Exploration of High Altitude Caves in the Baisun-Tau Mountain Range, Uzbekistan

In the late Eighties some Russian, Italian and British expeditions started the detailed exploration of the Baysun-Tau region, a series of parallel limestone ranges showing karst features in an high altitude desert environment, with cave entrances between 3,000 and 3,900 m a.s.l. The exploration came to a halt soon because of the breaking up of the Soviet Union and related border contentions between Uzbekistan and Tagikistan. Over the past five years, the improvement of the political situation in Uzbekistan and the possibility to get permits for exploration in this remote area has lead the Ekaterinburg Speleological Club, with the support of La Venta Geographic Explorations, to inaugurate a new season of expeditions. In two years, 2011–2012, new and extensive branches were explored in the cave systems Festivalnaya (-625 m, 16 km; entrance at 3,500 m a.s.l.), Dark Star (-610 m, 7 km; entrance at 3,640 a.s.l.), with more than 11 km of new passages surveyed. Dark Star, renamed as Central Karst System of Hodja Gur Gur Ata, in particular shows a great potential to become one of the deepest caves of Central Asia, reaching now over 600 metres of depth but with a potential of 2,400 metres between the entrance and the resurgence of Machai. In 2011 also Ulugh Begh Cave was reached again, twenty years after its first and unique exploration, discovering a new entrance at almost 3,800 m a.s.l. Additional to explorational works, Chinese, Russian, and Swiss scientists harvested the first samples for climatic studies in 2012. The Baysun Tau limestone ranges show exceptional potential not only for exploration and connection of the caves, but also for future scientific research on paleo-climate and the paleo-geographic evolution of the area.