User:Umitgunhan/Morca cave

The Morca cave is the third deepest cave in Turkey, reaching a depth of 1276 meters, located in the Taşeli Plateau and within the boundaries of Anamur district in Mersin.

Exploration history

 * Morca cave was discovered in 2012 by the ASPEG team led by Ender Usuloğlu, with the help of the local village headman.
 * It was explored up to a depth of -130 m and a length of 350 m during the Çukurpınar Sinkhole event held with Iranian cavers in 2013. ve
 * In the ongoing researches in Taşeli Field Survey and Çukurpınar event organized by ASPEG in 2014, it was explored to a depth of -447 m and a length of 1033 m under the leaderships of Iranian and Turkish cavers..
 * The cave was reached at a depth of -500 m in two short-term surveys that started again in 2017..
 * With the researches carried out with local and foreign cavers in 2018, the cave reached a depth of 919 meters and a length of 2541 meters..
 * With a one-month expedition in 2019, the cave went below -1000 m. With this event, Morca became the 4th cave in Turkey that went below 1000 meters after 15 years. The cave was reached to a depth of -1210 m and a length of 4068 m by Turkish and Bulgarian cavers, but could not go deeper due to lack of rigging equipment. A fossil side-passage cave camp was rigged at -1040 meters in the cave and an important camping area was created for further research. In this expedition, the discovery of caves that may be connected to the cave was also carried out.
 * Ali Hakan Eğilmez dive into the siphon encountered at a depth of 1269 m in the main passage in 2020, but he stated that the siphon continues to expand. A side passage at a depth of 1167 m and a side passage about 1 km were added, and with one of these passages, the cave reached a depth of -1276 m. It has reached a total length of 5192 m..
 * In 2021, new branches were discovered and mapped in the cave. Climbing was carried out in different branches and as a result, the cave reached a length of 5714 meters and the cave was derigged.
 * During the expedition in 2022, professional cave photographs were taken in the cave. A climb of 80 meters was made on a shaft located just before the siphon in the side passage at 1120 meters.

The Morca Cave, with a total depth of 1276 meters, is located in the Alp Himalayan orogenic-belt in the southern part of the Taşeli Plateau in the Central Taurides, within the Middle Miocene to Late Jurassic-Cretaceous limestones. The cave deepened within the vadose zone due to the uplift of the Taşeli Plateau during the Late Pliocene-Quaternary period. Even in the driest season, it is fed by seven different sources. The Morca, along with the EGMA and Çukurpınar caves, is located on the same plateau, at a depth of 1429 meters.