GEOMETRICAL CHARACTERIZATION OF THE CABACHUELAS NATURAL RESERVE CAVE SYSTEM

The Cabachuelas Natural Reserves is located in the North Karst Belt in Puerto Rico, in the municipalities of Morovis and Ciales, and was created by law in 2012 due to his natural and historical (archeological findings) value. This Reserve is located in the Lares Limestone formation and has a cave series that consist in 65 caves in a region of approximately 4 square kilometers. This study consisted in the geometrical characterization of the Cabachuelas Cave System to create a model that can help us understand the changes in the morphology in this karst region. The geometrical characterization of a cave involves the construction of a 3D cave cartography using light detection and ranging (LiDAR). The measurements were obtained using Geoslam ZEB 1 mobile LiDAR. At this presentation, we will show the cave survey results of 7 caves: Cueva Cristales, Cueva Gemelos, Cueva Catedral, Cueva Buruquena, Cueva Corazón, Cueva Espiral and Cueva Blacky. The data sets collected were mapped as a point cloud that varies from 7.1 to 32.3 millions data points and 50 m to 300 m in cave path. The assembling of all the caves maps will help us understand paleorivers channels in this region and its impact in the karst morphology.