MountainNinja´s Cache Nr 218 (Earth Cache Nr 26)
Diros Caves (Classification Giant Cave) are located approximately 12 miles south of Areopolis, they are one of the main attractions of Mani peninsula. The cave system with 15.400 meters ist the longest and the 5 deepest underwatercave of greece!
They form part of an underground river. About 2.800 meters are accessible by small boats and through narrow passageways, the trip is about 20 minutes, at the end you have to walk back about 300m through impressive formations. One is surrounded by formations of stalagmites and stalactites. Archaeological research has shown that the caves served as places of worship in Paleolithic and Neolithic times and their inhabitant believed that the caves were one of the entrances to the underworld Hades.
The Glyfada cave is one of the caves of Diros located in the Mani region of the Peloponnese peninsula. The Mani peninsula is mostly made up of Mesozoic carbonate rocks like limestone, which erode as a result of hydrogeolocical conditions on the peninsula and form karst caves like Alepotrypa. Study of the caves stalagmites has provided information about human activities in the cave and climate variations.
Caves are formed by the dissolution of limestone. Rainwater picks up carbon dioxide from the air and as it percolates through the soil, which turns into a weak acid. This slowly dissolves out the limestone along the joints, bedding planes and fractures, some of which become enlarged enough to form caves.
The water dripping from the end of a stalactite falls to the floor of a cave and deposits more calcite into a mound. Soon enough, a stalagmite will form in a conelike shape. This is why you usually find stalactites and stalagmites in pairs, and sometimes they'll even grow together to form one big column.
Limestone stalactites form extremely slowly – usually less than 10cm every thousand years – and radiometric dating has shown that some are over 190,000 years old. Stalactites can also form by a different chemical process when water drips through concrete, and this is much faster. (Source: How stuff works https://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/earth/geology/stalactite-stalagmite1.htm)
To get credit and claim a "Find" for this EarthCache you must visite the Caves of Diros,
and post a picture of yourself/s IN YOUR LOG with a stalctite or stalcmite in background! Dont send the picture via messenger or mail to me!!!
Tell us via email how high you estimate the highest stalacmite is and
how old it might be !
Dont wait for my logpermission, if answers are incorrect i will contact you!
There is an Entry Fee for visiting the cave!