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Underground Rivers - University of New Mexico

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An Engineer<br />

Chapter 28 -- Et In Arcadia Ego<br />

Few poets and painters could have personally said, "Et In Arcadia Ego," as they were working<br />

from stories. It would thus be unjust to ignore an engineer whose contribution involved actually<br />

being there.<br />

Lake Taka on the Peloponnese Peninsula is an intermittent karst lake fed by surrounding dolines<br />

and sinks during the rainy season. It is drained by underground caves and in dry years, dries out<br />

completely.<br />

In 1891, engineer N.A. Sideridis undertook works to better drain the Plain <strong>of</strong> Taka. The first step<br />

was to explore the Katavothres (swallow holes), accompanied by E.A. Martel whom we will<br />

encounter in Chapter 49, Subterranean Watercraft. The pair discovered a deep cave system and<br />

an underground river gorge.<br />

Map redrawn after Martel and Sideridis, Mayers Konversations-Lexikon (1905)<br />

Sideridis put a grid over the sink's<br />

entrance to prevent re-blockage by<br />

debris and excavated channels from the<br />

three incoming streams.<br />

As an aside, the process <strong>of</strong> confirming the above Taka's geography unearthed reference to a likenamed<br />

plain in the Sudan. From African Wanderings; or, An expedition from Sennaar to Taka,<br />

DRAFT 1122//66//22001122<br />

Uppddaatteess aatt hhttttpp::////www. .uunnm. .eedduu//~rrhheeggggeenn//UnnddeerrggrroouunnddRi ivveerrss. .hhttml l<br />

372

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