PHLANGJAUD (Krem)

Herbert Daniel Gebauer - 06/01/2018

About five distinct cave entrances, not far from each other, give access to a close knit maze of horizontal cave passages near the village of Phlangja'ud, Phlangjaud, or Phlang Ja'ut. Most of the cave consists of stooping sized cave passages of which 176 m were surveyed by members of the Meghalaya Adventurers' Association on 23rd February 1999 (78.2 m) and at some time in 2002 (97.8 m) while Tyler (2001.05.21 Mss: Krem Phlangjaud) and friends allegedly -surveyed- (sportsman's standard) on 18th and 19th May 2001 an accumulation of 249.82 m of somehow combined survey leg lengths. ETYMOLOGY: No autochthonous, indigenous or locally known name has been identified for this cave called after a village (not indicated on the 1913 and 1974 editions of the Survey of India sheet 78-O/11) or relatively small shifting settlement (Tyler 2001.05.21 Mss) of which the name has been recorded as Phlang Ja'ud KHARPRAN DALY (2006: 18) and as Phlangjaud Kharpran Daly (2002.12.18 Mss), Tyler (2001.5.21 Mss) where -u phlang- is the Khasi word for the grass or a tussock (note 1), -ja- is a version of the preposition -ia- signifying of (note 2) and -ud- seems to derive from the Khasi -ot- (verb) for to mow, to reap (note 3) -- unless we read -ja'ud- or -jaud- as -jarut- (note 4) or -sharud- (note 5). SITUATION: About 100 m west of the village of Phlangjaud / Phlang Ja'ut (Kharpran Daly 2002.12.18 Mss: Krem Phlangjaud). APPROACH: Upon arriving from Shillong, take at a T-junction 5 km short of Mawkyrwat [note 6] a left turn [note 7] is taken to Rangmaw village [note 8] … From Rangmaw village … the site of the cave is 8 km away [approximately south] along a dirt track (a real good one) to a grassy plateau [note 9]. About 100 metres down to the west … the entrance [note 10] is reached beside a small stream in dense jungle. SITUATION 2 (Tyler 2001.05.21 Mss: Krem Phlangjaud): About 500 m south-west of Phlangjaud / Phlang Ja'ut or, literally quoted (note 11): Take the Mawkerwat [Mwkyrwat] - Shillong road after 4 km. A turning on the right is sign posted Rangmaw follow this past the village take the left fork, past a narrow valley to a small shifting settlement called Phlangjaud lying on the grass plateau land, from the main road about 1 hours drive mostly on cacher road (sic! for: khacha road, an unmetalled fair weather road). From the village [probably Phlangja'ud / Phlangjaud / Phlang Ja'ut] walk 500 m. S.W. to a wooded escarpment where a path and wooden ladder go down to the entrance 3x8x20m down a slope … [note 12]. GEOLOGY: Valley deposits of Cretaceous rocks, flanked and overlooked by granite hills, occur 1 mile WSW of Rangmaw, and just east of Mawlangwir and with gneiss 1 mile north-west of Phudja-ud [note 13]. These are associated with junctions between Cretaceous and crystalline rocks, crossing the country without any relation to the contours and therefore marking a change in level of the underlying rocks. A clear section showing the exact relatio of the two series can be seen in the valley 1 mile north-west of Phudja-ud in the valley of the Phud Nopgrew. At first this valley runs entirely in crystallines, then, as it deepens, horizontal Cretaceous rocks are developed on the top of the banks. Lower down the Cretaceous rocks traverse it from the south and rise up its northern side against a steep hill of gneiss. The junction of the gneiss is exposed and the sedimentary rock is apposed to an old valley slope. … The horizontal Cretaceous rocks clearly filled in an old gneissic valley (PALMER 1924: 159). SARMA, H & KATTI, S Y (1992) mapped in the 1990 / 91 field season some geological aspects of the Riangmaw area (with geological map on scale circa 1: 166'666) and found the surfacially exposed Eocene Tura Formation (Jaintia Group: mostly sandstone, perhaps some calcareous sandstone or even thin beds of limestone), which covers the Upper Cretaceous Mahadek Formation (Khasi Group), thinning out towards approximate north on a basemnt of Precambrian migmatites and gneisses. CAVE DESCRIPTION 2002: The cave entrance (1 m wide and high) gives way to stooping sized passage of very short [survey leg] lengths (on average 3 m long). The cave is formed in soft calcareous sandstone mixed with conglomerate [note 14]. The walls and roof of the cave is covered with fine mud which [indicates] that the cave is flooded to its roof during the monsoons. The floor is wet and slimy but partly littered with round smooth pebbles which had been freed from the walls (Kharpran Daly 2002.12.18 Mss: Krem Phlangjaud). CAVE DESCRIPTION 2001: The entrance 3x8x20m. down a slope here there is a cross roads ahead a small stream becomes too tight with a wet crawl to the left gains another walking sized cross roads left connects back to the first cross roads right soon ends. Ahead enters 40m of fine passage initially belling out with extensive shelves on the right a small stream enters thiss comes from two small inlets on a shelf the floor is pebly with water the passage becomes narrower and then ends in boulders where daylight can be seen this is10m from the entrance. From the initial cross roads a right turn enters a 2x2.5x50 passage that snakes around initially parallel to the entrance passage (with two more connections to the entrance) then back into the cave and yet again back out. Here the passage bifurcates both ways soon end, but to the left a passage 1x1.5 goes of initially towards the surface and then left through a squeeze into a larger passage2x2m. a small stream is crossed and the passage continues until it gets too small (Tyler 2001.05.21 Mss -Krem Phlangjaud- 21/05701). PROSPECTS: Under the impression of having mapped (or so) 249.82 m of survey length, Tyler (2001.05.21 Mss: Krem Phlangjaud) recorded at least ten passages remain unpushed. CAVE LIFE: Adora Thabah (in Tyler 2001.05.21 Mss: Krem Phlangjaud) surveyed several microchiropteran species (Chiroptera, bats).nt of Precambrian migmatites and gneisses. CAVE DESCRIPTION 2002: The cave entrance (1 m wide and high) gives way to stooping sized passage of very short [survey leg] lengths (on average 3 m long). The cave is formed in soft calcareous sandstone mixed with conglomerate [note 14]. The walls and roof of the cave is covered with fine mud which [indicates] that the cave is flooded to its roof during the monsoons. The floor is wet and slimy but partly littered with round smooth pebbles which had been freed from the walls (Kharpran Daly 2002.12.18 Mss: Krem Phlangjaud). CAVE DESCRIPTION 2001: The entrance 3x8x20m. down a slope here there is a cross roads ahead a small stream becomes too tight with a wet crawl to the left gains another walking sized cross roads left connects back to the first cross roads right soon ends. Ahead enters 40m of fine passage initially belling out with extensive shelves on the right a small stream enters thiss comes from two small inlets on a shelf the floor is pent of Precambrian migmatites and gneisses. CAVE DESCRIPTION 2002: The cave entrance (1 m wide and high) gives way to stooping sized passage of very short [survey leg] lengths (on average 3 m long). The cave is formed in soft calcareous sandstone mixed with conglomerate [note 14]. The walls and roof of the cave is covered with fine mud which [indicates] that the cave is flooded to its roof during the monsoons. The floor is wet and slimy but partly littered with round smooth pebbles which had been freed from the walls (Kharpran Daly 2002.12.18 Mss: Krem Phlangjaud). CAVE DESCRIPTION 2001: The entrance 3x8x20m. down a slope here there is a cross roads ahead a small stream becomes too tight with a wet crawl to the left gains another walking sized cross roads left connects back to the first cross roads right soon ends. Ahead enters 40m of fine passage initially belling out with extensive shelves on the right a small stream enters thiss comes from two small inlets on a shelf the floor is pent of Precambrian migmatites and gneisses. CAVE DESCRIPTION 2002: The cave entrance (1 m wide and high) gives way to stooping sized passage of very short [survey leg] lengths (on average 3 m long). The cave is formed in soft calcareous sandstone mixed with conglomerate [note 14]. The walls and roof of the cave is covered with fine mud which [indicates] that the cave is flooded to its roof during the monsoons. The floor is wet and slimy but partly littered with round smooth pebbles which had been freed from the walls (Kharpran Daly 2002.12.18 Mss: Krem Phlangjaud). CAVE DESCRIPTION 2001: The entrance 3x8x20m. down a slope here there is a cross roads ahead a small stream becomes too tight with a wet crawl to the left gains another walking sized cross roads left connects back to the first cross roads right soon ends. Ahead enters 40m of fine passage initially belling out with extensive shelves on the right a small stream enters thiss comes from two small inlets on a shelf the floor is pebly with water the passage becomes narrower and then ends in boulders where daylight can be seen this is10m from the entrance. From the initial cross roads a right turn enters a 2x2.5x50 passage that snakes around initially parallel to the entrance passage (with two more connections to the entrance) then back into the cave and yet again back out. Here the passage bifurcates both ways soon end, but to the left a passage 1x1.5 goes of initially towards the surface and then left through a squeeze into a larger passage2x2m. a small stream is crossed and the passage continues until it gets too small (Tyler 2001.05.21 Mss -Krem Phlangjaud- 21/05701). PROSPECTS: Under the impression of having mapped (or so) 249.82 m of survey length, Tyler (2001.05.21 Mss: Krem Phlangjaud) recorded at least ten passages remain unpushed. CAVE LIFE: Adora Thabah (in Tyler 2001.05.21 Mss: Krem Phlangjaud) surveyed several microchiropteran species (Chiroptera, bats).