How Deep Can Caves Get?

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Go to https://ground.news/earth for a better way to stay informed. Subscribe for 40% off unlimited access to world-wide coverage through this link. CORRECTION: As some of you have pointed out, at 2:12 the narration should say "diamond-mesh coated rebar" not "diamond-coated rebar." It sounds awesome, but it doesn't make sense to reinforce the walls of a gold mine with minerals more expensive (and brittle) than gold. Krubera Cave, one of our planet’s deepest known caves, extends 2200 meters into the earth – that’s a depth of nearly six Empire State Buildings. Or at least, that's as far down as humans have been able to explore; there might be other undiscovered chambers that go down even farther. But the cave can't be that much deeper, because there's a limit – actually, three limits – to how deep caves on Earth can get. LEARN MORE ************** To learn more about this topic, start your googling with these keywords: - Karst: landscape underlain by limestone which has been eroded by dissolution, producing ridges, towers, fissures, sinkholes and other characteristic landforms. - Solutional cave: a cave usually formed in a soluble rock like limestone - Water table: the upper surface of the saturated zone underground, where all the pores and cracks in soil and rock are completely filled with water. SUPPORT MINUTEEARTH ************************** If you like what we do, you can help us!: - Become our patron: https://patreon.com/MinuteEarth - Our merch: http://dftba.com/minuteearth - Our book: https://minuteearth.com/books - Sign up to our newsletter: http://news.minuteearth.com - Share this video with your friends and family - Leave us a comment (we read them!) CREDITS ********* Cameron Duke | Script Writer, Narrator and Director Arcadi Garcia i Rius | Storyboard Artist Sarah Berman | Illustration, Video Editing and Animation Nathaniel Schroeder | Music MinuteEarth is produced by Neptune Studios LLC https://neptunestudios.info OUR STAFF ************ Lizah van der Aart • Sarah Berman • Cameron Duke Arcadi Garcia i Rius • David Goldenberg • Melissa Hayes Henry Reich • Ever Salazar • Leonardo Souza • Kate Yoshida OUR LINKS ************ Youtube | https://youtube.com/MinuteEarth TikTok | https://tiktok.com/@minuteearth Twitter | https://twitter.com/MinuteEarth Instagram | https://instagram.com/minute_earth Facebook | https://facebook.com/Minuteearth Website | https://minuteearth.com Apple Podcasts| https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/minuteearth/id649211176 REFERENCES ************** “3D Model of Krubera (Voronja) Cave.” Archive.org, 2025, https://web.archive.org/web/20090401170048/www.network.speleogenesis.info/directory/exploration/krubera.php Ford, Derek C, and R O Ewers. “The Development of Limestone Cave Systems in the Dimensions of Length and Depth.” Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, vol. 15, no. 11, 1 Nov. 1978, pp. 1783–1798, https://doi.org/10.1139/e78-186 “Karst Hydrology and Physical Speleology : Bögli, Alfred, 1912- : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive.” Internet Archive, 2022, https://archive.org/details/karsthydrologyph0000bogl/page/148/mode/2up Kohn, Matt. How to Calculate Pressure in Earth’s Crust: Part 1 – Constant Density. https://youtu.be/u5n65OHEoRc?si=gUYFqwlRtxKFa60s “MatWeb - the Online Materials Information Resource.” https://www.matweb.com/search/datasheet.aspx “Speleology : The Study of Caves : Moore, George William, 1928- : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive.” Internet Archive, 2025, https://archive.org/details/speleologystudyo00moor/page/150/mode/2up