>>24164I didn't think of the porosity going both ways, which considering the weight of water above the table, yeah, would cause recess. Although maybe there'd be a chance for intake to exceed outtake in wetter locations. Thankfully the solubility of something in water allows it to be pumped out, so maybe troglohaven could still work, since it doesn't depend on a stable water level, but the effort and time wouldn't be done for the novelty unless the soluble resource was efficiently attained that way. I imagine this would likely extend to any use, but maybe some agro-industrial use of a resevoir could carry enough incentive for a wet use to have merit. For dry use, How difficult would it be to permanently seal? If the pumping is generally done out of practacaility as opposed to neccessity I would think you could have foresight on future conversion and seal it from the start. I wonder if the pressure differential far enough down could be useful for anything. Because similarly, part of the appeal of converting it for storage/shelter use is also that it's very stable in temperature.
This isn't really a reply and more of a restatement; but given the variety of incentives of using things underground along with difficulties/expense in excavating, and that the severity of issues with doing so are contextual, even if it doesn't work in most circumstances there's enough potential incentive for repurposing to be considered, such that sealing it in a way that impedes future repurposing is still dumb even if an immediate use doesn't seem practical. Only in an area where the subsidence of the mine is an issue would it seem wise. Although, in retrospect they probably just seal the entrance most of the time, which would be boring but not worthy of the same distaste.
Also your pic reminded me of hearing about how some ant's construct their hills in ways to deal with flooding, would you by chance know of any interesting information sources related to them or other crafty bugs?