Son Doong Cave on the Laos-Vietnam border has the largest chamber, while Mammoth Cave System in Kentucky is the longest cave. Krubera-Voronja Cave in Georgia is the deepest cave.
The winners for the world’s largest caves can be based on several conceptions. If the biggest caves are the ones with the biggest chambers, then there’s a clear winner. The cave with the largest chamber is Son Doong Cave on the Laos-Vietnam border. The largest chamer in the Son Doong cave system is about 3.1 miles (about 5 km) long, about 492 feet (150 m) wide, and about 656 feet (200 m) high. The runner-up for the cave with the largest chamber is the Malaysian Gua Nasib Bagus Cave, located in Gunung Mulu National Park, with the chamber in question called the Sarawak Chamber. The Sarawak Chamber is 2,300 feet (about 700 m) long, 1,300 feet (about 396 m) wide, and about 230 feet (about 70 m) high. After Gua Nasib Bagus, the next largest chamber is at Carlsbad Caverns, located in Carlsbad Caverns National Park in New Mexico, in which the Big Room, a natural limestone chamber, is nearly 4,000 feet (about 1,219 m) long, 625 feet (190.5 m) wide and 350 feet (about 107 m) high at its highest point.
There are other caves, however, that would take the prize for largest cave when length or depth is considered. If the largest caves are the longest caves, then we also have an outstanding candidate. The longest cave is the Mammoth Cave System in Kentucky, with a length of at least 365 miles (about 587 km). It’s nearly twice as long as the runner-up, Jewel Cave in South Dakota, with a length of 140 miles (about 225km). Of the top ten caves by length, five are in the United States, two in Kentucky (Fisher Ridge and Mammoth Cave Systems), two in South Dakota (Jewel and Wind Caves), and one in New Mexico (Lechuguilla Cave). There are also two in Mexico (Sistema Ox Bel Ha and Sistema Sac Actun, both underwater), two in Switzerland (Hoelloch and Siebenhengste-hohgant Hoehlensystem) and one in Ukraine (Optymistychna).
It could be, however, that the largest caves are the ones with the greatest depth. In this case, the winner is not that far and above the rest, however, Krubera-Voronja Cave in the country of Georgia is the deepest cave at 7,185 feet (2,190m). The runner up in depth is Illyuzia-Mezhonnogo-Snezhnaya, also in Georgia, with a depth of 5,751 feet (1,753 m). Interestingly, the runner-up is almost twice as deep as the winner, in this case: 14.96 miles (24.1 km) compared to 8.22 miles (13.23 km). Of the top ten deepest caves, four are located in Georgia (Illuzia-Snezhnaja-Mezhonnogo, Krubera-Voronja, Sarma and Shakta Vjacheslav Pantjukhina), two in Spain (Torca del Cerro del Cuevon-La Torca de las Saxifragas and Sima de la Cornisa -Torca Magali Caves), two in France (Gouffre Mirolda and Jean Bernard Caves), one in Austria (Vogelshacht and Lamprechtsofen Caves which are connected) and one in Slovenia (Ceki Cave 2).
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