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Jamaican Caving Notes |
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Aug 28, 2003 CLEAR RIVER CAVE Position: WGS84 - 18 22' 09.9" N, 77 42' 18.9" W Field notes: R. S. STEWART Cavers: R. S. Stewart, M. Taylor, G. Blake The discovery of what we subsequently named, "Clear River Cave", was very satisfying to me in several ways. I had strongly suspected that there were more caves to be found in the Dromilly district, a close examination of the topo maps had suggested that there could possibly be a cave where Clear River was found, and Aug 28 was my birthday and this new cave my best present of the day. The usual ground-work had been done prior to Aug 28, by asking of local woodcutters and wicker-pullers if they had seen any entrances in the hills south of Dromilly. An initial report of a cave at the head of what is locally called the Clear River had found us nothing during a visit several days before-hand, but during that search we had linked with Mistress Pinnock, who knew of the cave. Her son, Glenroy Blake, could lead us to it, but he was not at home when we had met Mistress Pinnock, so arrangements had been made for this day, Aug 28. The morning of my birthday found us in Dromilly district, in hot pursuit of a new cave. With Glenroy, we returned to the upper reaches of Clear River. The entrance was found some hundreds of metres downstream from the riverhead, up a hill-side, about 15 metres higher than the river. We knew right away that we had something good; a strong stream was resurging out the entrance and tumbling down into the river below. The flow was very substantial and obviously much greater than what could issue from fractures or chokes. This was a cave that went somewhere. We donned helmets and headlamps and headed in. For the first 17 metres we were able to keep our feet dry by working along the side of the stream, but we then had to get into the water and squeeze through stals into the continuing passage. The stream now extended across the full width, quite deep on the northern side, but only waist deep on the southern. Carrying on, we soon reached a sumped rising that prevented further progress. At this point, we turned around and began to survey our way back out. I will now describe the physical nature of this cave. There are two entrances, the larger, northern entrance through which we had entered, (facing 320 deg true), and a smaller entrance to the south reached by a passage that branches off of the main 16 metres in. The large, northern entrance is about 10 metres wide by 3 high and leads into a passage only slightly smaller. After 16 m, a narrower passage, about 1.5 m by 2 high, connects from the southern entrance. The southern entrance is about 1 m wide and 2 high and separated from the northern by about 15 m on the western flanks of the hill. Immediately after this joining of the two passages, going in, a number of large stals and columns are reached that require a bit of squeezing to go through. The passage now becomes somewhat smaller, about 5 m across and 3 high, and heads straight into the hill. After a total of 43 m from the northern entrance, the upstream sump was reached. It was here we began the line-survey on our way out. Because the passage is so straight, only 3 points were used. They follow: N Ent - B, 11 m, 145 deg true B - C, 32 m, 155 deg. C is upstream sump. The connecting passage from the south entrance joins from 270 deg, 16 m in. Biologically, the cave offers an occasional roost for fruit-bats but hasn't any guano deposits due to its hydrological activity that would support troglobytic inverts. No crabs or any other water dwelling species were seen, because this is a resurgence. The hydrology of this cave is its most interesting facet. It was observed that Clear River, and the resurgence of Clear River Cave, were both very clear, un-turbid water despite heavy rains in the previous days that had caused the nearby Roaring River to be very muddy. Glenroy claimed that the waters of Clear River have a different source, in St Elizabeth, than the waters of the river of which it is a tributary, (Roaring River etc that comes from St James underground to Deeside and Springvale). There is little doubt that this is essentially true, although whether the source is in St Elizabeth is questionable. South Trelawny would be my guess. Glenroy stated that Clear River is indeed usually clear when the river into which it feeds, a kilometre downstream, is muddy. This question, the source of Clear River, is one that should be pursued. We have observed that it rises in two places, springs which issue at the top of a valley several hundred metres to the south, and the resurgence of Clear River Cave. Both sources were clear during our visits. We will investigate this matter more in the future. Because this visit was made during a time of frequent heavy rain, it is suspected that the river passage can be pushed further during the dry season. A repeat visit will be made in Jan, 2004.  |
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