• We have updated the guidelines regarding posting political content: please see the stickied thread on Website Issues.

'Sarlacc's Pit': Cave Discovered In British Columbia; May Be Canada's Largest

EnolaGaia

I knew the job was dangerous when I took it ...
(ACCOUNT RETIRED)
Joined
Jul 19, 2004
Messages
29,622
Location
Out of Bounds
The opening to this newly-discovered cave in remote alpine terrain is certainly impressive. Although it's 'new' to authorities and academics, I note there's mention of consulting the First Peoples' groups to determine whether they already knew of it.
Scientists Just Discovered What May Be Canada's Largest Cave. And It Looks Like the Sarlacc's Pit
A helicopter team counting caribou in British Columbia, Canada, recently made an unexpected discovery during an aerial survey: Crewmembers spied an opening to a massive cave that had never been seen before and which might be the largest cave in the country.

Found in April in an alpine valley in Wells Gray Provincial Park, the cave's mouth gapes 328 feet (100 meters) across ... The width of the cave is similarly impressive, measuring 197 feet (60 m), and the cave extends at least 443 feet (135 m) straight down ...

A biologist with the helicopter crew that spotted the sizable opening dubbed it "Sarlacc's Pit," after the lair that housed the predatory sarlacc in the "Star Wars" movie "Return of the Jedi" ...

"The scale of this thing is just huge and about as big as they come in Canada," archaeological surveyor John Pollack, one of the researchers who explored the cave, told Canadian Geographic.

During that expedition, a breathtaking view of the vast cave was captured in aerial footage by geologist Catherine Hickson ...

The video was shared to YouTube on Nov. 30 by Canadian Geographic. Seen from the air, the cave resembles a giant bite taken out of the hillside. Steep, rocky walls plunge downward, and a waterfall cascades more than 525 feet (60 m) over the edge.


After rushing water tumbles over the precipice into the cave's depths, it likely flows into a subterranean river that emerges above ground 6,890 feet (2,100 m) away, at an elevation that's about 1,640 feet (500 m) lower than the water's entry point ...

While the unofficial name "Sarlacc Pit" certainly holds appeal for "Star Wars" fans, British Columbia province representatives will be working closely with First Nations people in the region to find out if there is an existing indigenous name for the cave ...

Further investigation of the cave will take place in 2020 ...

SOURCE: https://www.livescience.com/64223-sarlacc-cave-canada-found.html
 
Back
Top