MORASORA RONGKOL

Herbert Daniel Gebauer - 06/01/2018

In addition to at least five caves (note 1), which are suspected to join as soon as they are explored, altogether eight cave entrances are part of a complex cave system (note 2), which is not on seasonally is responsible for draining a large part, if not the entire flow, of the Morasora (river) in the vicinity of Rongdanggai village, but also is the longest known (2005.02.28) cave of the West Khasi Hills district (JANTSCHKE 2006: 157): MORASORA RONGKOL 1 or Morasora KolMORASORA RONGKOL 2 or Morasora Kol 2 (Morasora Pot)MORASORA RONGKOL 3 –>Mondil Kol 1MORASORA RONGKOL 4 –>Mondil Kol 2MORASORA RONGKOL 5 –>Mondil Kol 3MORASORA RONGKOL 6 –>Mondil Kol 4MORASORA RONGKOL 7 –>Gurmaljangal RongkolMORASORA RONGKOL 8 –>Panigundur (Panigundul) Morasorakol proper is a complex insurgence cave consisting of a three-dimensional maze which offers a plethora of mostly clean-washed crawls along the inclined bedding plane (-25°?) of the local strata. ETYMOLOGY: Morasora is the name of the river drained y these caves and the Garo -kol- is an all encompassing term for a home, abode, shelter, den or hole whilst -rongkol- (literally: stone cave) explicitly designates a cave. SITUATION: Morasorakol proper lies on the left (eastern) bank of the Morasora River and some 100 m upstream of the Morasora bridge on the Maheshkhola- Khunjoy (Khanjoy) road. CAVE DESCRIPTION 1 (HDG 2003.02.18): The partly hidden entrance (1.5 m wide and high) among boulders and huge chunks of driftwood leads 8 m down into a small reception chamber from where five distinct passages lead to mostly wide but low streamway passages. Some are filled or scattered with soil and rounded boulders but others are perfectly clean-washed with countless tiny scallops (not a speck of dirt), descending, and emitting, during daytime in February 2008, strong outward air currents. CAVE DESCRIPTION 2a (after Jantschke 2005.04.17 Mss: Fahrtenbericht Meghalaya 2005 entry 2005.02.04): A short rope eases the way down and soon we stand in rvulet that issues from a deep lake and sump to disappear after a short flow in a same. A pale cave fish floats majestically in the water and disappears in darkness —there probably always will exist a cave world without humans. Having checked a couple of high level bypasses, half a metre high side passage with strong air current remains, with only one disadvantage: About 30 cm of it is filled with water. Hence, some bathing is done but this luckily takes only a short time when the passage soon finds an end at a draughting collapse (note 3). CAVE DESCRIPTION 2b (after Jantschke 2005.04.17 Mss: Fahrtenbericht Meghalaya 2005 entry 2005.02.05 published 2006: ): Since Mondil Kol has many continuations, we plan to clean up with two teams some question marks the connection to Morasora Kol, which I visited again with Christine. Somehow, we seem to have lost the air draught below the first shaft and I'm on the verge of squeezing into an uninspiring crawl when Christine calls from another passge: -Here we goes!- Thus, we take the measuring tape in this part, which curiously crosses over above the main drag and leads via rift passages to a low passage with large rounded boulders. Two survey legs later we stand in the Wobble Boulder Chamber (Wackelblockhalle) of Mondil Kol and are happy to have gained a master cave (note 4) system longer than 5 km. The computer, awkwardly powered by the battery of a car, shows a disturbing picture of overlapping lines —a very complex system of passages (note 5). CAVE DESCRIPTION 3 (HARRIES 2005): Caves in the Morasora River area were connected to the Mondel Kol system, now over 5.8 km long. It is likely that there are many more passages, but the dense forest makes finding entrances difficult. SPELEOMETRY: According to JANTSCHKE (2006: 157), by 28th February 2005 Morasora Rongkol was the longest known cave in the West Khasi Hills district. The accumulated Survey length of Morasora Rongkol is 5,828.87 m (state of 2005.02.28 survey). Simon J. Books (2008 undated Mss: Longest Table 2008.doc), however, wants the Mondel [sic!] Kol (Master System) 5.831 m. PROSPECTS: According to JANTSCHKE (2006: 157), some -question marks- (unexplored continuations) remain untouched but they are not expected to contribute essential details to what is already known. Most interesting is a second entrance in the Gurmaljangal doline.ge: -Here we goes!- Thus, we take the measuring tape in this part, which curiously crosses over above the main drag and leads via rift passages to a low passage with large rounded boulders. Two survey legs later we stand in the Wobble Boulder Chamber (Wackelblockhalle) of Mondil Kol and are happy to have gained a master cave (note 4) system longer than 5 km. The computer, awkwardly powered by the battery of a car, shows a disturbing picture of overlapping lines —a very complex system of passages (note 5). CAVE DESCRIPTION 3 (HARRIES 2005): Caves in the Morasora River area were connected to the Mondel Kol system, now over 5.8 km long. It is likely that there are many more passages, but the dense forest makes finding entrances difficult. SPELEOMETRY: According to JANTSCHKE (2006: 157), by 28th February 2005 Morasora Rongkol was the longest known cave in the West Khasi Hills district. The accumulated Survey length of Morasora Rongkol is 5,828.87 m (state of 2005.02.28 survey). Simon J. Bge: -Here we goes!- Thus, we take the measuring tape in this part, which curiously crosses over above the main drag and leads via rift passages to a low passage with large rounded boulders. Two survey legs later we stand in the Wobble Boulder Chamber (Wackelblockhalle) of Mondil Kol and are happy to have gained a master cave (note 4) system longer than 5 km. The computer, awkwardly powered by the battery of a car, shows a disturbing picture of overlapping lines —a very complex system of passages (note 5). CAVE DESCRIPTION 3 (HARRIES 2005): Caves in the Morasora River area were connected to the Mondel Kol system, now over 5.8 km long. It is likely that there are many more passages, but the dense forest makes finding entrances difficult. SPELEOMETRY: According to JANTSCHKE (2006: 157), by 28th February 2005 Morasora Rongkol was the longest known cave in the West Khasi Hills district. The accumulated Survey length of Morasora Rongkol is 5,828.87 m (state of 2005.02.28 survey). Simon J. Books (2008 undated Mss: Longest Table 2008.doc), however, wants the Mondel [sic!] Kol (Master System) 5.831 m. PROSPECTS: According to JANTSCHKE (2006: 157), some -question marks- (unexplored continuations) remain untouched but they are not expected to contribute essential details to what is already known. Most interesting is a second entrance in the Gurmaljangal doline.