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The Conversation
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Science
Gabriel C Rau, Lecturer in Hydrogeology, School of Environmental and Life Sciences, University of Newcastle

Explorers just uncovered Australia’s deepest cave. A hydrogeologist explains how they form

Australia Earth Tasmania
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Cave explorers have traversed what’s now the deepest known cave in Australia. On Saturday a group of explorers discovered a 401-metre-deep cave, which they named Delta Variant, in Tasmania’s Niggly-Growling Swallet cave system within the Junee–Florentine karst area. Its depth just beat out its predecessor, the Niggly Cave, by about four metres.

With a descent that lasted 14 hours and took many months to prepare for, Delta Variant is causing a stir among explorer communities.

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