An Expedition Approach - Data Collection

Details

Written by Dave Clucas

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As a minimum the following data should be recorded when surveying

• Date of survey - needed for magnetic declination
• Survey team members
• Name of cave being surveyed
• Name of cave section e.g. Upper Series, Lower Levels, Show Cave Section - these will be useful when writing the description
• Calibration data
• Instruments used
• Units used if not 'normal' e.g. grad, feet, percent
• survey legs and LRUD readings

Other things that should/could be recorded

• Major features such as stal bosses, huge blocks
• side passages, even if you don't explore them, put a station here for use later
• pits and steps in the floor
• floor detail, blocks, sand, pebbles, guano, flowstone
• avens and chimneys
• streams with direction of flow
• air draughts with direction
• pitches
• changes in passage size, good idea to place a station here
• notches
• passage termination - show type - boulder choke, stal choke, too low, too tight
• waterfalls and cascades
• inlets and sinks
• geological features, faults slickensides, dip/strike, dikes, sills, folding
• biological - blind fish, crabs etc, animal prints, bones
• archaeological features, fire pits, sherds, bones