Gruta de Maquiné (MG-0243) (English: Maquiné Grotto), also Lapa Nova de Maquiné, is the oldest and one of the most commercially visited caves in Brazil. It is located about 5 km from Cordisburgo and 143 km northwest of Belo Horizonte, in the State of Minas Gerais. The cave has seven huge chambers explored, amounting to 650 linear meters and unevenness of the ground of only 18 meters. Safety measures like lighting, walkways and handrails allow a multitude of visitors to enjoy safely the wonders of the grotto where the whole journey is accompanied by an experienced local guide.
Description
Geography
Maquiné finds itself facing north, with a portico shaped in the
form of a shallow arch with width of approximately 18 metres and
height of only 8 metres. The main direction of the cave is from
north to south, being its greatest extent of 438.91 metres. With an
internal temperature ranging between 26°C and 27°C, it is
essentially horizontal, forming a continuous gallery with an
average width of 9 to 12 meters and height of 15 to 18 meters. The
main element of its formation is calcium carbonate, presenting also
other minerals such as silica, gypsum, quartz and iron. Its galleries and
halls, true architectural oddities, are the result of the
formidable job of water in the persistence of millennia.
Morphology
The grotto features beautiful morphology due to its wide halls
and aesthetic value due to their speleothematic beauty, in addition
to its great scientific value as it must have accommodated a
considerable volume of water in the past.
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First chamber, called "Vestibulo" ("Entrance Hall"), is
fully illuminated by the natural light coming from the entrance of
the cave. It measures 27 meters long and 20 meters wide, and
contains numerous bodies of stalagmites rising from the ground. The
most distant of them are heaped in a single group that rises up to
the upper dome, forming a back wall where two large blocks of
quartz detach from the
huge layer of the same mineral.
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Second Chamber, called "Sala das Colunas" ("Room of
Columns"), is 37 meters long by 22.5 meters wide. Masses of
stalagmites that rise up to the dome link this wall to that which
separates the preceding chamber. Other masses have risen as the
first, leaving only a descent. The layer of stalagmites here formed
was punctured so that the nitrous component contained therein might
be extracted. This layer contains a large quantity of small bones
and teeth.
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Third chamber, called "Altar" or "Trono" ("Altar", or
"Throne"), is 67 meters long, 35 meters wide and 15 meters high. A
group of stalagmites which separates this chamber from the
preceding one form a bouquet on both sides, creating a niche
arranged like an amphitheater in whose entry, a 7.5-meter-high
figure resembling a bear on a pedestal is displayed.
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Fourth chamber, called "Carneiro" ("Lamb"), measures 18
meters long, 20 meters wide and 11 meters high. It distinguishes
itself from all the other chambers mostly because the ground is
covered with gypsum powder. Noticeable also in this room, besides
the figure of a lamb, is the imposing figure of a gigantic
mushroom.
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Fifth chamber, called "Salão das Piscinas" ("Hall of
Pools"), measuring 23.5 meters long, equal width and 18 meters
high, forms the deepest part of the cave. In the center of this
hall there is a large basin about 1.5 meter deep whose walls are
covered with delicate crystals of fluorspar limestone. Large
masses of stalagmites resembling ancient statues in a Roman bath
adorn the opposite edges of the basin.
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Sixth chamber, called "Salão das Fadas" ("Hall of the
Fairies"), is 33 meters long and 15 meters high. In this room bones
of large animals, including the remains of a mammoth have been
found. In the background of this chamber there is a passage to
another room and a limpid cascade which has condensed itself into
bright alabaster. The whole
chamber and all the figures existing in it are decorated with a
delicate crust of crystals of calcium carbonate, sometimes of the
purest white, sometimes differently colored. The splendid
reflections produced by the light illuminating the many facets of
this crystal, dazzle the eye of those who gaze at this imagery and
with it, see themselves transported to a fairy-like palace. Dr.
Lund said: "My eyes have never seen anything more beautiful and
magnificent in the domains of nature and art."
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Seventh chamber is divided into two parts. The first one
is referred to as "Salão do Dr. Lund" ("Dr. Lund's Hall"), and is
considered the most important of the chambers by the amount of
bones that it contains. It is 42 meters long, 22 meters wide and 15
meters high. It leads downwards and forms many watersheds along the
way. In the middle of the chamber there is a 60-centimeter-wide by
4.5-meter-deep coverage through which all excess of water is
drained out of the cave. The second chamber is called "Salão do
Cemitério" ("Cemetery Hall"), which is the largest of the chambers
in the cave measuring 162.5 meters long by 56 meters wide. It is
coated with a crumbly layer of plaster powder
stalagmites which covers the ground, piling up to the ceiling.
Paleontology
Considered as the "cradle" of paleontology in the country, the
grotto was discovered in 1825 by farmer Joaquim Maria Maquiné, then
the landowner. It is world-famous for paleontological importance
detected initially by Peter Claussen and the Danish naturalist
Peter Wilhelm Lund who scientifically first explored it in 1834,
showing the world its natural beauty. Dr. Lund remained inside the
cave nearly two years doing his research on the Brazilian
paleontology, describing all the chambers, explaining the formation
of stalagmites and stalactites and examining human remains and
petrifaction of animals from the Quaternary period. Among others,
he found fossilized skeletons of birds with an extraordinary
curvature of up to three meters and the Nothrotherium
maquinense, the smallest and most emblematic of the terrestrial
sloths which he found in 1835 when he first explored the cave.
In 1868, after more than 30 years after the exploration of the
cave, Lund wished to return to Cordisburgo and show the Duke of
Saxe who visited the country, the natural beauty of this huge
cave.
See also
References
Шаблон:Reflist
Attribution
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This article is based on the translation of the
corresponding article of the Portuguese Wikipedia. A list of
contributors can be found there at the
History section.
External
links
