MATRONGKOL, Asakgre

Herbert Daniel Gebauer - 06/01/2018

The Matrongkol (Serow / Mountain Goat Cave) near Asakgre is a joint controlled stream cave with a few daylight windows that is generally aligned along NNW-SSW. The majority of the cave's passages, however, is contributed by mostly low and sediment filled tributary passages. ETYMOLOGY: The Garo ” matrong- or -matgisim- has been identified as a serow (note 1), Capricornis sumatraensis Bechstein (note 2), or simply a mountain goat (DIRECTOR s.a., circa 2003: Garo Hills: The wild west of Meghalaya). The Garo ”chongipa matrong” is a Himalayan goral (MADHUSUDAN, M D s.a. circa 2005), zoologically: Nemorrahaedus goral. SITUATION (note 3): In a pinnacled karst area below Papha Asakgre (west of Asakgre- Imandura). To reach the cave, drive or walk from the Asakgre I.B. (inspection bungalow) for about 2 km towards Chokpot and take a footpath downhill (note 4) to where the limestone outcrops. CAVE DESCRIPTION (note 5): The main cave entrance is hidden behind a large, squarish, 4 m large boulderat the bottom of an open-air pot where several karst alleys meet. Descending 2 m to an inspiring main passage (9 m wide, 7 m high, 75 m long) of which the upstream section enters from the south-west and from boulders blocking a collapse emitting air currents. The downstream (120 m long, descending by -3°) section deteriorates into a sediment filled crawl, in a similar way to the 385 m (48 survey stations) of the Northern Crawls, which represent a complex system of rift passages and belly crawls across sandy mud that function as tributary passages. The Southern Crawl (20 m long) is found 7 m before the downstream end and leads to another stream passage, christened Trillerameisengang. The upstream (initially 3 m wide and high) passage enters from the north-west, runs into a rift (0.5 by 4. m) and ends after 120 m in an 8 m-aven. The downstream section of Trillerameisengang (on average 4.5 m wide, 2 m high, 65 m long, towards SSW) descends by some 5° before it drops into a mud plug at th bottom of an aven which could offer (keyword: Prospects) a 5 m climb up into a niche or into a suspected passage which might connect to –>Bangdaphakol, which lies, according to GPS readings, only a few metres away. CAVE CLIMATE: Temperature14.5°C in the water near the main cave entrance.at the bottom of an open-air pot where several karst alleys meet. Descending 2 m to an inspiring main passage (9 m wide, 7 m high, 75 m long) of which the upstream section enters from the south-west and from boulders blocking a collapse emitting air currents. The downstream (120 m long, descending by -3°) section deteriorates into a sediment filled crawl, in a similar way to the 385 m (48 survey stations) of the Northern Crawls, which represent a complex system of rift passages and belly crawls across sandy mud that function as tributary passages. The Southern Crawl (20 m long) is found 7 m before the downstream end and leads to another stream passage, christened Trillerameisengang. The upstream (initially 3 m wide and high) passage enters from the north-west, runs into a rift (0.5 by 4. m) and ends after 120 m in an 8 m-aven. The downstream section of Trillerameisengang (on average 4.5 m wide, 2 m high, 65 m long, towards SSW) descends by some 5° before it drops into a mud plug at that the bottom of an open-air pot where several karst alleys meet. Descending 2 m to an inspiring main passage (9 m wide, 7 m high, 75 m long) of which the upstream section enters from the south-west and from boulders blocking a collapse emitting air currents. The downstream (120 m long, descending by -3°) section deteriorates into a sediment filled crawl, in a similar way to the 385 m (48 survey stations) of the Northern Crawls, which represent a complex system of rift passages and belly crawls across sandy mud that function as tributary passages. The Southern Crawl (20 m long) is found 7 m before the downstream end and leads to another stream passage, christened Trillerameisengang. The upstream (initially 3 m wide and high) passage enters from the north-west, runs into a rift (0.5 by 4. m) and ends after 120 m in an 8 m-aven. The downstream section of Trillerameisengang (on average 4.5 m wide, 2 m high, 65 m long, towards SSW) descends by some 5° before it drops into a mud plug at th bottom of an aven which could offer (keyword: Prospects) a 5 m climb up into a niche or into a suspected passage which might connect to –>Bangdaphakol, which lies, according to GPS readings, only a few metres away. CAVE CLIMATE: Temperature14.5°C in the water near the main cave entrance.