BAHLOUL, Djebel-os Siraj (Grotte)

(=ولسوالی جبل‌سراج - AF)
35.116100,69.239200
Grottocenter / carte

Description

Herbert Daniel Gebauer - 06/01/2018

Lindberg's cave at Bahloul (note 1) are ancient man-made mines (note 2), which are dug into the ferrugineous Palaeozoic limestone (note 3) and conglomerate at Jabalussaraj (note 4). They are said to connect (by a fabulous subterranean tunnel) to Amir / Emir Habibollah / Habibullah's castle, about a kilometre away. CAVE DESCRIPTION: A moist, ascending adit (man-made gallery) with dark sections features a soil covered floor and some bat guano, was followed for about 25 m to a point where collapse, ascribed to a recent earthquake, blocked the way onwards. CAVE CLIMATE: The temperature in the air of the adit was 20°C, in the entrance 25°C on 25th July 1957. CAVE LIFE: Bat guano indicates Chiroptera. LINDBERG (1958: 118) reports to have collected Isopoda, Chilopoda, Psocida, Diptera (Phlebotomida) Lepidoptera, Acaria, and –from guano– Collembola, Coleoptera (larval stage), Pseudoscorpionida, and Acaria. JUBERTHIE & DECU (2001: 1746, 1747) list Arachnida: Acari terrestria: Uropodidae: Tichouropoda lindbergi Cooreman, collected from bat guano; Insecta: Coleoptera: Pterostichinae: Laemostenus rigrevanensis Coffait.Lindberg's cave at Bahloul (note 1) are ancient man-made mines (note 2), which are dug into the ferrugineous Palaeozoic limestone (note 3) and conglomerate at Jabalussaraj (note 4). They are said to connect (by a fabulous subterranean tunnel) to Amir / Emir Habibollah / Habibullah's castle, about a kilometre away. CAVE DESCRIPTION: A moist, ascending adit (man-made gallery) with dark sections features a soil covered floor and some bat guano, was followed for about 25 m to a point where collapse, ascribed to a recent earthquake, blocked the way onwards. CAVE CLIMATE: The temperature in the air of the adit was 20°C, in the entrance 25°C on 25th July 1957. CAVE LIFE: Bat guano indicates Chiroptera. LINDBERG (1958: 118) reports to have collected Isopoda, Chilopoda, Psocida, Diptera (Phlebotomida) Lepidoptera, Acaria, and –from guano– Collembola, Coleoptera (larval stage), Pseudoscorpionida, and Acaria. JUBERTHIE & DECU (2001: 1746, 1747) list Arachnida: Acari terrestria: Uropodidae: Tichouropoda lindbergi Cooreman, collected from bat guano; Insecta: Coleoptera: Pterostichinae: Laemostenus rigrevanensis Coffait.

Documents

Bibliography 06/01/2018

History

EXPLORATION HISTORY: 1954-1955, winter: Carl RATHJENS (1957: 286-287 + note 39) visited and investigated the supposed caves which turned out to be mines. 1957.07.25: Knut LINDBERG (1958: 118, 1961a: 8) visited, explored, observed and collected cave life. Herbert Daniel Gebauer - 06/01/2018

Caves nearby

Distance (km)NameLength (m)Depth (m)
4.4GOLBAHAR (Idries Shah 1986) (Caves near)
4.9PARWAN VALLEY (Cave in the upper)
8.5SAFED DARBAGH (Cave at)
13.9Mahmud Hanafi Ghazi (Cave of)
14.5Agrabad Karst Spring
15.7Ab Bar Amara (Ghar)
15.7Kaftar Khana
16.3P. K. 103.2, Salang (Grotte du)
16.3P. K. 102.1, Salang (Grotte du)