Unexpected sounds in caves

[tim.rose2]

Another, with seems normal to those of us caving regularly on Portland, but perhaps could be considered unusual, is the sound of the sea. It's surprising how far into an cave the waves crashing around at the base of the cliffs can be heard. The interesting ones are when you hear the sea at an apparent dead end! There's an excellent example of that in Steve's Endeavour - Panic Crack. My estimate is that's it's around 60 to 70 m from where the rift narrows to the point it's impassable to where it must open onto the cliff. On a windy day it's as loud as being outside, close your eyes and you'd think you were on a beach.

 

[The Old Ruminator]

Mr O' Doc grunting and moaning comes to mind. This transfers to a high pitched screech when a boulder falls on him. ( Mr Trundle's I Scream Parlour ). I think that he made a few quid flogging his noises to the Jurassic Park film people who upped the noise level a tad.

 

[Cantclimbtom]

With Snape mine the entrance shaft is on an embankment and the track is in a cutting, the short shaft drops you to about the same elevation as the nearby track and the strata of the lower greensand layer is the rock at about my head height and below, and I think the train track sits on top of it. So it's not sound coming down the shaft, it's the noise and shudder of the nearby trains. In fact as I took this pic (timer, solo trip, 2022) there was a train going past, you could feel it a bit as well as hear it

 

[Brains]

When the Box Quarries were easily accessible, it was fairly common to hear and feel the trains running through the underlying Box Tunnel, especially when near the air shafts that cut through the workings. Unless of course it was the mythical Strategic Steam Reserve being maintained...

 

[The Old Ruminator]

When the Box Quarries were easily accessible, it was fairly common to hear and feel the trains running through the underlying Box Tunnel, especially when near the air shafts that cut through the workings. Unless of course it was the mythical Strategic Steam Reserve being maintained...

Also the odd humming noise I guess relating to air fans in the MOD workings.

 

[mrodoc]

I've walked over Blea Moor a few times past the air shafts for the tunnel but never when a train was passing far below. It must be interesting when a steam train is going through. It must also have been a hellish scary job sinking them down to the tunnel. Some of the navvies who did this are probably buried in St Leonard's Chapel a few miles away.

Anybody who has been in the stone quarries of Box near Bath will remember the trains rumbling through Brunel's tunnel way below them.

 

[PeteHall]

Nobody seems to have mentioned the fantastic gurgling sounds as the tidal sump opens in Otter Hole.

I am probably one of very few to have heard another unusual noise in that cave, surfacing after returning through Sump 4, there was a strange whirring noise in the airbell, that could be heard very distinctly right through Sump 3. The reason is simple enough when you know, but pretty interesting nonetheless. After radio-location by cavers, Chepstow Racecourse sunk a borehole into the middle of Sump 3, where there is a constant, and fairly large body of water. When the visibility is clear, you can see the stainless steel pipe hanging out of the cave roof off jto the side of the dive line. The whirring noise is from the pumps, which are used to extract water for maintaining the racecourse.

 

[pwhole]

I've been lucky enough to have been in the Main Streamway tube in Peak Cavern twice when the nearby Hope cement quarry has let off a blast - it's as much physical as audible, and a real treat to experience - as long as you know what it is