LANGAR KHEL / Langarkheyl (Cave at)

Herbert Daniel Gebauer - 06/01/2018

A large, north-west facing cave entrance to an apparently popular cave (note 1) which must have drawn plenty of visitors for ages. SITUATION: On Koh Langar Khel / Langarkheyl, the hill at the side of the village Langar Khel / Langarkheyl (note 2), which both lie very close to the river Jaghuri in the north-eastern corner of Ajiristan, about 15 km north-east of Sangar (N33°31': E67°12'). The cave entrance itself lies at an altitude of 2970 m (barometric) about 30 or 50 m below the summit of the hill and 220 m above the level of the plain. Two large springs rise at the foot of the hill and below the cave, to contribute to one of the two branches of the Darya Jaghuri (Lindberg's -Djaghouri-) in the upper reaches of the Arghandab (Arghand River). CAVE DESCRIPTION: A large, daylight-lit cave entrance leads after 8 m to a narrow gallery, which descends 50 m to a spacious chamber with a high ceiling. Keeping on going down, the major part of the descent passes chambers flanked with larg boulders. Other cave passages are found in the lower parts of the cave and most are shaped by water. The total cave length traverses (literally: parcourue) 286 m (note 3). In some galleries, water drops from the ceiling and feeds small pools. Concerning speleothems, there are very noteworthy stalagmites and calcite colums (stalagnates) in addition to mostly short stalactites (less than 20 cm long), concrétions mamelonnées (breast shaped speleothems), organ pipes, cauliflower (botryoidal calcite formations) and, throughout the cave, granulées (roundish ones?). The cave floor is covered with stones and fine-grained dust of pulverised calcite, rarely with a little bat guano. CULTURAL HISTORY - human use: Accumulations of charcoal (dead cinders) ascribed to torches kindled long times, ago are seen all over the cave. There are also many broken pieces of pottery and, in the first chamber, the remains of a human skeleton. CAVE CLIMATE: On 14th June 1960 the temperature in the air at the entance was 17°C, at 200 m from the entrance 5°C where the temperature in the water was 4°C. CAVE LIFE: On visiting the site Dr. Lindberg unsettled a viper (Vipera lebetina Linne, 127 cm long = 101 cm body plus 26 cm tail) and collected in the daylight-lit cave entrance area Coleoptera (Tenebrionidae); in the twilight behind the walls and in the passage leading to the interior parts Trichoptera, Lepidoptera (Noctuidae), Diptera (Nematocera: Sciaridae, Brachycera), and Coleoptera (Carabidae); from the guano Coleoptera (Ptinidae), Pseudoscorpions (Arachnoidea: Chelonethi: Megachernes afghanicum Beier), Araneida, and Acaria; from the water pools: Not a single animal organism.ance was 17°C, at 200 m from the entrance 5°C where the temperature in the water was 4°C. CAVE LIFE: On visiting the site Dr. Lindberg unsettled a viper (Vipera lebetina Linne, 127 cm long = 101 cm body plus 26 cm tail) and collected in the daylight-lit cave entrance area Coleoptera (Tenebrionidae); in the twilight behind the walls and in the passage leading to the interior parts Trichoptera, Lepidoptera (Noctuidae), Diptera (Nematocera: Sciaridae, Brachycera), and Coleoptera (Carabidae); from the guano Coleoptera (Ptinidae), Pseudoscorpions (Arachnoidea: Chelonethi: Megachernes afghanicum Beier), Araneida, and Acaria; from the water pools: Not a single animal organism.