of amphipods in the water of Morca Cave. In 2022, Turkish zoologists Murat Özbek and Gökhan Aydın described it as a new species named Gammarus morcae.[15][16] These small crustaceans are colorless, eyeless, and slightly over two cm in length. They were identified by stereomicroscopic examination only, without applying molecular biology techniques (DNA sequencing) because they were preserved in water containing formaldehyde.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Morca Cave, Taseli Turkey. Expedition led by ASPEG. Cave stats". The Cave Exploration Society. 2019. Retrieved 15 September 2023.
  2. ^ a b c d e f Ümit Günhan, John Fioroni (18 September 2022). "Morca Cave and its speleogenesis.Vol. II – Karstologia Mémoires n°22 – Symposium 02 – Caving and explorations" (PDF). uis-speleo.org. International Congress of Speleology – Savoie Mont Blanc 2022.
  3. ^ Anatolian Speleogical Society (ASPEG) (6 April 2016). "Aspeg Taseli Projesi Ara Raporu 2012-2015" (in Turkish). Retrieved 15 September 2023.
  4. ^ Anatolian Speleogical Society (ASPEG) (10 March 2019). "Morca 2018" (in English and Turkish). Retrieved 14 September 2023.
  5. ^ "A new top 10 deepest cave in the world?". Caveexploration.org. Retrieved 14 September 2023.
  6. ^ Anadolu Speleoloji Grubu / Anatolian Speleogical Society (ASPEG) (19 November 2019). "Morca 2019" (in English and Turkish). Retrieved 14 September 2023.
  7. ^ Ümit Günhan, Poyraz Uhri, Aron Balla & Mert Gürbüz (2020). "The Morca cave system 2020 - Expedition report" (PDF) (in English and Turkish). Retrieved 14 September 2023.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  8. ^ "Morca Cave System 2023 Expedition & Training". Retrieved 14 September 2023.
  9. ^ a b Isil Sariyuce, Mostafa Salem, Hande Atay Alam, Jonny Hallam, Heather Chen (11 September 2023). "'Amazing to be above ground': American rescued from cave in Turkey after being trapped for days". CNN. Retrieved 12 September 2023.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  10. ^ "Cave rescue in the Morca cave system in Turkey". ECRA - European Cave Rescue Association. 7 September 2023. Retrieved 12 September 2023.
  11. ^ "Mark Dickey: US explorer freed from one of Turkey's deepest caves". BBC News. 11 September 2023.
  12. ^ "An American researcher is trapped deep inside a Turkish cave. Here's what to know". NPR. 8 September 2023.
  13. ^ "Mark Dickey: US man trapped in Turkey cave nears surface". BBC News. 11 September 2023. Retrieved 12 September 2023.
  14. ^ Nick Visser (11 September 2023). "American Caver Mark Dickey Rescued After Getting Trapped 3,400 Feet Below Ground". Huffinton Post. Retrieved 12 September 2023.
  15. ^ Özbek, Murat; Aydin, Gökhan (1 January 2023). "A new amphipod from the depths of the Morca Sinkhole (Anamur, Türkiye): Gammarus morcae n. sp. (Amphipoda: Gammaridae), with notes on cavernicolous amphipods of Türkiye". Turkish Journal of Zoology. 47 (2). The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (Tubitak-Ulakbim) – Digital Commons Journals: 81–93. doi:10.55730/1300-0179.3118. ISSN 1300-0179.
  16. ^ Özbek, Murat; Aksu, İsmail; Baytaşoğlu, Hazel (1 June 2023). "A new freshwater amphipod (Amphipoda, Gammaridae), Gammarus tumaf sp. nov. from the Gökgöl Cave, Türkiye". Zoosystematics and Evolution. 99 (1): 15–27. doi:10.3897/zse.99.89957 – via zse.pensoft.net.
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