Newly discovered cave in B.C. might be largest ever found in Canada

A newly discoveredcavein a remote valley in British Columbiamight be the country's largest.

The feature, in the northeastern area of WellsGrayProvincial Park, was spotted by a helicopter crew from the province's Ministry of Environment and Climate Change in Marchwhile they were conducting a caribou census.

Geologist Catherine Hickson, who first went to thecavein September, said the discovery promises a dramatic new chapter in the story of Canadiancaveexploration.

"It was absolutely amazing,'' she said. "I immediately recognized that this was very significant.''

Before making the trip, Hickson and fellow researchers, including cave expert John Pollack, spent months studying satellite imagery and rocks in the area, she said.

The entrance pit to thecaveis about 100 metres long and 60 metres wide. While its depth is hard to measure because of the mist from a waterfall, initial examinations show it is at least 135 metres deep.

Hickson

"It's about the size of a soccer field,'' Hickson said. "So, if you think of a soccer field and you put that soccer field on its end so you have this pit going down. Think about this giant circular or oval hole that just goes down and down and down. It is truly amazing.''

Aerial view of the massive cave and its entrance

Thecaveis the largest known of its type, a variety of "striped karst,'' which is marble interspersed with other types of ancient ocean rock, she said.

"It's in an area where this size of acaveis unusual,'' she said. "It's an important landmark an important feature for Canadians to be proud about.''

The people who first spotted thecavefrom the helicopter named it Sarlacc's Pit, because of its similarity to the lair of the sarlacc, a creature from Star Wars: Return of the Jedi.

A formal naming of thecavewill happen after consultations with First Nations, she said.

The feature was formed underneath glaciers for potentially tens of thousands of years, so there is no way of knowing the real age of thecaveright away, Hickson said.

"Right now, because of the recession of the glaciers, it is open to the sky,'' she said, adding that as ice retreats from the landscape due to climate change, more such features might be discovered.

Although thecaveis in a remote, rugged valley covered with snow and ice for thegreater part of the year, Hickson said researchers are keeping the exact location a secret so as to preserve the unique area.

Hickson said further investigations and research of thecaveand its unique geography will likely be carried out in 2020, depending on funding.

"We think everything is known and everything has been discovered," she said."But here's a major discovery that is made in today's world and likely has never been seen before and certainly not explored before.'

"It's just a message that there is still stuff out there yet to do and yet to be discovered.''