©The Archaeological Settlements of Turkey - TAY Project





Indere - Ballica

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Indere - Ballica
Type:
Horizontal Cave
Altitude:
1100 m
Depth:
-32 m
Length:
422 m
Region:
Black Sea
Province:
Tokat
District:
Pazar
Village:
Ballica

     


Location: It is located in the Ballica Village; 5 km far from the Pazar District of Tokat. It is a show cave.
Structural Properties and formation : It lies within the massive and jointed Jura Cretaceous aged limestones on the northwestern slope of Akdag (1926 m) elongating along the southern edge of the Tokat Plain. The entrance is through a fossil mouth at a level of 1180 m on the slope of the Indere Valley. The general morphological structure consists of big halls formed due to collapses and interconnecting passages. The bottom is not evident; particularly in the "Bat Hall" and the subsequent hall because of the collapsed blocks. Also; use of SRT is required in order to reach to these halls. The column formations with algae; each exceeding 10 m in the big hall; the travertines in the so called "Mushroom Hall" by MAD due to the resemblance of the stalagmite in the middle; the giant colon formed by combination of more than one columns in the hall with columns; and especially the final zone of the cave with "onion-like stalactites" are very aesthetic decorations. Almost halted its development; no water was seen except a few minor lakes at the deeper zone. Therefore; the cave has no chance to renovate and clean itself.
Research History: Firstly explored by MAD in November 1987; it was explored again in December 1990 and filmed by TRT-GAP TV. It was mapped to the BCRA 4d standard in December 1990.
Findings: Due to an intense bat population; a large part of the cave is covered by a thick guano layer. The bats are more intense in the "Bat's Hall" due to the natural obstacles for human access. A few number of species (Rhinolophus meheyli) were seen [Benda-Horacek 1998:267].


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