AMTREN (Krem)
25.211800,92.088600
Description
A south-east facing cave entrance with boulders (Boyes 2000 "Krem Untren" [sic!] pale nude silhouette) gives access to a mostly horizontal exsurgence cave with some high level development. It is formed in rifts with some passages of phreatic origin and modified, in places, into vadose trenches. The cave drains south-east towards the valley of the Um Tyrngai and is formed in what was identified as »sandy limestone« (BOYES, P W 2000) and probably represents part of the »calcareous shale, sandy limestone and fine calcareous sandstone« (Roy Chowdhury 1974) of the Upper Cretaceous (Upper Maestrichtian) to Lower Palaeocene (Bhattacharya & Bhattacharya 1978) or Danian (Mathur & Evans 1964) Langpar (Medlicott 1869) Formation. ETYMOLOGY: The strange cave name »Krem Umtren« created by Boyes, P W (2000.02.16 Mss: Krem Umtren 1) seems to derive from a stream or "am" (Amwi Khasi) which is not called "tren" (note 1). SITUATION: The GPS waypoint, which have been recorded by an anonymous user (note 2) for the cave entrance to Krem Umtren, indicates a spot that lies at an approximate linear distance of circa 2.55 km about east (075°) of the Nongtalang Inspection Bungalow (note 3). APPROACH 2000: The cave entrance is best reached by following the Nongtalang to Jowai road for approximately 4 km. At a sharp bend in the road, a forest track on the right can be followed down [to?] a small stream. Follow the stream to where the track branches left –just before a waterfall. After continuing along this track for 5 min, descending all the time until a small cliff on the left can be located by a traverse around the slope, then descend a gully to find the entrance at the base of a cliff (after Boyes, P W 2000.02.16 Mss: Krem Umtren 1). APPROACH 1999: The cave entrance to Krem Umtren [Amtren] lies in the forest north of Nongtalang and is difficult to find without a guide. It is reached by driving from the village of Nongtalang approximately for 2 km in a south westerly direction to the road junction adjacent to the old hospital. Turn in an unidentified direction »right« (sic! perhaps east) and follow the hard topped / tarmac road eastwards, past a bus shelter, then through a hamlet of three or four houses, then pass a second bus shelter, a layby on the left and 150 m after stop at sharp left hand bend at a point where a track goes off right into the forest. The total distance along the road from Nongtalang is an estimated 4 km. Take the track heading south-east on somebody personal »the right« into the forest, after 5 minutes the hole [?] is approximately 50 m into an inexplicable direction »to the left« (sic!) of the track. Continuing to the second hole [?], regain the track and follow it until an unidentified, more or less »small river« (or so) is reached. Follow the river bed for about 200 m and a track to the left bank (looking downstream) can be taken to bypass waterfalls [from above or into an abyss?]. Follow this faint track for some 10 minutes, descending all the time and heading southwards, until a steepening in the track highlights a small cliff on the left. The cave can be found in this cliff by traversing round the slope (after Boyes, P W May 1999 personal correspondence). CAVE DESCRIPTION (Peter W Boyes, F.R.G.S., undated May 1999 personal correspondence): The rift like cave entrance gives access to the lower end of a (vadose?) river cave with a stream from the approximate north which sank (on 12th May 1999) in the cave floor [solid or sediment covered?] just before reaching the daylight. The up to 4 m high main passage has numerous inlets coming in on each side. There was evidence of water backing up. Waist deep pools were met before the passage breaks into a chamber. Continuing with the stream, the passage reduces in height and becomes a bedding plane crawl which was not pushed to a conclusion. Two continuations to the right of the chamber [orographic left] remain unexplored. PROSPECTS: Boyes, P W (undated May 1999 personal correspondence) was aware of some side passages still to explore and survey: »The stream cave of Krem Untren [sic!]… Two main trunk passages were surveyed and all side passages looked at later on. After fixing the entrance by GPS and plotting the survey on the laptop we found the furthest branch of the cave underneath a large surface depression. Subsequent exploration revealed daylight filtering through the top of a large talus slope. Another side passage of unstable Mendip-style squalor ended very close to a large waterfall on the surface but a connection could not be found …« (WILKINSON, P 2000: 47). CAVE LIFE: Boyes, P W noticed »small and large bats« (Chiroptera), frogs near the entrance, an »eyeless catfish« (note 3), spiders, two millipeds, one small green snake just in the entrance, small Crustacea.
NOTE 1: "u treng" (Khasi; noun), »a mane« (SINGH, N 1906: 236); »a bristle« (SINGH, N 1920: 54). "u triang" (Khasi; noun) »an eel (fish)« (SINGH, N 1906: 236; SINGH, N 1920: 145). "troiñ" (Khasi; verb) »to dwindle« (SINGH, N 1906: 236). "u trong" (Khasi; noun) »a tuft of hair on the head« (SINGH, N 1906: 236). "ka umthra" (Khasi; noun), also spelled ”ka um-thra” (SINGH, N 1906: 243) or ”ka thra (um)” (SINGH, N 1906: 229), »the water which issues before the delivery of a child« (SINGH, N 1906: 243); »the water or fluid which issues before the delivery of a child« (SINGH, N 1906: 229).NOTE 2: The GPS waypoint »92°05.507' East 25°12.669' North« (unidentified precision error, obsolete Everest 1830 geodetic datum, anonymous recorder, undated 12th May 1999, GPS Garmin 12) recorded for the cave entrance to Krem Umtren is suspected to indicate a spot near 25°12'42.3”N: 92°05'19.1”E (WGS84). NOTE 3: The Nongtalang Inspection Bungalow has been GPS positioned near (unidentified precision error) 25°12'24.7”N: 92°03'49.4”E (WGS84 modified from the originally recorded Everest 1830 geodetic datum, Boyes 2000.07.21 Mss) and is indicated near (±500 m) 25°12'25”N: 92°04'15”E: 615 m asl (WGS84 modified from 25°12'25”N: 92°04'25”E: 2115 feet, Everest 1830) on the Survey of India Half-Inch series sheet 83-C/SW (edition 1922). NOTE 4: »Osteichthyian fishes of the Order Siluriformes, known by the English common name of catfishes, form a well diagnosed natural group of primarily freshwater fishes. … Catfishes often have large, heavy bones that lend themselves to fossilization and, comparatively large otoliths. As such, a large number of species of catfishes have been named from complete or partial skeletal fossils or even from only otoliths« (FERRARIS 2007: Introduction).
Documents
Bibliography 03/07/2016History
EXPLORATION HISTORY: 1999.05.12, trip 1: Peter W. Boyes , J. Boyes, Lindsay B. Diengdoh and Trevor F. Lyngwa explored and "surveyed" (sports caver standards) 391 m of accumulated survey tape length to a degree yielding a total, guided by U Min Lyngdoh (Nongtalang village headman) and assisted by Asol Myrchiang, Silen Myrchiang, Menal Myrchiang, Tojing Lyngdoh, and Tia Kassar. 2000.02.16, trip 2: Brian Johnson, Lizzie [Elizabeth] Elvidge and Paul Wilkinson along with 2000.02.16, trip 3: Peter W. Boyes, Lindsay B. Diengdoh, Jon Whitely Geoff Smith added about 500 m.2000.02.17, trip 4: Johnson, Elvidge and Wilkinson along with 2000.02.17, trip 5: P.W. Boyes, Lindsay B. Diengdoh, J. Whitely, and G. Smith added roughly 400 m. Total: 1252 m and a vertical range of 68.4 m