22Diamante received its name from the numerous quartz crystals (HerkimerDiamonds) which are found in the arroyo draining the dolina and througho<strong>ut</strong>the <strong>cave</strong> itself. These crystals are probably residual from shale <strong>for</strong>mationswhich previously covered the El Abra b<strong>ut</strong> now have been eroded to the presentlevel of the coastal plain.The El Abra facies change depicted on the diagram is supported byobservations in the field. Bedding planes are absent in Otates and Indiosb<strong>ut</strong> become traceable in the Diamante dolina and in the Canyonland sectionof Diamante. Further exploration and study in the Otates Mine Area shouldbe very rewarding.Geology ReferencesFish, John. 1975, Karst Geomorphology and Hydrology of the Sierra deEl Abra, S.L.P. and Tamps., Mexico. (tentative title), PhD dissertation,Dept. of Geology, McMaster University, Ontario.Russell, William H. and Raines, Terry W. 1967, Caves of the InterAmerican Highway. Bulletin I of the Association <strong>for</strong> Mexican CaveStudies, Austin, Texas.Note from PrestonAnyone planning on doing Cueva de El Chorreadero in Chiapas should havethe following equipment: a selection of pitons, piton hammer, bolt kit, andat least 30 feet of one inch webbing. Reason: When our group went throughthe <strong>cave</strong> in January, 1976, we did not have most of the equipment as we knewthe <strong>cave</strong> was rigged. However, a safety factor is involved since many of thepiton placements are marginal and additional backup pitons and in some casesbolts are needed, especially in the lower part of the <strong>cave</strong>.Preston ForsytheBiology ~~otesPreliminary study of pseudoscorpions collected this summer inYucatan by Grubbs, ~lcKenzie, Reddell, and Wilev has revealed a new genusfrom a <strong>cave</strong> in Quintana Roo.A ne\. Troglibitic Homopteran (plant hopper) was found this Christmasat Acatlan, Oaxaca, by Hike McEachern of the "School Bus." This is the 6thTroglobitic Homopteran in the world. T\.o are known from ~texico, two fromHawaii, and one from Au!';tralia.A new species and possiblv ~enus of Scolopendramorph centipede wasfound in Conchas. It is probably one of the deepest animals collected from~:exico; it came from t 1 1e botton of tt,e200' drop.PH r. Grubbs
Christmas in Acatlan23.Over Christmas, Terry Sayther, Shari Larason, Dennis Barnes,Marcia Cossey, Andy Grubbs, and Tom Byrd made a spur-of-the-moment allnight drive to Acatlan, Oaxaca,in hopes of heading off the school-buscrowd en ro<strong>ut</strong>e to Guatemala. We never ran into them though, b<strong>ut</strong> we hadplenty of caving to do while we were down there.We paid a guide to show us as many <strong>cave</strong> entrances as we could see inone afternoon. We saw five <strong>cave</strong>s that afternoon, all of them close tothe roads and with a spread o<strong>ut</strong> distrib<strong>ut</strong>ion from ten miles north of thetown to ten miles so<strong>ut</strong>h of town. They were La Cueva de Juan Sanchez, LaCueva de la Junta, La Cueva de Buenos Aires, La Cueva de Piedra Fria, andLa Cueva de Rio San Antonio. In addition to these <strong>cave</strong>s, we also saw andchecked o<strong>ut</strong> a 3-D maze <strong>cave</strong> at our campsite. It was exposed by the excavationof limestone at a Mogote in the middle of a su~ar cane field. The<strong>cave</strong> is slowly succumbing to quarrying operations, so we named it"Disappearing Cave."Our main activity was concentrated on the surveying of La Cueva deJuan Sanchez. The <strong>cave</strong> is located at the Nacimiento de el Rio Juan Sanchezand has a large, impressive entrance at the base of a 40m cliff. Immediatelyinside the <strong>cave</strong>, there is a large pile of broken pottery and manyobsidian blades scattered abo<strong>ut</strong> on the clay slope. From here there isa gently meandering stream passage which is 20-30m wide and 8-lOm high.Soon after leaving the last traces of daylight behind, there is a largebreakdown room with a high wide passage leadin~ off to the left <strong>for</strong> ashort distance, with ·pottery and <strong>for</strong>mations. Opposite this passage is anarrow side passage leading off the main passage to the right. This passagewas called "Cueva Oculta" taking its name from the writings of earlierexplorers who wrote the words on a boulder at the entrance. It ended inbreakdown where tree roots grew in from above. Througho<strong>ut</strong> the main passage,there are terraces of conglomerated round cobbles of igneous rock ranp.ingin size from pea size to grapefruit size, and on the walls in many placesare scallops of varied sizes. There are several large breakdown rooms withhigh ceilings througho<strong>ut</strong> the <strong>cave</strong>, and only in the high places are thereany <strong>for</strong>mations.It took us two days to survey the <strong>cave</strong> and we did not finish. Late onthe second day of the survey, we carne to a large, steep breakdown slopeextending upward to an upper entrance. From this large breakdo~~ sloperoom is a side passage leading down to several large rooms. After some 13hours of surveyin~ that day, we decided to call it quits <strong>for</strong> a while afterpeering into the darkness of a huge bat room with giant breakdown blocks.We have indicated this as the "Big Room" on the map. T,Je don I t know how farthe <strong>cave</strong> extends teyond this and we didn't have time to continue.The tave, according to the local residents, is kno~~ by two names:La Cueva de Juan Sanchez (after the river) and La Cueva de Almolonga (aftera nearby community). The people sav that toda la cueva es seca en abril, b<strong>ut</strong>that in agosto, great cuantities of water come o<strong>ut</strong> carrying logs and otherdehris.This area around Acatlan is very promising. There are numerous roadsamong the low rolling .hills of sugar cane fields and small anticlinal ridgesand areas of haystack hills. ~umerous dolinas can be seen from the roads.The locals s~eak of manv sotanos in the hills. There is not much depth potentialhere, b<strong>ut</strong> the deepest '<strong>cave</strong>s are not far away on the Huatla Plateau. Thereare going to be some long horizontal systens and sotanos enterinp. them fromabove in this area. ~e hope to return next dry season to finish Juan Sanchezand check o<strong>ut</strong> other <strong>cave</strong>s in the vicinity.by Tom Byrd
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ASSCCIATION FOR MEXICAN CAVE STUDIE
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3So the large-entranced sotano whic
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5MINA OTATES, T&~.: DSC. 25, 1974,
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MERIDA, YUC.: OCT. 1974, David McKe
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AMCSMEMBERSHIP ACTIVITIES LETTEREdi
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3Michael Schulte has been working o
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5To the right of the partition in t
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7Diamond Cave RevisitedAndy Grubbs,
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9CHE~-VEN-SIL-MUTSYSTEM\+--1000 ft.
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Cave Map Symbols11On the following
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13I NATIONAL SPELEOLOGICAL ISOCIETY
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ASSOCIATION FOR MEXIC&~ CAVE STUDIE
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17Discussion of Map Symbolsby Bill
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19in a 90 meter pit could collect d
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AMCSACTIVITIES LETTEREdited by Bill
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3After leaving Valladolid we went t
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CASI UlL 5By Bill Stone as told to
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1'1later Jim and I began the long c
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20Our group of six intended on rapp
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22here and poked around for leads.
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24and myself about trash and abando
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line didn't cross; nylon against ny
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...'"1IIc.21II .._1II~(,),-• c..'
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30Medical Report On The April 1977
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'32One caver alInost lost her voice
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34considered normal. The diabetic d
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36Jim Smit~ Has followinp, Blake Ha
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3~the spot would make a smaU slip.
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AMCSACTIVITIeSNewsLe TTe Rno. 7
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'International NewsTHE SIERRA DE GU
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International Newsin the entrance a
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The Ten Deepest Caves in Mexicoby B
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to a drop. t returned and dropped a
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to the entrance. From San Andres we
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stove in a semi-catatonic state. He
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above the roaring cascades. At time
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With two leads 'beckoning we began
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Chaining a passage in Cueva de Infi
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the cave. We pulled our rope down b
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increased the cave's depth to -197
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series of parallel ascending (+30 0
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La Sistema Purificacidn: a theory a
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Between the Cold and the" GlorybyTe
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Back tothe Bird PitsbyBill StoneSum
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'Getting Down in Peiiaby Bill Stone
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CUEVADELAPENAPROFI LEmetersoRanc ho