Tham Nam Ru Hua Koa - MH0099
19.423227,97.984334
Location
The cave is 18km north of Mae Hong Son on the H1095, 500m west of the Tham Plah turn off. It is sign posted as Tham Pha Daeng. Beside the road is a rock shelter used by a monk with the main cave entrance being 50m south of the main road hidden at the head of a dry valley behind a group of Buddha statues under black canopies, above a stream rising.
Description
General description
The main pasage, 4 to 6 m high, trends south along a seasonally flooded stream bed and is straight forward except for a few low points and scrambles around flowstone blockages. After 200 m a moderately sized chamber is home to a colony of bats which have left distinctive dark markings all over the ceiling. The passage is well decorated in places with massive flowstone and attractive gour pools. The cave is passable for at least 1,400 m, but carbon dioxide levels become noticeably higher further in and the original exploration by the French ceased in a low dipping tube with high carbon dioxide levels. In 1987 Deharveng's group explored the active level along low passages for 240 m to an impenetrable siphon. Curiously, the flow direction from here to the spring is in a west-south-west direction, opposite to that assumed for the rest of the cave. The entrance is located directly above a spring, but there is no water in the main cave during the dry season, although ample evidence exists that it is a floodway during the wet season. The cave is aligned along the north-dipping axis of a prominent strike ridge with some Z-bends representing possible former dip tubes. The water presumably derives from the large elongated depression 2 km south of the spring, beside the H1026. This is possibly the same as MH0098 and "John's Secret Cave"
Topographie
DEHARVENG, LOUIS ET AL. (1987) - Grade UIS 4 (Grade UISv2 3-3-A) DEHARVENG, LOUIS ET AL. (1988) - Grade UIS 4 (Grade UISv2 3-3-A) DUNKLEY, JOHN ROBERT; BRUSH, JOHN B. (ED.) (1986) ASF Grade 4.2 (Grade UISv2 3-3-A) KIERNAN, KEVIN (1990) - based on DUNKLEY, JOHN ROBERT; BRUSH, JOHN B. (ED.) (1986)
Fauna
Althepus phadaengensis Li et Li, 2018 (Arthropoda, Arachnida, Araneae, Araneomorphae, Ochyroceratidae) û type locality (Li et al. 2018) Althepus stonei Deeleman-Reinhold, 1995 (Arthropoda, Arachnida, Araneae, Araneomorphae, Ochyroceratidae) û type locality (Deeleman-Reinhold 1995) Indoniscus deharvengi Dalens, 1987 (Arthropoda, Crustacea, Malacostraca, Isopoda, Oniscidea, Styloniscidae) û type locality (Deharveng 1988a) Exalloniscus thailandensis Dalens, 1987 (Arthropoda, Crustacea, Malacostraca, Isopoda, Oniscidea, Oniscidae) û type locality (Dalens 1987) Pseudobrinckina anempodiata Mendes, 2002 (Arthropoda, Insecta, Zygentoma, Nicoletiidae) û type locality (Mendes 2002) Itamus castaneus Schmidt-Goebel, 1846 (Arthropoda, Insecta, Coleoptera, Carabidae) (Deuve 1988a)
Documents
[Topo] Tham Nam Ru Hua Koa 12/05/2019Bibliography 17/05/2020
- +Anon. (2011b) "Baseline study for ecotourism development in Mae Hong Son" Final mission report by Thailand Community Based Tourism Institute (CBT-I) for the United Nations Joint Program on Integrated Highland Livelihood Development in Mae Hong Son, Output 1.3: Ecotourism. June 2011. 175p +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) +CAHILL, TIM (2003) "The CO2 Chronicles" National Geograhic Adventure Magazine November 2003 +COGGAN, MARJORIE; DUNKLEY, JOHN ROBERT; ANDERSON, NEIL (EDS.) (1999) "Tham Sanuk: The Lighter Side Of Caving In Thailand" Canberra, 76pp +DALENS, HENRI (1987) "Sur Deux Oniscoides Cavernicoles Nouveaux de Thailande" Trav. Lab. Ecobiol. Arthr. Edaph., Toulouse Vol. 5 No. 2 pp43-53 +DEELEMAN-REINHOLD, CHRISTA L. (1995) "The Ochyroceratidae of the Indo-Pacific Region (Araneae)" Raffles Bulletin of Zoology Suppliment No. 2 pp1-103 +DEHARVENG, LOUIS ET AL. (1987) "ExpÚdition Tha´-Maros 86" Association PyrÚnÚenne de SpÚlÚologie, Toulouse ISBN 2-906273-01-5 177pp +DEHARVENG, LOUIS ET AL. (1988) "ExpÚditions Tha´ 87-Tha´ 88" Association PyrÚnÚenne de SpÚlÚologie, Toulouse ISBN 2-906273-02-3 +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 (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 +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 +KIERNAN, KEVIN (1990) "Some Limestone Caves North-east of Mae Hong Son, Northern Thailand" Natural History Bulletin of the Siam Society Vol. 38 No. 1 pp59-67 +Kiernan, Kevin (1991b) "Tropical mountain geomorphology and landscape evolution in North-west Thailand" Zeitschrift f³r Geomorphologie N.F. Vol. 35 No. 2 pp187-206 ***Li, Fengyaun; Liu, Chang; Wongprom, Prasit; Li, Shuqiang (2018) "Sixteen new species of the spider genus Althepus Thorell, 1898 (Araneae: Ochyroceratidae) from Southeast Asia" Zootaxa Vol. 4471 No. 3 pp401-443 +MENDES, LUIS F. (2002) "New species and new data on Protrinemuridae and Nicoletiidae (Zygentoma) from Eastern Asia and Pacific Islands" Ann. Soc. Entomol. Fr. (n.s.) Vol. 38 No. 4 pp399-433 +PRICE, LIZ (1988) "Whitsun Under The Golden Triangle" Cerberus Spelaeological Society Journal Vol. 18 No. 3 pp65-68 +SIDISUNTHORN, PINDAR; GARDNER, SIMON; SMART, DEAN (2006) "Caves of Northern Thailand" River Books, Thailand, ISBN 9749863135 +SPIES, JOHN (2002) "Under The Golden Triangle" in O'REILLY, JAMES & HABEGGER, LARRY (EDS.) "Travelers' Tales Thailand" Travelers' Tales, ISBN 0885211759 pp324-333 ***Srisonchai, Ruttapon; Enghoff, Henrik; Likhitrakarn, Natdanai; Panha, Somsak (2018) "A revision of dragon millipedes I: genus Desmoxytes Chamberlin, 1923, with the description of eight new species (Diplopoda, Polydesmida, Paradoxosomatidae)" ZooKeys No. 761 pp1-177 DOI: 10.3897/zookeys.761.24214 +VOGT, NILS B. (2013) "Temple Caves & Grottoes in Thailand: A Picture-Guide Book" Booksmango, Bangkok ISBN 978-616-222-160-6 214pp
History
1986 F. Stone - biological collecting 2016-11-21 P. Wongprom - collecting spiders
Caves nearby
| Distance (km) | Name | Length (m) | Depth (m) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.5 | Tham Plah - MH0096 | 10 | 0 |
| 0.6 | Tham Russi - MH0097 | 10 | 0 |
| 0.6 | Cave MH0098 - MH0098 | ||
| 1.6 | Cave MH0100 - MH0100 | ||
| 1.6 | Cave MH0182 - MH0182 | 20 | 0 |
| 1.7 | Cave MH0183 - MH0183 | ||
| 1.8 | Tham Jak Dtor 2 - MH0175 | 120 | 40 |
| 2.0 | Tham Jak Dtor - MH0174 | 483 | 65 |
| 13.1 | Cave MH0219 - MH0219 | 10 | 10 |