Choranche cave
{{Short description|Cave in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, France}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2024}}
{{Infobox cave
| name = Choranche cave
| photo = Choranche caves img 0935.jpg
| photo_caption = Flowstone in Choranche cave.
| map = France#France Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
| mapframe =
| location = Choranche, France
|coords = {{Coord|45|04|28.6|N|5|23|54.4|E|format=dms|display=inline, title}}
| depth = + {{convert|425|m|ft}}
| length = {{convert|32301|m|ft}}
| elevation = {{convert|574|m|ft}} Coufin
| discovery =
| geology = Limestone
}}
The cave of Choranche, also called cave of Coufin-Chevaline, is located in the department of Isère, near Choranche in the Vercors Regional Natural Park and in the Vercors Massif, France.{{cite web |language= fr |title= Discover the site |website= caves-de-choranche.com | url= http://www.grottes-de-choranche.com/decouvre.php }}{{dead link|date=December 2021|fix-attempted=yes}}. Located at the edge of the massif, its road access is either via the A49 Grenoble – Valence motorway, or by a road entering the massif, near Grenoble.
The entrance to the cave is at the foot of the cliffss of Presles, forming a natural cirque{{cite web |language= fr |title = Choranche |url= http://www.parc-du-vercors.fr/documentation/opac_css/doc_num.php?explnum_id=101 |website= parc-du-Vercors.fr |date= 19 May 2006 |format = pdf |access-date= 14 May 2017 |archive-date= 1 August 2017 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20170801125051/http://www.parc-du-vercors.fr/documentation/opac_css/doc_num.php?explnum_id=101 |url-status = dead }}. bordering the Coulmes plateau in the Bourne gorge.
In November 2014, the Choranche cave obtained the "Quality tourism" mark.{{cite magazine |language= fr |title= Coranche, high tourist quality |magazine= Spot Magazine, Grenoble edition |issue= 125 |date= January 2015 |page= 4 |url=http://www.spot-web.fr/grenoble/article/36573-Choranche%2C%2Bhaute%2Bqualite%2Btouristique.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303202806/http://www.spot-web.fr/grenoble/article/36573-Choranche,+haute+qualite+touristique.html |archive-date=3 March 2016}}
History
= Coufin Cave =
Oscar Decombaz, on {{date|7|9|1897}}, explored up to the wet vault. In 1949, the defusing of the latter allowed Roger Pénelon and Sage to access Gruyère. In 1954, the Cyclops group went up the Mat waterfall ({{convert|+116|m|ft|abbr=on}}){{efn|group="N"|In caving, the negative or positive measurements of height levels are defined in relation to at a reference point which is the known entrance to the network, the highest in altitude.}} and stops at the foot of the large waterfall.
File:Grottes de Choranche 1924 ou ante.tiff|{{center|Grottes de Coufin in circa 1924}}
= Chevaline Cave =
In 1943, Roger Pénelon, André Bourgin, Sage and Gaché arrived at the cathedral. The speleologists of Grenoble of the CAF resumed explorations in 1960; they go up the river to the Shower. In 1966 the caving club of La Tronche and the Caving Club of the Seine created the junction between the two cavities. The Speleo Group of Valence has continued explorations since 1968. The known network develops {{convert|29489|m|ft|abbr=on}} meters for a positive height difference of {{convert|411|m|ft|abbr=on}} on 1 January 1997.{{harvsp|Caillault et al.|1997|pp=101–105 }}. In 2009 the known development is {{convert|32301|m|ft|abbr=on}}.{{cite journal |language= fr |author1= Dominique Artru |title= Speleometry of Isère |journal= Scialet: Bulletin of the CDS of Isère |location= Grenoble |publisher= French Federation of Speleology, Isère Departmental Speleology Committee |issue= 38 |year= 2009 |pages=176–178 |issn= 0336-0326}}
Description
File:Grotte de Choranche-2.jpg]]
Like all karstics cavities, the cave of Choranche was dug by water (erosions hydraulics and hydrochemicals). The active networks are surmounted by large fossil galleries.{{cite journal |language= fr |author1= Jean-Jacques Delannoy |others= French Karstology Association |title= The Vercors: a mid-Alpine mountain range |journal = Karstologia: Journal of Karstology and Physical Speleology of the French Speleology Federation and the French Karstology Association |place= Paris |publisher= French Federation of Speleology |issue= 1 |date=1984 |volume= 3 | pages= 34–45 |doi= 10.3406/karst.1984.2068 |issn= 0751-7688 |url= http://www.persee.fr/doc/karst_0751-7688_1984_num_3_1_2068?q=VERCORS/www.persee.fr/doc/karst_0751-7688_1983_num_2_1_2047?q=VERCORS |access-date= 14 May 2017 |postscript=,}} {{p.|40}}. It contains speleothems in calcite of varied shapes, particularly fistuloses, some of which reach a length of 3 meters. In addition to these concretionss, the cave is crossed by the Serpentine, underground river forming rimstones and an underground lake from which the Karst spring flows in cascade in the "circus of Choranche". The origin of the underground river is to be found in the Coulmes massif.{{cite journal |language= fr |author= Keith Paterson |title= Contribution to the study of the underground hydrology of the Presles plateau and the Coulmes massif (Vercors) |journal= Journal of Alpine Geography |year= 1974 |volume= 49 |pages= 241–251 |url= http://www.persee.fr/doc/geoca_0035-113x_1974_num_49_3_1652 |access-date=2 December 2021 }}
Species conservation
The Choranche cave constitutes one of the two sites in France where resides (in captivity) the olm, species of blind salamander adapted to karstic caves. Originally from the caves of the Dinaric Alps of the western Balkans, this species was brought to Choranche as well as to the Clamouse cave as part of a research and project to protect the species.
Notes
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References
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=Works cited=
- {{cite book |ref={{harvid|Caillault et al.|1997}} |language=fr |author1=Serge Caillault |author2=Dominique Haffner |author3=Thierry Krattinger |title=Spéléo sportive dans le Vercors |location=Aix en Provence |publisher=Edisud |volume=1 |date= April 1997 |isbn=2-85744-897-X |issn=0764-2520}}