Berger

Berger 

the deepest karst depression on earth. Located in the northern part of the Vercors massif (France). The shaft reaches 1,122 m vertically from the ground surface. The karst depression was formed on the wing of a fold composed of limestones underlain by shale. The entrance is at an altitude of 1,460 m. In the upper parts Berger appears to be a typical karst depression, descending deeper by several terraces. At a depth of more than 200 m the shaft changes into a cave (the Grand Gallery), which descends along the slope of the layers, worked into the limestone at the contact with the shale. In the depths there is a large canyon and Hurricane Falls; creeping past the falls and a steep shelf, the shaft ends in a water funnel.

N. A. GVOZDETSKII