| Porow Cave | |
| Location: | Zagros Mountains, Iran |
| Depth: | 751m (2,464feet) [1] |
| Length: | 1.36km (00.85miles) |
| Discovery: | 1971 |
| Geology: | Limestone |
| Difficulty: | High |
| Hazards: | Vertical pitch |
Porow Cave is a limestone cave in the Zagros Mountains, north of Kermanshah in Western Iran.[2] At 751 m deep, it is the deepest cave in Iran.[3] Joujar Cave has been reported as the second deepest, at 568 m deep.
A British-led caving expedition to the Zagros Mountains in 1971 led to the discovery of the cave. The cave was explored to a depth of 742 m when the expedition was forced to return to the surface. The explorers believed that the cave might go on much further, possibly surpassing the Gouffre de la Pierre-Saint-Martin system, which at that time was the world's deepest known cave.[4]
The team returned the following year and passed their previous limit, but to their great disappointment, the cave sumped almost immediately at a depth of 751 m and could be explored no further. To be "Ghar Paraued" became a term used in British caving for a small, disappointing breakthrough following the great effort to discover new passage.