You must be aware of the “Delta variant” concerning Covid, but do you know that it’s the name given to the newly discovered cave in Australia? Yes, a group of explorers has recently brought to light the deepest ever cave in Australia. The cave is located in the “Junee Florentine Karst area of Tasmania”, near the southern island of Australia. However, it should be noted that the Delta variant has just broken the record of the previous Australian cave that was considered the deepest, having a depth of about 1,032 meters, while the Delta variant has a depth of around 1,315 meters.
The difference is not that big, but the Delta variant is now on the record. It should be noted that both of these caves are located in the same vicinity of the cave system in Australia. Just to make a wild guess about the depth of the Delta variant, we can analyze it by mimicking the length of three Sydney Harbour bridges or four London’s Elizabeth towers that can be placed on top of each other. In this way, we can somehow relate to how deep the cave is. Watch the video below to witness the struggles of the explorers behind this amazing discovery:
It should be noted that behind the exploration of this unusual marvel, an immense struggle is involved on the explorer’s part. They spent six months preparing for this exercise, and in the staging area, the explorers remained underground for about 14 hours and at last discovered the cave. One of the team members said, “I was definitely nervous. You feel aware of your mortality. Although you know you’re safe, it’s very intimidating and the sound as well-it’s a constant roar of the waterfall. You can’t hear anything above your breath; it’s scary at times. “
The primary purpose behind naming the cave “Delta variant” is “to remind future cavers of the contemporary events”. Not only this, different portions of the cave have different names, but you would be thrilled to know that they too were named after COVID terminology. They include, “Test Station Queue,” “Super Spreader,” and “Daily Cases,” as per the reports. This is crazy, isn’t it?
On that count, if we talk about the survival of explorers in the cave, as they were underground for 14 hours, the conditions were really tough. There was a snowfall in Australia recently, and due to this, the explorers were faced with conditions of high water levels that posed many threats to their lives, but somehow, they overcame all the conditions. One of the cavers, Ben Armstrong, said, “The cave was exceptionally strenuous. It was extremely vertical, requiring hundreds of meters to be ascended and descended on ropes. I’m sure there are small spaces, too snug for us to explore, that open into much longer or bigger systems than we’ve ever discovered. “
