KHUANGCHERA PUK

Herbert Daniel Gebauer - 30/03/2016

Two cave entrances opposite across each other give access to a tunnel cave of gravitational origin. ETYMOLOGY: khuang-chher (noun) a drum, a kettle-drum -- played with drum-sticks on one side only (LORRAIN 1940: 266).SITUATION: At a linear distance of 11.3 km south-west from Aizawl (2.5 hours with a sturdy vehicle along the fair weather road) and close to the small settlement of Ailawng near Reiek village on the mountain of the same name (1485 m asl). From the road between Reiek and Ailawng, a couple of well trodden foot paths lead to the two cave entrances which both had been marked (25th January 1999) with signboards. The upper, south-western entrance, about a metre wide, lies in the bed of a jungle clad gully and occasionally functions as a sinkhole. The lower, north-eastern entrance (triangular, 4 by 4 m) lies close to the first houses of Ailawng and represents the resurgence. The trickle of water (less than 1 l/s) flowing from the lower end of the cave in the dry season of January 1999 served villagers for washing purposes. SITUATION 2010: The cave entrances to both »Khuang Chera Puk« and »Suandunga Puk« are »around Ailawng (in Mamit dist.), around 35 km. south west of Aizawl, capital of Mizoram. The entire area comprised of monotonous interbedded sequence of sandstone - shale / siltstone and mudstone of Bhuban Formation of Surma Group of Miocene age. Sandstones are grey to brownish and yellowish grey in colour, fine grained, moderately to well sorted and composed of quartz and mica.« (ROY & ESAKKIMUTHU 2010: 84). CAVE DESCRIPTION 1999: The 150 m long cave is developed along a zigzagging rift governed by vertical joints (035°, 150°, 070°) which may originate from tectonic movements of from the gravitational subsidence near the edge of the mountain. The host rock consists of massive, frequently cross-bedded, argillaceous and slightly calcitic mudstone. A few solutional forms (small karren) indicate to limited corrosion by percolation of autochthonous precipitation and flow forms (shallow undercuts, blurred scallops) hint to erosion by laden water from an allochthonous catchment area. As matters secondary calcite deposits, there are only very few, thin and small patches of decaying flowstone and botryoidal wall sinter. CAVE DESCRIPTION 2010: At one point, »the entrance of Khuang Chera Puk has a height of 3.35 m and width of 2.45 m. It is almost 500 m long with inner dimension of its trunk varying in height ranging from about 0.8 m to 6 m whereas width from about 0.7 m spacing ranging from 1 m to 1.7 m occur within this cave. Development of the joint / fracture planes may be related with the regional folding. Numerous iron concretions are found inside the cave. However, the cave is devoid of any streak of speleothems (stalactites, stalagmites, flow stone etc). Water is seeping through the joint/fracture planes continuously and being collected in a reservoir for drinking purpose. The lithology along with the structures indicates that this cave was formed due to differential weathering and erosion of shale and sandstone formations by the continuous seepage of water along the joint / fracture and or bedding planes« (ROY & ESAKKIMUTHU 2010: 84). EVALUATION 1999: Khuangchera Puk is an ideal adventure sports ground because 1) it is accessible in the course of a day's trip from the most populated area of the whole state, 2) provides a variety of basic cave experiences for the senses like darkness, peculiar acoustics, specific odours, tactile interaction with earthy surfaces, dirt and water and 3) allows the physical and psychical experience of space by winding routes and various manageable climbs in addition to degrading if not daring crawls and humiliating if not frightening squeezes, 4) and offers the pilgrim (tourist, visitor, explorer, etc.) a through trip in lieu of the ultimate one by which one has to leave this world for good by plunging into the unknown of the world beyond. EVALUATION 2010: So-called »geospeleological studies in Mizoram reveal that [unspecified] these cave like structures are formed due to differential weathering and erosion of shale and sandstone interbedded sequence by the seepage of water along the fracture and / or bedding planes and do not contain any speleothems like Meghalaya caves except for a few iron encrustations« (RAY, J N 2010: 11). CAVE LIFE Quite surprising for a cave of this limited size is a population of cave dwelling crickets (Orthoptera) with exceptionally long antennae -- about four times longer than the cricket's body length-- that testify their adaptation to the dark cave environment. In addition to a few bats (Chiroptera, conf. Rhinolophus) there was (25th January 1999) one relatively large spider (Arachnidae: Araneae: conf. Sparassidae: Heteropoda) and a few dark coloured harvestmen (Opiliones).