12MB PDF - Association for Mexican Cave Studies

persons working on this mapping teamwent smoothly with Dale being theroute finder; Jerry, the lead tape;Terri, reading Suuntos; Peter, thesketcher; and Mark, the permanentstation marker. It has become apolicy that when mapping, a permanentstation is left at each passage intersection.A permanent station is a1/4" diameter drilled hole deep enoughto distinguish it from any naturalholes or cracks in the rock. Thoughit takes time and energy, it is amust for any type of continuous mappingproject to succeed in this system.As the team mapped the BalconyBorehole, Mark climbed into the ComplexDome at the end of this passageand discovered several smaller passages.Soon he found himself highabove the floor in a large, dry passagecircling around the ComplexDome. This area appears to be verycomplicated. Meanwhile, the mappingteam was contemplating sending in asearch party to locate Mark. Afteronly looking for an hour, though, hefinally found his own way back tothe rest of the crew. The team surveyedslightly over 600 meters forthe day.April 1, (April Fool's Day) sawthe crew of five stopping in the WestLoop to check the Cobble Leads. Immediately,the main lead split inthree different ways. Mark crawleddown one tube and was not heard fromfor an hour or more. He had a habitof disappearing like this for longperiods of time. The other two leadscame together at the bottom of a 10meter pit entering from the main passageabove and continued. The passagegot larger and a hole on theright wall led up into the Worm Dome,Calcite banding in the Main Passage - West Loop. (Thomas Moore)89