Cetățile Ponorului Châlet, RO – Glăvoi Meadow, RO – Bears’ Cave, Chișcău, RO – Cluj Napoca, RO
Walk Cetățile Ponorului Châlet – Glăvoi Meadow
Travel Glăvoi Meadow, Apuseni Mountains Natural Park – Bears’ Cave, Chișcău, Apuseni Mountains Natural Park
Dumbrăvani
Bears’ Cave, Chișcău, Apuseni Mountains Natural Park
The Genesis and Evolution of the Bears’ Cave
In the structural building of the area there are three geological units: the Bihor Autochthonous, the Ferice Unit and the Arieșeni Unit. The last Unit is made up predominantly by recrystalised limestones of Upper Jurassic in age. Due to these limestones a complex of subterranean systems and the development of typical karst landforms occur, such as dolines, limestone pavements and so on.
The Bears’ Cave is 1,500 m in length and is a typical subhorizontal network. At first, the Upper Galleries has formed, then the underground course of water descended to its actual level of flowing, modeling the Inferior Gallery. The upper level is naturally divided in three parts: the Gallery of Bones, in which access was made first, “Emil Racoviță” Gallery, along which the touristic route is displayed on two levels and the Gallery of Candles, which ends the touristic circuit. The exit is made through a short artificial tunnel, drilled in the place which was presumably a former opening of the cave.
The Bears’ Cave represents a phreatic network, the water amount was modelling the cave very slowly in an under-pressure network. The formation of the cave began in the Lower and Middle Pleistocene, when the Măgura Hill has been imbued under aquifer conditions. In the Middle and Early Upper Pleistocene the Gallery of Bones and the Gallery of Candles are activated. In the upper Pleistocene the Inferior Gallery is activated, when the upper galleries pass to an inactive regime. In Holocene the Bears’ Cave gains its present configuration.
The splendid stalagmitic formations are formed due to the water, which dissolves the calcium carbonate from the limestone penetrating through its fissures in order to precipitate it as calcite crystals. Stalagmites and stalactites have various forms depending on the mineral composition of the water and on the height and frequency of the dropping points.
Travel Bears’ Cave, Chișcău, Apuseni Mountains Natural Park – Camino Home Aparthotel, Cluj Napoca
