MUDIPU CAVERN

Herbert Daniel Gebauer - 06/01/2018

No entrance at all gave access to an endogean Mudipu cavern, the laterite cavern … on the way to Mudupu which had been hidden under the top cover of laterite duricrust and was accidentally breached in the course of digging the topsoil by BSNL [note 1] workers (geokarnataka.blogspot.com accessed 2012.10.25). The relatively small sized cavern (some 3 or 4 cubic metres) is said to have intersected so-called dipping extensions along easterly and northerly directions parallel to the surface slopes which I am tempted to interpret as descending continuations in which the cave floor decended parallell to the passage ceiling both up and downstream. SITUATION: On the roadside, near Kamblapadavu, Pajir Village, on the way to Mudupu [note 2], Bantval Taluk (note 3) and thus not only about 25 km (or so) east along the National Highway NH 48 from Mangalore (note 4) but also on the undulating low-level Konkan Plateau (between the Konkan coastal tract and the Western Ghats) and above the northern (orgraphically right) bank of the Netravati. CAVE DESCRIPTION: The newly discovered cavern in interior sections shows dipping extensions along easterly and northerly directions parallel to the surface slopes [note 5]. The interior also contains fragments of laterite separated from the duricrust top due to breakages along the fractures (geokarnataka.blogspot.com accessed 2012.10.25). CAVE POTENTIAL: Laterite formations, in general, are produced by the leaching of alkalis, calcium and magnesium and Silica from the precursor material by the agency of ground waters seeping through the precursors. As a consequence the hydroxides of iron and aluminum concentrate to form the laterite. With passage of time the surface of the laterite becomes hard (‘indurated’) on exposure to atmosphere, generally by the chemical transition of ferrous hydroxyl ions to ferric state. The hardened laterite cover is usually referred to as duricrust.Below the indurated surface of duricrust, the laterite material remais soft and rich in clays and susceptible for further leaching. The laterite formations have also under gone structural disturbances that have produced fractures.The seepage of waters along fractures leads to removal of softer material underneath the hardened duricrust forming empty spaces or caverns. These caverns are at places are exposed in the margin or slope of plateaus. Therefore such caverns are natural structures and can be called as natural caves. For example the cave at Nelli-teertha, Tenka Yekkar village, Mangalore Taluk is a natural cave partially modified by human interventions (geokarnataka.blogspot.com accessed 2012.10.25).s soft and rich in clays and susceptible for further leaching. The laterite formations have also under gone structural disturbances that have produced fractures.The seepage of waters along fractures leads to removal of softer material underneath the hardened duricrust forming empty spaces or caverns. These caverns are at places are exposed in the margin or slope of plateaus. Therefore such caverns are natural structures and can be called as natural caves. For example the cave at Nelli-teertha, Tenka Yekkar village, Mangalore Taluk is a natural cave partially modified by human interventions (geokarnataka.blogspot.com accessed 2012.10.25).