SUANDUNG PUK
23.688600,92.620600
Description
An exceptionally spacious lateral undercut of a river bank contains the only known (and therefore also the largest) of all the stalagmites (speleothems) occurring in the Indian Union State of Mizoram. The cave is a result of mass wasting by corrosive decomposition and subsequent mechanical removal of decomposed debris by flushing flows. ETYMOLOGY: Vanlalruata told me the cave name »Saundung Puk« (1999.01.25 personal communication) but ROY & ESAKKIMUTHU (2010) use »Suandunga Puk« (note 1). The Mizo noun "suan" is the word for a »robber, a plunderer, a pillager, a bandit« (LORRAIN 1940: 420) and "dung" singifies not only a »range [of hills or mountains]« and »the top of a range [of hills or mountains]« but also »the course or valley [of a river]« (LORRAIN 1940: 120). Thus, the expression "streambed robbing cave" is quite descriptive for a lateral undercut. SITUATION 1999: At a linear distance of 11.3 km south-west from Aizawl (2.5 hours with a sturdy vehicle along the fair weather road) and close to the small settlement of Ailawng near Reiek village on the mountain of the same name (1485 m asl), the cave entrance to the Suandung Puk (note 2) lies on the outskirts of Ailawng and at linear distance of 400 m northwest (319°) from the entrance to –>Khuangchera Puk (note 3) and at about the same altitude of (±25 m) 1100 m asl. SITUATION 2010: »Suandunga Puk is located about 500 m SE [sic! qua: NW] of Khuang Chera Puk cave« (ROY & ESAKKIMUTHU 2010: 86). CAVE DESCRIPTION 1999: Most of the undercut's opening is blocked by fallen boulders but a 1 m high and representationally 7 m broad cave entrance gives access to two adjacent, wide but low cave chambers, which collectively cover an area of some 300 square metres. The floor is covered with rocks and pebbles embedded in sand deposited in three more or less level terraces above an underground streambed that had been dry in January 1999. The cave ceiling is obviously controlled by rock strata which rise away from the cave entrance and result in a room height increasing to a maximal height of 3 m. The far end of the cave chamber is limited by a smooth semicircular cave wall which, however, represents a ceiling drop that sinks into the sand deposits covering the floor. At one point, a belly crawl allows descending headlong down into an adjacent third cave chamber, again wide but uncomfortably low, and once more of a crescent shaped ground plan. CAVE DESCRIPTION 2010: »Suandunga Puk is located about 500 m SE of Khuang Chera Puk cave. Lithologically it is similar but slightly more argillaceous compared to Khuang Chera Puk cave. Prominent joint / fracture plane was not found in this cave. The appearance of the entrance of this cave indicates that it is more likely bedding plane controlled cave i.e. it is developed due to weathering and erosion of the incompetent shale / mudstone sequence by the seepage of water resulting in a void space (cave) within the more resistant rock (fine grained sandstone)« (ROY & ESAKKIMUTHU 2010: 86). CAVE CONTENTS: One solitary stalagmite boss (speleothem), some 25 cm in diameter and up to 60 cm in height but with a base buried in sand, rises in the far corner of the inner chamber from a sandy terrace and represents the only secondary calcite formation which I have ever seen in Mizoram. Handsome gentlemen, however, who are neither prepared to soil their spotless white T-shirts nor inclined to consider attempting to crawl on their bellies headlong down into just about calve-high slots, must be reliefed upon being told about »numerous iron concretions in this cave which is devoid of any streak of speleothems« (ROY & ESAKKIMUTHU 2010: 86). RAY, J N (2010: 11) had learned that so-called »geospeleological studies in Mizoram reveal that [unspecified] these cave like structures are formed due to differential weathering and erosion of shale and sandstone interbedded sequence by the seepage of water along the fracture and / or bedding planes and do not contain any speleothems like Meghalaya caves except for a few iron encrustations« (RAY, J N 2010: 11).
NOTE 1: Neither Abhijit Roy nor T. Esakkimuthu are native Mizo speakers and their »dunga« may derive from the Hindi word "dunga" for a rock in the sense of a mass of mineral material projecting above the earth's surface. NOTE 2: Saundung Puk (±23 m) N23°41'19”: E092°37'14”: circa (±125 m) 1100 m asl (Gebauer H D 1999.01.25 unstable 4-channel GPS). NOTE 3: Khuangchera Puk (±12 m) N23°41'29”: E092°37'04”: circa (±125 m) 1100 m asl (Gebauer H D 1999.01.25 unstable 4-channel GPS Garmin 4).
Documents
Bibliography 18/05/2016- Ray, J N 2010; Roy, Abhijit & Esakkimuthu, T 2010.
History
EXPLORATION HISTORY: 1999.01.25: According to the villagers of Ailawng, the cave explored for the first time when H. Daniel Gebauer, Vanlalruata and Neil Sootinck, Betsy Chhakchhuak and Lalneihsanga, entered and surveyed, explored and photographed the accessible interior of the cave.
Caves nearby
| Distance (km) | Name | Length (m) | Depth (m) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.4 | KHUANGCHERA PUK | ||
| 2.5 | SAKUH PUK, North Lungleng | ||
| 11.7 | SALOMON'S CAVE, Aizawl | ||
| 19.9 | PAKAW PUK | ||
| 21.7 | MAMPUI HILL HOLE | ||
| 21.7 | MAMPUI HILL HOLE 2 | ||
| 21.9 | AI PUK, Sihphir | ||
| 26.3 | DARLUNG (Cave near) | ||
| 28.8 | CHHIA, Hmuifang (Khur) |