Earth Sciences Commons^™

The Morphology And Development Of Kalahroud Cave, Iran, Shirin Bahadorinia, Sayed Hassan Hejazi, Alireza Nadimi, Derek C. Ford, Karine Wainer

International Journal of Speleology

Kalahroud Cave is located in central Iran, ~50 km north of Isfahan. The landscape is a typical mountain desert morphology of cuestas dissected by ravines and gorges created during rare surface run-off events; crest lines are ~2800 m asl and lowlands at ~2100 m asl. Kalahroud Cave (4500 m of mapped passages, ~60 m deep) is entered through breakdown in the eastern wall of a gorge. The host rock is a Cretaceous limestone and mudstone formation 60 m in thickness, underlain by sandstones and conglomerates and overlain by weakly permeable calcareous marl strata, all dipping 15-20^o. Below the …