Photographs by David Gibson

Cueva Negra, Asturias, Spain (September 2001)

Expedition sponsored by the Ghar Parau Foundation and organised by C. Danilewicz.

Last updated 11th January 2002

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Click on any image to see a larger copy (40-70K JPG). The images have been compressed for this web site and some of the intricate detail has been lost.

The photos show the unusual and extensive fault breccia in the cave - see especially photo 3. Unfortunately, the scientific value is lessened by the fact that there's no scale on the photos. I'll take some more in September 2002.

Chris Danilewicz writes: The photos show a cemented fault breccia. The clasts are predominantly of limestone although some sandstone clasts are also present. This mixing indicates that when the fault was active it was opened by extension thus allowing migration of clasts prior to the fault becoming sealed with calcite cement. Some of the clasts display veining and healed en-echelon fractures. This suggests that previous tectonic activity had caused fracturing of the rock mass prior to the development of the large fault zone now exposed by the cave.

1: Entrance. R. Stanton in left foreground. Rear L-R: C. Danilewicz, G. Taylor, D. Cooke, J. Biffin	2: Entrance (a big one). Cave meanders into photo then turns sharp right and follows a fault line along the ridge. (D. Cooke in picture).	3: Streamway below climb. It is not very clear, but this is a shot looking at the streambed. The water sweeps from top left to right, towards the camera, and then over a small drop.
4: The wall of the streamway. As with the other shots, this shows the fractured limestone with calcite infill.	5: David Cooke in the streamway. Note the thick calcite veins on the right of the picture; and the red sandstone lumps protruding from the passage wall.	6: Another photo looking along the streamway. One of many I took, forgetting to include anything to measure the scale. The photo is out of focus but you can still get an idea of the nature of the rock.

The "wallpaper" background to this page is taken from a photo of a gour pool in Lake cave, Western Australia, by David Gibson. View Original Photo | Back to Caving Gallery.