Ghliana Cave Natural Monument () is a karst cave located near village Kumistavi, Tsqaltubo Municipality in Imereti region of Georgia, 142 meters above sea level.Ghliana Cave in Georgia Protected Planet
Morphology Ghliana karst cave is carved in limestone and has two entrances. The main entrance has a height of 3.5–4 meters, and width of .Ghliana Cave Natural Monument National Parks of Georgia The main underground stream flows from this entrance. The second entrance to the left from the main entrance is very steep and measures from cave floor to the surface. 60 meters from entrance there is a deep siphon lake, wide, high above the lake surface and 50 meters long. Behind the lake there is a siphon corridor with it floor under water with depth of 0.5–2 meters. Behind the corridor there is a gallery with a length of and a width of . It traverses the bigger gallery with ceiling covered with stalactites almost it entire length. This gallery again has water and several siphonous exits to the bottom of the cave. The underground flow measures 50–55 litres per second in a flood. The water streams from the cave end up in Kumi river. ღლიანას მღვიმის ბუნების ძეგლი
Fauna
Numerous colonies of bats inhabit the dry corridors of the cave. The inhabitants of the cave also include Trachysphaera, Attheyella, Pilocamptus, Deuterosminthurus, Proisotoma, Hypoaspis and Macrocheles.Barjadze, Sh., Arabuli, T., Mumladze, L., Maghradze, E., Asanidze, Z., Kutalia, T. Ghliana Cave Cave Biodiversity of Georgia, Open Access Database. 2019. Institute of Zoology at Ilia State University
See also Prometheus Cave Natural Monument
References