CHIBANDAKOL 1

Herbert Daniel Gebauer - 06/01/2018

A shallow cave with calcite formations (speleothems) and a little water in the dry season. The cave is a seasonal (monsoonal) exsurgence, which drains underground waters from somewhere in the north. Once it might have functioned as a resurgence of –>Dangedkol or a neighbouring / adjacent cave system parallel to it. CAVE DESCRIPTION: At the upper end of a streambed exposing sandstone, a triangular entrance (4 m wide, facing south-west) leads to the junction of four cave passages. Straight ahead (north-east) is a climb up to a rift (2.8 m wide, 3.7 m high, 6 m long) and right (south-east) descends to another rift (closing down after 5 m), both with pebble floors and with blocked endings. From the right, the -main drag- --a shallow crawl (on average 5.5 m wide, 0.5 to 1.2 m high, 45 m long) enters, which has initially a calcite floor with tiny gours and later changes to rocks and pebbles below a wide ceiling formed by collapse. The upstream part of this -trunk passage- is flanked by a smll maze passages and emanating from several wet and more often than not calcite blocked rifts. SITUATION: About 75 m east of the –>Chibanda doline and at the upper end (start) of a shallow streambed exposing much sculpted arenaceous limestone hidden by dry leaves both in February 2002 and 2003. POSITIONS: N25°21'29.4”: E090°31'44.3” (±7.3 m, WGS84, H.D. Gebauer 2002.02.14): 220 m asl (GPS Garmin 12); N25°21'28.1”: E090°31'44.6” (without recorded horizontal precision error, WGS84, H. Jantschke): 250 m asl (GPS Etrex); N25°21'28.8”: E090°31'44.6”: 235 m asl (arithmetic average).