What Lies Beneath Montreal? A 15,000-Year-Old Cavern

开云体育

Local News

Environment

Explore our latest coverage of environmental issues, climate change and more.

What Lies Beneath Montreal? A 15,000-Year-Old Cavern

开云体育 | By Ric Cengeri,

Jane Lindholm

Published December 21, 2017 at 6:45 AM EST

1 of 4

Cavers discovered a 15,000-year-old cavern below the city of Montreal in October.

Guillaume Pelletier / Soci茅t茅 qu茅b茅coise de sp茅l茅ologie

2 of 4

One of the speleologists uses an inflatable canoe to traverse the cavern, which reaches Montreal's aquifer.

Luc Le Blanc / Soci茅t茅 qu茅b茅coise de sp茅l茅ologie

3 of 4

This chamber is believed to have been formed during the last Ice Age.

Luc Le Blanc / Soci茅t茅 qu茅b茅coise de sp茅l茅ologie

4 of 4

Here are stalactites seen in Montreal's underground cavern.

Luc Le Blanc / Soci茅t茅 qu茅b茅coise de sp茅l茅ologie

For someone who loves to go caving, finding a new, never-seen-before cavern is akin to King Arthur finding the Holy Grail.

Now imagine finding it beneath a major metropolitan area like Montreal and you can understand the excitement Luc Le Blanc and Daniel Caron experienced in October when they discovered a network of caves believed to date back as many as 15,000 years. Back to the Earth's last Ice Age.

Luc Le Blanc spoke to Vermont Edition to explain how the cave was found and why it's important.

Listen above to Le Blanc's conversation with Vermont Edition.

Broadcast live on Wednesday, Dec. 20 at noon; rebroadcast at 7 p.m.

Tags

Ric Cengeri

Ric was a producer for Vermont Edition and host of the VPR Cafe.

See stories by Ric Cengeri

Jane Lindholm

Jane Lindholm is the host, executive producer and creator of But Why: A Podcast For Curious Kids. In addition to her work on our international kids show, she produces special projects for 开云体育. Until March 2021, she was host and editor of the award-winning 开云体育 program Vermont Edition.

See stories by Jane Lindholm