Tham Pha Mon - MH0004
19.502393,98.278115
Location
Tham Pha Mon has three main entrances. The resurgence entrance is 50 m east of the H1095, about 3km east of Ban Soppong, and it has been developed by monks into a temple and shrine with bamboo bridges across the river. Previously, the most commonly used entrance was a collapse doline 100 m walk up the hill from the army checkpoint on the H1095 near the resurgence, but a wooden stairway installed in this entrance has fallen into a dangerous state of disrepair. The through trip is normally done heading upstream. From the sink entrance the path back to the H1095 is found by following the stream out of the doline and crossing a field to the left after 60 m. The path disappears about 1 km from the road and it is necessary to bushwhack through very hard going in extremely dense jungle, going west around a large hill, and it can take 3.5 hours to walk the 2.2 km (as the crow flies) back to the road.
Description
The cave is most conveniently traversed from resurgence to sink. At the resurgence there are two entrances, one active and the other a roof hole. The stream passage makes great sporting caving, usually with a gravel bed and no deep water, some fine decoration and the occasional tight or low wet section for variety. Elsewhere it is mostly walking in passages up to 10 to 15 m high and wide with frequent sections where the roof is only about 1.5 m high. A draught blows through the cave, becoming very strong in one or two constrictions. About 500 m before the sink entrance, above the streamway, there is the large Gourou chamber which has blue formations. The last few metres to the sink entrance are over increasingly large boulders and up small waterfalls to a final climb emerging at the bottom of a collapse doline. During the 1992 Australian expedition a small tributary was followed, increasing the length of the cave to over 4 kilometres. The wooden walkway installed in November 1999 for the Royal visit is falling into disrepair and by March 2010 the steps down into the doline were dangerously rotted. If this walkway is left to rot it will be a conservation disaster. Some local conservationists have removed part of the stairway into the cave at the karst window to make access more difficult.
Topography
Surveyed by the APS in 1985 to Grade UISv2 3-3-A DEHARVENG, LOUIS ET AL. (1986) - UIS Grade 4 (3,989m) SIRIPORNPIBUL (2000) ELLIS, MARTIN (2009) - based on Deharveng et al. (1986) SIDISUNTHORN, PINDAR; GARDNER, SIMON; SMART, DEAN (2006) - upper series
Fauna
Belisana bantham Huber, 2005 (Arthropoda, Arachnida, Araneae, Araneomorphae, Pholcidae) (Huber 2005) Scolopendra dehaani Brandt, 1840 (Arthropoda, Chilopoda, Scolopendromorpha, Scolopendridae) (Siriwut et al. 2016) Scolopendra pinguis Pocock, 1891 (Arthropoda, Chilopoda, Scolopendromorpha, Scolopendridae) (Siriwut et al. 2016) Troglopedetes longicornis Deharveng et Gers, 1993 (Arthropoda, Entognatha, Entomobryomorpha, Entomobryoidea, Paronellidae) û type locality (Deharveng and Gers 1993) Spelaeoblatta myugei Vidlicka, Vransky et Shcherbakov, 2003 (Arthropoda, Insecta, Blattodea, Corydioidea, Nocticolidae) û type locality (Vidlicka et al. 2003) Eustra deharvengi (Deuve, 1986) (Arthropoda, Insecta, Coleoptera, Carabidae) û type locality (Deuve 2001) Hipposideros lylei Thomas, 1913 (Chordata, Mammalia, Chiroptera, Hipposideridae) (Roguin 1988)
Documents
[Topo] Tham Pha Mon 12/05/2019Bibliography 10/04/2020
- +Boland, Ken (1992a) "Caving in Thailand" Australian Caver No. 132 pp7-9 +BOLAND, KEN (1992) "NW Thailand - The Story So Far" International Caver No. 5 pp30-35 +Borowsky, Richard (1997) "Northern Thailand, the caves of Mae Hong Son" Met Grotto News April 1997. Abstracted by National Speleological Society in Speleo Digest 1997 p326 +Brouquisse, Francois; Dalger, Daniel; Bakalowicz, Michel (1988) "RÚsultats HydrogÚochemiques des ExpÚditions Thai-Maros 86 et Thai 87" Expeditions de l'APS en Asie du Sud-est: Travaux Scientifiques û 1. Association PyrÚnÚenne de SpÚlÚologie, Toulouse ISBN 2-906273-03-1 pp-5-16 (French) +COGGAN, MARJORIE; DUNKLEY, JOHN ROBERT; ANDERSON, NEIL (EDS.) (1999) "Tham Sanuk: The Lighter Side Of Caving In Thailand" Canberra, 76pp +DEHARVENG, LOUIS (1985) "Echo des Profondeurs. Etranger. Thailande. ExpÚdition Thai-Maros 1985" Spelunca Vol. 5 No. 20 p15 +DEHARVENG, LOUIS (1987) "Cave Collembola of South-East Asia" Korean Journal of Systematic Zoology Vol. 3 No. 2 pp165-174 +DEHARVENG, LOUIS, ET AL. (1986) "ExpÚdition Tha´-Maros 85" Association PyrÚnÚenne de SpÚlÚologie, Toulouse ISBN 2-906273-00-7 +DEHARVENG, LOUIS; GERS, CHARLES (1993) "Ten new species of Troglopedetes Absolon 1907, from caves of Thailand (Collembola Paronellidae)" Bijdragen tot de Dierkunde Vol. 63 No.2 pp103-113 +DEHARVENG, LOUIS; LECLERC, PHILIPPE (1989) "Recherches sur les Faunes Cavernicoles d'Asie du Sud-est" MÚmoires de BiospÚologie Vol. 16 No. 43 pp91-110 +DEUVE, THIERRY (1986) "Ozaeninae cavernicoles de Thailande: Diagnoses preliminaires" Revue Franþaise d'Entomologie Vol. 8 No. 4 p161 +DEUVE, THIERRY (1987b) "Etude de deux Ozaeninae troglobies de Thailande a Genitalia Femelles Neotenique (Coleoptera: Paussidae)" Annals de la SociÚtÚ Entomologique de France Vol. 23 No. 3 pp287-298 +DEUVE, THIERRY (1987c) "Faune cavernicole de Thailande: Coleopteres Paussidae Ozaeninae" Bulletin de la SociÚtÚ Entomologique de France Vol. 91 (1986) No. 7/8 pp237-242 +DEUVE, THIERRY (1988b) "ColÚopteres Caraboidea des Milieux Souterrains de l'Asie du Sud-Est" Expeditions de l'APS en Asie du Sud-est: Travaux Scientifiques û 1. Association PyrÚnÚenne de SpÚlÚologie, Toulouse ISBN 2-906273-03-1 pp17-20 +DEUVE, THIERRY (2001) "Le Genre Eustra Schmidt-Giebel, 1846, Insectes (Coleoptera, Paussidae, Ozaeninae) Ó Genitalia Femelles Orthotopiques" Zoosystema Vol. 23 No. 3 pp547-578 +DILOKWANICH, S.; ET AL. (2000) "An Exploration and Database System of the Caves, Mae Hong Son Province" 6 Vols. Faculty of Environment and Resource Studies, Mahidol University, Bangkok - STD657 +DUNKLEY, JOHN ROBERT (1995) "The Caves of Thailand" Speleological Research Council, Sydney ISBN 0-9589253-9-9 +DUNKLEY, JOHN ROBERT; BRUSH, JOHN B. (ED.) (1986) "Caves of North-west Thailand: Report of the Australian Speleological Expeditions 1983-1986" Speleological Research Council, Sydney ISBN 0-9589253-2-1 62pp +ELLIS, MARTIN (2009) ôThailandÆs Top Twentyö Shepton Mallet Caving Club Journal Series 12 No. 4 pp140-232 +Ellis, Martin (2015c) "Thailand's Longest and Deepest Caves: A Caving Guide" Martin Ellis, Shepton Mallet ISBN 978-1-326-43857-9 84pp +Ellis, Martin; Laumanns, Michael (2017) "Thailand" in Laumanns, Michael; Price, Liz (eds.) (2017) "Atlas of the Great Caves and Karst of Southeast Asia: Part 2 Myanmar - Vietnam" second edition, Berliner Hohlenkundliche Berichte Band 67 pp241-292 +HUBER, BERNHARD, A. (2005) "High Species Diversity, Male-Female Coevolution and Metaphyly in Southeast Asian Pholcid Spiders: The Case of Belisana Thorell 1898 (Araneae, Pholcidae)" Zoologica Vol. 155 pp1-126 +Kiernan, Kevin (1988e) "Geomorphology of a tropical intermontane basin in the Sino-Burman Ranges" 26th International Geographical Congress 1988, International Geological Union, Sydney pp1-24 +Kiernan, Kevin (1991b) "Tropical mountain geomorphology and landscape evolution in North-west Thailand" Zeitschrift f³r Geomorphologie N.F. Vol. 35 No. 2 pp187-206 +Kreuss, Markus (2014) "Thailand" www.troglophil.de/?section=location&id=25 (german) [accessed April 2015] +Kusch, Heinrich (1990) "Die lõngsten und tiefsten H÷hlen S³dostasiens (Stand 1988)" Die Hohle Vol. 41 No. 1 pp11-16 +Lalleman, Jean-Michel (1986) "Balade en sous-sol au Pays de Sourire" Speleo Club de l"Aude Lo Bramavenc No. 10 pp6-10 +Maffre, Laurent (1986) "Thai-Maros '85: Mini-Expe, mais elle fait le maximum" SpÚlÚOC No. 33/34 pp30-31,33 +ROGUIN, LOUIS DE (1988) "ExpÚditions Thai-Maros 85 et Thai 87 - Mammiferes" Expeditions de l'APS en Asie du Sud-est: Travaux Scientifiques û 1. Association PyrÚnÚenne de SpÚlÚologie, Toulouse ISBN 2-906273-03-1 pp47-52 +SIDISUNTHORN, PINDAR; GARDNER, SIMON; SMART, DEAN (2006) "Caves of Northern Thailand" River Books, Thailand, ISBN 9749863135 +SIRIPORNPIBUL, CHAIPORN (2000) "Geology and Hydrology" in "An Exploration and Database System of Caves: Mae Hong Son Province" Vol. 2. Faculty of Environment and Resource Studies, Mahidol University, Bangkok +Siriwut, Warut; Edgecombe, Gregory D.; Sutcharit, Chirasak; Tongkerd, Piyoros; Panha, Somsak (2016) "A taxonomic review of the centipede genus Scolopendra Linnaeus, 1758 (Scolopendromorpha, Scolopendridae) in mainland Southeast Asia, with description of a new species from Laos" ZooKeys Issue 590 pp1-124 +SPIES, JOHN (1994) "The Palaces of Darkness" Action Asia (Hong Kong) Vol.3 No.4 pp116-126 Spies, John (1999) "Managing the cave and karst resources in the Nam Khong and Nam Lang catchment, Northwest Thailand" Proceedings of the Conference on Cave Resources, Bangkok, 4-5 August 1999, pp190-202 +SPIES, JOHN (2000) "Suggestions for Cave Management" in "An Exploration and Database System of Caves: Mae Hong Son Province" Vol. 6. Faculty of Environment and Resource Studies, Mahidol University, Bangkok +TOURISM AUTHORITY OF THAILAND (1999) +VIDLICKA, LUBOM-R; VRèANSK¦, PETER; SHCHERBAKOV, DMITRIJ E. (2003) "Two New Troglobitic Cockroach Species Of The Genus Spelaeoblatta (Blattaria: Nocticolidae) From North Thailand" Journal of Natural History Vol. 37 No. 1 pp107-114 +Weare, Robin (2014) "Mud maps and caves in Thailand" presentation at Hidden Earth 2014 +WOODLEY, NORMAN E. (2011) "A World Catalog of the Stratiomyidae (Insecta: Diptera): A Supplement with Revisionary Notes and Errata" in BRAKE, IRINA; THOMPSON, F. CHRISTIAN (EDS). "Contributions to the Systema Dipterorum" Myia No. 12 pp379-415
History
While this cave has been known locally for a long time it seems likely that in 1985 the APS was the first group to make a through trip. In November 1999 a hardwood walkway and electric lighting was installed in the first 800 m from the doline entrance to allow a Royal visit. After the visit the whole cave was then placed under the protection of the Thai military and closed to the general public, with the local authorities clearing the area beside the H1095 near the resurgence entrance, erecting a large sign and building a path to the doline entrance. December 2008 there was no sign of any guides at the resurgence entrance and the path was overgrown January 2010 an army checkpoint was in place on the H1095 and some clearing up of the site had taken place. However, the wooden walkway and stairs in the doline entrance had rotted away and were unusable. January 2015 this rotting wood was a huge hinderance when using the shakehole entrance and traversing the streamway. 2019-02-27 J. Brush, M. Coggan, N. Andersom
Caves nearby
| Distance (km) | Name | Length (m) | Depth (m) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.2 | Tham Pha Mon Bis - MH0245 | 15 | 15 |
| 0.6 | Tham mong - MH0006 | 50 | 0 |
| 0.6 | Cave MH0111 - MH0111 | 50 | 0 |
| 0.6 | Cave MH0112 - MH0112 | ||
| 0.6 | Coffin Cave MH0114 - MH0114 | ||
| 0.6 | Cave MH0117 - MH0117 | ||
| 0.6 | Coffin Cave MH208 - MH0208 | 30 | 0 |
| 0.6 | Cave MH0209 - MH0209 | 20 | 0 |
| 0.6 | Coffin Cave MH210 - MH0210 |