The calcarine sulcus is a deep groove on the inner (medial) face of the occipital lobe, at the back of each hemisphere. It runs forward from near the back tip of the brain to a point a little below the back end of the corpus callosum, and the primary visual cortex (V1) is concentrated in and around it. [1][2]
The 3D brain needs JavaScript. The text below still says where the calcarine sulcus is and what it does.
Opens cut down the midline and seen from the left, so you look at the inner face of the right hemisphere; the calcarine sulcus runs front to back through the lit occipital lobe, from its back tip towards the corpus callosum. Drag to turn, pinch or scroll to zoom, tap any part to name it; .
A groove has no shape of its own, and this atlas draws the part it runs in as one shape, so neither side of the groove can be lit apart; lit: that whole part. Lit: the whole occipital lobe, on both sides. The calcarine sulcus runs through the inner face of the occipital lobe, with the cuneus above it and the lingual gyrus below. BodyParts3D draws each occipital lobe as a single shape with no cuneus, lingual gyrus or groove of its own, so the whole lobe is lit and no line is drawn where the groove might be. [1][3]
Where it is
It begins near the occipital pole in two converging branches and runs forward to a point a little below the splenium, the back end of the corpus callosum. [1]
The cuneus lies above it and the lingual gyrus below it; the lingual gyrus runs on forward to join the parahippocampal gyrus. [1][5]
It is very deep, a “complete” sulcus: its front part pushes a ridge, the calcar avis, into the wall of the back (posterior) horn of the lateral ventricle. [1]
What it does
The primary visual cortex (V1) is located in and around the calcarine fissure in the occipital lobe. [2][1]
Along its length the visual field is laid out in order: the centre of what the eyes see maps to the back part of the groove, the edges of the visual field to the front part. [1]
Above and below it the field is split again: the cuneus, above, receives the lower half of the opposite visual field, and the lingula, below, the upper half. [6][7]
It becomes visible before birth, usually between 20 and 28 weeks of gestation. [1]
Other names
Also called the calcarine fissure. The name comes from the Latin calcar, “spur”, the same word as in the calcar avis it raises in the ventricle wall. [1]
Size
The model has no shape for the calcarine sulcus, so the groove itself is not measured here. The whole left occipital lobe it runs in measures about 63 mm front to back, 54 mm top to bottom and 44 mm side to side on this model (the box it fits in, not the groove’s length). [3]
Facts describe anatomy and normal function only. The 3D model is the adult male BodyParts3D brain (credits and licence); real brains vary in size and shape, so its measurements describe one model, not anyone’s brain.