Système de grottes

Pearse Resurgence

Résurgence245 m profondNew Zealand, Tasman

Statut d'accès non vérifié · tel que publié 2026-10-14 No public access procedure for divers was found; the published record consists of expedition accounts. Les règles d'accès changent : confirmez auprès du propriétaire ou de l'autorité gestionnaire avant de partir.

Documenté

Longueur explorée

Non publié

Profondeur documentée

245 m (804 ft)

Entrées répertoriées

Température de l'eau

6 °C

Levés et exploration

Wet Mules (Australian expedition team)

Depth reached by divers in 2020 in the deeper of two explored branches; the cave continues. The wider Nettlebed-Stormy Pot system has a vertical range of about 1,200 m measured by cavers, which is a different measurement.

A very cold, very deep resurgence (a spring where an underground river returns to the surface) in New Zealand's Tasman region, explored by expedition divers to 245 m. One of the deepest cave dives made anywhere.

The Pearse Resurgence is a resurgence of the Pearse River on the Mount Arthur range in the Tasman region of the South Island. Since 2007 expedition divers have pushed it progressively deeper, exploring two separate deep branches, one to 229 m and one to 245 m, and the cave continues beyond both.

The water is about 6 °C, which makes these dives exceptionally demanding. The expedition leader describes cold, fatigue and untested decompression at these depths as the main hazards, and says most of the team's equipment is heavily modified or home-made, with scooters and lights the limiting items. The site is an exploration project rather than a recreational dive, and no public access arrangements for divers were found.

The resurgence is generally described as the lower outflow of the Nettlebed cave system, which cavers connected to the Stormy Pot entrance on Mount Arthur in 2014 to form the deepest known cave in the Southern Hemisphere.

Eau, courant et crues

A resurgence of the Pearse River from a karst cave system; the expedition leader gives a water temperature of 6 °C.

Pourquoi c'est important

The expedition leader describes the Pearse as the eighth-deepest cave dive ever made. It has been the focus of the Wet Mules team's deep-diving expeditions since 2007, including a 2011 biosurvey.

Historique du relevé topographique et de l'exploration

2007	Dave Apperley and Rick Stanton extended the known cave from 125 m to 177 m depth. [1]
2011	An exploration and biosurvey expedition reached 194 m. [1]
2012	Exploratory dives reached 221 m. [1]
2016	Exploration reached 229 m in one tunnel. [1]
2020	The Wet Mules team reached 245 m in a second tunnel. [1]

Entrées et sites de plongée

One diveable entrance, the resurgence pool. The upper Nettlebed and Stormy Pot entrances are dry caving entrances.