Adventure landscapes - Into Titan
This lesson is about the largest vertical cave in the UK. Students will explore where this place is and what it is like.
Key questions
Key concepts
What/Where is Titan?
Titan is the UK's largest vertical cave. It is located at Hurdlow, Castleton, Derbyshire.
What would it be like to explore the largest vertical cave in the UK?
The vertical cavern, named Titan, measures a vertical drop of approximately 140m from top of the main shaft, some 60m higher than the previous record at Gaping Ghyll in the Yorkshire Dales. Water has passed down joints and along bedding planes for thousands, possibly millions of year dissolving the limestone as it flowed generating tunnels and caverns beneath the surface.
Downloads
Links
Starter
What to wear
It is essential you know what to wear before venturing on a caving expedition - even a virtual one.
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What are the key features of a cave environment
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What would it be appropriate to wear going into this environment
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What would you need to take into a cave to explore safely
Have a go at dressing a caver.
Main
Welcome to Titan.
This picture is looking down from the top of Titan. Caver Dave Clucas is in the 130m Passage that connects with the surface shaft (top-middle of the photo). Dave Nixon is at The Event Horizon, which is only half way down. See if you can spot him HINT: follow the rope on the right hand side down into the cave, he is wearing red and blue. Photo: © Robbie Shone
Locate Titan on a map. Zoom out from the cave’s entrance to see that Titan is located near Castleton, Derbyshire.
Then visit Titan on Google Earth using the Google Earth placemark - Titan/Castleton or locate it on an OS map.
Read the Titan guide (PDF).
Make a list of the equipment needed to explore the cave.
Watch the Titan video from the BBC.
Create sound track/voice over for this BBC video. Play the video again with sound off and read your narration or play your soundtrack at the same time.
Plenary
Listen to some of your class mates' sound tracks. Then listen to the original BBC video again with the sound turned up. Spot the difference? Perhaps you can vote on whose was most like the official BBC video?