Chourum scarabée

The entrance zone takes the classic form of a series of pits (P20, P18, P10+16), interspersed with short meanders. The last vertical drop opens into the ceiling of the salle du Pati, formed along a major fault.

The salle du Pati is the starting point of several networks. At its north-western end, a network climbs in the continuation of the fault; it ends at -77 at the foot of a large watered pit, possibly corresponding to the Picards 2-3. Most of the water is lost in two meanders, one of which, the « Rastègue », is impassable at -150. Opposite this climb begins an interstrate of good dimensions that appears to represent the downstream continuation of the aforementioned part; after a P15, it stops in front of a constriction at elevation -178.

At the low point of the salle du Pati begins the réseau de l'Esquichade: down to elevation -280, it is an interstrate that is often low-ceilinged and tedious to progress through. It then divides into three branches, two of which are fossil; the middle one, after a P17 and the arrival of a fine tributary, ends at elevation -373 against vertical strata.

Still in the salle du Pati, a four-metre climb gives access to the réseau du Triple Pati, an ascending meander gallery opening onto an active upstream/downstream. The upstream could be climbed as far as a constriction at -11. After a P8, the downstream ends in an impassable flat-out squeeze at -152.

Finally, a one-metre-diameter window followed by a P4 gives access to an almost horizontal fossil gallery. To the north, this is the réseau des Escartons which, after a dynamited constriction, leads to a vast chamber formed by a major active inflow; beyond it, the gallery ends in a clay fill. To the south, this is the réseau des Coucourdes, distinctly more rugged: it is cut by a vast P33 with no continuation, which must be passed by a ledge. A chaotic chamber and a six-metre climb lead to a vast chamber at the end of which a small gallery ends in a heavily ventilated scree cone.

The réseau de la Spitaille begins after the ledge of the P33. It is a narrow meander which, after a P6 and a P19, opens into a chamber, a crossroads of several inflows but with no notable continuation; low point at -190.

See: Gilbert Arthaud & Alain Pailler, « Chourum du Scarabée », in Voconcie, numéro 11, 1978, page 13: https://cds05.fr/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/Voconcie11.pdf

Source: Gilbert Arthaud & Alain Pailler, « Chourum du Scarabée », in Voconcie, numéro 11, 1978, pages 10-15: https://cds05.fr/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/Voconcie11.pdf