Romania’s Well-Kept Prehistoric Secret

Romania’s Movile Cave: A Unique Global Gem

Romania holds one of the world’s most tantalizing, unique, and pristine environments, Movile Cave. Locked down approximately 60 feet below the earth, it has no natural connection to the world around it and was only discovered by Romanian researcher Cristian Lascu in 1986, during a geologic survey above a derelict mining pit in Mangalia, southeast Romania. 

Source: Kiararew

Movile Cave’s history delves into deep time. It began forming in the late Miocene, 5.5 million years ago, as the surrounding 12.5-million-year-old limestone dissolved away—a process partially pushed along by the sulfuric acid “belched” by tiny bacteria that “eat” sulfur. 

Then, many ages after its cave-birth (or speleogenesis), Movile enjoyed its last breath of fresh air during the Quaternary Period circa 2.5 million years ago, when thick layers of dirt, silt, and clay sealed it off from the outside world. 

Yet despite its incredible richness, Movile Cave is claustrophobically small. A narrow, human-made shaft is the only passage that leads to a horizontal maze of winding limestone galleries, covered with strange growths. Its less-than-800-foot length features a high, dry level and a low, submerged level with small pockets of air that suffocate above the chemical-laden waters, a veritable witch’s brew of hydrogen sulfide, methane, and ammonium seeping from cracks in the earth.  

So it’s no surprise that researchers here found the first “chemoautotrophic ecosystem,” where organisms derive their daily calories from chemical reactions. Little chemical-consuming bacteria and such coat the walls, forming biofilms, which the bigger creepy-crawlies rely on for a food source. 

A Literally Alien Environment

Movile Cave’s temperature is a gentle 70 degrees Fahrenheit. but that’s where the comforts end. The relative humidity is 100%. There’s no significant air circulation. And the atmosphere is choked with noxious hydrogen sulfide, carbon dioxide, methane, and ammonia. Oxygen levels are also exceptionally low; the general oxygen percentage above ground is 21%, though some especially dank pockets within Movile dip as low as 7%. 

Yet even in this remotely lethal locale, life flourishes. At least 50 species thrive down here in the endless, epoch-long gloom. Nearly 40 of these species are unique, including water scorpions, leeches, beetles, spiders, snails, millipedes, and shrimp species that initially found themselves here millions of years ago.

Ruling over them all is the apex predator Cryptops speleorex, “king of the cave.” It’s a grim-looking, venomous, predatory centipede that’s as extraterrestrial as expected in such extreme isolation. Things are small down here, and the food-chain-topping king is no different at only 2 inches in length, though that’s still larger than its subjects.

Source: Dailymail.co.uk

It somewhat resembles its counterpart centipedes living above but has developed specialized speleological adaptations, including longer antennae and extra claws on its legs to help it navigate its lightless dungeon. And similar adaptations abound in the sightless, bleached animals living in eternal night. 

Otherworldly Importance

Other than intrinsic intrigue, Movile Cave’s chemical darkness holds clues to the origin of terrestrial life on an early Earth, billions of years ago. It also offers an example environment for alien organisms that may exist in our own solar system, or in unreachable, far-off corners of the cosmos. 

Beltim & Associates’ Romanian Roots 

Our history goes back more than thirty years, though our collective engineering experience extends far beyond three decades. History and experience are essential, which is evident at Beltim & Associates—even our name is linked to our origin: Beltim is named after the Romanian cities of Belinţ and Timișoara. 

Bridging the known and the unknown is crucial to progress, which is why Beltim & Associates always utilize experience to embrace advance. And you can embrace advance as well, by getting in touch with us or seeking a free quote today!