Photograph

Aggitis River Cave, Maara

At Maara, the underground world is not still. The river runs through the chamber as a living axis, carrying sound, cold and constant motion beneath vaults that feel only provisionally complete. Here, the cave is still being made.

Beyond the frame

Underground rivers both remove and create. They enlarge fractures in limestone, transport sand and gravel, and deposit sediment where the current slows. The same flow therefore shapes both the empty passage and the layers preserved within it.

Collection Underground stories