What Lies Beneath Montreal? A 15,000-Year-Old Cavern

Vermont Public | By Ric Cengeri,

Jane Lindholm

Published December 21, 2017 at 6:45 AM EST

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Cavers discovered a 15,000-year-old cavern below the city of Montreal in October.

Guillaume Pelletier / Société québécoise de spéléologie

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One of the speleologists uses an inflatable canoe to traverse the cavern, which reaches Montreal's aquifer.

Luc Le Blanc / Société québécoise de spéléologie

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This chamber is believed to have been formed during the last Ice Age.

Luc Le Blanc / Société québécoise de spéléologie

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Here are stalactites seen in Montreal's underground cavern.

Luc Le Blanc / Société québécoise de spéléologie

For someone who loves to go caving, finding a new, never-seen-before cavern is akin to King Arthur finding the Holy Grail.

Now imagine finding it beneath a major metropolitan area like Montreal and you can understand the excitement Luc Le Blanc and Daniel Caron experienced in October when they discovered a network of caves believed to date back as many as 15,000 years. Back to the Earth's last Ice Age.

Luc Le Blanc spoke to Vermont Edition to explain how the cave was found and why it's important.

Listen above to Le Blanc's conversation with Vermont Edition.

Broadcast live on Wednesday, Dec. 20 at noon; rebroadcast at 7 p.m.