The 3D LiDAR scanning and speleological analysis of Saen Han Cave, Uttaradit Province, Northern Thailand

Caves record spatial changes in landscapes and environments over millennia. Although traditional cave surveys are conducted to explore cave morphology, these techniques provide inadequate and low-resolution details on the cave features and geometry. This study conducted a 3D LiDAR scanning with the speleological investigation on the unexplored Saen Han Cave in Uttaradit province, to get a more realistic presentation of the cave characteristics. The result from cave scanning exposed the geometry of the main chamber and the connecting passageway with detailed speleothems. The lithology of the cave derived by petrographic analysis revealed that the cave was mainly composed of grainstones with distributed echinoderm fossil assemblages. These findings implied that the sedimentological environment of the limestone formation of the cave was in a marine environment. Our study highlights the combination of 3D scanning with high-resolution results and speleological analysis as a novel procedure to diagnose the cave and gain scientific insights from the cave data.