XII INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON VULCANOSPELEOLOGY

THIS SYMPOSIUM WAS SUCCESSFULLY HELD JULY 2-7, 2006

FOR REPORTS AND PICTURES BY J. PINT AND G. MIDDLETON,

SEE WWW.SAUDICAVES.COM/TEPSYM

YOU MAY ALSO ENJOY OUR REPORT ON MEXICO'S MARVELOUS LAVA TUBES

FOR INFO ON FUTURE SYMPOSIA, SEE THE VULCANOSPELEOLOGY PAGE

All photos © 2006 by their owners

Location: The lovely little town of Tepoztlán in the state of Morelos, 54 kms south of Mexico City and less than one hour's drive from Cuernavaca.
 

Venues:

Inauguration and Final Banquet: Restaurante Axitla, located at the
northernmost end of the main street, Avenida del Tepozteco, a little north of the blue "11" on Street Map below.

Field trip pick up point: Trips depart at 7:30 AM from the
Taxi stand located on Av. del Tepozteco, at the western side of the main plaza in Tepoztlán, (across from the blue "10" on Street Map below).

Sessions: Ex-convento de Nuestra Señora de la Natividad, located in the center of Tepoztlán (See "Symposium" on STREET MAP below)

Dates: July 2 to 7, 2006

Registration Fee: (includes 3 field trips, Inauguration Cocktail, Final Banquet and Proceedings publication/CD):
Before March 15, 2006: $150 US per person
After March 15, 2006: $200 US per person

NB: Special fee for Mexican residents:
Contact Ramón for more information.

To Register:

No form is necessary. Send Ramón your name, address, Telephone number and email address and tell him the date on which you transferred funds to his account (see below). PAY THE REGISTRATION FEE ONLY, not hotel, post-symposium field trips, etc.  Residents of USA/CANADA: Please pay in Tepoztlán, upon registering. Bank transfers from the USA/CANADA to Mexico appear to be unreliable or impossible these days thanks to a new system curiously named SWIFT.

BANK TRANSFER INFORMATION:
Please transfer funds to:
Name: Ramon Espinasa P.
Account: 00102955679
Bank Name: Scotiabank Inverlat, S.A. 001026
Bank Address:
Alejandro Dumas #122, Esq. Presidente Masaryk,
Polanco 11560, Miguel Hidalgo, Mexico
Bank Transfer number: 044180001029556795
Note: Do not try to transfer money from the USA or Canada: just pay upon registering at the Symposium.

• Maximum text of 250 words in English.
• No Illustrations.
• Must contain title of proposed paper or poster, the name of the author(s) and contact information. If you are submitting a
  poster rather than a presentation, write "POSTER" below the title.
• Use single spacing and left justification.
• Save as an .rtf file (preferred) or .doc file (readable in a PC) and attach it to an email.
• Send email and file to symposium@with "abstract" and sender's last name on the SUBJECT line.
• Abstracts must be received before March 31, 2006.
• You should receive a reply within one week after sending in your abstract. If you don't, resend it or contact the organizers.

NOTE: SPEAKERS WILL BE ALLOWED

25 MINUTES FOR PRESENTATION AND DISCUSSION.

Final Papers:

POSTERS: Poster size is limited to 60 cm in height (no problem for width).

Travel Information: How to Reach Tepoztlán with a smile on your face.

STREET MAP OF TEPOZTLAN Click on this detail of downtown Tepoztlán to see a complete city map showing hotels, arts and crafts markets (tianguis artesanales) and even the cemetery. The XII International Symposium will be held in the beautiful Ex-Convento (former convent) in the center of town Click here for a 2.43 mb PRINTABLE MAP

Accommodations:

CAMPING is available. Contact Ramón.

ECONOMY HOTELS: Check the street map above for hotel locations.

Rooms in two inexpensive hotels can be booked directly through Ramón Espinasa. These charge between $25 and $35 (US) per night:

1. Hospedaje LOS REYES.

• LOS REYES. Address: Calle 22 de febrero # 50, Barrio Los Reyes
  SERVICES: 8 rooms with private bathroom, garden, parking, Cable TV.
• CONTACT: Tel.  52 739) 395-03-34

2. Hospedaje EDEN: Similar to Hospedaje Los Reyes.

OTHER HOTELS which you can book directly (NOTE that AMATLAN DE QUETZALCOATL, CASA BUGAMBILIA and HOSTAL DE LA LUZ are located OUTSIDE of Tepoztlán):

Program: See below.

Contacts:

Lava-tube Picture Galleries

1.Tepozlán Gazpacho

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2. NEW! First Photos of the Master Tube

(Pictures by Vicente Loreto and Sergi Gómez)

Lava-tube experts in Mexico have long been searching for the Master Tube feeding the Guespalapa lava flow.

A few weeks ago they found it! Check out the pictures and click here for the story.

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3. NEW! La Cueva del Diablo (Photos by Sergi Gómez)

If you're going to the Symposium, you'll visit this cave on Monday. Here's a little preview...

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Program

Note: We reserve
the right to make any changes needed according to circumstances.

NB!  The SCHEDULE OF PRESENTATIONS AND POSTERS is now online!

Sunday, July 2: Registration; Inauguration Cocktail; Opening ceremony with presentation on the general area. This will be held at Restaurante Axitla, located at the northernmost end of Avenida del Tepozteco (main street), at the foot of the trail up to the Pyramid of Tepozteco. Registration opens at 5:30 PM and the Inaugural conference at 7 PM, followed by a toast and canapes.

Here is what Frommer's says about the restaurant: "Axitla is not only the best restaurant in Tepoztlán, but also one of the finest in Mexico for showcasing the country's cuisine. Gourmet Mexican delicacies are made from scratch using the freshest local ingredients. Specialties include chicken breast stuffed with wild mushrooms in a chipotle chile sauce, chiles en nogada, and exceptional mole. There are also excellent steaks and fresh seafood. As if the food weren't enough -- and believe me, it is -- the setting will make your meal even more memorable. The restaurant is at the base of the Tepozteco Pyramid, surrounded by 3 acres of jungle-like gardens that encompass a creek and lily ponds."

The pyramid honors Tepoztécatl, the Aztec god of harvest, fertility and pulque. A two-km walk takes you to the pyramid and a panorama of Tepoztlán and the valley.

Monday, July 3: Geological field trip, including:

1. A tephra cone and associated lava-tube-bearing flows.

2. A series of small spatter cones and associated tubes and vent caves.

This involves a 3 km walk to a series of small vents or spatter cones (the highest only 20 meters tall) called Los Cuescomates. Some of the lava flows emitted by these vents have small lava tubes and tree-trunk molds. Charcoal from one of these molds gave an age of only 730 years, making it the youngest eruption in the Sierra Chichinautzin. Some of these vents have vertical craters up to 15 meters deep and a very narrow fracture passage connects three of them.

3. A through trip of Cueva del Diablo, a two-km-long Master tube and associated anastomosing outflows.

Cueva del Diablo has interesting structures such as canyon and superposed passages, levees, etc. This is the lowermost and the most easily accessible cave in the Suchiooc lava flow.

WHAT TO BRING ON CAVE TRIPS:   Helmet and light (there will be some carbide available for those who need it, on a first come first served basis)   Gloves and kneepads (indispensable)   Adequate clothing (resistant, not too warm)   If proficient in vertical techniques, bring harness, descender and ascenders (if not, a wire-ladder will also be available) since there will be pitches up to 15 meters deep on field Trip 2.   Food/drink to enjoy while inside caves: Although on some of the field trips we will include a lunch (Field Trip 1 and 2), cave food is not included, and each should buy and carry their own munchies and drinks. Tepoztlán has several hundred "miscelaneas" where people can buy stuff.

Tuesday, July 4: Presentations and/or poster sessions. NB!  The SCHEDULE OF PRESENTATIONS AND POSTERS is now online!

Wednesday, July 5: Field trip to Chimalacatepec (deepest lava tube in continental America).

Thursday, July 6: Presentations and/or poster sessions. Session of the UIS Commission on Volcanic Caves. NB!  The SCHEDULE OF PRESENTATIONS AND POSTERS is now online!

Friday, July 7: Field trip to Iglesia lava tube (the longest tube in the Americas); Final Banquet; Closing ceremony.

IGLESIA CAVE, about 6 kms long,  is only a small part of the Sistema Tlacotenco, with over 20 km of known lava tubes. We will spend all day inside the cave looking at primary structures and discussing their interpretation. The cave has almost no breakdown and with most of the primary structures perfectly preserved, it is probably the best cave in the area. Secondary stalactite deposits of possibly calcite or opal decorate one section. A few crawls are involved, but this is mostly walking passage, of a complex, anastomosing nature. Click here to see a report and pictures.                    Inside Iglesia--Photo by Chris Lloyd

POST-SYMPOSIUM FIELD TRIPS

Note: The priceS of the following trips are subject to change depending on the number of participants.

Post-Symposium Field Trip A, Saturday, July 8: Field trip to Cueva Pelona (a large Master Tube with evidence of thermal erosion): COST:  $50 U.S;

Cueva Pelona is an excellent example of a Master Tube, with superposed levels, rafted balls stuck in upper levels, and especially with the evidence of thermal erosion in the canyon-shaped passage between its main entrance and its dramatic skylight entrance. This cave has a small entrance pitch of eight meters.

Post-Symposium Field Trip B, Sunday, July 9: Cueva del Ferrocarril. COST: $25 U.S.

This is North America's longest (over 6.5 km) and most complex lava tube. Check this space in the coming months for pictures of this unique cave.

 

Post-Symposium Field Trip C, Monday, July 10 to Thursday, July 13 (REVISED!) :

 Archeological site and related lava tube of Cantona, Crater and lava tubes of El Volcancillo, and Cueva de la Orquidea, in the center of Jalapa, the state Capital of Veracruz. COST: depends on number of participants (at least 15 are required).

We will travel by bus to Perote in the state of Veracruz, making field stops along the road at the base of the volcanoes Popocatépetl (5,450 masl, presently active), Malinche (4,700) and Citlaltépetl (5, 690, Mexico's highest mountain). We will also stop at the Alchichica Maar and possibly visit the Cantona archeological site on the way, if there is interest. We'll definitely see Chinacanoztoc cave at the archeological site. We will spend the night at a hotel in Perote and the following day we will visit the craters and lava tubes of El Volcancillo, a small 1,200-year-old volcano which emitted very long `a`a  lava flows. The tubes we will visit are developed starting right from the crater, which has vertical walls over 100 meters deep and is about 200 meters in diameter. They contain beautiful wall levees and superposed tubes and an inner ladder pitch eight meters deep. Next, we will explore Cueva de la Orquidea (Orchid Cave) which is actually located inside the state capital of Jalapa. From here, participants can continue on their own towards the city of Veracruz and other touristic places or return to Mexico City on the bus.

ITINERARY

10 July: Trip from Tepoztlán to Perote, with several volcanological stops on the way (Sorry, no caves today). Sleep at hotel in Perote
11 July: Cantona archaeological site and the related Chinacamóztoc cave. Sleep at Perote hotel.
12 July: Volcancillo and its lava tubes. Travel to Xalapa and sleep in hotel.
13 July: Visit Orquidea cave inside Xalapa. Travel back to México City, arrival at the airport sometime around 20:00 hours

 

MEXICO'S MARVELOUS LAVA TUBES Here's a report on a recent survey trip to CUEVA PELONA  and a tour through IGLESIA CAVE, both with plenty of pictures.                    Another shot inside Iglesia Cave--Photo by Chris Lloyd

 

See you in Mexico!

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