12MB PDF - Association for Mexican Cave Studies

spiders on the walls, and a blindgryllid cricket was taken as wellas other fauna typical of the area.A schizomid was seen but it escaped.David sketched the cave, which inclinesupward at about 35° for adistance of about 175 meters. Thepassage is generally 5 meters wide,2 to 5 meters high, and is flooredwith flows tone and some breakdown.About 50 meters inside is a skylight.At the end, a short climb up leadsto a tight squeeze to the left thateven small Frank had difficulty pushing.He went for about 10 meters towhere it was too tight to go on.Cueva de Ojo de Aguade ManantialesThe next phase of our trip tookus to Ejido Manantiales, Municipiode Ocampo to re-visit Cueva de TresManantiales. This is a cave whichhas been visited many times in thepast by cavers but never mapped orfully explored. We learned from avigorous 57 year old local, AntonioBarragan, that the cave is'actuallynamed Cueva de Ojo de Agua de Manantiales.It is the only source ofwater for the ejido for miles around.A trail leads about 50 meters intothe cave, past an 8 meter high skylightentrance, to a narrow fissuresloping down 9 meters into a largelake. Over the fissure is a woodenplatform and a system for drawingwater buckets along a standing wirewhich inclines down to the lake.We spent 4 days here making biologicalcollections, photographing,exploring and mapping in the cave.The cave entrance lies at the southwestand lowest end of a large cultivateddolina. It is a picturesque,6 meter diameter arch surrounded byferns and elephant ears. After photographingthe entrances we began18the survey. We mapped down the waterfetching trail to the fissure abovethe lake. We found a 10 to 15 meterrope sufficient for descending thedrop into the lake. The lake can becrossed by crouching under a ceilingdrop to the right and creeping aroundthe right perimeter while trying tokeep from sliding along the muckybottom and off into deep water. Abetter strategy is to use an innertube and paddle straight across for16 meters. The lake is about 4 meterswide and quite chilly. Thecave strikes to the SE for 84 metersby way of a vadose-modified, mudbankedfissure to an intersection.Straight on is a scoured flows toneand cemented breccia-lined crawlwaywhich turns left (NE) after 73 metersand becomes a 0.3 meter high, muddywater crawl. We could see for 10meters into this but did not exploreit. Back at the intersection, themain route becomes a cobble-floored,joint-controlled subway which generallybears NE. Extremely strongjointing is evidenced by the high,zig-zagging fissures and strikingintersections. The ceiling is about12 meters high here. At most jointintersections, where the route usuallyturns, one can look up and seea deeply incised "X" in the ceiling.About 95 meters past the intersectionwe came to a 2 meter climbdown overclean flows tone to the edge of adeep, clear water passage. We tubedacross the 19 meter long, 3 meterdeep pool, and were once again incobble-floored fissure. A majorintersection lies 13 meters on andthe route takes a left to the NW.We stopped after 50 meters at thetop of a sloping drop, ending theday's survey with 422 meters mapped.The next day we photographedthe area near the clear lake, andcontinued the survey at the drop.The fissure descends steeply and werigged a rope around a 1 meter diametercobble which is wedged andcemented at a constriction. A IS