Kryvchenskaya Cave

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Kryvchenska Cave (Crystal Cave) is located near the village of Kryvche Nizhne (6 km southeast of the village of Borshchova) - Ternopil region, Ukraine.

It was formed in Neogene gypsums, reaching a thickness of 30 m, and transgressively laid down on Silurian shales and Devonian sandstones. The karst massif in which the cave is located is bounded by the valley of the Tsyganka River (a left tributary of the Nichlava River flowing into the Dniester) and the valley of its left tributary, Semenova Creek. The depth of the river incision in the area of the cave reaches 110 meters.

The passages and grottoes of the cave, which reaches a total length of 18,785 m, are confined to two systems of mutually perpendicular tectonic fissures with northwestern and northeastern directions.

The passages are predominantly wide and high, their ceilings have a "gothic" shape. Grottoes are confined to the zones of the most intense fracturing. The largest of them is the Grotto of Boulders, which reaches 70 m in length, 40 m in width and 7 m in height. It is covered with huge blocks of rock.

The cave is dry. The water dripping from the vault is calcium-sulfate water with mineralization of 2390 mg/l. In some grottoes (Stalactitic, Limestone) there are fringed calcite formations.

The walls of some galleries are covered with secondary crystals of gypsum of different colors and sizes. The air temperature in the cave is constant - 10.5-10°,8. Relative humidity 93-99%, air velocity 0.152-0.183 m/sec, the amount of oxygen 22.3%, carbon dioxide 0.045%.