INumber 16 Nov 1984 80~

· es.Caving
Th e BulletIn of the BritIsh Cave Research Association
I Number
16
Nov 1984
B
A
80~ ,
",,-.-.­
Juan Corrin
Matienzo must, I suppose, eventually become worked
out, and it was with the purpose of finding en Hellenic
Matienzo that Lank Mills and Juan Corrin spent Easter
1984 in Greece. Many miles were covered in their
search with discoveries being few and far between,
although the potential for long and deep systems
eppears good.
A fter fly ing Olympic from
Heathrow to Athens a visit
was made to 70 Messoghoni
Street,
premises
of
the
In stitutes
for
Geology
&
Subsurface
Research
and
Geology
&
Mineral
Exploration. After browsing for
so me time, various publications
and
geological
maps
(1 :50,000) were acquired. We
found it impossible to take
t- ~-
.. ----'
Hellenic Reconnaissance
,
,,,
.:
.. -~
Greece
~
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a
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away topographical sheets, due
to Greek relations with its
neighbouring countries. A quick.
trip to the National Library
produced very little of use . A
Renault 4 was hired for 8 days
and then we were off .
Many of the large caves around
Main area of reconnaissance
the Kopais margin are used as
was t o be the limestone hills
goat shelters.
surrounding
the
basin
of
Kopais, noted by Lank a couple
of years before. The alluvium
f loored depression, situated
70km NW of Athens, is a
massive 140km arond its
irregular edge. It has been
cultivated or been a seasonal
lake in times past depending on
how choked the outlets were.
Since the earl y part of this
century the basin has been
permanently
drained
by
channelling all of the water
rising in the western section
across the floor and into a man­
made
tunnel
through the
eastern edge and down into
Lake Ukeri. Most of the
massive flow has emerged from
the hills
a speleologists
Large entrance SW of Irea.
delight,
one
would
have
thought.
The region at the eastern end
of Kopais was investigated.
Over 70 caves were entered
beneath the limeston e cliffs.
Many holes had large entrances
and were used as stores and
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goat shelters; none of these
were anything more than
openings formed at the margin
of the ancient lake. Of more
interest
were the smaller
kata vothras ·once active sinks
which had drained the lake.
Three were entered, one for
about 150m, before survey
marks on the walls and back
filling indicated some mining
alterations - the natural passage
continued
walking
size.
Another was a series of tight
rifts pushed to a boulder
the
third
blockage
and
contained a rubbish and tar
filled pool with a tight crawl to
one side, down which an
unidentified large furry thing
was seen to disappear. Since
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'<IS:..'...'5
leaving Greece it appears that a
number of katavothras were
not visited, being in an alcove
to the north.
The main riSing into the SW
corner of the basin emerges at
Livadia . An investigation here
brought to light two problems
we were to encounter a number
of times. Firstly the resurgence
was covered over and built
upon (by, in this case, a
restaurant) and the limestone
gorge ascending behind the
town carried a muddy stream
down from the tops with no
sign of Sinking.
To the east of Livadia the
classical cave finding technique
of walking up a dry limestone
gorge to the sinks on top was
~"j~~
Resurgences are very often built
Lake margin cave entrances viewed across
The modern-day Kopais outlet. The tunnel takes
over. This one is to the east of
one of the minor drainage ditches of the Kopais.
the water to Lake Likeri beyond the rise.
Uvadia.
20
forestry track to high level
basins marked on the map,
10km SW of Amfikilia. A
couple of hours were spent
wandering in difficult country
between trees and choke rifts
on
the
sides
of
the
multitudin.ous depressions. No
doubt something will eventually
be found at this altitude of
approximately 1 500m. Depth
potential is 1 200m.
•
The Parnassos
systematically.
very
difficult
followed. The limestone was
capped
with
apparently
impervious cover but no sinks
were found at high level nor in a
second river bed followed back
down
to
the
depression,
1300ft below. The geological
maps showed a number of
other catchment areas at high
up
but
for
each
one
investigated the limestone into
which the water should have
sunk behaved in a non-karstic'
manner and had the stream
tinkling over the surface. In our
drives over the southern hills
several " geologically correct",
large depressions were seen
from a distance.
Having purchased in Athens
a 140 page volume about a
hydrogeological investigation in
the limestone area of South
Ghiona, we spent some time
around Itea, 36km west of
Livadia and on the coast. The
powerful
submarine
risings
have the main road built over
them but heading inland from
each is a dry valley. At the head
of one we followed a refuse
truck to its dump - a 60m x
70m shaft, 40m deep. At the
bottom was a smouldering
heap of rubbish with a possible
passage just visible through the
smoke. One kilometre nearer
the
coa st
another
large
depression enclosed a wide
entrance to a goat shelter and a
fenced-off rear. Bey ond, a
ground
to
reconnoitre
loose, steep slope descended
50ft to deep water and once
more, possible passage. Also of
interest in a valley behind one
of the resurgences was a slip
rift, with pottery remains,
dropping 60ft in steps and
going
deeper
between
boulders.
Numerous depressions were
noted on the map in this block
of Jurassic limestones to the
southwest of Itea.
And
then
up
into the
Parnassos, driving along a
Conclusions
During our recce we visited 11
Mantazorou Street in Athens,
home
of
the
Hellenic
Speleological Society (- the
national body has its own HQl.
Although over 7000 caves are
known (half of them in Crete),
the
fHing
·and
general
documentation
is abysmal.
Because of the poor maps
available grid references are
often not given and the only
person to understand the notes
about most of the caves would
be the person who wrote them.
A full day spent at the HQ with
someone who understood "the
system" would, however, be
extremely useful in giving some
indication of areas with good
potential.
The lack of topographical
maps was a hindrance but not a
disaster as roads (and contours)
were marked on the geological
maps. The Greek cartographers
made reading them more fun by
changing colours and symbols
for the same rock between
sheets. In some areas "roads"
turned into potholed tracks -no·
go areas when full of water and
mud from the frequent rain
-rather frustrating as they often
appeared to be the only route to
our next destination.
The archaeological service
is
very
wary
indeed
of
unauthorised exploration and
digging. Removal of fill is
not
allowed
until
the
archaeologists have had their
" go" - understandable in such
a historic country. The situation
may improve: one paper on
possible ways of improving
spe Ieolog istla rch a eologist
relations was presented at the
recent International Meeting on
Show Caves & their Problems
17).
•
Recent trips to Greece from
Britain have not had a lot of
success, surely from bad luck;
Greece is supposed to be 80%
limestone.
_
Anyone visiting Greece is welcome to borrow refs. 3 -9.
Enquiries to Lank Mills, St Georges Terrace, Cowpe,
Rossendale . The material will eventually be passed on to the
SCRA library.
References
1.
Bennet & Gough. A Reconnaissance of the Parnassos-Ghiona
Limestone Massif of Central Greece. Caves & Caving 24 p 16.
2.
E. J . Kenny . Ancient Drainage of the Copais in Annals of
Archaeology and Anthropolgy 1938.
3.
Ge ologial maps from the Institute for Geology & Mineral 4.
5.
6.
Exploration , 70 Messoghonia Street, Athens. Scale 1:50,000. Sheets: Galaxidion, Delfi, Amfiklia, Atalanti, Vayia, Thi va i, Levadhia, Elatia. Christodoulou G.E. On the Geology of the Thivai-Paralimni Area. Institute for Geology & Subsurface Research. Bulletin of the Hellenic Speleological Society 1977. Vol XIV No.1 . (Contains The most important caves & potholes of Greece). Bulletin of the Hellenic Speleological Society 1979. Vol XVI NO.1.
7.
8.
9.
International Meeting on Show Caves and their problems.
Hellenic Speleological Society. 1983. List of publications available from the Institute of Geology and Mineral Exploration, Athens. General information about Greece. Limestone valley with the usual non-sinking
stream.
One of the submarine risings near Itea.
The refuse dump for Itea.
A view across the Kopais
depression at its narrowest
(eastern) end.
21