Der Titan Schaufeltag

[alastairgott]

After spending the previous evening, enjoying being talked around to going digging down Titan, I was awoken by the Oberschaufelmeister trying to get an early start. And then halfway through getting changed in the short minute after being woken up I was greeted by the sound of "bedroom bully" being played by one of our more than awake members.

Throughly confused, I continued my less that speedy movements towards readiness, with my one eye in the back of my head to make sure the bedroom bully didn't "Flambé" my breakfast.

Some filling bottles of water and packing personal kit followed, along with a quick ride upto the parking between Hazard and Hollandtwine Mines.
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Titan always makes me nervous, i've never been a big "heights" man. i'll do it, but it's still a challenge that i'll never get bored with.
I guess I've always shyed away from titan, if given the opportunity, and I guess this is where my preconception comes from of it being a place where I would only send a caver who'd been caving more than a year. I'd still maintain that any caver descending Titan needs to be able to 'bounce' the trip and come out the same way.

My first trip down Titan in 2010 was a day bounce trip from York and I was so pleased to have got to the streamway in FSE and to Salmons Cavern. My abiding memory of this trip was wearing the key to Titan round my neck in the garden of TSG having completed one of those trips for people who had been caving "more than a year".

In the twelve years since my first trip into Titan, i'd say at a guess, i'm on trip 10 - or is it 11.
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Three of us set off from the TSG and made it to Titan in the dazzling brightness of a summer day, having been told it would be cooler in the shaft, I shrugged off my Nervousness and put on that cool head ready for a slick descent in a quiet hole; no roaring streams, no whooping cavers, just me and the odd flying globule of water.

I waited for a short period before I heard the whooping of Oberschaufelmeister Ried. It seemed as though three cavers had become two, I can totally sympathise with this, simply seeing Titan would have been enough for me on my first trip down.

We made short work of getting to the banana dig, Sadly had I thought earlier, I would have procured a Chiquita inflatable banana to drop at the dig.

We had a bit of a dig, and increased the number of small rock pieces there were around, but alas no great breakthroughs.

More kit was taken out of the dig than was left in, but there's still quite a bit of stuff which has gravitated towards the underworld, most of the really useless stuff was taken out, so hopefully we have slimmed down the dig considerably, it still boasts a stove, some club bars, mugs and a bottle of piss (no metaphor).

 

[AlexR]

Hahaha, Oberschaufelmeister 😂
I'll take it as a compliment. Lovely report Alastair, always nice to hear how others see the commute. Unfortunately Bananarama will be decommissioned; about 25 sessions over 3 years in and no clear indication of passage is too close to a sunk cost fallacy. The whereabouts of the upstream Peak paleophreas will have to remain a mystery for now.
On to new horizons. Holes, I mean.

 

[pwhole]

Doctor, I have some holes that need looking at urgently.

 

[Pitlamp]

I reckon the main Peak palaeophreas arrives upwards through the sediment-filled floor of Major Sump. It's an ancient Speedwell-style "Main Rising" feature, permanently abandoned and now, sadly, very well plugged up. There is a really thick mineral vein which this upwards development has followed - but this is only visible once underwater and having swum back under the boulder floor you walk over to get to the climb down to the sump pool.

BTW, could you tell me where is the Banana Dig?

 

[AlexR]

Bananarama is at the roof collapse just before Lake of a Thousand Banana Skins; coming from the old dive camp T junction a short way towards Major Sump. As the passage widens into a chamber (looks upwelling-y) there is a very large roof collapse on the r.h.s..
I'm not so sure about Major Sump, as you go through the lake you suddenly find yourself in a vadose canyon. Deep, sure, but the associated phreas is visible in the roof and only a fraction of the size of the main Peak phreas. To be clear, Moose put me up to this, but I agree with his assessment otherwise I wouldn't have spent so much time on that sodding thing.
Bananarama has some puzzling features, e.g. extensive signs of mineralisation inside and below the sediment.

 

[Andrew N]

Very enjoyable report - really made me want to get back to Titan! Anyone planning another trip?

Would anyone care to explain what they mean by palaeophreas? I’ve had a quick Google around, but can’t find anything. It’d be greatly appreciated!

 

[Pitlamp]

Bananarama is at the roof collapse just before Lake of a Thousand Banana Skins; coming from the old dive camp T junction a short way towards Major Sump. As the passage widens into a chamber (looks upwelling-y) there is a very large roof collapse on the r.h.s..
I'm not so sure about Major Sump, as you go through the lake you suddenly find yourself in a vadose canyon. Deep, sure, but the associated phreas is visible in the roof and only a fraction of the size of the main Peak phreas. To be clear, Moose put me up to this, but I agree with his assessment otherwise I wouldn't have spent so much time on that sodding thing.
Bananarama has some puzzling features, e.g. extensive signs of mineralisation inside and below the sediment.

Thanks Alex (and thanks for the separate PM). Now I know where you mean. But the main divers' camp is at the junction where the passage to Stemple Highway goes off from AI Passage, not the big T junction where you either go to Minor or Major Sumps. There was, however, sometimes a divers' stopover very near the latter T junction, during the radio location phase. (Clive has some photos of this.)

I also agree with Moose (we've spent a lot of time discussing this area over the years, inevitably). When you dive into Major Sump the floor slopes back under the approach boulders, then everything goes downhill. Unfortunately it's silt filled. Having seen this I'm conviced the main development (not the only development!) comes up from depth. The vein I mentioned is (from memory) 150 mm to 200 mm thick; this thickness is only viewable when underwater. I suspect you'll have seen it but there's an underwater elevation of this somewhere, showing the position of the thick vein - try the 1997 Peak District Sump Index Update (there should be a copy in the TSG Library).

Are you certain that the large upright passage beyond the Lake oaTBS is actually vadose? Or could it be a rift passage formed under phreatic conditions? (Haven't been there for a while - I'm long overdue to resume activities in Peak; hopefully should be happening within a few months.) The reason I ask is because the ultimate destination of this huge passage is the Peak Cavern gorge, which "them as know" tell us was formed as a deep Vauclusian resurgence, which was drained by erosion related to subsequent deepening of the valley floor. Yes, there is a fine vadose canyon between Far Sump and Buxton Water Sump - but this is an active passage and the vadose part is younger than the original phreatic roof tube, whereas Major Sump (and the passage as far as the T junction with Minor Sump) has evfidently not been active for a very long time.

Best of luck with your work in Far Sump Extension. I'm sure there's a lot more to find. (This discussion has rekindled my own interest in this area.)