Earth-Mars Cave Detection Project, 2008 Atacama Desert Expedition a Success!

Originally Drafted 11 August 2008

The team unwinding after the expedition and celebrating doc's birthday at Adobe Cafe. Credit: Our Waiter.

Today, we completed our last day of field work in the Atacama. It was a light day for both teams. Lynn, Tim and I went to Cebeza Encogido, where I showed Tim the locations of all sensors. We had two additional sensors left over from the work, so we decided to deploy these sensors within this cave as well. I felt it better to have more coverage within each cave than less. Because we learned once we were on the ground that the piping caves contain multiple entrances (sometimes as many as 10), we had to scale down the number of caves and cave anomalies we are studying here in the Atacama. So, these additional sensors in this Cebeza Encogido improves our coverage of this cave, and thus will ultimately improve the science.

The "big" dry fall within Cebeza Encogido. This is about a 20 foot dry fall.

As for the mapping team, they went to Traga Luz Grande to map one small room, and then they went to deploy sensors at Cuevita Dos Gatos. Once we were done with Cebeza Encogido, we moved to Cuevita Dos Gatos to meet the other group. The sensor placement team met the mapping team at this feature. We then photographed and documented the location of each sensor. Because we do not know if the entire team in its current composition will return next year, I need to know the location of all instruments, so that I can upload data and replenish batteries next June.

The field component of this expedition is now complete. The expedition was a success! We deployed sensors at seven caves and six non-cave anomalies. Data is being collected at all these features as we speak. Data will be collected hourly at all these features for the next 2.5 years. We also developed new techniques for mapping cave volume, and applied these techniques at two caves and two anomalies.

Tim exiting Cuevita Cascada Pequena.

In addition to the successful completion of the expedition, we have much to celebrate. Lynn Hicks, our expedition doctor, and a long time family friend of almost 30 years celebrated his birthday today. I won’t mention how young he is, but I will say that my elder kicked butt on this expedition. I do hope that if I reach his age I will be as active as he is.

Looking up at two skylights in Cuevita Dos Gatos.

So, for his birthday, we went to one of the expedition’s favorite haunts, Adobe Cafe. Since the expedition began, many of our team members frequent this restaurant because it has a WiFi connection. While this restaurant is slightly upscale, the food is excellent.

The expedition doc sorting through his gear and preparing to enter the cave.

We had a great dinner, drank some excellent Chilean wine, listened to live Altiplano music, and celebrated both our doc’s birthday and the successful completion of our mission.

I feel really good about what we have accomplished. This is the first large expedition I have lead. While I made many mistakes along the way, the most important thing is that I learned a lot. With this success under my belt, the next expedition will be conducted and executed a bit easier, and the one after that will be even easier.

Lynn with a diaper sling on with me belaying using an old-school technique -- a body belay. For safety, I chose to use this technique to enable a safe ascent and decent along this unconsolidated 25 foot cliff. Credit: Tim Titus.

Although our expedition in the Atacama is done, we have one more expedition ahead of us. I plan to take the lessons learned from the Atacama with us to Rapa Nui (aka Easter Island). We leave Rancho Tonka (our desert field station) tomorrow morning, and we will loose two team members. Tim will return to the states tomorrow. The rest of the team will leave for Antofagasta, and then fly to Santiago on 14 August. Lynn will then head south for a week of skiing.

On 15 August, Christina, Dan, Pete, Knutt and I fly out to Easter Island. We will be there for one week. Our objectives for this expedition will be to conduct biodiversity inventories at three caves on the island. So, stay tuned for my blogs on this expedition!

The ambiance and altiplano musicians playing at Adobe. Credit: Tim Titus.

Winding down the Atacama Expedition

A shot of me from above. I just rappeled into a small pit with an incredibly tight side passage. Pete and I rappelled into this feature today. Credit: Tim Titus.

We have just one more day in the field. From here, we pack it up and prepare for our expedition to Rapa Nui!

Today, my team and I went to two caves in the Cordillera de los Andes. Christina, Tim, Pete, Lynn and I (sensor deployment team) went to Cueva Paisaje de Sal, while Dan and Knutt (exploration team) went to Cebeza Encogido.

Preparing to explore the caves. Credit: Tim Titus.

The sensor deployment team’s objective for the day was to push two upper passages, and locate third entrance of Cueva Sal Paisaje. We think that one of these entrances would require rope work, so we brought all of our vertical gear, as well as our safety officer, Christina. Once these passages were pushed and one entrance confirmed as being connected to Cueva Sal Paisaje we would deploy sensors with this portion of the cave. We’ve already deployed sensors in the lower portion, as well as the surface of this feature.

The expedition doc on stand-by while we are preparing to rappel into the cave. As part of the expedition's safety plan, I decided to have both the safety officer and the expedition doc present whenever we were doing vertical work. Credit: Tim Titus.

The exploration team was to push passage within Cebeza Encogido. When Pete, Lynn and I explored and deployed sensors in this cave last week, we encountered a bifurcation point – the southwest passage connected with the lower portion of the cave, as for the southeast trending passage – we have no idea where it went. Once this was determined, Knutt and Dan would also deploy sensors within this cave.

Knutt, one of our brave explorers, preparing to pry the unravel the mysteries of Cebeza Encogido. Credit: Dan Ruby.

The sensor deployment team's day started off wonderfully. As we approached what we are calling the barn owl entrance of Cueva Paisaje de Sal, we disturbed a pair of Peregrine falcons. Apparently, they were roosting within the barn owl entrance. As we approached, they flew out and both screeched loudly. We then watched them fly towards Licancabur.

Dan, our other brave explorer, en route to Cebeza Encogido. Credit: Knutt Peterson.

Since I have been here, I have observed literally tons of owl pellets within cave entrances. I have also seen bat guano within a few caves. We encountered one spider in Cuevita de Huecos. We’ve also been buzzed by the occasional bee and/ or fly. There simply isn’t much life to observe within the area of the Atacama where we are working. We are essentially it. So, when these two Peregrine falcons broke the desolateness of this area, by calling and then flying across the bright blue sky, it was an incredible treat. I felt really blessed for being able to observe this. Unfortunately, no one had their camera ready, so we have no photos.

Christina, our safety officer, toting a ton o' gear. Credit: Pete Polsgrove.

Our day was punctuated with some accomplishments and some things we wished would have worked out differently. The number one rule to conducting expeditions is to expect problems. The second is to be flexible. So, when things don’t work out, it is important to figure out why they didn’t work out, adapt to the current situation and then move forward.

Rigging the entrance. Christina, our safety officer, took the lead in rigging our rappel. Pete and I are seen here essentially getting in her way. Credit: Tim Titus.

The sensor deployment team deployed sensors within the deep portions of only two of the four passages we hoped to cover today. We were unable to find the other two. We scoured the salt landscape and hiked up and down this terrain searching for these other entrances.

We did go into one entrance we thought was certainly connected to Paisaje de Sal. This entrance required a 4 meter rappel. So, we were able to get on rope today! The down shot is the passage connecting to this entrance was not part of Paisaje de Sal. We did have a map for this cave. The orientation of the passage way did not match the map, and the passageway itself was impassable. It was 20-30 cm wide, was incredibly mazy and was total bone yard passage. Bone yard passage is when there are rocks hanging down into the passage from every direction and this continues down passage. It’s a contortionist’s dream. Unfortunately, I’m not a contortionist.

I'm climbing the rope out of this vertical entrance. Pete can be seen kneeling down below. Credit: Tim Titus.

We did have some good news. Cebeza Encogido is a two entrance cave! Knutt and Dan pushed the southeast passage, and determined that it pinched off and terminated at the main trunk passage. They were able to determine this by having one person on either side of the cave wall, and they were able to see each other’s lights, and speak through the perforated wall. We have yet to find any two entrance caves in the Cordillera de los Andes, so this was great news for the team.

Me'an Tonka. Credit: Dan Ruby.

Ideally, we want caves with one to two entrances. Because we are just beginning to learn how to model cave thermal behavior, it is obviously better to start this process by modeling simple systems and then increasing our complexity as we continue this work. However, the Atacama has been unforgiving in this respect. So, we will be modeling thermal behavior of complex caves.

We all got back to Rancho Tonka early. We made it home before sunset. The team was able to relax and spend some time outside. I made dinner for the team. And, now I’m at Adobe typing this blog.

The hardest part of the expedition will be leaving my new friends. I've been here for a month now, and I've become really attached to these guys (Negra, Heicento and Tonka from left to right). These critters run the roost of Rancho Tonka; however, the big guy is clearly in charge. Credit: Dan Ruby.

A short day of showing Tim the study sites

Lynn, Pete and Tim standing in front of Cueva Lechuza de Campanario.

Today was a short day. John leaves for Peru tonight, and we called it a short day so that we could hold our end of expedition meeting during the late afternoon.

Preparing to hike to the caves with Knutt in the horse stance. Credit: Tim Titus.

The sensor deployment team (Tim, Lynn, Pete and I) went to Cueva Lechuza de Campanario to show Tim the cave, as well as show him where sensors were placed. This took us about an hour to go through the cave. We ultimately decided to move one of the entrance sensors to the surface on the back portion of the cave. There were four entrances/ skylights on the upper portion of the cave – so, we decided we needed a surface sensor here as well.

Stair stepping up a near vertical salt landscape to place a sensor above one of the cave's entrances. Credit: Tim Titus.

Lynn, Pete and I hiking back to the truck. Credit: Tim Titus.

Once this was done, we went to Cuevita de Huecos to show Tim where these sensors were placed. Thereafter, we stopped by the ever alluring pit. This pit, for some reason, keeps drawing us to it. We are hopeful that we will be able to drop this pit on the last day.

Lynn and I amid a cauliflower salt formation. Credit: Pete Polsgrove.

The mapping team had the day off from mapping. They were the cave exploration team (Christina, Dan and Knutt) for the day. They went to Cueva Luna Media to find the upper entrance to this feature, and deploy sensors within. Unfortunately, they were unsuccessful. They did not find the upper entrance. This cave went and went. They spend 2.5 hr looking for the upper entrance. Apparently, this cave will be a beast to map. However, this will have to wait until next year.

Yet another beautiful view of the Atacama, and an excellent example of how the water sculpts the Cordillera de los Andes.

With John leaving today, we are about to hold our last expedition meeting. We are going to discuss what went wrong, what went right, and how to improve future expeditions. I plan to continue to lead expeditions across the globe. With each expedition under my belt, I will become better at leading expeditions. So, this exercise will be very important to me.

Lynn, Pete and I checking out the big pit. This is one we hope to rappel into before the end of the expedition. If not, we will definately be doing this next year! Credit: Tim Titus.

Return to Cueva Palacio de Sal

Originally Drafted 08 August 2008

Licancabur recieves a dusting of snow. Credit: Dan Ruby.

Today, we returned to Cueva Palacio de Sal. Initially, I had decided not to sample within this cave. This cave contains five entrances and is connected to a canyon segment. This canyon segment does have some rock over the ceiling, but essentially contains more skylights and open air than cave.

A view skyward from one of the skylights of Cueva Palacio de Sal.

This is the cave Rolando had initially recommended to the mapping team. I think the language barrier was working against us here, and as a result, the mapping team thought this was a two entrance cave. As a result, they began to map this cave, and we began to deploy sensors. When I found the three other entrances and the leaky sieve of a canyon passage, I opted to pull sensors and nix this as a study site. I simply did not think we would have enough sensors, so I was attempting to be judicious in how they were placed and where. Well, we ultimately ran low on the number of caves we wanted to sample, and we found that Traga Luz Grande -- the largest cave in the Cordillera de los Andes -- was a big leaky sieve. So, we decided it would be interesting to study a big leaky sieve cave and a small leaky sieve cave.

Hanging precariously after deploying a sensor. I'm wedged between two large boulders with about 25 feet of open air below me. Credit: Tim Titus.

Our plan was to deploy sensors in this cave. As we were about to hike into this cave, one of the CONAF officials approached us. He indicated that he knew where another cave was located. So, Pete, Lynn and Tim went with him, while I went on to Cueva de Palacio de Sal.

I had to call into the Planetary Society’s Radio show for an interview to discuss our expedition. The interview went really well and is scheduled to air on 18 August.

Once I was done, I began deploying sensors at this cave. I deployed all of my sensors and then realized it was 1430hr. So, I radioed the rest of my group to figure out what was taking them so long. I ultimately got in touch with Tim, and indicated that we needed to get to work on this cave. They ultimately arrived and we spent the rest of the day deploying sensors.

This is a really interesting cave. Much like my observations at Traga Luz Grande, I’ve found that despite the fact that many of these caves contain multiple entrances and skylights there are sheltered environments within. We found a small room near one of the entrances of Cueva de Palacio de Sal was completely sheltered. You had to down climb a segment of a tight passage, then the passage elbowed at ~90 degrees and then you had to negotiate a large boulder to get into to this room.

From a Mars perspective, this reinforces the possibility that even “leaky” caves may contain rooms/ passages within that may be sheltered environments. And if life ever evolved on Mars, these sheltered environments may very well contain evidence of extinct or extant lifeforms.

One of the entrances of Cueva de Palacio de Sal.

Traga Luz Grande – Un dia mas

Originally Drafted 07 August 2008

Moving through tight passage in Traga Luz Grande. Credit: Pete Polsgrove.

Today, the entire team was at Cueva Traga Luz Grande. The mapping team continued their work. They are very close to finishing this cave. It appears the mapping team will have mapped two caves and at least three anomalies by the end of this expedition. Our mapping team has done an outstanding job. Not only have we developed new techniques for mapping cave volume, but this team has endured dusty cave after dusty cave – and the maps being developed thus far are great.

John in the process of down-climbing back into one of the many entrances of Traga Luz Grande. Credit: Dan Ruby

The sensor deployment team also spent the day at Cueva Traga Luz Grande. With Tim here, we need to take him through all of the caves and show him where the sensors have been deployed. This is a vitally important exercise because he is able to actually see the caves; he and I also have the opportunity to discuss sensor placement, and determine if we need to add more sensors to these features we are studying.

Taking notes in Traga Luz Grande. Credit: Tim Titus.

Overall, Tim concurred with my placement of sensors in Cueva Traga Luz Grande. He and I did determine that two side passages that were significantly warmer than the rest of the cave were likely buffered when compared to the rest of the cave, and we chose to sample within these two side passages more thoroughly.

Shots of the trucks looking out the main entrance of Traga Luz Grande. Credit: Pete Polsgrove.

From a Mars perspective, this could be quite interesting. Could caves with multiple entrances and significant airflow still support sheltered environments within? By sampling these and other sheltered portions of Traga Luz Grande, as well as a few other caves in the Atacama we should have a better handle on the answer to this question.

Also, within the same side passage that contained water, we also found a rather large scapula wedged between two rocks. In addition to the scapula, we also observed old scat encrusted within the cave floors. It is likely both the scapula and the scat belong to a Lama species.

We also found what appeared to be pack rat-like midden activity in one of the cave anomalies near Traga Luz Grande. This is the first cave where I have observed this type of activity. In the southwestern United States, pack rack activity is quite common at the entrance through twilight zone of caves. In Africa, the hyrax tends to fill this niche. I am not certain what animal forms middens in South America, but it was definitely like a pack rat. What I observed was not extensive activity, but I observed scat that was Netoma-esque (i.e., packrat), and there was vegetation in association with the scat. What I found to be most interesting is there is very little vegetation in the surrounding area near the cave. Thus, it is quite possible this material is old. How old? I have no idea.

Yes! Another beautiful salt landscape. This image was captured as a front was moving through the region. We have been quite fortunate in that we have observed several cloud-filled days in the Atacama. Credit: Pete Polsgrove.

Explorers Club Flag Expedition Photo -- Atacama Desert Flag Expedition

In the spirit of scientific exploration, our expedition has been granted an Explorers Club Flag and received official recognition as a Flag Expedition. This is our expedition flag photo. Kneeling in front from left to right: Dick Alzeua (Chilean caver), Christina Colpitts (cartographer/ safety officer), Tim Titus (USGS astrophysicist). Standing in back from left to right: Lynn Hicks (expedition doctor), Dan Ruby (astronomer/ cartographer), Knutt Peterson (expedition cartography chief), Jut Wynne (expedition leader), John DeDecker (astronomer/ cartographer), and Pete Polsgrove (microbiologist/ field engineer).

For more information about Explorers Club Flag Expeditions go The Explorers Club Flag Expeditions. For more information about the club, go to The Explorers Club.

Another Wild Cave Chase

Originally Drafted 06 August 2008

Pete, Tim and Lynn chatting and looking as we traverse the southern extent of the Cordillera de los Andes.

The mapping team continued working at Tragaluz Grande. They are making a lot of progress on this cave, and plan to have it completed within the next few days.

Dunal formations on the southern extent of the Cordillera de los Andes.

Tim, Pete, Lynn and I went to look for the continuously elusive Cueva Zorro Andino. The mapping team had driven along this mountain range to try and indentify either the cave or areas on the range likely to contain this cave. They identified a few areas they thought were really good targets, so we set out to investigate these areas. We hiked along the northern flank of Cordillera de los Andes for about 5 km.

A peculiar rock ring formation observed along the southern flank of the Cordillera de los Andes. About 100m north of this ring, I observed a lithics scatter slightly further north. This lithics scatter was the location where prehistoric peoples were working stone for making tools.

Unfortunately, we were unsuccessful at locating this cave. Upon determining that we would not find this cave, we decided to discontinue our cave reconnaissance.

I had learned something about expedition work – especially expedition work involving cave mapping. It is a really good idea to break up the mapping work with cave reconnaissance. The mapping team has been working really hard underground, so they really appreciated some time to hike, ridge walk and look for caves. This really happened by accident. We did reconnaissance the first few days we were here. We found most of the caves where we are currently working, but we needed more caves. So, the past two days, I decided to take a couple of days to look for caves. A couple of people on the mapping team was having trouble with the dust, and this was a great way to break up the monotony of cave mapping and the adverse affects of continuous dust inhalation.

A stark landscape in the Atacama.