Caves and technology

[Prime]

I'm new to this part of treasure hunting, I've not dealt with caves before other than on tourist sites. The entrance to the cave I seek is likely covered in dense forest, or possibly underwater by now. Does anyone know of any advancements in technology that could aid me in finding either? I've got a drone that I could fly over the area to see if I could spot anything, possibly when foliage has withered away from trees. Any other advice? If I were to find this place, I plan on using a device to monitor the air quality and any gas emissions.

I wouldn't mind seeing a sticky here about the different tools that are available out there, from affordable to expensive for this type of expedition.

Cheers,

Prime

 

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[Bumbalawski]

Here in the hills, we use the old fashioned method, air flow. If it is the lower entrance of a cave, cold air will blow out when the outside temperatures exceed cave temperatures. If it is a high entrance to a cave, warm air will exit when outside temperatures are below cave temperatures. I also use Google earth along with ArcGIS hillshade lidar in gray scale. I also have a FLIR IR camera. These methods work pretty good. If it is under water, good luck there.

Don Carns Jr.

NSS 54725

 

[Prime]

FLIR IR camera, that could definitely help. I appreciate you sharing this information, thanks.

Prime

 

[hvacker]

I was at a mine that would breathe. Suck in air in the morning and blow out at sunset.
There are USDA soil maps that don't seem to get much attention. In the US about 25% of the land is karst according to some meaning wherever the ground is "Dented" or lower than the surrounding land there night be a cave.
Soil maps are sometimes used by builders to determine a possibility of settling or where a dump might have been.
I remember being in a cave in Indiana that I would have not known anything was there except a small crawl hole into a squeeze.
Sometimes caves are like gold, they are where you find them.
.

 

[P.ALLEN]

get a topo quad and a geo quad, look for depressions or drops in elevation and predominately limestone on the geo quad. It's old school but it helps narrow things down. When using a drone I would look for those areas where the trees appear to be a lot lower than they should be could be indicative of a sinkhole, or streams that just end into nothing. Wolf Sink north of Bowling Green Kentucky is a 100 by 100 yard sinkhole that just straight drops. When we did mapping down there we had to piton ladders in a series of 3 to get to the bottom. it was like the forest floor just dropped but the trees were the same height as the trees on the top so it was totally noticeable if you flew over.

 

[hvacker]

I've got my theory on all the sink holes in Florida in the past few years.
I believe it's possibly caused by drawing down the water table. Where the water below kept the limestone intact
now it's hollow because of the huge population need in water.

 

[Chiltepin]

Expensive - Charter an airplane an a company that can supply
LIDAR
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lidar