Abstract
Since both caves developed in similar geological and hydrogeological conditions, they are presented in this chapter side by side. Although very different in size, both caves are well-known for their wide diversity of speleothems. Cioaca cu Brebenei is an 85 m long cavity that hosts some of the largest and most spectacular helictites of the Romanian karst. The cave has been carved by the Izvorele Creek, a right-side tributary of the Motru River. Cloşani Cave is one of Romania’s most thoroughly studied caves that hosts the only underground laboratory devoted to a variety of “in situ” cave studies. The cave has two major galleries (Laboratories and Crystals) summing up 1458 m of passages. Abundant and diverse speleothems, including shields, draperies, eccentrics, helictites, and gorgeous calcite pool spar crystals, are decorating the Crystals Passage. Cloșani appears to be a base-level cave, genetically connected with the flow of the Izvorele Creek and at a later stage of the Motru River. U-series analyses of speleothems indicate the cave is older than 600,000 years. Both caves are speleological reservations (Protection class A) located within the Domogled-Valea Cernei National Park and the ROSCI-0035 (Romanian Sites of Community Importance) “Natura 2000” Site.
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Acknowledgements
The authors address special thanks to C. Lascu, C. Jére, R. Tafet, and V. Gheorghiu for the information, photographs, and references on the bat species inhabiting the Cloşani Cave.
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Povară, I., Drăguşin, V., Mirea, I. (2019). Mehedinti Mountains: Cioaca cu Brebenei and Closani Caves. In: Ponta, G., Onac, B. (eds) Cave and Karst Systems of Romania. Cave and Karst Systems of the World. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-90747-5_18
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