Meigs Co. Caving (31 Aug 2014)
Charles Stephen, Matthew Niemiller and Kirk Zigler visited TME3 in Meigs Co., Tennessee. We had intended on visiting another cave or two during the day but we could not locate landowners, as it was a Sunday and a very nice day. After several hours without luck, we finally headed underground in the early afternoon. The entrance to TME3 is located in a sinkhole in the side of a hill. The cave is only 250 ft long but houses a bachelor colony of endangered Gray Bats (Myotis grisescens). During our visit, it quickly became apparent that the colony had left for the season, as only seven Gray Bats were observed. However, significant guano piles were observed in a lower level passage past a 30-ft dome that led to a stream. Here the air was humid and thick with the smell of ammonia and guano making breathing a bit difficult. There was abundant cave life in the lower level passage, including cave millipedes, springtails, and at least three species of flies. Cave isopods and cave amphipods were found in the cave stream, while a Spring Salamander (Gyrinophilus porphyriticus) was found along the stream underneath a rock. In the upper level, evidence of human visitation was rampant, as significant amounts of trash and batteries were scattered about and graffiti was spray-painted on the walls. Despite this human disturbance, some cave life was noted, including troglophilic millipedes, spiders and flies. Three White-Footed Mice (Peromyscus leucopus) were also seen in this section of the cave. After a two-hour visit, we were met at the entrance by a heavy thunderstorm that accompanied us back to our vehicles.
Loudon Co. Caving (30 Aug 2014)
Charles Stephen and Matthew Niemiller visited TLN22, located just north of I40 in Loudon County. The entrance to the cave is located at the bottom of a large, forested sink. The cave begins as a rocky downslope dropping some 15-20ft into a large chamber about 50 ft wide and 100 ft long. The floor of this room is covered with water and thick, muddy sediment, evidence that the reservoir backs up into the cave. In addition, it is apparent that the water sinks immediately instead the entrance where flood debris occurs. Several amphibians were encountered in this chamber, including Two-Lined Salamanders (Eurycea cirrigera), a Cave Salamander (Eurycea lucifuga), a Spring Salamander (Gyrinophilus porphyriticus), Northern Green Frogs (Lithobates clamitans melanota) and a Pickerel Frog (L. palustris). Green Sunfish (Lepomis cyanellus) and a few unidentified minnows (Notropis sp.) were observed in the large pool. Invertebrate life was also abundant and included at least three species of spiders, harvestmen, several species of flies, millipedes, springtails, beetles, and terrestrial isopods. Aquatic snails, stygophilic ispods and amphipods were found underneath rocks in the pool. The large pool can be tranversed to a climbup that leads to another room. Here a large colony of Gray Bats (Myotis grisescens) was encountered. It is also at this point that the dark zone is encountered. Here we found an abundance of Southeastern Cave Pseudoscorpions (Hesperochernes mirabilis), a target species for Charles who is studying this species as part of his dissertation. We decided to discontinue the bioinventory at this point, as not to disturb the bats. We plan on visiting the cave again this autumn or early winter when the bats have left.
In the afternoon, we headed south and met up with Evin Carter, a Ph.D. student at the University of Tennessee, to visit TLN11. A storm was developing as we located the small entrance in a wet-weather streambed and sink. At one point, a strong gust of wind caused a large, dead tree limb to fall, landing no more than 10 yards from where Charles was standing. A large amount of flood debris consisting of leaves, branches and small limbs was found at the entrance and required some digging to get into the cave. We were quickly met by a 10-ft climbdown then another 5-ft climbdown before reaching the bottom of the cave. The cave primarily was a narrow canyon that extended for some 150 ft of 3-5 ft in height; however, a couple of dome rooms were encountered. Too our knowledge, we may have been the first group (outside of lcoals) to visit the cave since the 1970s. However, there was some unusual, presumably Japanese graffiti on the walls of the cave in the lower level. Although cave life was not as abundant as TLN22, several significant finds were made, including cave spiders, springtails, flies, terrestrial isopods, terrestrial snails, a dipluran (Litocampa sp.) and a lone cave beetle (Pseudanophthalmus sp.). Cave Salamanders (E. lucifuga) and Northern Slimy Salamanders (Plethodon glutinosus) were also observed.
Sevier Co. Caving (5 Jul 2014)
On 5 July 2014, Annette S. Engel, Matthew Niemiller and Audrey Paterson visited TSV36 in Sevier County. We had tried to locate landowners for several caves in northern Sevier County that Saturday morning but without much luck. After several hours without success and many miles registered on the odometer, we were headed underground. The entrance to TSV36 is located near the Sevier-Knox County line in a large sink. Thave was formerly used as a water supply for a local farm and the pipes still extend down into the cave. The entrance is quite impressive measuring 40 ft high and 50 ft wide with a large sandbar extending from the entrance into the cave. A large stream is active in the cave flowing from breakdown just below the entrance and into the cave. TSV36 is estimated to extend some 1,200 ft, consisting of largely walking passage. However, large mud banks make traversing the cave without getting wet in the stream very difficult. A couple areas are particularly difficult without a handline (which we had forgotten). During periods of wet weather, the cave floods considerably, evidenced by large logs, limbs and other debris washed into the cave.
With respect to cave life, Banded Sculpin (Cottus carolinae), Appalachian Valley Crayfish (Cambarus bartoni), cave isopods and snails were observed in the cave stream. In an area perched above the stream were shallow, isolated pools. Within these pools we found cave amphipods, cave isopods and possibly aquatic cave snails on the undersurfaces of rocks. Spiders, cave millipedes, springtails and diplurans were found on the mud banks and at the interface of mud banks and limestone rocks along the stream but generally above the high-water line. Within the entrance room, we found Cave Salamanders (Eurycea lucifuga) and Northern Green Frogs (Lithobates clamitans melanota).
Roane Co. Caving (28 Jun 2014)
Today we were fortunate to get into two stream caves in Roane County. Although both caves (TRN3 and TRN5) have been visited by cave biologists in the past, comprehensive bioinventories had not been conducted. Our caving party included Matthew Niemiller, Annette S. Engel, Charles Stephen, Scott Engel, Audrey Paterson, Evin Carter, and his brother Jance who was visiting for a few days. We first visited TRN5, a well known stream cave in Roane County. The spring mouth is 10 ft high x 35 ft wide leading into the cave, which follows a stream for 440 ft. Much of this distance is stooping or crawling in the cave stream, altough there are several areas to explore out of the water. The cave contained a diversity of life. The cave stream supported cave isopods, amphipods, and an undescribed species of aquatic cavesnail. Terrestrial habitats were rich with life, such as Cave Salamanders (Eurycea lucifuga), Northern Slimy Salamanders (Plethodon glutinosus), Pickerel Frogs (Lithobates palustris), cave spiders, terrestrial cave isopods, springtails, and several species of flies.
Later in the day, we visited TRN3. The main entrance to TRN3 is located in deep-sided sink. It's a scenic walkin entrance leading down to a stream that can be easily followed for some 500 ft. The inflowing stream is rather shallow and flows over cherty gravel with considerable amounts of organic debris also deposited in pools and along gravel bars. Toward the end of this main passage, Jance and Evin explored a crawlway over a clay bank leading into an upper-level room. The cave was diverse with life, likely in response to large amounts of organic matter that is regularly washed into the cave system. Cave Salamanders (E. lucifuga) and Pickerel Frogs (L. palustris) were observed along the main passage, while Berry Cave Salamanders (G. gulolineatus), Bluegill (Lepomis macrochirus) and Green Sunfish (L. cyanellus) were observed in pools in the cave stream. Big Brown Bats (Eptesicus fuscus) were found in crevices in the twilight zone. Invertebrate life was also quite impressive, include several species of terrestrial snails, two of which may be troglobionts. Millipedes, particular Cambala sp. and Scoterpes sp., were common amongst organic debris along the stream. Other invertebrate life included terrestrial cave isopods, diplurans, springtails, spiders, and cave beetles.
