Tăușoare-Zalion Reserve

The Tăușoare-Zalion Reserve is a cave system located in the deeply forested areas of the Rodna Mountains, Bistrița-Năsăud County, in Romania. The Tăușoare Cave was discovered in 1955 by a teacher, Leon Bârte. Located at an altitude of 950 metres (3, 120 feet), it has a length of 20 km (12 mi) and a depth of 413.5 m (1, 357 ft), making it the deepest and the third longest cave in Romania. The protected underground area covers 72.1 hectares (178 acres). Since 2000 the cave has been legally protected as a natural area, and since 2010 it has been placed under the custodianship of the Complexul Muzeal Bistrița-Năsăud; it is also designated as a Natura 2000 site (ROSCI0193 "Peștera Tăușoare"). The cave features rare minerals, such as mirabilite and anthodites, being second in Romania in value of anthodites, after the Peștera Vântului in the Pădurea Craiului Mountains. In addition, speleological studies describe abundant sulphate speleothems (gypsum and bassanite) and the first Romanian occurrences of the minerals leonit and konyaite in the cave. The underground system is noted for “Bilele de Tăușoare”, spherical limestone nodules regarded as unique at least within Romania and sometimes described as unique worldwide. The cave also contains notable gypsum and mirabilite formations in named chambers such as the "Sala de Mese" and rare radial sulphate aggregates (locally called oulofolite)

Cave data from Wikidata (CC0). Summary from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).