Mahbo Teenim Cave, Nahal Teenim, Nahal Teenim Survey, Western Samaria
- Grid ref.
- 158934/184218
- Location
- Lower Nahal Teenim
- Elevation
- 210 m above sea level
Cave mapView the map (PDF)Description of the cave:
Mahbo Teenim Cave is a small cave consisting mainly of a single space that formed in dolomite of Cenomanian age (Sakhnin Formation). Rounded dissolution pockets and domes, an arched cross-section and the general structure of the cave as an elliptical chamber are signs indicating that the cave formed as a hypogenic cave in the phreatic zone. Active speleothems (stalactites, flowstone, small columns), which were deposited in all parts of the cave, represent a vadose stage of activity later than the draining of the space of water.
The cave was discovered by Vladimir Boslov, Yuri Lisovitz, Shemesh Yaran and Boaz Langford in June 2013.
The cave has a small, rounded entrance (1.8X1.1 m), which opens in the lower part of the slope of the northern bank of Wadi a-Tina, a local tributary of the lower Nahal Teenim. The cave entrance is completely hidden by a large fig tree, which also served as the inspiration for the choice of the cave's name.
The cave space consists of an elongated horizontal chamber measuring 16X8 m and reaching a height of 4.5 m. The chamber floor is covered with dark terra rossa soil and a few stones. Concentrations of stones were piled in the inner part of the cave and near its entrance. The stone concentration near the entrance perhaps belongs to a fieldstone wall that was built at the entrance and fell apart over time. The cave ceiling is broken by wide dissolution domes, covered by sparse cave deposits (mainly small stalactites, some of them active). A more significant speleothem is a calcite column standing in the center of a low niche that opened on the inner side of the cave space. The position of the column in the center of the niche creates in it a passage-like structure that surrounds the column, along the niche walls.
A single individual of an insectivorous bat of the small yaznuv species was observed in the cave, and a little guano was also observed. Signs of other mammals are a skull and droppings of a rock hyrax. The prominent arthropods in the cave are a number of species of spiders, among them a huge individual of a flat spider (pachusan) (!).
Notes:
- Access to the cave is possible on foot from Road 557 (about 1.5 km). One can reach a similar distance from the cave entrance by 4X4 vehicle on a dirt road that passes in the middle of the Nahal Teenim channel.
- A very rare species of spider lives in the cave. It is important to avoid disturbing and/or harming it.
Written by: Boaz Langford
