speleonet

Inside Black Country [Mines]

... clip is here.

Somewhere in Pennslyvania

This footage was taken back in late December. The quarry is in the Vintage Dolomite.

One aspect which has always interested me about the quarry is how the north face (right portion) is, for the most part, void of voids. Whereas the southerly portion is rife with solutional development. West of the Susquehanna River the bedrock geology consists of a pizza-slice of the Vintage narrowing toward the town of Mt. Wolf. It seems as if the quarry cut down equally into the karstic half, and as well, the non-karstic half. There are sinks and stuff to the north, but they seem to trail out in that direction.

There was an active concern at said location up until sometime in the 50's. Why was the quarry abandoned? I don't know. In the shallow western limb tracks are visible below the surface and there is no doubt abandoned industrial infrastructure hidden beneath the deeper portions; as well flooded cave entrances and other karst features which were intercepted.

What a twisted history places like this possess.
 

Italian Urban Speleology

I'd like to pass along the following link to all Spelonet readers...

Andrea Busi has a site dedictated to Urban Speleololgy in Brescia, Italy. Please check the site, particularly the Movie section on the menu. Here you will find several large movies detailing sub-city explorations.

Secret world of Bull's Head caves

Via expressandstar.com...

Some of the people who sit in the beer garden directly above will be unaware of what is below them. "It is Cookley's best kept secret," says Mr Coles. But it is a secret well worth exploring.

The caves are accessed by walking down the steps from the terrace at the rear of the pub, which lead to a tiny, ivy-covered entrance next to the canal.

Cookley historian Betty Caswell says it is likely the caves were initially created by hundreds of years' natural erosion, but were later carved out by industrialists eager to exploit the opportunities they presented.

It is not known when they were first occupied, but it is possible they may have been used for industrial purposes as early as the 17th century.

... full text here.

Museum of the Naples Underground

Here are the photos that go with the following text. Via Fulvio, Napoli Underground.

Finally, it is official, and its location truly characterizes it . . . located in a cavern beneath Piazza Cavour in Naples, Italy, the “Museo del Sottosuolo Napoletano� or Museum of the Naples Underground will soon begin construction and preparation for an opening later this year.

Engineer Clemente Esposito, president of the Centro Spelelogico Meridionale or Southern Speleological Center, said, “We have had this project in mind for a long time and now everything we have collected in fifty years of underground explorations and speleological research beneath the city of Naples can be put on display for the world to see. While the items have no real monetary value, they have a tremendous fascination value for the historical tale they tell.

Down in the enormous underground Museum, which will be lighted and easily accessible from the surface, hundreds of rare and unusual items...

Discover Channel's 'Urban Explorers'

If you're interested in urban speleology you might want to tune into 'Urban Explorers' on the Discovery Channel. From what I could gather each episode takes place in a different city and features different people. I came across the Chicago episode by accident and found it quite interesting. They explored some tunnels, one of Al Capones secret speakeasys and an andoned historic theater. Here's a link to the schedule for the show. Not sure if it is an ongoing series but there appears to be at least five episodes in the can.

Notes from the Underground by Tony Nelson

Grab a barf-bag and pull up a chair, your about to go underground with Greg Brick...

Standing atop a grit-coated concrete platform some 90 feet beneath downtown Minneapolis, Greg Brick shines his flashlight into the blackness. It's a grim scene. To his left, a flaccid condom dangles from a corroded protuberance on the tunnel wall. "Must have been an overflow," Brick cracks dryly. He then directs the light beam beyond the edge of the platform into a fast-moving subterranean river that, at high tide, carried the condom to its current perch. Beneath us, there is a small waterfall, where a metal ladder extends down into gray, translucent fluid; the raw product of innumerable toilets flushing from Brooklyn Park to the IDS Tower.

... full text via citypages.com.

... an earlier post links to Mr. Brick's personal site.

Newest plans for Sybil's Cave

Progress continues and the plan grows around this forgotten "Urban Speleological" site that is being resurected in the name of community developement.

In December, local developers George Vallone and Daniel Gans of the Hoboken Brownstone Company, with the full support of the city and Stevens, rediscovered the mouth of the cave. Castle Point is really a cliff made up of green veined serpentine rock. But for over 50 years, the bluff dirt and shrubs have encroached on Sinatra Drive, hiding the actual rock cliff.

The dirt has now been cleared away, exposing about a half-acre piece of land which by year's end could be Hoboken's newest park, Roberts said.

The full cave is about 20 feet deep and about five and half feet high. The fresh water spring, which is a subject of much local lore, is also still flowing. Even though the cave has been found, construction workers have filled it with dirt until it is determined that the cave is safe and secure.

... full text via hobokenreporter.com.

A year later, funding for sealing off caves in question

Man-made tunnels dug into sandstone were the site of three deaths last year in St. Paul. A year later the city is still struggling to find a solution to the danger the mines represent to flashlight spelunkers.

City Council Member Dave Thune, whose ward includes the caves, has seen earlier attempts to protect the area fail.

"Practically speaking, I don't know that we can cover, bury, block or concrete-over the caves as long as kids are curious," Thune said, pointing out that the soft sandstone is easy to dig around. Thune said parents need to call city officials when they hear about kids going into caves so city workers can "roust them out."

According to the article there are 11 miles of these tunnels in the area with multiple entrances. As is quoted above, cement plugs won't work because the kids know that the tunnels themselves are still intact and can be reached by simply burrowing around the plugs.

Seeing as how the mines are a popular and well known destination why not annouce in a very public way that they are going to be destroyed with the use of explosives. The city could give warning of the impending blasts and give the impression that the tunnels- in their entirety - are being destroyed, but in reality only blast the entrances. The local papers could run stories, video could be shown on the evening news etc. Make it an event. If the local population believes they have been destroyed they might not bother to try to dig into them and - even if they do - digging through hundreds of tons of collapsed sandstone is a task likely to discourage even the most dedicated weekend warrior.

I'm not a demolition expert but it would seem like you could collapse the first one or two hundred feet of each entrance for less than a million dollars (a soft, crumbly, structurally weak sandstone would be easier to collapse than granite right ?).

Even if it did cost this much it would at least be a more permanent solution to the problem.

... read the full text of "A year later, funding for sealing off caves in question".

UPDATE:

... "The Caves of Mushroom Valley"

... " Tunnel City U.S.A."

The Cuma Archeological Park

Fulvio sent this link from the Napoli Underground site. I couldn't find an English version of the full text but the photos are worth the visit. There are two links to further galleries on the page. Check it out.

The Cuma Archeological Park, with its fascinating ruins, full of stories with its innumerable caves and passages, offers a window into the origins of our civilization.

The highlight of the walk is certainly Sibilâs Caveâ€? with its Dromosâ or long entrance passageway which is 135.5 meters long (445 feet) long, illuminated by six narrow openings on its sides. (Cuma-01)

Along the park's trail there are many other caves, some of modest size others which are more imposing and demonstrate the skill these ancient people had in the art of mining and excavation. (Cuma-03-04-05)