Gua Kanthan Description and Origin

Dr Ros Fatihah Muhammad

Introduction
Mapping of Gua Kanthan has been carried out as part of the work assigned for biodiversity
studies in Gunung Kanthan and its surrounding. Cave has been mapped manually by using
laser range finder, inclinometer and compass. This works has been greatly assisted by 3-D
surveys carried out by Juruukur Perunding Services Sdn Bhd.
Location and geological setting
Gua Kanthan is located in Gunung Kanthan the limestone complex in Kinta Valley Perak.
The limestone hill is located at the northernmost part of Kinta Valley. Figure shows 7% of
Kinta Valley is underlain by limestone and 15 presents as limestone hills. Gunung Kanthan is
located at the northernmost part of Kinta Valley (Figure 1). Many caves that occur in Gunung
Kanthan are in the form of shelter caves in certain areas at the foothill. Some of these caves
have been converted into temples.
The Kinta Limestone, of Silurian to Permian age is confined to the central axis of the valley.
They include several relatively thin argillaceous beds, and exceed 3000 m in stratigraphic
thickness (Ingham and Bradford, 1960; Suntharalingam, 1968).
recrystallised by regional metamorphism in the Late Triassic.

They were folded and

averages about 1000 m above mean sea level is made up mostly of coarse-grained porphyritic
biotite granite. Major rivers flow from the granitic highlands and wet the floodplain of Kinta

Valley, creating an environment suitable for high dissolution and eventually form the mature
karst.

Geomorphology
Gunung Kanthan is located on an area with ground elevation of 86.0 m at the southern part
and 82.6 at the quarry face (Figure 2). A few shelf caves are present at the foot of the
southern hill. Block from wall collapse occupy the southern area and has elevated the foothill
to 106 m above mean sea level.
The description of the geomorphology of Gua Kanthan is based on the divisions that have
been drawn throughout the cave passage. From the cave entrance located at the south, there
are 9 sections manually drawn (Figure 3) and 11 from the survey by Juruukur Perunding.
Drawings and photos from Juruukur Perunding are attached.
The cave is basically made of two main chambers, with general floor level at 79m above
mean sea level and the highest ceiling of 109 m measured from the stream level. The entrance
wall at the southern part of the hill is 26m wide and opens to the first chamber. The floor is
almost flat throughout the cave, with cave secondary deposits covering most of the western
wall. A stream flows through the foot of the eastern wall. Multilevel notches that may
indicate the previous stream level can be seen on the eastern wall almost throughout the cave.
The passage is filled up with sediments and opens up to another wide chamber. A window at
the height of 32m from the floor is seen here, indicating collapsed ceiling. The passage
narrows further towards the north as thick cave sediments occupy the floor and the western
wall. The end of the cave passage is filled with blocks from the breakdown of cave ceiling.

General trend of this cave is 320 along the first 65 m, 354 95 m, 335 48 m, 0 the last 95
m, giving a total length of 303 m. Cave floor level changes in elevation throughout the length
of the cave. Overall inclination from the entrance to the exit is calculated at about 10. The
small stream flows from the eastern wall at the entrance, and meander mostly at the western
wall throughout the cave to the exit at the north. The detail description below is based on the
drawn sections (Figure 3).
P1 Cave mouth and entrance
At P1, blocks of collapsed ceiling and wall accumulated on the floor and had elevated the
ground to 106 m. The collapse had produced a steep sided wall above and surrounding the
cave, and later dissolved to form solution karrens. The cave entrance is about 26 m wide.
P2 (CS-01, CS-02)
The cave trends 320 towards P2, which is the first chamber with the width of about 18 m
and ceiling height of 47m measured from the cave floor. The eastern wall is filled with cave
whirlpool. About 2 m from the cave floor, a stream flows from the western wall towards the
eastern wall and meanders throughout the cave. At P2, multilevel notches are present above
the stream.
P3 (CS-03)
An inclination of about 10 from P2 floor leads to P3. The accumulation of cave sediments
and maybe blocks has raised the floor here. The height of the ceiling is 13m. More wall
sediments are also present and that gives a measurement of only 14 m. The stream meander
can also be seen from P3.
The trend changes to 354 starting from P3.

P4 CS-04)
A small passage at P3 leads to P4 where the second chamber is located. The dimension of this
chamber is about 17 m high and 29 m wide. The floor level is lowered by an inclination of
about 20 from P3. The eastern wall is filled up with flowstone, and the western wall is raised
about 1.5 m above the general level, maybe by thicker floor material (CS-05). The meander
continues at the eastern wall here and the notches are also visible.

P5 (CS-05, CS-06, CS-07)

P6 (CS-08)
P6 is another wide passage measuring about 17 m wide and 32 m high. Scallops present on
western wall and the ceiling. Part of the ceiling has collapsed and forms a window. Further
inclination on the floor at 20 and the floor is rather flat here. The small stream is visible on
the eastern wall.
In between CS-08 and CS-09, the cave trends changes to 0.
P7 (CS-09, CS-10))

Another flowstone occupies the eastern wall leaving only a narrow passage measuring about
9 m wide at P7. The ceiling height from the floor is measured at 31 m. The multilevel
notches are visible on the eastern wall.
P8 (CS-11)
P8 is a small chamber measuring about 3 m wide, as the floor has been raised by blocks of
limestone from collapse. The blocks are visible all the way to the exit.
P9
Limestone blocks from collapse occupy the exit and raised the floor level. Part of the ceiling
shows that collapse occur along certain bedding planes. The stream continues to flow out
along the northern foothill.
Origin
Gunung Kanthan is located on the northernmost part of Kinta Valley. It is made up of
a limestone complex with two peaks at 331 and 216 meters (Figure 2). These two hills are
aligned in north-south direction, cover an area of about 2km square, and marked by many
dolines on the surface. Intense dissolution in the middle of the limestone complex has almost
divided the complex into two hills. Google Earth image shows that most of the middle part to
be quarried. Gua Kanthan runs along the north-south direction shown in Figure 2.
Kinta Valley karst is mainly in the form of subsurface karst. Gunung Kanthan is one
of the about 34 hills (Muhammad 2003) that occurs on the surface as remnants of surface
karst, due to high and advanced karstification process. Muhammad (2003) calculated the ratio
of the exposed limestone hill to the subsurface karst of Kinta Valley at 7.2 %. The ratio is a
measure of the stage of maturity of the tropical karst evolution. Based on the engineering
karst classification by Waltham and Fookes (2005), Kinta Valley karst is placed under the

Extreme kV class. No detailed explanation on the Malayan karst in Waltham and Fookes
(2005) but the diagram of it resembles karst in Kinta Valley.
A few dolines are seen aligned along the north south direction parallel to Gua
Kanthan. This could be geological fissure or cracks that provide space for adequate water
flow to first carve out Gua Kanthan. Figure 4 shows south of the southern hill, a small stream
running along the east west direction. One small tributary could have been directed along the
fissure, disappear in the limestone complex and could have dissolved the limestone along it,
and firstly formed a narrow meandering chamber. The flow continues along the cave, exits at
the end of it and the stream is visible from the surface on the eastern side of the hill. The
multilevel notches throughout the cave eastern wall show probable previous stream level
when the cave was first carved. Further dissolution has brought down the stream level by at
least 3 m. Cave has been enlarged by progressive roof collapse as proved by the huge number
of limestone blocks particularly at the entrance, certain sections in the cave as discussed
earlier and the exit.
Further dissolution in the cave is also aggravated by the meteoric water. This is
proven by the occurrences of scallops on walls and ceiling at certain parts in the cave. This
dissolution combined with progressive roof collapse enlarges the cave upwards. A thinner
part of the roof collapse and eventually produce a window.
Conclusion
Kinta Valley karst has shown the most advanced state of karst maturity. Gunung Kanthan is
one of the 34 limestone hills that occur as remnants of surface karst and part of only 7% of
the karst in Kinta Valley. The thin cave ceiling and the occurrence of window also show the
advanced karst dissolution. The multilevel notches give a clue of previous ground level and
could be a clue to understand the palaeo-drainage system. The cave and other surrounding
caves are traps to sediments which are normally rich in fossils. The state of maturity of Kinta
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Valley karst is unique and may be one of its kind in the world. Therefore, preservation of the
important parts of Gunung Kanthan is crucial.
References
Ingham, F.T. and Bradford, E.F. 1960. The geology and mineral resources of the Kinta Valley,
Perak. District Memoir, Federation of Malaya Geological Survey, 9, p 347.
Suntharalingam, T., 1968. Upper Palaeozoic stratigraphy of the West of Kampar,
Perak. Bull. Geol. Soc. Malaysia 1, p1-15.
Muhammad, R. F. 2003. The Characteristics and Origin of Sungai Perak Basin, Malaysia.
Unpubl PhD. Thesis. Univ Mal. 2003. 426pp
Waltham, A. G. and Fookes, P. G. 2005. Engineering classification of karst ground
conditions. Speleogenesis and Evolution of Karst Aquifers, 2005, 3 (1), p.2

Figure 1: Kinta Valley map showing surface limestone (blue area) and subsurface limestone
(yellow). Limestone hills only occur as 7% of the whole limestone area, indicating an
advanced or mature karst. Taken from Muhammad, 2003.

Figure 2: Google Earth image shows the plan view of Gua Kanthan overlain over the hill
surface. Point 1 and 2 are 82.6 and 86.0 meters above mean sea level respectively.

Figure 3. Profile and cross sections along Gua Kanthan.

Figure 4: Gunung Kanthan area taken from a topographic map. The hill consists of peaks
separated by dissolution in the middle. A tributary from the small stream that flows at the
south is believed to disappear into the limestone and carve the limestone to form Gua
Kanthan. The stream flows throughout the cave and exits and changes its course towards to
west, as shown in the map.

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Plane view of cave from Juruukur Perunding

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Plane view of cave from Juruukur Perunding

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Profile of cave by Juruukur Perunding

Cross sections by Juruukur Perunding

Point cloud data of entrance point by Juruukur Perunding.

Point cloud data of exit point by Juruukur Perunding.

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