Ninga Tombo Apale
-18.381944,34.966667
Description
Dimba village, Chidanga zone, Cheringoma district, Sofala province. 34°58'00'’E: 18°22'55’ N (GPS WGS84), ca. 270 m asl. Surveyed on 27 Aug. 1998 by Herbert Daniel Gebauer, Adriano Germano, Michael Laumanns and Rosario Ruggieri (BCRAGrade 4b). Length: 41 m. Vertical range: -6 m. The cave is identical with „Caverna Cheringoma no.2“ (Vachamuteco 1982). Ninga Tombo Apale has two entrances, one of them (about 1,5 x 1,5 m) in a small dry valley and the other one on the plateau (solution shaft 1,5 x 5 m). The entrances are interconnected by a 5 x 3 m wide and 20 m long horizontal passage in WWS - EEN direction. A small passage leads off in N direction but was filled with liquid bar guano and therefore not fully explored. Ninga Tombo Apale houses a small bat colony consisting of several different species (amongst them long eared rhinolophides) and a guano deposit. However, this deposit is mixed with stagnant water and unpleasantly very liquid. Vachamuteco (1982) reported a deposit 25 m long, 4,5 m wide and about 2,000 bats. Quartzite pebbles cemented by a calcarenite matrix were observed in the cave, which may be interpreted as a subsequent quaternary marine infilling. The cave speleothemes : does not contain calcite
Fossil cave in the Eocene nummulitic limestones (Cheringoma formation), with entry on the right bank of a riverbed incision. Gallery with subcircular cross section on a conjugated system of fractures N 90° and N 40°. A small conduit on bedding joint with water is also present. In a niche, on the system N 40°, a filling of detrital calcareous-sandy material englobing polygenics pebbles, from subrounded to rounded, is present, too. The diagram shows the following structural situation: 1) N 90° - prevailing direction of karstification with 69.2%; 2) N 40° - direction of secondary karstification with 30,8 %
Documents
Ninga Tombo Apale 15/11/2015
Caves nearby
| Distance (km) | Name | Length (m) | Depth (m) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.0 | Tombo Apale Cave 3 | 18 | 6 |
| 0.3 | Tombo Apale Cave 2 | 23 | 4 |
| 0.5 | Tombo Apale Cave 4 | 47 | 4 |
| 1.0 | Ninga Niamagingiri | 165 | 7 |
| 1.1 | Ninga rego Swere | 101 | 10 |
| 1.7 | Ninga Macie [Cementary Cave] | 5 | 5 |
| 6.6 | Larger Umbira Cave | 106 | 8 |
| 6.8 | Smaller Umbira Cave | ||
| 15.6 | Ninga Manguenje | 188 | 10 |