Zarkent cave

The Zarkent cave is located on the side of a small river about 7 km from the village of Zarkent in the Tashkent region. The cave was found by geologists (S. Lyutikov, the head of the party) in 1988 in the process of searching for onyx deposits. The vertical entrance well did not allow the geologists to descend into the cave and, after contacting the Tashkent Club of Speleologists, the cave was traversed to the blockage at the bottom (mark -102 m).

The Zarkent cave is located on the side of a small river about 7 km from the village of Zarkent in the Tashkent region.

The cave was found by geologists (S. Lyutikov, the head of the party) in 1988 in the process of searching for onyx deposits. The vertical entrance well did not allow geologists to descend into the cave and, after contacting the Tashkent Club of Speleologists, the cave was traversed to the blockage at the bottom (mark -102 m).

The cave consists of 2 entrances. One of them leads to a large hall with a vertical 18-meter well, from which a 12-meter ledge leads to a small shelf with a huge Stalagmate (~ 3 m high). Here is the junction point of the two inputs. Further, the cave ledges to a depth of 100 meters. A small stream flows through the cave from the stalagmate and gets lost in a blocky clay blockage.

The second passage is very narrow, but gradually widening, steeply sloping corridors lead to a 7-meter vertical ledge to the stalagmate (the junction of the 2 parts of the caves). To pass this part, you need 2 ropes of 30-35 m each on the “coils” and a 10-meter rope (preferably a rope ladder) on a vertical ledge.

There are many calcite formations in the cave: stalactites, stalagmites, stalagnates, and calcite crusts, the color of which varies from white to dark brown.

The depth of the cave is ~ 102 m, the total length of the passages is ~ 200 m. But theoretically, the cave can reach a depth of 500 m and a length of up to 5-6 km. To do this, try to dismantle the blockage at the bottom of the cave.