8MB PDF - Association for Mexican Cave Studies

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BELGIAN EXPLORATIONSAT ZOQUITLANMEXICAN PR~T '85by Georges FellerWithout a doubt Mexican karst has formany years shown that the El Dorado ofSpeleology is truly found in the land ofsombreros and tequila. That alone is agood enough reason to organize a remoteexpedition. It's not that our ten years ofexcursions into Austria were boring (farfrom that), but the need to uncover newhorizons and other ways of life far fromthe beaten path justified the trip as well.From information gleaned by previousreconnaissance expeditions, we decided toinvestigate a zone in the heart of theSierra Madre Oriental We spent afascinating two months on this limestoneplateau between the desert and the jungle.The difficulties we encountered representlittle compared to the discoveries made.One can judge for oneself: threearcheological sites, 35 kilometeres ofpassage, including two rooms that countamong the largest in the world.COYOLATLThree days out of Belgium we were on abad road that shook our truck interminably.We were the resurgence team, a sort ofsuicide commando team let loose on thetropical forest. Our goal was to locatethe presumed site of the resurgences thatdrain the plateau. The rest of theexpedition would explore the plateau.In Tlacotepec de Diaz we met a guidewho offered to show us the entrance to aresurgence cave. From a high point on aridge 3 kilometers away, we could see theentrance to Coyolatl as well as hear theresurgence echoing through the Wholevalley. We continued on to the cave,chopping our way through the jungle.In the entrance room of the cave wefound a lake that resurged as the RIoCoyolatl. We measured the flow to be 10cubic meters per second. The cave blew alot of air, in fact as we headed in it blewour lights out. We went through severalswims and climbs and soon came to a vastroom with a skylight entrance. As wegalloped around the immense room we found ariver and large stalagmites up to 20 metersdiameter. After getting lost for about anhour in the large room, we found our wayout of the cave.On 9 March we returned to Coyolatlwith camping and survey gear to find theriver had risen to 15 cubic meters persecond. After mapping the large room,which we named Sebastopol, we mapped alarge infeeder. The passage, La Fluette,was carved out of blue marble with aseries of emerald green lakes separated byflowstone cascades up to 20 meters high.The rock became very jagged. We turnedback at this point, although the passagecontinued.On 13 March the river was back down to10 cubic meters per second. Near theentrance, Francois and Michel found somearcheological remains in good condition.Meanwhile, others mapped a kilometer ofpassage up the main river from Sebastopolto a sump.The 15th of March saw Francois andMichel retreating to the village to findout what had caused the red dots whichcovered their bodies. The rest of the groupsystematically explored all the passagesoff the river to find a way on. We foundour way around the sump in a canyon passagewith strong current. It was not possible tocontinue against the current, so we beganlooking for an upper level fossil route.Several days later we found a highlead with a violent air current. We mapped51
Page 4 and 5: PLACES INTHIS ISSUELORETO\- II PURI
Page 8: Bot Roost10ometers5I1mprojected pro
Page 16: The large entrance chamber to Cueva
Page 20: Long Caves of Mexicocompiled by Pet
Page 24: Chilchotla is a newly discovered ca
Page 29 and 30: GUIXANI NDIA GUINJAOZONGOLlCA-CHILC
Page 31 and 32: GUINJAOTHI GUINJAOCrystalCylinderSS
Page 33 and 34: GRUTAS DEL COCONAFinding a cave to
Page 35 and 36: GRUTASTDEL COCONAeapa, Tabasco~ c:W
Page 37 and 38: Themilky-white sulpher river that f
Page 39 and 40: cne of the many skylight entrances
Page 41 and 42: mer rainy season and vegetation tha
Page 43 and 44: Looking up towards the entrance ofS
Page 45 and 46: CHIAPASThe Dutch Expeditionby Laure
Page 47 and 48: Jl:SRTUCDCCHIAPAS.EL ZAPOTAL.MEXICO
Page 49 and 50: ELEVATIONPLANI '1 11 JI .,.-,. mete
Page 51: \9}"CAVES OF FRONTERA COMALAPA~CUEV
Page 55 and 56: AVCOUPES TRANSVERSALES I t 15MG~MON
Page 58 and 59: w'"ill~0'" a:w
Page 60 and 61: eakdown collapse and a 2~meter pit.
Page 62 and 63: CENOTE NAHARONTULUM. QUINTANA ROOCo
Page 64 and 65: REM:J1'E CENCYI'ECenote Dos Ojos is
Page 66 and 67: 50taoo de Ocotempaby Terry RainesMa
Page 68 and 69: Mauricio Tapie on the Overhung Clim
Page 70 and 71: SEA CAVES OF LORETOby Dave BunnellO
Page 72 and 73: CUEVAS DE NOPOLOESTADO DE BAJA CALI
Page 74 and 75: SISTEMA PURIFICACION 198672by Peter
Page 76 and 77: slipped on a down climb and twisted
Page 78 and 79: There was some airflow, but it look
Page 80 and 81: Low displacement fault in scalloped
Page 82 and 83: SISTEMA PURIFICACION 198780by Peter
Page 84 and 85: the right side that was left unpush
Page 86 and 87: Dale Pate crawling over SOIre of th
Page 88 and 89: eeze, only seven hours. So it was s
Page 90 and 91: of the Dragon River, high over Infi
Page 92 and 93: named after a ghost of popular Mexi
Page 94 and 95: Meanwhile Peter, Terri, Rich, and P
Page 96 and 97: CUEVA DELTECOLOTEby Terri Sprousewi
Page 98 and 99: tions that covered the brittle rock
Page 100 and 101: A surprise continuation of the Fant
Page 102 and 103:
ReviewsLas Cavernas de la Sierra Go
Page 104 and 105:
Bill Steele labored on the story of
Page 106:
Chiapas in 1981 and 1984. This we1l
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