BeRA TRANSACTIONS BRITISH CAVE RESEARCH ASSOC I AT I ON Volume 7 Number 2 June 1980 The Minarets, Lancaster Hole Sirijordgrotten Cave - dwelling Moths Three Counties SvstArn ISSN 0305-859X TRANSACTIONS OF THE BRITISH CAVE RESEARCH ASSOCIATION Volume 7 Number 2 June 1980 CONTENTS Sirijordgrotten and other caves in Eiteraadal , Vefsn , Norway T.J. Faulkner 53 Caves of Velfjord , South Nordland , with particular reference to Sirijordgrotten Shirley & David St. Pierre 70 Cave- dwelling Tineid moths; a taxonomic review of the world species (Lepidoptera : Tineidae) Gaden S. Robinson 83 The Three counties system A.C. Waltham & D. B . Brook 121 Cover picture: The Minarets by A.C. Waltham. Published by , and only obtainable from: The British Cave Research Association Brian Ellis, 30 Main Road , Westonzoyland, Bridgwater, Somerset TA7 DEB . cOpyright@) One copy issued free to members All rights of reproduction reserved . Trans. British Cave Research Assoc., Vol. 7, No . 2, pp.53-69. June 1980 SIRIJORDGROTTEN, AND OTHER CAVES IN EITERAADAL , VEFSN , NORWAY . T. L. Faulkner Summary Eiteraadal wa s first examined for caves in 1978 and 1979. when two significa nt and active systems were found and explored. The caves have been formed in similar bands of limestones and divert their streams up valley. Cave development at several levels can be recognised indicating the maturity of underground drainage in Eiteraadal. Sirijordgrotten, 1380m long with a vertical range of 9Om , has now been explored for nearly half the distance between resurgence and sink. progress upstream being halted by S\.l1llps. Other shorter caves in the area are also described . Eiteraadal is a remote valley in northern Norway approached by a gravel road running south from Mosj¢en. which is 30 km from the caving are a . The area was not visited by cavers before 1978 and no references a r e known to it, but the NGO 1:100,000 Velfjord map, Gradteig 118, indicates three potential systems by showing presumed un derground drainage as pecked lines. Previous caving visits to adjacent areas have been by SWETC Caving Club to Laksfors in 1974, finding M¢llebekkgrotten (Faulkner and St. Pierre 1977 p.2l), and the Kendal Caving Club exploration of ~fjellgrotten in 1967 (Heap 1968, p . ll) . Two short expeditions have now visited Eiteraadal, and this report is of the explorations completed to date. In 1978 a combined SWETC CC/wessex CC expedition visited Norway. the main aim being to explore a potential new caving area at Reppen on Tosenfjord, Bindal. The small caves found here, and in some other areas, will be reported elsewhere (St. Pierre 1980). After leaving Tosenfjord, two vehicles drove via Mosj¢en into Eiteraadal. The members of this part of the 1978 Expedition were Trevor Faulkner, Alison Hooper, Peter Moody and Richard ~lebsell, joined by Edgar and Arnfinn Johnsen of Beiarn. Krokgrotten and Eiteraadalgrotten were discovered and surveyed, and then on the last day , Sirijordgrotten was entered and fran­ tically explored for about 60Qm to the top of a pitch. The 1978 trip was handicapped by a broken gearbox i n the car carrying the four English cavers (which occurred early on the drive north). Thus the explorati on of Sirijordgrotten could not be completed and an early return had to be made to enable the vehicle, using top gear only, to get back on time over the mountains to Bergen and the ferry. In 1979 a combined SWETC CC/Eccles CC party returned to Eiteraadal for six days t o complete the exploration of Sirijordgrotten and investigate other sites. The 1979 party consisted of Trevor Faulkner, Alan Marshall, Andrew Popland and David and Shirley St. Pierre and family. On leaving Eiteraadal, this group drove north to Rana and enjoyed sporting trips in some of the known systems before returning home. The caves visited were Fiskeqrotten, Jordbrugrotten, Larshullet and Gr¢nligrotten . Both expeditions were completely f inanced by participants. The major expense was the Ne""castle - Bergen or Harwich/Newcastle - Gothenburg ferry, with a single passenger fare of nearly E50. (In 1979 we r eturned on the ill-fated ' Winston Churchill', which ran aground five weeks later). Petrol in Norway was priced at about the 1979 UK equivalent. Practically all food was taken with us, to save the time and expense of shopping in Norway. For both years, typical costs per person came to about ElSO , not counting food bought in England . Visiting northern Norway in July provides 24 hours of daylight and a high daily average temperature. In contrast to the rest of Europe, hot weather was experienced in both years , particularly s o in 1978 when tempera­ tures of 2SoC were noted and all streams and rivers were low. The Sirijordgrotten stream barely flowed in 1978, in 1979 it was more normal, with heavy flows after some periods of prolonged r ain . Most surface walks were conducted in still hot conditions with midges , mosquitoes and c1e99s often a considerable irritant, especially below the tree line . AREA DESCRIPTION Access to Eiteraadal can be gained via Laksfors by taking the gravel road frQm Grane on t he E6. This joins the road from Mosj¢en near the point where the Eiteraaga joins the Vefsn . From here the road alarmingly 53 t To Mosjll'en or Grane EITERAADAL " "\ ~"'"'. , \rr:;o,;. AREA MAP Fig.1 II II n ,I l' I I II II A. II \1 Scale " " " " a 250 1000 m " " " ",I " ., N & MN " I, " " " .;-"'.:::, ,. '''.', •, I' " " Fig.3 ~ \ 1 d "II '-.,J •• " : '1", " • 7"..\r,;,.--Y"t ",I • ", . , ,, , '. , ~ S R , , , w ," R , " ............ ", ", , ~ I. ' FigA-j " den 0 " I. ' +'17;, , S Sink R Rising W Waterfall K Kroken ",Camp % Ha rsh :t~l Dirt Road or Forese Track :'Footpath :,! Dry Valley '-~, Hill I " , - Limestone. Refer to text for numbere-d features. ;//! • Geology after Myrland,1971 . 54 Plate 1 Elteraada!grotten l imest one bench ar ea , looking Plate 2 '" south. N. Hillock in l e f t background . Valley Eiter aadal Grotten Resurgence Cave entrance. '" feed i na Slrijordqrotten s ink bel ow ridae Plate 3 Plate 4 Entrance to Krokgrotten . The 2m Waterfall into Junction Chamber in Sirijordgrotten. Note the clean nature of the lower streamway. clings to the steep valley side before following the broader continuation south past isolated farms , ending conveniently close to the caves . The Eiteraaqa is a larqe mountain river which starts near an abandoned farm at Sirijorden 200m above sea level. It is fed by the l arge tribu­ taries Velfjordska~elven and Seterbekken which drain Kvitfjeldet (1247m) and other mountains to the south. The river runs almost due north, taking further drainage from the slopes of Sirijordsakslen and Holmfjeldet to the west and Eiteraafjell to the east. The road runs further south up the valley than shown on map 118. It terminates on the west bank oppo­ Site H~istakbekken and als~ forks and crosses the river before this , the other fork ending on the east bank opposite the hill Kroken. A road bridge has also been constructed across the Eiteraaga at Kroken , used by lorries rpmovin9 timber from the aide of Rroken itoclf. This end of the valley is uninhabited, the only visitors we saw being local Norwegians walking or berry picking. The valley sides of Eiteraadal are composed of mica gneiss but the lower slopes and the valley bottom are dominated geologically by a 2 km wide structure of N-S bands of narbled limestone, granite , gneiss and schists running from near Sirijorden for about 15 km to the north. The limestone bands are thus in a good position to capture the streams flowing down the va lley sides towards the Eiteraaga. The largest limestone outcrop is about 250m wide and consists of colourful layers of vertically banded marble inter layered with non- calcerous impurities . It lies mainly west of the river and contains the caves of Sirijordgrotten and Krokgrotten. The other limestone outcrops a re about 50m wide at the surface and are cavernous to varying extents (Fig.ll. The whole area is heavily forested with silver birch up to about 400m a .s.l., except that in the bench area north and south of Eiteraadalgrotten the trees have been stripped, presumably by the timber company. This strip­ ped bench area is interesting as it coincides with the local limestone out­ crop where a long depression has formed along the valley side , bounded by a wall of gneiss to the east (Plates 1 and 2). EXPLORATION Arriving in Eiteraadal on 31 July , the 1978 party established camp opposite Kroken, among the trees between the end of the road and the river. That evening the small Hulbekken system was looked at and Ice Hole discovered. Further along a path on the Eiteraaga bank, river level alcoves in the limestone were noticed from a distance. Next morning, an early walk upstream in a wetsuit prove~ that the alcoves were only recesses in the limestone However, the extraordinary slot entrance to Krokgrotten (Plate 3 ) wa s found instead and incompletely explored. Most of the day was spent walking along the western side of the valley, picking up features apparent from the NCO map. After finding two sinks Without e ntrances above Sirijorden, Eiteraadalgrotten and its Resurgence Cave were discovered and explored. That evening, whilst dinner was being cooked, three of the party completed the exploration of Krokgrotten. Eiteraadalgrotten and its surface area was surveyed and further pushed on 2 August . Later, Edgar and Arnfinn Johnsen fortunately noticed a cold draught emerging from a boulder slope above a resurgence ncar Sirijorden. Because of the gear box trouble, Eiteraadal had to be left on 3 August to leave time to catch the ferry on 7 August.