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34-514: The explorer Arthur Donaldson Smith recorded his visit to the cave in 1894. An Italian expedition also visited in 1913. In 1934, Henri Breuil conducted archaeological investigations in the area. The Italians almost certainly visited the cave during the Italian occupation of Ethiopia , but apparently none of these early explorers made a through trip from Ayiew Maco to Holuca. In 1967, Eric Robson, Chris Clapham and Kabir Ahmed explored and surveyed

68-714: A book about his travels, Through Unknown African Countries: the First Expedition from Somaliland to Lake Rudolf . He was a member of the American Philosophical Society and a Fellow of the Royal Geographic Society . Three species of reptiles, three birds and a desert musk shrew were named in his honor. Smith was born in Andalusia, Pennsylvania , on April 27, 1866, to Jesse Evans Smith and Martha Jane Knight. His family

102-436: A canyon. About 250 m downstream the dry valley appears on the left bank. The left side of the canyon from the resurgence to the dry valley is riddled with passages breaking out into the canyon walls, forming many of the unusable entrances to the cave. Most of these are small passages exposed as the river cut its way down. The exception is the 25 m wide Great Hall that follows the north – south joint pattern breaking into

136-564: A criss-cross labyrinth of passages. Two of the most significant, Bill's Passage and Tautology Passage, run between the river and the Great Hall. These are high rift passages, and climbing them gives access to the 35 m long Balcony that overlooks the Big Rapids 7 m below. Running parallel to the Great Hall and interconnected to it via several passages is Flintstone Passage. This splits into many different passages that break into

170-471: A dry valley running from the cave sink at Ayiew Maco to the resurgence at Holuca. Sof Omar village is situated close to Ayiew Maco in the dry valley. Infill into the valley makes it rise to a high point of about 45 m above the Web, before it drops away to a pebble beach downstream of Holuca. The other dominant feature is a large shakehole 100 metres (330 ft) wide and 60 metres (200 ft) deep and found on

204-691: A geologist at Haile Selassie I University , and Ato Mezmure Hailemeskale recorded another 1 km new passages to the known cave. In the same year Dick Ashford and Malcolm Largen of Haile Selassie University made a study of some of the bats in the cave. In 1972, a British Expedition to Ethiopia arrived with a team which included Dick Ramsden and Tim Renvoize (Preston Caving Club), Simon Amatt (Birmingham Plytechnic Karabiner Club), Dave Catlin (University of Bradford Pothole Club), Paul Ramsden (Whernside Manor Scout Centre), Terry Raynor (9th and 12th Royal Lancers) and Steve Worthington (Sheffield University Speleological Society). With some initial help from Bill Morton

238-592: A multitude of new insects. In 1896 and 1897, he was in Ethiopia and may have been there during the Battle of Adwa when the Ethiopians defeated Italian forces. He returned to Lake Turkana in 1899. In 1897 he published a book about the expedition titled, Through Unknown African Countries: the First Expedition from Somaliland to Lake Rudolf . Smith was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 1897. He

272-430: A shrine used by the locals. The Ayiew Maco Series is a set of interconnecting passages of varying in width between 1 m and 10 m. Several can be passed through to the pebble beach on the left bank of the river. A less complex series of passages exists on the right bank. These probably connected to those on the left bank until severed by the vadose action of the Web cutting the river passage deeper. The passage at

306-548: Is a narrow rift passage that links back to the Chamber of Columns. A series of small passages at two levels leave Link Passage and heads towards the river passage. One of these leads into the wide Blind Passage, which also emerges into the Chamber of Columns. The upper passage is a tight crawl into the pretentiously named Wembley Stadium . This passage is formed in a fault . The survey of the British expedition in 1972 showed that

340-464: Is an important process that refills aquifers, generally occurs through the vadose zone from precipitation. The vadose zone is the undersaturated portion of the subsurface that lies above the groundwater table. The soil and rock in the vadose zone are not fully saturated with water; that is, the pores within them contain air as well as water. The portion of the vadose zone that is inhabited by soil microorganism, fungi and plant roots may sometimes be called

374-411: Is retained by a combination of adhesion ( funiculary groundwater ), and capillary action ( capillary groundwater ). If the vadose zone envelops soil , the water contained therein is termed soil moisture . In fine grained soils, capillary action can cause the pores of the soil to be fully saturated above the water table at a pressure less than atmospheric. The vadose zone does not include the area that

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408-453: Is still saturated above the water table, often referred to as the capillary fringe . Movement of water within the vadose zone is studied within soil physics and hydrology , particularly hydrogeology , and is of importance to agriculture , contaminant transport, and flood control . The Richards equation is often used to mathematically describe the flow of water, which is based partially on Darcy's law . Groundwater recharge , which

442-480: The unsaturated zone , is the part of Earth between the land surface and the top of the phreatic zone , the position at which the groundwater (the water in the soil's pores) is at atmospheric pressure ("vadose" is from the Latin word for "shallow"). Hence, the vadose zone extends from the top of the ground surface to the water table . Water in the vadose zone has a pressure head less than atmospheric pressure , and

476-468: The basalt plateau directly above the cave. The cave is formed along a network of joints: one set runs approximately north to south and the other east to west. This zig-zag of passages runs in an approximately southeasterly direction. Sof Omar has 42 entrances, but generally only four are useful for gaining entrance: Entering the cave via either of the Village Entrances the visitor passes

510-476: The short racer Playceps brevis smithi , Smith's leaf-toed gecko Hemidactylus smithi , and Smith's racerunner Pseuderemias smithii . Three birds were named in his honor - Donaldson Smith's nightjar Caprimulgus donaldsoni , Donaldson Smith's sparrow-weaver Plocepasser donaldsoni , and Donaldson's Turaco Tauraco leucotis donaldsoni . The Desert musk shrew Crocidura smithii was also named in his honor. Vadose The vadose zone , also termed

544-437: The soil carbon sponge . In some places, the vadose zone is absent, as is common where there are lakes and marshes, and in some places, it is hundreds of meters thick, as is common in arid regions. Unlike the aquifers of the underlying water-saturated phreatic zone , the vadose zone is not a source of readily available water for human consumption. It is of great importance in providing water and nutrients that are vital to

578-400: The 4,300 metres (14,100 ft) high Bale Mountains through a 150 kilometres (93 mi) wide outcrop of Anatole limestone to the cave. In earlier times the river made a sharp left meander. At some point the limestone dissolved producing a series of phreatic passages, which became big enough to capture the whole flow of the Web river. Eventually the river abandoned the meander , creating

612-534: The Caves of Ethiopia (PDF) . Retrieved November 7, 2020 . Arthur Donaldson Smith Arthur Donaldson Smith (April 27, 1866–February 19, 1939) was an American explorer of East Africa . In 1894 and 1895, he led an expedition to Lake Rudolf (now Lake Turkana ) and collected botanical, geological and zoological samples for scientific study. The expedition traversed 4,000 miles through British Somaliland , southern Ethiopia and Kenya . In 1897 he published

646-469: The Molossadie passage and bypasses Fords 7 and 8 into the Chamber of Columns. The Chamber of Columns is a unique feature in the world of caves. It looks like a wide passage leaving the Web before sweeping back to the river about 100 m downstream. The passage circumnavigates a cluster of thick columns densely packed in the centre of chamber. The Railway Tunnel and Molossadie Passage enter the chamber from

680-513: The Wembley Fault extended from a right bank passage on the river to Wembley Stadium, Mudwall and Rimstone Passages. The shakehole on the plateau is centred on the Wembley Fault line. Obviously the fault played a significant role in the major collapse that created the shakehole. The underground debris from the collapse forms the Big Rapids and is responsible for the boulder chokes seen near Blank Passage. Catlin, Dave (2020). Exploring

714-401: The canyon at the resurgence. Hidden at the end of the Great Hall behind boulders is the hard-to-find Chameleon Passage. This runs along the east–west joint pattern. Some small passages lead from Chameleon to Blank Passage and back to the Big Rapids. Several small passages run from Blank Passage to Boulder Chokes. The area surrounded by the river, Great Hall, Chameleon and Blank Passage, contains

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748-646: The cave, recording 8 km of passage. Following this the Ethiopian Tourist Board published a brochure about the cave. Although the area was not easily accessible and the organized adventure tourist industry did not yet exist, a few intrepid visitors made the trip to the then remote cave. In February 1971 Professor Théodore Monod of the Muséum national d'histoire naturelle in France, Bill Morton (ex Manchester University Speleological Society caver),

782-784: The exploration of East Africa after a hunting trip in British Somaliland. In 1894 and 1895, in partnership with the British Museum , he led an expedition to Lake Rudolph (now Lake Turkana), passing through British Somaliland, southern Ethiopia and Kenya. The expedition was intended to explore the unknown lands and collect botanical, geological, and zoological samples for study. He traveled with an English hunter, an English taxidermist , 82 Somalis, and 84 camels. The expedition began in Berbera and traveled northwest to Lake Rudolph. He arrived at Lake Rudolph on July 10, 1895. He

816-617: The group made a systematic exploration and survey of the Sof Omar caves and published a full report of their findings in Transactions of the Cave Research Group of Great Britain . The team discovered 6.1 kilometres (3.8 mi) of new passages, bringing the survey total to 15.1 kilometres (9.4 mi). Approaching from Goro, at Sof Omar the scrubby bush steeply drops 90 m into a canyon. The Web river makes its way from

850-469: The left bank of the canyon downstream of Holuca. Away from the river, Flintstone runs into another of the caves' unique passages, Mudwall Passage, which has filled with mud almost to the 3 m high roof. Following the infilling process a vadose trench has been cut the length of the passage revealing that the mud is formed of thin laminations . After 200 m the Mudwall Passage enters into

884-467: The north. The river passage continues from the Chamber of Columns meandering for about 200 m to the Big Rapids. This striking feature is formed from a jumble of huge boulders, well worn by the actions of the river. The river passage continues around a curve for about 250 m before flowing around a massive boulder into the sunlight at the Holuca Resurgence. The Web continues running through

918-416: The pebble beach is about 40 m wide—the widest passage in the cave. At the downstream end of the beach the river disappears between two columns. The continuation crosses the Web at Ford 1 and follows the figure-eight passage until the river is reached again at Ford 2. The river meanders down this 15 m wide, 20 m high rectangular passage for 300 m. The way onward involves crossing and re-crossing

952-525: The river from cobble beach to cobble beach at Fords 2, 3, 4 and 5. Small passages exist on both sides. The beach ends after Ford 5 under the 50 m high Great Dome. On the opposite bank a steep rise leads to Molossadie Passage. The deep, short Ford 6, Ford 7 and Ford 8 lead to a cobble beach and the entrance into the Chamber of Columns. Exiting Ford 6 on the left bank it is possible to enter the Railway Tunnel passage, which offers an alternative route into

986-493: The small Mudwall Chamber. This has been formed by water coming from Link Passage on the west cutting across the line of the Mudwall Passage disappearing into Rimstone Passage to the east. It is this flow of water that formed the chamber. Climbing out of Mudwall Chamber leads to Batshit Passage, whose floor is knee deep in guano . This leads to the large chamber, the Astrodome , which houses a large colony of bats . Link Passage

1020-408: The soil carbon sponge and the biosphere . It is intensively used for the cultivation of plants, construction of buildings, and disposal of waste. The vadose zone is often the main factor controlling water movement from the land surface to the aquifer. Thus, it strongly affects the rate of aquifer recharge and is critical for the use and management of groundwater. Flow rates and chemical reactions in

1054-756: Was a Fellow in the Royal Geographical Society . In 1902, he was awarded the Cullum Geographical Medal by the American Geographical Society . He died on February 19, 1939, and was interred at Laurel Hill Cemetery in Philadelphia . In 1895 three new species of reptiles endemic to the Horn of Africa were named in his honor by Belgian-British herpetologist George Albert Boulenger :

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1088-611: Was a graduate chemistry student at Johns Hopkins University . He studied at Harvard Medical School from 1886 to 1888 and at the Heidelberg University from 1888 to 1890. He served as a captain in the United States Army . He worked as a physician in a number of hospitals in Philadelphia for two years and then dedicated himself to exploration. He was a big-game hunter , and became interested in

1122-567: Was the first explorer to reach the lake from the north and the first to see it since Sámuel Teleki and Ludwig von Höhnel seven years earlier. The expedition also explored Lake Stefanie (now Lake Chew Bahir ), Mount Marsabit , the tomb of Sheikh Hussein , and returned to the coast by the Tana River , covering over 4,000 miles. The expedition was well supplied, avoided conflicts with native tribes and lost only six men. The expedition collected twenty-four new birds, eleven new reptiles, and

1156-759: Was wealthy and his paternal great-grandfather, Joest Smith Jr., served in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War . His ancestors had emigrated from Germany and anglicized the family name from Schmidt during the Revolutionary War to avoid any association with the Hessian mercenaries used by the British during war. He attended the University of Pennsylvania and graduated in 1885. From 1885 to 1886, he

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