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Avenc del Sot del Muronell

Avenc del Sot del Muronell

Avenc de 22 m. de fondària a Castellar del Vallès

Castellar del Vallès • Vallès Occidental35m22m

A 22 m deep pit in Castellar del Vallès, on the right-hand slope of the Sot del Muronell, with a single inclined shaft and galleries and chimneys at its base.

Characteristics

Location

On the right-hand slope of the Sot del Muronell (on the ICC, Sot del Sabater), a short distance from the torrent bed.

To reach it, take the track that leaves to the left near km. 12 of the B-124 road, going from Castellar del Vallès to Sant Llorenç Savall, just past the bridge over the torrent of the Sot de la Carda. The track crosses the torrent and continues along its right bank. Half a kilometre along, where a new track branches off on the slope of the Pujol, we find a flat area, a suitable place to leave the vehicle. The track continues in the same direction as the torrent and crosses it again, with a second track branching off to the right that leads to the pits of la Tica and dels Peps, which we must not follow; we must not leave the main track near the torrent, nor follow a new track to the right that would lead to the avenc de la Pala. The main track crosses the torrent again and turns left towards the Solei del Muronell, where it would take us to the pits of the Muronell, del Lledoner and del Sot de la Carda, which we must not follow either. We must take a new track that branches off to the right, less worn, and climbs up the Sot del Muronell. We must follow it for some 650 metres, increasingly overgrown, until a very pronounced bend to the right that crosses the torrent.

Some 20 metres before the bend, the start of a path climbing the bank can be made out. We must try to follow this path, which gains height diagonally through the shady side of the Muronell, amid a veritable tangle of vegetation. We must manage to advance some 60 metres in a W direction and 20 metres of elevation above the torrent, and we reach a small rocky area with a secondary torrent, 5 metres from which the pit is found.

Mapa

Entrances

Always verify coordinates and access conditions before setting out.

  1. Avenc del Sot del Muronell

    Elevation: 527 m

    41.635100, 2.037744
    UTM 31T (ED 50) 419923 4609915
Download all entrances as GPX

Photos

Avenc del Sot del Muronell - Photo, Castellar del Vallès, Vallès OccidentalView image
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Espeleoindex · CC BY-NC 4.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ · Image © its author.

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Description

Morphology

The pit consists of a single shaft, slightly inclined for the first 15 metres until it becomes vertical in the last 5 metres. The 2.3 x 1.8 metre entrance is very earthy (which guarantees a rain of sand and stones for the visitor), and the first section of the shaft narrows, taking the form of a fissure 2 x 0.7 metres wide at its middle part. At – 10 we find a gallery running S30W that becomes impassable after 3 metres. We continue descending and at – 15 a large half-detached slab narrows the shaft, with a couple of blocks wedged in it. Past the slab the shaft becomes more vertical and wider until reaching its base.

The floor of the shaft is formed by a gallery 12 metres long with a strong slope towards the S, where we reach the maximum depth of the pit. To the N of this gallery, climbing the ramp that narrows to 0.4 metres, we find a chimney 4 metres high. Towards the S the gallery is wider, almost 2 metres, and also has a chimney that climbs 9 metres and is quite heavily concreted.

The cavity is structured along a N10E joint and another in a N30E direction, that is, within the main fracturing system of the massif.

Between the levels – 12 and – 15 there are a series of sandstone strata which, affected by the two joints, have caused the detachment of the slab in mid-shaft.

Speleothems

At present infiltration occurs at two points; one in the 9 metre chimney, and the other in the shaft at the level of the slab; in both cases some concretions have formed, quite white at the start but already more earthy at the level of the floor.

Hydrology

Only in times of heavy rain does half a metre of the bottom of the pit become flooded.

History

We do not know when the cavity was first explored. It does not appear in the catalogue of Sant Llorenç – Obac by F. Termes (1951). We have evidence of an exploration in April 1958 by members of the GES-CMB, which very possibly was the first. Years later it already appeared located on the maps of Editorial Alpina. A little-visited cavity due to its difficult location.

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Bibliography

  1. GES-CMB (1974).- Catálogo espeleológico de la provincia de Barcelona. 198 pp. Club Montañés Barcelonés /Diputación Provincial de Barcelona.

  1. Puig,M; Badiella,E. (1989).- “L'avenc del Sot del Muronell” Arxiu del Centre Excursionista de Terrassa (59-62): 441-443. CE Terrassa.
  • fotos 'JNC' facilitades per Jordi Navarro, (Centre Excursionista de Castellar del Vallès).

Source: Espeleoindex (espeleoindex.com), modified. CC BY-NC 4.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/