Natural Ice Cave

The Eisriesenwelt is a natural ice cave . It is really a gift of nature which is located in Werfen district of Austria,nearly 40 km far away south of Salzburg.The Eisriesenwelt's width is more than 42 km. The Eisriesenwelt was caused to occur by the Salzach River. This river flowed in mountain occuring erosion of passages about 100 million years ago.Over the many years cracks in mountain extended too much because of erosion of rocks by water.In winter time, when air in mountain is warmer than outside air; cold air spread into the mountain and makes cooler temprature of lower areas to fall freezing point.In spring ,snow melts and this melting water flow through crevices in the mountain.When melting water reaches cold areas of the caves,it starts to freeze and turns into amazing ice formations which are visible inside the cave. In spite of 42 km length of cave , only the first 1 km , that people are allowed to see,is covered in ice.The remain part is formation of limestone. Anton Posselt,a natural scientist from Salzburg discovered Eisriesenwelt in 1879.Before discovery of cave,local people thought that it was an etrance to Hell,because of that they did not explore the caves.Posselt published a report about his discovery after one year,but the caves slipped back . Alexander von Mörk,who is a speleologist from Austria,was one of less number of people who remembered Posselt's discovery.He led several expeditions into cave beginning in 1912,which were followed by others.In 1920 some cabins and roads were constructed.(Forscherhütte,Dr. Oedl House).Tourists began to arrive sooner ,and the caves popularity suddenly increased.