Sarıkaya Cave
Sarıkaya Cave is located 1.5 km northeast of Sarıkaya village, 5 km northwest of Yığılca district of Düzce. It is a semi-active fossil cave with sinkhole position, developed as semi-horizontal inclination within Paleocene-Lower Eocene aged limestones. The cave has been registered as a 1st degree protected area by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism Ankara Regional Directorate of Conservation of Cultural and Natural Assets. Sarıkaya Cave, which is the largest cave of the Western Black Sea Section, developed inclined in the direction and distribution of limestones at the contact of limestones and sandstones. The water entering from the weak zone at the contact of the two units, on the one hand, melted the limestones and on the other hand physically eroded the loose marl and sandstones below. Sarıkaya Cave, which was formed by deep digging in limestones and sandstones, is also a water passageway. The total length of the cave is 717 m and the main gallery length is 510 m, width 80 m, length 75 m, ceiling height 15-40 m. Fossil and young stalactite shapes belonging to two development periods are found in the hall. In the middle of the hall, there is a small waterfall formed by the creek coming from Aksu Stream and a canyon-valley belonging to the second phase, and it is 17 m and gradually increasing in depth from the part where it first formed. Located in the sinkhole position on a plateau in the character of a plateau deeply split by the Melen Stream, the cave collects the surface waters of its immediate surroundings and empties it into the Aksu Cave and Melen Stream.
