This year's Geotope Day focuses on a (mostly) underground geological phenomenon: caves.
They are defined as naturally formed cavities that are more than 5 meters long and large enough for people to enter. We all know large or small caves, but they still exert, despite all scientific knowledge, the charm of the unknown, the magical, the dark look into the bowels of the earth, where mythical creatures, dwarves, gnomes and other creatures have their home and sometimes do their mischief.
The names of the caves alone testify to people's fear that higher powers played a role in their formation. Even in the Vogelsberg volcanic region there are caves, but they do not meet the definition of being accessible to humans. Examples are the geotopes and natural monuments Wildhollloch near Ulrichstein, Frauenloch near Grebenhain, Frau Holle-Loch near Lauterbach or the Drachenloch near Schotten. Subterranean cavities with fairy-tale treasures are connected with legends about rock geotopes, whereby their existence would still have to be proven, as at the Geiselstein or Alteburgskopf. Nevertheless, there was a cave in the basalt of the Vogelsberg that had never been found before in Europe: In the fall of 1990, in an active basalt quarry near Ortenberg-Bergheim, the cavity was found after previous blasting work. The lava cave consisted of a single room. The total length was 52 m, the average width 32 m and was considered the largest cave room in Hesse (Source: www.lochstein.de). There was even a lake in it. Despite efforts to protect and scientifically document it, it fell victim to mining. Only pictures and video recordings still testify to the uniqueness of this discovery.
On the edge of the Vogelsberg north of Steinau a. d. Str., another cave can be visited and navigated (the miners speak of navigating when they go into the depths): The Devil's Cave. It originated as a karst cave in limestone or dolomite stones of the Lower Muschelkalk. Beautiful dripstones with special shapes can be seen. Their age is about 2.5 million years. Further information can be found on the website of the Gewerbe- und Verkehrsverein Steinau e.V.
An event on the Geotope Day is to be held in Hungen - Langd by our network partner DVG Sektion Vogelsberg.