Israeli researchers say they have discovered the world's longest salt cave. The 10km of passages and chambers inside Malham Cave, overlooking the Dead Sea, were mapped out over two years. The desert site was near where, according to the Bible, Lot's wife was turned into a pillar of salt. Rain is expected to lengthen Malham further over time, the researchers said. A recently completed survey of the Malham Cave determined the labyrinthine cavern stretches more than 10 kilometres in length. That puts it well ahead of Iran's Namakdan Cave, previously thought to be the longest salt cave. The survey was conducted by the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and a collection of Israeli, Bulgarian and international volunteers. Boaz Langford, a researcher at the university's Caves Research Center, and Antoniya Vlaykova, a Bulgarian cave explorer from the European Speleological Federation, headed the expedition. "What's unique about this cave, as opposed to other salt caves in the world, is that it's the longest in the world," Langford said, resting in a chamber of the cave dubbed the Wedding Hall for its salt stalactites. Langford and Vlaykova said they plan to publish the complete map of the cave in a professional publication in the coming months. There is no official record for the longest salt cave, and such designations are generally decided by consensus among cave researchers after an underground chamber is mapped and published. Namakdan, which is about six kilometres in length, was identified as the longest salt cave after a study by Czech and Iranian scientists in 2006.
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Israeli researchers say they have discovered the world's longest salt cave. The 10km of passages and chambers inside Malham Cave, overlooking the Dead Sea, were mapped out over two years. The desert site was near where, according to the Bible, Lot's wife was turned into a pillar of salt. Rain is expected to lengthen Malham further over time, the researchers said. A recently completed survey of the Malham Cave determined the labyrinthine cavern stretches more than 10 kilometres in length. That puts it well ahead of Iran's Namakdan Cave, previously thought to be the longest salt cave. The survey was conducted by the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and a collection of Israeli, Bulgarian and international volunteers. Boaz Langford, a researcher at the university's Caves Research Center, and Antoniya Vlaykova, a Bulgarian cave explorer from the European Speleological Federation, headed the expedition. "What's unique about this cave, as opposed to other salt caves in the world, is that it's the longest in the world," Langford said, resting in a chamber of the cave dubbed the Wedding Hall for its salt stalactites. Langford and Vlaykova said they plan to publish the complete map of the cave in a professional publication in the coming months. There is no official record for the longest salt cave, and such designations are generally decided by consensus among cave researchers after an underground chamber is mapped and published. Namakdan, which is about six kilometres in length, was identified as the longest salt cave after a study by Czech and Iranian scientists in 2006.
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