PITHORAGARH: CHANDAK 1

Location

A funnel shaped closed depression (doline, sinkhole), 20 m in diameter and 7 m deep, gives access to a west facing, relatively small and wet cave with mud formations 18 m below the surface (1745 m asl). Water entering from an upstream sump in the north soon disappears into a downstream sump (cave plan »Perte 1« DUCLUZAUX 1993d: 46). SITUATION (after DUCLUZAUX 1993d: 45): The doline lies somewhere (location map without scale in DUCLUZAUX 1993d: 46) at an unspecified distance north-northwest of Pithoragarh (N29°35': E080°13') and was reached (note 1) by leaving the town north along a road past a cement factory for a place called Chandak. Here, the road was left for a path west past a leper station below a »col« (pass, ghat). The doline was found somewhere at the head of (dry?) valleys heading south-west towards the town of Pithoragarh (N29°35': E080°13': 1815 m), and sort of halfway between this »col« and an unidentified village called »Marth« (DUCLUZAUX 1993d: 45 text) or »Mardh« (DUCLUZAUX 1993d: 46 location map). CAVE LIFE: DUCLUZAUX (1993d: 45) and Gilles Rousson observed in the first days of March 1992 unspecified bats (Chiroptera). Herbert Daniel Gebauer - 28/02/2016

NOTE 1: »Nous sommes d'abord montés à Chandak (cimenterie et exploitation de magnésie). Puis en nous dirigeant vers l'est (léposerie et col), nous avons découvert plusieurs pertes« (DUCUZAUX 1993d: 45). Herbert Daniel Gebauer - 28/02/2016