Determination of the Simultaneously Allowed Optimal Number of Tourists for the Tskaltubo (Prometheus) Cave

Abstract

On the southern slope of the Caucasian ridge, the karst strip occupies a 300 km 2 of area within the scope of our country, where there are about 1400 caves and shafts registered by these days. Despite the fact that Georgia is sometimes called a country of caves, only a few caves are well-equipped and open for tourists. The research results presented here is based on the conditions of the Tskaltubo cave, which was discovered in 1980s, by speleological team of the Vakhushti Bagrationi Institute of Geography. Cave system is presented with multiple entrances, which has been unknown before for the scientists, located 150 m above the sea in the Village Kumistavi area, the Tskaltubo Municipality. Over time, due to measures that ensure the safety of visitors as well as heat release from visitors and lighting, the natural background of temperature and relative humidity, the modes of movement of cave air and underground karst waters change. The reason of mentioned for the conditions of Tskaltubo cave is the construction of a special tunnel, which excludes the flooding of the cave during the spring leash season. As a result, the moisture content in the surrounding massif decreases, which also affects the relative humidity and other microclimatic parameters of air. Therefore, the goal of this paper is to reduce the negative impact by determining the optimal number of tourists depending on the season. The method of investigation is based on simple equations of heat balance, in which it is taken into account that all heat, which is released from excursionists and from illumination, is transmitted to cave air. Consequently, taking into account the natural processes of dissipation of thermal energy, the optimal and maximal number of tourists, simultaneously admitted to the cave, is determined. In the paper the table of marked values is given by months of the year. It should be noted that the cave had 80,700 visitors in the first year after the construction of the infrastructure, which exceeds the optimal number of tourists per year about 64,500 according to our research that are presented in this paper.