TOOMOO CRATER

(Kangan - IN)
34.350000,74.866700
Grottocenter / carte

Description

Herbert Daniel Gebauer - 06/01/2018

Not exactly a crater but a closed depression (doline, pothole, cave) with serrated lips (fluted walls, karren) reports FOSTER (1873: 29th July 1868) from opposite of a place called Toomoo (note 1): Just above here on the other side of the valley is a very perfect crater (of course extinct) for there are now no volcanoes in the Himalayas. Its lips are rugged and serrated like the teeth of a saw, and form a very perfect circle I cannot tell the depth of the basin, but on the further side I can see that the edge rises perpendicularly to a considerable height, and at the bottom of it I just got a glimpse of a steeply sloping floor. On its exterior are deep grooves containing strong blocks, which at this distance appear to show by contrast of colour [sandstone?] their igneous origin, but I cannot speak positively on this point. IDENTITY: Compare: –>Haramukh sinkholes and swallets. SITUATION: This pothole appears to lie somewhere on the south flanks of Haramukh mountain (N34°24': E074°55$$WGS84). APPROACH: Foster reached Toomoo by walking estimated 6 miles (about 10 km) in an unspecified direction from Kungan (Kangan, N34°16': E074°55' WGS84), which itself lies 9 miles (14.5 km) on foot from Gunderbal [note 2], at the opening of the Scind valley [Sindh River] to a place called Soorapra, a small village around which stand several enormous hills, half obscured by clouds, for it is a thoroughly wet day [30th July 1868], drizzling rain having fallen ever since my arrival. It is very cool and pleasant, but I have got up too far and am now in the rainy region, so to-morrow I shall retrace my steps, three or four marches would take me over the Himalayas into Ladâk [Ladakh]. This would be an interesting trip, but there still remains much for me to see in Kashmir, and I have not time to do both. Passed another, but smaller and less perfect crater, which is the –>Soorapra Crater.$WGS84). APPROACH: Foster reached Toomoo by walking estimated 6 miles (about 10 km) in an unspecified direction from Kungan (Kangan, N34°16': E074°55' WGS84), which itself lies 9 miles (14.5 km) on foot from Gunderbal [note 2], at the opening of the Scind valley [Sindh River] to a place called Soorapra, a small village around which stand several enormous hills, half obscured by clouds, for it is a thoroughly wet day [30th July 1868], drizzling rain having fallen ever since my arrival. It is very cool and pleasant, but I have got up too far and am now in the rainy region, so to-morrow I shall retrace my steps, three or four marches would take me over the Himalayas into Ladâk [Ladakh]. This would be an interesting trip, but there still remains much for me to see in Kashmir, and I have not time to do both. Passed another, but smaller and less perfect crater, which is the –>Soorapra Crater.

Documents

Bibliography 06/01/2018
  • Foster, J C 1873.

History

EXPLORATION HISTORY: 1868 July 29: FOSTER (1878) observed near Toomoo what he considered a crater (closed depression, doline or pothole?). Herbert Daniel Gebauer - 06/01/2018

Caves nearby

Distance (km)NameLength (m)Depth (m)
2.4SOORAPRA CRATER
2.4WANGAT MINES, Kangan
7.9LASHIMARG SINK
11.2DANISHAWAR CAVE, Erin Valley
15.3HARAMUKH SINKHOLES AND SWALLETS
17.3DUBTA PANI
18.9KHIR BHAWANI SPRING
19.2NARA NAG SPRING
20.3BURZAHOM PITS