The Big Hole of Cyrene

The Big Hole of Cyrene: nothing is known about this massive hole in the ground. No one has attempted to go down, and there are no records or information of anyone doing so in the past. There are those who say the hole was used as an ammunition dump during the two world wars.

According to an email we have received recently from a student in the UK, the Big Hole of Cyrene is in effect a vertical cave represents what is known as Karst (Cave) Geology, and that the sides of the hole show that they were previously subjected to water or wind scouring. He also informed us that similar holes exist around the world, like the Golondrinas in Mexico (350 meters deep), and the Gaping Ghyll in  England (50 meters deep).

Googling the word Karst it becomes apparent that Karst regions are distinctive landscape features, many of which have flutes, runnels, clints and grikes (generally called karren or lapiez), sinkholes or cenotes (closed basins), dolines, vertical shafts, disappearing streams, and karst towers. It might not be possible to know what lies hidden at the base of the hole for some time to come, but many of these features were found to hide complex underground drainage systems (such as karst aquifers) and extensive caves and cavern systems beneath the surface. In fact the karst topography itself is characterized by subterranean limestone caverns carved by groundwater. The name "karst", originally from the Indo-European karra ('stone'), was derived from Jovan Cvijić's study "Das Karstphänomen (1893)", which established that rock dissolution was the key process responsible for creating most of the dolines.

A view of the Big Hole in relation to the nearby landscape, to indicate the size of the hole:
gigantic hole to say the least. Of course, only about a quarter of the hole is showing in the photo.

The place is located near Cyrene, and is locally known as Haw Hajyre (or Hawa Al-H'ajer), which could mean a hole (or depression) in the rocks. The area is not fenced and it is possible the hole is full of skeletons of stray animals and the like. As far as we know, the hole is a total mystery, and requires a proper expedition of scientists and photographers to study and photographs its didden dark base. The depth of the hole is not known, and throwing a stone in the hole return no echoes. Is it a gate to the underworld? Does it lead to the centre of the earth? Or is it just an ordinary hole of some sort? Your guess is as good as ours.

Watch our short video of the Big Hole.

Right-click on the video, then click on "Play".

The Big Hole, Cyrene.