August 1997 Volume 59 Number 2 JOURNAL OF ISSN 1090-6924 The CAVE AND KARST National Speleological Society STUDIES Bulletin THIS ISSUE: Development and Morphology of Kazumura Cave, A Model of Structure and Genesis for the Gypsum Hawaii “Nest”, Found in the Geophysichejkaya Cave (Kugitangtou Mountains, Turkmenistan) Initial Geologic Observations in Caves Bordering the Sibari Plain (Southern Italy) Examining Early Nineteenth Century Saltpeter Caves: An Archaeological Perspective Journal of Cave and Karst Studies Editor Louise D. Hose Volume 59 Number 2 August 1997 Environmental Studies Program Westminster College CONTENTS Fulton, MO 65251-1299 (573) 592-1303 Voice (573) 642-2175 FAX Articles [email protected] Production Editor Development and Morphology of Kazumura Cave, Hawaii James A. Pisarowicz Kevin Allred and Carlene Allred 67 Wind Cave National Park Hot Springs, SD 57747 (605) 673-5582 Initial Geologic Observations in Caves Bordering the [email protected] Sibari Plain (Southern Italy) Sandro Galdenzi 81 BOARD OF EDITORS Earth Sciences-Journal Index A Model of Structure and Genesis for the Gypsum “Nest”, Ira D. Sasowsky Department of Geology Found in the Geophysicheskaya Cave (Kugitangtou Mountains, University of Akron Turkmenistan) Akron, OH 44325-4101 (330) 972-5389 V.A. Maltsev 87 [email protected] Examining Early Nineteenth Century Saltpeter Caves: Conservation An Archaeological Perspective George Huppert Department of Geography M. Susan Duncan 91 University of Wisconsin, LaCrosse LaCrosse, WI 54601 Cave Science News 95 [email protected] Life Sciences Guide to Authors 96 David Ashley Department of Biology Missouri Western State College St. Joseph, MO 64507 (816) 271-4334 [email protected] Social Sciences Marion O. Smith P.O. Box 8276 University of Tennessee Station Knoxville, TN 37996 Anthropology Patty Jo Watson Department of Anthropology Washington University St. Louis, MO 63130 Exploration Douglas Medville 11762 Indian Ridge Road Reston, VA 22091 [email protected] Book Reviews Betty Wheeler 1830 Green Bay Street LaCrosse, WI 54601 The Journal of Cave and Karst Studies, formerly The NSS Bulletin, (ISSN 1090-6924) is published three times a year by the National Speleological Society, 2813 Cave Avenue, Huntsville, Alabama 35810-4431; (205) 852-1300; FAX (205) 851-9241, e-mail: [email protected]; World Wide Web: http://www.caves.org/~nss/. The annual subscription fee, Proof Reader worldwide, by surface mail, is $18 US. Airmail delivery outside the United States of both the NSS News and the Donald G. Davis Journal of Cave and Karst Studies is available for an additional fee of $40 (total $55); The Journal of Cave and Karst Studies is not available alone by airmail. POSTMASTER: send address changes to the Journal of Cave and Karst JOURNAL ADVISORY BOARD Studies, 2813 Cave Avenue, Huntsville, Alabama 35810-4431. Rane Curl Andy Flurkey Copyright © 1997 by the National Speleological Society, Inc. Printed on recycled paper by American Web, 4040 Horton Hobbs Albert Krause Dahlia Street, Denver, Colorado 80216 Jim Mead John Mylroie Jim Nepstad Will White Cover: Grotta di Serra del Gufo. See Galdenzi, page 81. Kevin Allred and Carlene Allred-Development and Morphology of Kazumura Cave, Hawaii. Journal of Cave and Karst Studies 59(2): 67-80. DEVELOPMENT AND MORPHOLOGY OF KAZUMURA CAVE, HAWAII KEVIN ALLRED AND CARLENE ALLRED Box 376, Haines, AK 99827 USA Kazumura Cave is a lava tube located in Puna District on the Island of Hawaii. A brief description and history of the cave is included. Compass and tape surveys in 1994 and 1995 extended the system signif- icantly. This provided an excellent opportunity to study a long master lava tube. Lava deposition and thermal erosion are primary factors affecting the cave morphology. This is demonstrated by passage configuration, multiple levels, invasion of extraneous tubes, and the development of lava falls. Other tube features such as windows, balconies, and rafted breakdown are also discussed. Some features in Kazumura Cave are similar to those associated with carbonate caves and surface water streams. There is generally a wide range of speculation and contro- fill blockage high on the volcano at 1128 m, to the nearly versy regarding lava tube genesis and development. In this sealed bottom located only 29 m msl. Passage dimensions can paper, we attempt to meld external observation of active tube be as much as 21 m wide and 18 m high. We grouped 2071 phenomena and other related research with our underground transverse cross-sectional views drawn throughout the cave studies in Kazumura Cave. into ten sizes. These computed to an average cave cross-sec- Kazumura Cave is located about 20 km south of the city of tion of 20.3 m2. Using this figure, the volume of accessible Hilo in Puna District on the Big Island of Hawaii. In 1966, one cave is nearly 1.2 million cubic meters. Sinuous, smooth, dark of its many entrances was designated as a fallout shelter gray metallic-looking walls are often gently grooved with hor- (Hawaii Grotto News, 1995). It came to the caving communi- izontal flow ridges. Floors are usually clean pahoehoe, and ty's attention in the early 1970s when Francis Howarth discov- seldom grade into a clinkery aa surface. In dead-air spots such ered several new troglobitic invertebrate species in this and as side passages, the ceilings and floors can have a very rough, other nearby caves (Howarth, 1973). An 11.7 km portion was popcorn or frothy appearance, possibly from degassing. The surveyed by a British expedition (Wood, 1981) and then was narrow, stacked passages common in the portion closer to the recognized as one of the longest lava tubes in the world. In crater gradually change into a single, low, broad-shaped pas- 1994 and 1995, teams of the Hawaii Speleological Survey of sage further downstream. the National Speleological Society conducted explorations and The cave is located on the windward, rainy side of the studies summarized in this paper. To date, the length of the Island, resulting in thriving vegetation that obscures the sur- cave is 59.3 km with a vertical extent of 1098 m. Average face of the flow. At higher elevations, hapuu fern forests pre- slope of the cave is 1.9º over the linear length of 32 km. dominate, and lower elevation forests contains less hapuu with Approximately 17 km of the surveyed passages consist of side numerous guava and larger ohia trees. Patches of savanna branches and passages overlying the main (lowest) level. Also grasslands are common in lower elevations, and a thick fern surveyed were additional caves originally part of Kazumura understory occurs in the forests. Because of thin soils and the Cave but segmented from it according to criteria described by relative new age of Kazumura Cave, we found only two sig- Crawford (1982). These additional caves total less than one nificant silt deposits underground, but entrances have accumu- kilometer. lated organic debris of decomposing vegetation. Cave temper- Kazumura Cave carried tholeiitic pahoehoe lava for one of ature consistently increases from 15° C near Kilauea, to 22° C the Ai-laau shield flows originating from Kilauea Volcano under the coastal plain. approximately 350 to 500 years BP (Holcomb, 1987). The Ai- Prehistoric use of the cave by humans was heavy in the laau flows spread from 1.5 km long Kilauea Iki Crater, situat- downstream nine kilometers nearest the ocean. Over the years, ed just east of Kilauea Caldera at nearly 1200 m elevation subsequent vandalism and destructive impacts are extreme on (Holcomb, 1987). For interpretational ease, we have divided these cultural sites because of overlying subdivisions, roads, the cave into five portions (Figure 1, Table 1). The Kazumura and many entrances. We discovered three sewer pipes in the Cave flow once drained 39 km toward coastal Kaloli Point, and cave, at least three sites of graywater pollution, two significant may have extended the shoreline there, adding an unknown garbage dumps, and several fills from road construction. Some mass below sea level. Analysis of the Ai-laau basalt indicates entrance portions had signs of recreational caving (i.e., trash only a 4° C temperature loss across the 39 km flow (Clague, and shoe fragments) usually ending at drops, or crawlways. personal communication, 1995) due to the insulative efficien- We noted bones from dogs, a bovine, pigs, mongoose, and cy of lava tubes. rats. Numerous invertebrates were seen, commonly on the del- The character of the cave varies dramatically from a road icate tree roots hanging from the pervious ceilings. A white, Copyright © 1997 by Kevin and Carlene Allred Journal of Cave and Karst Studies, April 1997 • 67 DEVELOPMENT AND MORPHOLOGY OF KAZUMURA CAV E ,HAWAII Figure 1. Lava flow boundaries according to Holcomb (1987) showing Kazumura Cave and its five por- tions. Table 1. General Statistics of Kazumura Cave. See text for explanation. red, or gold-colored mold or fungus layer occurs on walls and tures in the cave for further study. ceilings. This often grows along paths of the frequent con- We experienced discrepancies of as much as 10° between traction cracks that formed during the cooling of the tube. compass backsights and foresights from magnetism in the basalt. Discrepancies were negligible in other places. METHODS Haphazard readings may be from different paleomagnetic qualities of previously deposited strata. The deflections inten- In order to accurately portray and understand structural sify closer to the caldera, causing canting of the rotating por- complexities of the cave, it was surveyed using fiberglass tion of the compasses 5 to 10º, even on the surface. tapes, hand-held clinometers, and compasses. The detailed Aeromagnetic surveys have shown intensified magnetic anom- sketches included transverse cross-section drawings, with both alies at Kilauea Iki Crater (Flanigan & Long, 1987). Eight profile and plan views of all surveyed passages as outlined by “Control Points” were used to re-align the main-line survey to Dasher (1994).