Iazoni Cave Natural Monument () also known as Tskaltsitela Cave is a karst cave located across the river Tskaltsitela near village Godogni, Terjola Municipality, just outside Kutaisi in Imereti region of Georgia, 135 metres above sea level.Iazoni Karst Cave in Georgia Protected Planet Cave is on the right bank of Tskaltsitela river, the tributary of the Rioni, near Godogni village bridge. Morphology Iazoni cave is carved in the Lower Cretaceous limestone, which is a riverbed material. Cave total length is 40 meters. Cave is notable for it arch-shaped ceilings naturally decorated with small stalactites accompanied by stalagmites on the floor. Width of the cave is quickly reduced to 2.5 m at a distance of just 10 m from the entrance and the ceiling height decreases to 0.5 m closer to the cave end section. Silty muck makes cave floor slippery and access to cave difficult. Natural Monument Iazoni Cave
Fauna and paleontological findings The cave provides shelter to various animals.Barjadze, Sh., Arabuli, T., Mumladze, L., Maghradze, E., Asanidze, Z., Kutalia, T. Tskaltsitela Cave Cave Biodiversity of Georgia, Open Access Database. 2019. Institute of Zoology at Ilia State University It is home to troglofauna such as Troglocaris (Xiphocaridinella) kutaissiana (Sadowsky, 1930).Marin, Ivan. Troglocaris (Xiphocaridinella) kumistavi sp. nov., a new species of stygobiotic atyid shrimp (Crustacea: Decapoda: Atyidae) from Kumistavi Cave, Imereti, Western Georgia, Caucasus Zootaxa 4311 (4), pp. 576-588: 578, 2017. http://doi.org/ 10.5281/zenodo.848469 Paleontological findings of animal bones and flint tools established presence of cave dwellers of the Paleolithic Age.Iazoni Cave Natural Monument
See also Tskaltsitela Gorge Natural Monument
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