Caves in Canada – a deep pit in Ontario, originally uploaded by Mic2006.
Descending a pit is a somewhat awe inspiring experience, especially if that pit has never been descended before. This particular area of Ontario is absolutely pocked with holes and solution shafts through the rock and this past weekend we found another cluster somewhere near the cave that we call the Death Bell.
See video on the descent of the pit – here
When I got to the bottom of the pit I discovered that I was standing on a boulder choke and beneath that choke you could see a shaft that dropped down at least another 30 or 40 feet. Any dig of the boulder choke would have to be done very carefully as there is the hazard of engulfment where the floor could collapse away and you would find yourself tumbling down amongst hundreds of tons of rock. Bottom line – diggers would have to be roped off.
The size of this shaft is out of all proportion to the water that presently drains into it so I would imagine that it is a relic from the glacial past – in fact the clusters of shafts in the area are generally aligned along some prominent joint and there is little that would explain why they had formed there. Without surface wear marks that would suggest a river that had drained into the shaft the only other thought that I am having is that the shafts formed beneath a glacier with an enormous pressure head that injected water deep along the bedding planes – kind of similar to the formative process of Museum or Leopard Frog Cave.
a amazing discover!!! Would like to be there to help you out! There no dry valley on the surface??? If the water coming from glacier if have to go somewhere… If the area is plenty of doline, i supose there a enormours(for ontario) cave that should be under the shaft.
Keep your good work!
There is a very small depression on the surface, nothing that would suggest a pit of that size. We will possibly begin digging this in the fall. I will e-mail you about 2 weeks before we dig. Do you know Corniele or Marc Andre from the Niebelungen cave group?