The clot del Lirio, or Forat de Pedreguer, is a chasm resulting from the karst collapse of some farmland in the aforementioned municipality. Its relevance and exceptionality have contributed to it being included in the Catalog of Coves of the Valencian Community.
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Where is
This unique hole is located in the Campell de Pedreguer area, between agricultural fields.
Visit to the Lily clot
The Lirio clot can currently be visited. For this reason, the Pedreguer City Council asks all those who want to know it to exercise extreme caution when visiting. Under no circumstances should the fence that surrounds it be exceeded.
To get to it from Pedreguer it will be necessary to take the CV-733 in the direction of Benidoleig and turn left onto the Camí del Pou de l'Ovella. Next, turn right towards Camí del Campell. About 300 meters ahead are the terraces between which the chasm is located.
Features
According to the Pedreguer City Council, the Lirio clot would be about 80 meters deep, although twenty meters were covered by all the collapsed material after the sinking. Its oval entrance measures more than 30 meters in its longest part and 20 meters in its shortest.
By its nature, the mouth of the chasm widens over time. Since it was produced, the initial surface of the opening has multiplied by six, taking the shape of a funnel. It is very common for it to fill completely in times of heavy rain, making it impossible to see its interior clearly.
History
It could be a terrifying place, especially because of the great scare it must have caused to those who found it. It happened on August 8, 1982. During the night, loud noises were heard in the area, but it was not until dawn when the sinking occurred.
It was witnessed by a resident of Pedreguer, Fernando Berenguer, who encountered a large cloud of dust when he was heading to his nearby terrace. The earth had swallowed an entire field of orange trees, capricious and eager to eat them.
The field where it happened belonged to another resident of Pedreguer, Jaume Martí, called El Lirio, hence his name. Luckily, no one was on the farm when it happened, so there were no injuries.
From that day on, it was common to find curious neighbors and visitors there to discover the great forat of Pedreguer. Later, a group of speleologists from the Pedreguer Excursionist Center made the first descent into the chasm, providing the most approximately exact measurements of the large hole.
In 1984, the geologist and speleologists Policarp Garay Martín, together with another team, studied the event to write a report that would bring to light the causes of the sinking. Thus, they established that it was due to a subsidence process. It is, therefore, a "progressive sinking of the land surface as a result of mining work, collapse of underground cavities, extraction of water or oil, or desiccation." Although in this case, it was not progressive, but very fast.
