SUBTERRANEAN SPACE CLASSIFICATION AND MORPHOLOGY

SUBTERRANEAN SPACE CLASSIFICATION AND MORPHOLOGY

ü Cave – the SBE, in 1975, trhough Clayton F. Lino orientation, defined the cave as: “any natural cavity penetrable by man, with one or more entrances, dry or partly or wholly occupied by water, predominantly horizontal or not, whit or whithout an aphotic zone and includes the internal environment, the ecosystem therein, its mineral contents, archeological and paleontological, as well the rock in which the cave is set”. The term origin is from the latin “cavus” which means “hole”.

They can be divided quanto their size and width into:

ü Rock Shelter – cavity of little depth, opening broadly in a rock wall, which may serve ass a protection against inclemencies of the weather.

ü Lair – it is a cavity that does not reach the 20m.

ü Grotto – this is a cave which has developed predominantly in a horizontal direction. Grottoes should be at least 20m long in their ground plan.

ü Fosso – predominantly vertical cave, with desnível inferior of 10m.

ü Abyss – predominantly vertical cave, of which the change in level amounts to 10m or more.

In Agreement Division the Plant

Linear Meândrica Arboreous

Labyrinth

Longitudinal Profile

Flat horizontal line Flat inclined Staggered

Multiple floors

Abyss

Cylindric Funnel Bell Breach Scheme Y

INTERNAL SPACES

HORIZONTAL

Dry – without water;
Humid – with a litlle bit of water;
Phreatics – when completly or permanently inundated until its upper level;
Sifão – when it is inundated in just one part .

ü Galleries – are subterranean conduits, opened up by corrosion, dissolution, erosion and by mechanical action of watercourses along fissures, joints, diaclases.

       Corridors – regular and rectilinear;

       Diverticles – rectilinear and with little desenvolvment;

       Low-roof Passages – when not very high;

       Crack or Diaclase Passages – very narrow.

ü Chambers – enlargement of the galleries. They are spaces of greater dimension in the “cave´s body”, formed by the enlargement of passages or by their crossing, or by the detachment of large rock-masses from walls or roof.

VERTICAL

ü Abrupt Changes of Level – vertical conduits which interconnect passages developed at different levels.

ü Cracks and Vertical Conduits – spaces in desnível de grind to breadth.

ü Internal Abysses – abrupt desnível of great depth.

COMUNICATIONS BETWEEN THE INTERNAL AND EXTERNO MEIO

ü Fissures, Fractures and Joints – of small dimension, permit the circulation of air, water, without allow the human passage.

Dry Entrances

ü Mouth – horizontal opening;

ü Abysses – afundamento with a comunication with the interior of the cave;

ü Dolinas – sinking with communication to the inward of the cave;

ü Skylights – opening on the roof;

ü Window – opening on the wall.

Humid Entrances

ü Sinks – opening with penetration of fluente water;

ü Surgences – opening with exit for the fluente water, without aparente entrance;

ü Resurgence – opening with exit for the fluente water, with a known entrance (sink);

ü Exsurgence – when the water that left had its origin in the interior os the cave (fount);

ü Ponor – cavity that can be either a surgence or sink.

The comunications with water can be: continuous, temporaries or intermittent.