CAVES
CAVES, the forms of relief, representing hollow cavities in the upper layers of the earth’s crust, connected with the surface by means of entrance holes. By formation they are divided into natural and artificial caves, by the time of formation they are divided into speleocycles: small — 1.5—2 million years, average — 15—20 million years, large — 100—150 million years. The majority of them are karst caves. Phreatic, vadose, and dry stages are distinguished in their development. In limestone C. you can find stalactites, stalagmites, etc. They are inhabited by troglobionts, troglophiles, trogloksenes. In the RB there are 936 caves (2012) about 106 km long, including the largest: Kapova Cave and Sumgan Cave. The majority of C. are in the dry stage of development, about 20% are in the vadose stage. C. began to develop in early Pleistocene. C. of the Bashkir Pre-Urals are developed in gypsum, less often in Perm limestone. In 79 C. there are rivers, in 68 — lakes, in 42 — glaciers. Air temperature in summer in many C. exceeds 10°C. 97 animal species have been described, cheiroptera colonies inhabit them and spend winter in them. Inside the entryway you can find crustose lichens, mosses. Archaeological sites were found in some C. They are used for speleotourism.