KANAVAI KATHA BOOTHAM CAVE 2

Herbert Daniel Gebauer - 06/01/2018

A north-west facing cave entrance (KOILRAJ & MARIMUTHU 1998: 1111) gives access to an unspecified cave, which is probably in granite (note 1), more than 8 m long (KOILRAJ & MARIMUTHU 1998: 1112 table 1) and reported under various titles and acronyms (note 2). SITUATION: Probaly close to the pass Kanavai Katha Bootham across the Nagamalai chain of hills. CAVE CLIMATE: MARIMUTHU (1984: 352-357), USMAN (1981 PhD thesis) and HABERSETZER (1983 PhD thesis) recorded the cave climate (temperature, humidity, relative humidity and light intensity) for a period of one year. year. In the dark region, the temperature (27°C) and humidity (95%) showed relatively constant values (KOILRAJ & MARIMUTHU 1998: 1112 table 1). CAVE LIFE: A. John Koilraj cared for having soil samples (bat guano) collected between September 1997 and August 1998 to study algae (KOILRAJ & MARIMUTHU 1998: 1111) and fungal diversity (KOILRAJ et al 1999). KOILRAJ & MARIMUTHU (1998: 1112 table 2) report that a certain Mrs. Elizabet [no name mentioned] reared algae from soil samples collected in the daylight-lit area 0 to 3 m from the entrance: Two species of Chlorophyceae (Chlorella sp., Chlorococcum sp.) and three species of Bacillariophyceae (Cyclotella sp., Navicula sp., Nitzschia sp.).A north-west facing cave entrance (KOILRAJ & MARIMUTHU 1998: 1111) gives access to an unspecified cave, which is probably in granite (note 1), more than 8 m long (KOILRAJ & MARIMUTHU 1998: 1112 table 1) and reported under various titles and acronyms (note 2). SITUATION: Probaly close to the pass Kanavai Katha Bootham across the Nagamalai chain of hills. CAVE CLIMATE: MARIMUTHU (1984: 352-357), USMAN (1981 PhD thesis) and HABERSETZER (1983 PhD thesis) recorded the cave climate (temperature, humidity, relative humidity and light intensity) for a period of one year. year. In the dark region, the temperature (27°C) and humidity (95%) showed relatively constant values (KOILRAJ & MARIMUTHU 1998: 1112 table 1). CAVE LIFE: A. John Koilraj cared for having soil samples (bat guano) collected between September 1997 and August 1998 to study algae (KOILRAJ & MARIMUTHU 1998: 1111) and fungal diversity (KOILRAJ et al 1999). KOILRAJ & MARIMUTHU (1998: 1112 table 2) report that a certain Mrs. Elizabet [no name mentioned] reared algae from soil samples collected in the daylight-lit area 0 to 3 m from the entrance: Two species of Chlorophyceae (Chlorella sp., Chlorococcum sp.) and three species of Bacillariophyceae (Cyclotella sp., Navicula sp., Nitzschia sp.).