Posted 12 November 2010
Field engineer Sam McCulloch and drilling technician Hamish Studholme with the camera they sent seven metres underground at the Wellington Caves and Phosphate Mine complex (image credit: Wellington Times).
A group of scientific researchers at the National Centre for Groundwater Research and Training (NCGRT) have discovered a new cave while exploring the Wellington Caves and Phosphate Mine.
Head researcher from the University of New South Wales and Connected Waters Initiative deputy director Dr Andy Baker said he and his team were investigating the relationship between groundwater alluvium and groundwater in the caves.
"We are effectively using the caves as a natural laboratory for understanding surface water - groundwater interactions," Dr Baker said.
"Basically we drilled four holes. We didn't expect to find anything, especially on the first one. We drilled seven metres down and then hit air which appears to be about a three- metre cave.
"We then drilled one metre to the side of the initial hole and found a one-metre void. It's hard to judge exactly how big this cavity is but footage from a camera we sent down there shows the formation of stalagmites and stalactites."
Field engineer Sam McCulloch and drilling technician Hamish Studholme - who were the first people to see this new cave - added that besides the stalactites they also observed reddish clay dirt.
"The device we sent down has two cameras," Mr McCulloch said. "A vertical axle camera as well as a radial camera which offers 360-degree views.
"We saw two or three dry cave openings which we think are about 1.5 to 2 metres wide by about three or four metres."
For the group of researchers it's not everyday new caves are found. The group drilled another hole about 200 metres away and after a depth of 90 metres found nothing but rock.
Dr Baker said it was up to Wellington Council if further exploration of the caves would be undertaken.
Source: Wellington Times
Links:
Professor Andy Baker features in American Water Resources Association ‘Water Resources Impact’, September 2020 edition.
The Connected Waters Initiative (CWI) is pleased to welcome Taylor Coyne to its network as a postgraduate researcher. If you’re engaged in research at a postgraduate level, and you’re interested in joining the CWI network, get in touch! The CWI network includes multidisciplinary researchers across the Schools of Engineering, Sciences, Humanities and Languages and Law.
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