Iazoni Cave Natural Monument

Iazoni Cave Natural Monument (Georgian: იაზონის მღვიმე) also known as Tskaltsitela Cave[2] is a karst cave located across the river Tskaltsitela near village Godogni, Terjola Municipality, just outside Kutaisi in Imereti region of Georgia, 135 metres above sea level. [3] Cave is on the right bank of Tskaltsitela river, the tributary of the Rioni, near Godogni village bridge.

Iazoni Cave Natural Monument
Jazon Cave, Tskaltsitela Cave
IUCN category III (natural monument or feature)
Nearest cityKutaisi
Coordinates42°16′19.62″N 42°44′1.63″E[1]
Established2007
Governing bodyAgency of Protected Areas
WebsiteIazoni Cave Natural Monument

Morphology

Iazoni cave is carved in the Lower Cretaceous limestone, which is a riverbed material. Cave total length is 40 meters. Cave is notable for it arch-shaped ceilings naturally decorated with small stalactites accompanied by stalagmites on the floor. Width of the cave is quickly reduced to 2.5 m at a distance of just 10 m from the entrance and the ceiling height decreases to 0.5 m closer to the cave end section. Silty muck makes cave floor slippery and access to cave difficult.[4]

Fauna and paleontological findings

The cave provides shelter to various animals.[2] It is home to troglofauna such as Troglocaris (Xiphocaridinella) kutaissiana (Sadowsky, 1930) [1] Paleontological findings of animal bones and flint tools established presence of cave dwellers of the Paleolithic Age.[5]

See also

References
  1. Marin, Ivan. Troglocaris (Xiphocaridinella) kumistavi sp. nov., a new species of stygobiotic atyid shrimp (Crustacea: Decapoda: Atyidae) from Kumistavi Cave, Imereti, Western Georgia, Caucasus Zootaxa 4311 (4), pp. 576-588: 578, 2017. http://doi.org/ 10.5281/zenodo.848469
  2. Barjadze, Sh., Arabuli, T., Mumladze, L., Maghradze, E., Asanidze, Z., Kutalia, T. Tskaltsitela Cave Cave Biodiversity of Georgia, Open Access Database. 2019. Institute of Zoology at Ilia State University
  3. Iazoni Karst Cave in Georgia Protected Planet
  4. (in Georgian) Natural Monument Iazoni Cave
  5. Iazoni Cave Natural Monument
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