SHAMUN (Samuch)

Herbert Daniel Gebauer - 06/01/2018

A relatively sizeable cave entrance gives access to a more than 35 m long rift cave (note 1). SITUATION: Near Darrah-ye Pech (note 2) and close to the village of Shamun (note 3), which lies on the Kunar rud (Kunar River) and at a distance of 30 km (along the road) north-west and 26 km in a direct line ENE of Chegha Sarai (ADAMAC 1991: 145) or Tchagatéh Saraï (LINDBERG 1961a) which is also called Asad Abad (AIMS sheet PI42-08) or Asadabad (note 4). The entrance itself lies at an elevation of 1140 m and some 2 or 3 m above the level of the water in the river in a limestone shoulder at the flank of a mountain built up from micaceous schists. CAVE DESCRIPTION: The large entrance gives access to an inclined entrance section which rises for a metre or two to a 4 or 5 m long initial gallery. Before this begins, however, there are fissures and chimneys on the left-hand side and, a bit further on and on the right, continues a passage, penetrable for about 3 m, as a too tight fissure. The 27 m ong main gallery (note 5), on the right, is formed throughout by rifts and many large fissures at various levels high above and far below, which come back to each other and communicate with the main gallery. CAVE CONTENTS: The cave floor consists of soil and stones. There is very little bat guano and, apparently, not a single -calcite concretion- (speleothem). CAVE CLIMATE: On 3rd February 1958 an air temperature of 25°C was measured in the interior of the cave when the thermometer read 12 to 15°C at the entrance. CAVE LIFE: LINDBERG (1958: 137) records to have collected Coleoptera (Ptinides), Lepidoptera (-Noctuelle-), Pseudoscorpions, Arachnida (Araneida). LINDBERG (1961a: 29, 30, 31) lists Lepidoptera: Noctuidae: Apopestes spectrum Esp.; Coleoptera: Ptinidae: Niptus hololeucus Fald.; Arachnoidea: Chelonethi: Megachernes pavlovskyi Redik; Araneina: Scytodes thoracica Latr.A relatively sizeable cave entrance gives access to a more than 35 m long rift cave (note 1). SITUATION: Near Darrah-ye Pech (note 2) and close to the village of Shamun (note 3), which lies on the Kunar rud (Kunar River) and at a distance of 30 km (along the road) north-west and 26 km in a direct line ENE of Chegha Sarai (ADAMAC 1991: 145) or Tchagatéh Saraï (LINDBERG 1961a) which is also called Asad Abad (AIMS sheet PI42-08) or Asadabad (note 4). The entrance itself lies at an elevation of 1140 m and some 2 or 3 m above the level of the water in the river in a limestone shoulder at the flank of a mountain built up from micaceous schists. CAVE DESCRIPTION: The large entrance gives access to an inclined entrance section which rises for a metre or two to a 4 or 5 m long initial gallery. Before this begins, however, there are fissures and chimneys on the left-hand side and, a bit further on and on the right, continues a passage, penetrable for about 3 m, as a too tight fissure. The 27 m ong main gallery (note 5), on the right, is formed throughout by rifts and many large fissures at various levels high above and far below, which come back to each other and communicate with the main gallery. CAVE CONTENTS: The cave floor consists of soil and stones. There is very little bat guano and, apparently, not a single -calcite concretion- (speleothem). CAVE CLIMATE: On 3rd February 1958 an air temperature of 25°C was measured in the interior of the cave when the thermometer read 12 to 15°C at the entrance. CAVE LIFE: LINDBERG (1958: 137) records to have collected Coleoptera (Ptinides), Lepidoptera (-Noctuelle-), Pseudoscorpions, Arachnida (Araneida). LINDBERG (1961a: 29, 30, 31) lists Lepidoptera: Noctuidae: Apopestes spectrum Esp.; Coleoptera: Ptinidae: Niptus hololeucus Fald.; Arachnoidea: Chelonethi: Megachernes pavlovskyi Redik; Araneina: Scytodes thoracica Latr.