The cave is in the area of Petradolakia and develops within the platy marbles of Psiloritis. It is the action of water that created the chasm, as it eroded the rocks on its way to the sea. It is the deepest chasm of Psiloritis, and 6.5km of it have been mapped.
It consists mainly of vertical wells, bifurcations, almost bare halls, and large galleries through which three underground rivers pass.
French and English geologists and archaeologists started exploring the cave in 1978. In 1995 a team of Greek and French speleologists explored the whole cave.