Observations on hillslopes erosion in tower karst topography of Belize, 1975, Mcdonald Roy Charles,

Hydrochemistry, hydrology and morphology of the Caves Branch karst, Belize. Mcmaster Univ. PhD thesis, 1982, Miller O. A.

Hydrology and hydrochemistry of the Caves Branch karst, Belize, 1983, Miller T. ,

A large conduit spring issuing from Cretaceous limestones in Belize, Central America, displays a positive relation of discharge to solute concentration. Beneath a maturely-dissected cockpit karst, the hydrologic system combines allogenic surface water from an invasion polje with authigenic karst water. Dynamic mixing produces three climatically-induced discharge phases: baseflow, normal, and high-stage flow. Each has an associated hydrochemical regime, predominantly diffuse-flow karst water. An areal solute concentration of ~80 mg l-1 Ca2 is estimated, with a “denudation rate” of 100 mm per 1000 yr

Observations of Mayan Cave Archaeology in Belize, 1990, Roberts C. A.

British Expedition to Belize, 1991 : Below Belize 91, 1992, Williams N.

RESOURCE USE IN THE TROPICAL KARSTLANDS OF CENTRAL BELIZE, 1993, Day M,

Rural tropical ecosystems are subject to many traditional land uses that employ the indigenous karst resources: rock, water, soil, vegetation, and wildlife. Individual resource pressures often arc subtle, but their combined impact can precipitate instability in the tropical karst environment, potentially resulting in disruption of food, water, and fuel supplies. The karst of central Belize was used intensively for some six centuries by Maya farmers. but between the 10th and 19th centuries AD most of it reverted to secondary forest. Commercial logging dominated the 19th and early 20th centuries, followed by the expansion of subsistence and commercial agriculture after 1945. In the 1980s resource use has accelerated as population and other pressures increase. Much karst remains forested, but there is increasing clearance for agricultural uses, particularly for citrus cultivation and small-scale mixed agriculture. Soil depletion has begun to occur, water resources are increasingly taxed, and some wildlife is threatened by habitat destruction and increased hunting. Lime production for the citrus industry has promoted quarrying, water extraction, and fuelwood use. Environmental stresses currently do not exceed the threshold of instability, but the rapidly developing rural economy warrants careful monitoring of resource pressures

Excavations in Buried Cave Deposits: Implications for Interpretation, 1996, Brady, J. E. , Scott, A.

Karst areas in Belize are coming under increasing pressure from agriculture and other commerce. Opportunely protected karst areas are incorporated within forest reserves, national parks, wildlife sanctuaries, nature reserves, archaeological reserves, private conservation and management areas, and special development areas. The total area of karst afforded nominal protection is about 3400 km², or about 68% of the total. Incorporating special development areas, the protected karst area is about 4300 km², or 86% of the total. Even the more conservative percentage is unparalleled in Central America and the Caribbean, and perhaps the world. Significant protected karst areas include the Chiquibul, Blue Hole and Five Blues Lake national parks, the Bladen, Aquas Turbias and Tapir Mountain nature reserves, the Monkey Bay Wildlife Sanctuary, the Rio Bravo Conservation and Management Area, and the Caracol, Xunantunich, Cahal Pech and El Pilar archaeological reserves. Extensive karst areas are located within the Vaca, Columbia River, Sibun, and Manatee forest reserves. The Manatee and Cayo West special development areas have considerable karstic components.

Application of Thermography of Karst Hydrology, 1996, Campbell C. W. Abd El Latif M. , Foster Jo. W.

Nearly 3000 km² of Belize display well-developed karst that occurs dominantly on Cretaceous limestones distributed on the periphery of the Maya Mountains. Other exposed carbonates in Belize, sharing the same tropical climate and heavy rainfall, are not karsted. The Mayas represent a horst structure raised by movement of the Caribbean-North American plate boundary. In excess of 150 km of large cave passage has been mapped, often exhibiting multi-level development likely related to this regional tectonic motion. Passages are dominantly trunk conduits solutionally bored through the lower-lying limestones by integrated allogenic streams from the Mayas. Other large, independent caves and collapse chambers are also known. Limited U-series dating of speleothem gives minimum ages of 176 KaBP for cave development. The karst surfaces are dominated by disaggregated remnants of previous fluvial networks, but also contain spectacular collapse dolines. The karst aquifers appear to be solutionally “open” systems of relatively high porosity (>1%). Boosting of carbon dioxide levels above surface soil CO2 occurs within aquifers, perhaps due to decay of washed-in vegetation. Mean solutional erosion is estimated at 0.10-0.13 m/Ka for these karsts.

Biology of the Caves at Sinkhole Flat, Eddy County, New Mexico, 1996, Cokendolpher, J. C. , Polyak, V. J.

Quantification of limestone petrology and structure in a 25 km² section of the northern Vaca Plateau, Belize, facilitated development of a model of speleogenesis and evolution of area caves and the karst landscape. The limestones in the study area are mostly depositional breccias developed between the mid-Cretaceous and mid-Tertiary adjacent to the emergent Maya Mountain Fault Block. Micritic and some fossiliferous-pelletic lithoclasts of the Cretaceous Campur Formation are cemented by sparite which formed in a shallow-sea high energy environment adjacent to the emergent area. Planes of structural weakness developed in the Campur Limestone have similar orientations to contemporary karst landform features including solution valleys, the long-axis of depressions, and cave passages. This correspondence suggests an important structural control on the formation and evolution of area caves and the karst landscape. Base level modification by way of valley incision and the development of secondary permeability enhanced interfluve development, causing caves to be truncated along valley sides and abandoned as active flow routes. The dry valleys and stair-step cave profiles indicate that the lowering of base level through time was interspersed with stable periods when horizontal cave passages were excavated.

Conservation of Karst in Belize, 1996, Day, M.

Karst areas in Belize are coming under increasing pressure from agriculture and other commerce. Opportunely protected karst areas are incorporated within forest reserves, national parks, wildlife sanctuaries, nature reserves, archaeological reserves, private conservation and management areas, and special development areas. The total area of karst afforded nominal protection is about 3400 km², or about 68% of the total. Incorporating special development areas, the protected karst area is about 4300 km², or 86% of the total. Even the more conservative percentage is unparalleled in Central America and the Caribbean, and perhaps the world. Significant protected karst areas include the Chiquibul, Blue Hole and Five Blues Lake national parks, the Bladen, Aquas Turbias and Tapir Mountain nature reserves, the Monkey Bay Wildlife Sanctuary, the Rio Bravo Conservation and Management Area, and the Caracol, Xunantunich, Cahal Pech and El Pilar archaeological reserves. Extensive karst areas are located within the Vaca, Columbia River, Sibun, and Manatee forest reserves. The Manatee and Cayo West special development areas have considerable karstic components.

Las Ruinas Cave, Cerro Rabon, Oaxaca, Mexico: A Mazatec Postclassic Funerary and Ritual Site, 1996, Hapka, R. , Rouvinez, F.

Bibliography, Belizean Caving

The Value of Small Expeditions to Regional Cave Research: A Reconnaissance to the Cayo District of Belize, 1996, Hollings, P.

in the middle Cretaceous Tamaulipas and overlying Tamabra Formations. The 400 m thick sequence of

Reply to Comment of Extremely Low Frequency Emissions in Bat Caves, 1996, Koemel, W. C.

Cave Archaeology of Belize, 1996, Mcnatt, L.

Bats produce very low frequency (VLF) radio pulses and display magnetic qualities. Extremely low frequency

Geologic and Hydrologic Controls on Karst and Cave Development in Belize, 1996, Miller, T. E.

Nine new species and two new subspecies of the genus Pseudosinella are described from caves in Indiana, Kentucky, North Carolina and Virginia. Three new species of the genus Oncopodura are described from caves in Oregon, Texas and Virginia. The Virginia species is the first cave species of the latter genus to be found east of western Illinois.