MORASORA RONGKOL

(Ranikor - IN)
25.209500,91.014900
Grottocenter / carte

Description

Herbert Daniel Gebauer - 06/01/2018

In addition to at least five caves (note 1), which are suspected to join as soon as they are explored, altogether eight cave entrances are part of a complex cave system (note 2), which is not on seasonally is responsible for draining a large part, if not the entire flow, of the Morasora (river) in the vicinity of Rongdanggai village, but also is the longest known (2005.02.28) cave of the West Khasi Hills district (JANTSCHKE 2006: 157): MORASORA RONGKOL 1 or Morasora KolMORASORA RONGKOL 2 or Morasora Kol 2 (Morasora Pot)MORASORA RONGKOL 3 –>Mondil Kol 1MORASORA RONGKOL 4 –>Mondil Kol 2MORASORA RONGKOL 5 –>Mondil Kol 3MORASORA RONGKOL 6 –>Mondil Kol 4MORASORA RONGKOL 7 –>Gurmaljangal RongkolMORASORA RONGKOL 8 –>Panigundur (Panigundul) Morasorakol proper is a complex insurgence cave consisting of a three-dimensional maze which offers a plethora of mostly clean-washed crawls along the inclined bedding plane (-25°?) of the local strata. ETYMOLOGY: Morasora is the name of the river drained y these caves and the Garo -kol- is an all encompassing term for a home, abode, shelter, den or hole whilst -rongkol- (literally: stone cave) explicitly designates a cave. SITUATION: Morasorakol proper lies on the left (eastern) bank of the Morasora River and some 100 m upstream of the Morasora bridge on the Maheshkhola- Khunjoy (Khanjoy) road. CAVE DESCRIPTION 1 (HDG 2003.02.18): The partly hidden entrance (1.5 m wide and high) among boulders and huge chunks of driftwood leads 8 m down into a small reception chamber from where five distinct passages lead to mostly wide but low streamway passages. Some are filled or scattered with soil and rounded boulders but others are perfectly clean-washed with countless tiny scallops (not a speck of dirt), descending, and emitting, during daytime in February 2008, strong outward air currents. CAVE DESCRIPTION 2a (after Jantschke 2005.04.17 Mss: Fahrtenbericht Meghalaya 2005 entry 2005.02.04): A short rope eases the way down and soon we stand in rvulet that issues from a deep lake and sump to disappear after a short flow in a same. A pale cave fish floats majestically in the water and disappears in darkness —there probably always will exist a cave world without humans. Having checked a couple of high level bypasses, half a metre high side passage with strong air current remains, with only one disadvantage: About 30 cm of it is filled with water. Hence, some bathing is done but this luckily takes only a short time when the passage soon finds an end at a draughting collapse (note 3). CAVE DESCRIPTION 2b (after Jantschke 2005.04.17 Mss: Fahrtenbericht Meghalaya 2005 entry 2005.02.05 published 2006: ): Since Mondil Kol has many continuations, we plan to clean up with two teams some question marks the connection to Morasora Kol, which I visited again with Christine. Somehow, we seem to have lost the air draught below the first shaft and I'm on the verge of squeezing into an uninspiring crawl when Christine calls from another passge: -Here we goes!- Thus, we take the measuring tape in this part, which curiously crosses over above the main drag and leads via rift passages to a low passage with large rounded boulders. Two survey legs later we stand in the Wobble Boulder Chamber (Wackelblockhalle) of Mondil Kol and are happy to have gained a master cave (note 4) system longer than 5 km. The computer, awkwardly powered by the battery of a car, shows a disturbing picture of overlapping lines —a very complex system of passages (note 5). CAVE DESCRIPTION 3 (HARRIES 2005): Caves in the Morasora River area were connected to the Mondel Kol system, now over 5.8 km long. It is likely that there are many more passages, but the dense forest makes finding entrances difficult. SPELEOMETRY: According to JANTSCHKE (2006: 157), by 28th February 2005 Morasora Rongkol was the longest known cave in the West Khasi Hills district. The accumulated Survey length of Morasora Rongkol is 5,828.87 m (state of 2005.02.28 survey). Simon J. Books (2008 undated Mss: Longest Table 2008.doc), however, wants the Mondel [sic!] Kol (Master System) 5.831 m. PROSPECTS: According to JANTSCHKE (2006: 157), some -question marks- (unexplored continuations) remain untouched but they are not expected to contribute essential details to what is already known. Most interesting is a second entrance in the Gurmaljangal doline.ge: -Here we goes!- Thus, we take the measuring tape in this part, which curiously crosses over above the main drag and leads via rift passages to a low passage with large rounded boulders. Two survey legs later we stand in the Wobble Boulder Chamber (Wackelblockhalle) of Mondil Kol and are happy to have gained a master cave (note 4) system longer than 5 km. The computer, awkwardly powered by the battery of a car, shows a disturbing picture of overlapping lines —a very complex system of passages (note 5). CAVE DESCRIPTION 3 (HARRIES 2005): Caves in the Morasora River area were connected to the Mondel Kol system, now over 5.8 km long. It is likely that there are many more passages, but the dense forest makes finding entrances difficult. SPELEOMETRY: According to JANTSCHKE (2006: 157), by 28th February 2005 Morasora Rongkol was the longest known cave in the West Khasi Hills district. The accumulated Survey length of Morasora Rongkol is 5,828.87 m (state of 2005.02.28 survey). Simon J. Bge: -Here we goes!- Thus, we take the measuring tape in this part, which curiously crosses over above the main drag and leads via rift passages to a low passage with large rounded boulders. Two survey legs later we stand in the Wobble Boulder Chamber (Wackelblockhalle) of Mondil Kol and are happy to have gained a master cave (note 4) system longer than 5 km. The computer, awkwardly powered by the battery of a car, shows a disturbing picture of overlapping lines —a very complex system of passages (note 5). CAVE DESCRIPTION 3 (HARRIES 2005): Caves in the Morasora River area were connected to the Mondel Kol system, now over 5.8 km long. It is likely that there are many more passages, but the dense forest makes finding entrances difficult. SPELEOMETRY: According to JANTSCHKE (2006: 157), by 28th February 2005 Morasora Rongkol was the longest known cave in the West Khasi Hills district. The accumulated Survey length of Morasora Rongkol is 5,828.87 m (state of 2005.02.28 survey). Simon J. Books (2008 undated Mss: Longest Table 2008.doc), however, wants the Mondel [sic!] Kol (Master System) 5.831 m. PROSPECTS: According to JANTSCHKE (2006: 157), some -question marks- (unexplored continuations) remain untouched but they are not expected to contribute essential details to what is already known. Most interesting is a second entrance in the Gurmaljangal doline.

Documents

Bibliography 06/01/2018

History

EXPLORATION HISTORY: During the course of 25 caving trips over two seasons (11th to 20th February 2003 and 22nd to 28th February 2005) the obvious parts of the cave have been surveyed to a survey length of 5829 m with a vertical range of ±51 m (+16 m / –35 m): 2003.02.11, trip 1: Mondil Kol: Simon J. Brooks & Georg Bäumler, 2003.02.11, trip 2: Boycott, Antony 'Tony', Lindsay B. Diengdoh & Jayne Stead and 2003.02.11, trip 3: Simon J. Brooks & Georg Bäumler map 342.5 m while passing by on the long drive from Barsaura via Maheshkhola to Khunjoy. 2003.02.19, trip 4: Mondil Kol: Herbert Jantschke and Boycott, Antony 'Tony' map 683.1 m in the course of a day trip from Khunjoy. 2003.02.19, trip 5: Morasora Rongkol: H. D. Gebauer and a moaning and groaning Peter N. F. Dowsell map 217.04 m (2003 total) in the entrance area. 2003.02.19, trip 6: Panigundur: Simon J. Brooks and Andre Abele map 396.77 m in the entrance area. 2003.02.20, trip 7: Mondil Kol 1: Herbert Jantschke and H. D. Gebuer map 268.4 m while passing by on a drive from Khunjoy via Maheshkhola Bazar to Siju. 2003.02.20, trip 8: Panigundur: Simon J. Brooks and Andre Abele survey 232.54 m. 2005.02.22, trip 9, trip 10: Mondil Kol: Boycott, Antony 'Tony', Christian W. Fischer, Christine Jantschke, Herbert Jantschke (Herbert Jantschke) and Thilo Müller survey 339 m (Brooks, Simon J. 2005.10.05 Mss: Meghalaya 2005 Survey Summary). 2005.02.22, trip 11: Panigundur: Simon J. Brooks, Georg Bäumler and Julien Oppliger (Julien Oppliger) survey 241.68 m (Brooks, S. J. 2005.10.05 Mss: Meghalaya 2005 Survey Summary) and connected Panigundur to the Cave Pearl Avenue in Mondil Kol (H. Jantschke 2005.02.11 Mss: Fahrtenbericht Meghalaya 2005). 2005.02.22, trip 12: Mondil Kol: Boycott, Antony 'Tony', Christian W. Fischer, Herbert Jantschke, Christine Jantschke und Thilo Müller explore not going distal sumps and survey about 300 m (JANTSCHKE 2006: 152) or 339 m (Brooks 2005.10.05 Mss: Meghalaya 2005 Survey Summary)in a maze (near station BA14) and a an upper level leaving many question marks (JANTSCHKE 2006: 152). 2005.02.22, trip 13: Mondil Kol: Simon J. Brooks, Georg Bäumler and Julien Oppliger connect –>Panigundur (ex Panigundul) to –>Mondil Kol (Jantschke, Herbert 2005.04.17 Mss: Fahrtenbericht Meghalaya 2005 published 2006: 152). 2005.02.23, trip 14: Mondil Kol: Simon J. Brooks, Georg Bäumler and Christine Jantschke survey 554.67 m (Brooks 2005.10.05 Mss) in the downstream Fish Creek (JANTSCHKE 2006: 153). 2005.02.23, trip 15: Mondil Kol: Boycott, Antony 'Tony', Julien Oppliger and Jayne Stead survey 289.95 m (Brooks 2005.10.05 Mss) in yesterday's lateral part and find several connections to the main drag and to Fish Creek (JANTSCHKE 2006: 153). 2005.02.23, trip 16: Mondil Kol: Christian W. Fischer, Herbert Jantschke, Thilo Müller and locals survey 315.68 m (Brooks 2005.10.05 Mss) from the Bat Chamber northwards to Wackelblockhalle (JANTSCHKE 2006: 153): Eine Entdeckerfreude will abe nicht aufkommen, denn während der Tour begleiten uns Einheimische, die jede Fledermaus in die Tasche stopfen, die sie erwischen können. Schließlich brechen wir die Tour ab und am Abend habe ich erstmals das Gefühl, für die Höhle wäre es besser gewesen, wenn wir nie hergekommen wären. Die Gesamtganglänge steigt auf über drei km. 2005.02.24, trip 17: Gurmajanggal Rongkol: Simon J. Brooks, Christine Jantschke and Herbert Jantschke attempted to find the location with the help of a GPS position but find themselves instead somewhere in the jungle (JANTSCHKE 2006: 154) --another proof of the the accuracy of GPS and the surveying teams (Jarratt 2003.02.17 Mss Cave Log 2003: 17/2/03; subscribed by Brooks, Simon J 2003 Mss Diary 2003.doc). 2005.02.24, trip 18: Morasora Kol: Simon J. Brooks, Christine Jantschke and Herbert Jantschke survey 430.90 m (Brooks 2005.10.05 Mss) push one lead (Jantschke, Herbert 2005.04.17 Mss: Fahrtenbericht Meghalaya 2005 published 2006: 154). 2005.02.25, trip 19: Grmaljangal Rongkol: Simon J. Brooks, Christine Jantschke, Herbert Jantschke and Julien Oppliger, guided by Moses A. Marak, connect Gurmaljangal Rongkol to cave system (JANTSCHKE 2006: 155-156) and map 195.82 m (Brooks 2005.10.05 Mss). 2005.02.25, trip 20: Mondil Kol: Georg Bäumler, Christian W. Fischer, and Daniel B. Harries (DBH) map 576.30 m (Brooks 2005.10.05 Mss). 2005.02.27, trip 21: Mondil Kol: Georg Bäumler and Christian W. Fischer map 112.10 m (Brooks 2005.10.05 Mss). 2005.02.27, trip 22: Mondil Kol: Simon J. Brooks and Boycott, Antony 'Tony' map 323.71 m (Brooks 2005.10.05 Mss). 2005.02.27, trip 23: Morasora Kol: Herbert Jantschke and Christine Jantschke connect to Wackelblockhalle to Mondil Kol (Jantschke, Herbert 2005.04.17 Mss: Fahrtenbericht Meghalaya 2005 published 2006: 156) and map 63.70 m (Brooks 2005.10.05 Mss). 2005.02.28, trip 24: Morasora Rongkol 2 (Morasora Pot): Simon J. Brooks, DBH and Julien Oppliger connect to Morasora Rongkol and mapped 214 m. 2005.02.28 trip 25: Christine Jantschke and Herbert Jantschke enter via Morasorakol E1 into Mondilkol and take photographs (JANTSCHKE 2006: 157). 2005 total: 5.8 km (JANTSCHKE 2006: 157) or 5828.87 m (survey data) but Brooks (2005.10.05 Mss) arrived at a total 5831.40 m for the Mondel [sic!] Kol Master System. Herbert Daniel Gebauer - 06/01/2018

Caves nearby

Distance (km)NameLength (m)Depth (m)
0.1MONDIL KOL 1
0.2MONDIL QUARRY KOL
0.2MONDIL KOL 2
0.2MONDIL KOL 3
0.2MONDIL KOL 4
0.2GURMALJANGAL RONGKOL
0.3TETENG NOKKIM
0.4PANIGUNDUR
0.5RONGDANGGAI RONGKOL