17MB PDF - Association for Mexican Cave Studies

8 July Early in the morning we met with a man named Antonio aspreviously arranged. He had agreed to show us the caves on Ranchode SuchallO, located immediately to the south of Rancho de Huitzmolotitla.The resulting hike through the jungle and orange grovesto the various caves proved to be rewarding. Of the seven or eightpits visited, most seemed to be close to 200 feet deep. We werepostponing actual exploration until later so as not to take up toomuch of Antonio's time. About noon we returned to Tlamaya andthanked Antonio for his help. Then, that afternoon we went back tothe ranch and mana~ed to explore three of the pits before dark.The first, named Sotano de Suchallo, was 15 feet by 20 feet at thetop and dropped completely sheer for 205 feet to a flat dirt floor;no leads. The drop was made very spectacular by the large, green,moss-covered flutings that extended the entire length of the pit.Next explored was a pit, located near the first, that had a smallentrance and was only 116 feet deep. Nothing of interest. The lastpit had an even smaller entrance, three feet in diameter, and thefollowing 192 foot drop did not enlarge to any extent. Like Sotanode Suchallo, the other two pits had no leads at the bottom. Soended a typical day of Mexican pit checking.t JUly Sam, Diane, and I had to leave and return to Austin, buthe rest of the group spent several more days in the Tlamaya area.They made additional surface surveys and explored the balance ofthe pits shown to us by Antonio. Descriptions of these are in thecontinuation of this report. Maps of the various pits and theTlamaya area will appear in later AMeS publications.Notes on photographs:The two photographs on page 74 are of scenes in the Xilitlaarea. The upper picture views the valley through which the Inter­American Highway runs. It is taken from the old road to Xilitla(seen at left center) at a point near where the road leaves the mainnorth-south valley and climbs toward Xilitla. The high mountainsshown at the left rise 2000 to 3000 feet above Tlamaya (just offthe left-hand side of the picture) which is at an elevation of 1800feet above the main valley shown here. Also, located at the base ofthe mountains are several large resurgences such as the Nacimientodel Rio HUichihuayan. The greater portion of these high mountainsremain untouched in the search for caves, as access is limited torugged foot trails.The lower picture shows the Tlamaya solution valley. Thisflat-floored valley is surrounded on all sides except to the eastby the same high mountains as seen in the previous photograph. Tothe east the valley narrows to a pass which slopes out into thevalley containing the Inter-American Highway. The entrance toSotano de Tlamaya is located just above the valley floor off theleft-hand side of the picture.The other two pages of photographs, pages 76 and 77, are devotedto two caves. The upper picture on page 76 shows the entrance toSotano de Huitzmolotitla, which is perhaps the largest pit so fardiscovered in Mexico. Estimated to be 150 to 200 feet in diameter,the pit tapers in only slightly until its bottom is reached, 364feet below. The surrounding jungle vegetation continues downinto its mouth for over one-fourth of the depth, and from this79