The karst plateau Kyrktau (from Uzbek - “forty mountains”) is located on the Zeravshan Range near the regional center Urgut. The plateau stretches in the latitudinal direction for 20 km. The width of the plateau ranges from 0.5 to 3 km. The area of the plateau is about 20 sq. km. The plateau is a watershed of the Kashkadarya and Zeravshan river basins. The plateau has elevations from 2460 m in the west and descends to 2000 m in the southeast. The geographical border of Samarkand and Kashkadarya regions passes along the plateau.
The plateau is represented by classical karst and is composed of massive dolomitized Devonian and Silurian limestones. The plateau is divided into several closed karst basins that form the catchment areas of karst caves. On the plateau there is a seasonal lake Kattakul. Snowfields in some parts of the plateau remain until August, and in many wells and ponors they do not melt all year round.
The plateau region is in the stage of intensive uplift, which has led to the predominant development of vertical karst cavities. Up to 1000 funnels, ponors were examined on the plateau, more than 75 large cavities and vertical caves were discovered and studied. Among these cavities, the largest mines are: Universitetskaya -220m, Pink Devil (KT-70) -210m, 50th Anniversary of the Komsomol of Uzbekistan (KT-60) - 140 m, Abdujabarova (KT-16) - 137 m, Olympic (KT-58 ) - 120 m, Shpuntik (KT-31) - 100 m, Tomskaya (KT54) - 86 m, V. Sokolova (KT-47) - 83 m, etc.
The largest and deepest cave on the Kyrktau plateau - Kyiv (KT-28) was discovered in 1972 by speleologists of the Kyiv Laboratory of Speleological Research (KILSI) under the leadership of A. B. Klimchuk. Hence the second sonorous name of the cave - KILSI.
The entrance to the cave is located in a large funnel in the western part of the plateau at an altitude of 2400 m.a.s.l. At that time, such a deep cave required special equipment and experienced speleologists and 4 years to reach the bottom of the cave at around 990m. In 1976 the cave was the deepest cave in the USSR. As of 1.12. 2022 Kyiv Cave is the third deepest cave in Uzbekistan after BoyBulok-1430 m and A. Vishnevsky -1283 m.
The cave is almost vertical and consists of alternating vertical ledges, wells and shafts from 5 to 90 meters deep, connected by meandering galleries and several large halls. The cave ends with a lake, the bottom of which is littered with large boulders. Several expeditions of cave divers could not find the continuation of the cave in the lake.
And today the cave is accessible only to well-trained speleologists.