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The world's largest underground thermal lake is discovered in Albania
2025-02-07 07:37:59 / MISTERE&KURIOZITETE
A team of Czech cave explorers has discovered the world's largest underground thermal lake, hidden deep beneath the surface of southern Albania.
The stunning body of water, stretching 138.3 meters in length and 42 meters in width, holds about 8,335 cubic meters of mineral-rich thermal water.
The team had to descend 127 meters underground to reach the lake, making it one of the most extraordinary geological finds in recent years.
The discovery was the result of many years of exploration led by Czech speleologist Marek Audy, who first suspected the existence of a hidden thermal cave system in the Vromoner region of Albania near the border with Greece.
Guided by his intuition based on experience with similar geological formations in the Guadalupe Mountains of New Mexico, during a family trip Audy and his wife explored a cave known as the Sulfur Cave, accessible from the Sarandaporo (Vjosa) River.
“We weren’t the first people inside, but I had a strong feeling that this cave was unique,” Audy recalled. Although he had promised his wife a warm thermal spring experience, the water temperature was only 26°C. Despite the conditions, Audy’s curiosity was piqued.
"With the scorpions, the spiders, the heat and a bad smell from the sulfur, I wouldn't exactly call it a romantic cave," Audy told National Geographic in the Czech Republic. "But I was already reaching for my notebook."
Albania, long isolated during the communist era under dictator Enver Hoxha, has remained largely unexplored, leaving many of its natural wonders undiscovered. However, in late 2024, the team noticed something extraordinary: drone footage revealed a plume of steam rising from an unexplored location, the exploration team reports, voxnews.al reports.
After driving, the team discovered the large underground cave that they would later call Atmos Cave, the largest known underground thermal lake on Earth.
Audy later told National Geographic: "When we first entered that cave and saw the lake, we were amazed. It was like entering another world."
The discovery has now been hailed by experts as a scientific milestone.
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