12MB PDF - Association for Mexican Cave Studies

Results of the Spring ProjectThe spring 1979 project was veryproductive as a lot of work was accomplished.However, there are many lifetimes worth of work still remainingto be done. The discovery of Satanode las Calenturas and rumors of alarge resurgence coming from the cavein Canon el Olmo suggests that anotherlarge cave system exists just tothe south of Sistema Purificacian.The waters of the Rlo Purificacianin Canon los Hervores were estimatedto be 6 to 8 times the amount offlow in Isopod River, which indicatesthat passage development in the entiredrainage system could be that muchgreater. Drainage patterns in thecave are such that the waters appearto be sliding off to the west andonly use the main trunk of Infiernillofor an overflow route during massiveflooding. No stream in the systemhas been followed to its conclusiveend as of yet. The Valkyrie Riverin lower Valhalla has not been followedor mapped, but it may well be thestream that is found in the WorldBeyond. The World Beyond stream disappearsnear the end of this trunkpassage but may appear further belowas the Nile and even further alongas Isopod River. The complexities ofof the passages evolving around thesestreams and others that might nothave been discovered as yet make itdifficult at this time to understandthe hydrology of the system. There areundoubtably many factors that enterinto our understanding of this hydrologicsystem that we know nothingof, and only with continued explorationand mapping will we be able toview this system as a whole.The current traverse length ofSistema Purificacion is 27962 metersand the number of leads have increasedto 732. The depth is currently893 meters in vertical extent ofwhich 885 meters are below a datumat Entrada de los Franceses, and 8meters are above a datum. The systemremains the longest and thedeepest in Mexico. The potentialof the cave system and of the areais, indeed, awesome. Work has justbegun on both.101