Deprecated: Function get_magic_quotes_gpc() is deprecated in /home/isthin5/public_html/addon-domains/speleogenesis.info/template/toolbar_left.php on line 5
Hello everyone!
I pleased to invite you to the official site of Central Asian Karstic-Speleological commission ("Kaspeko")
There, we regularly publish reports about our expeditions, articles and reports on speleotopics, lecture course for instructors, photos etc. ...
Dear Colleagues, This is to draw your attention to several recent publications added to KarstBase, relevant to hypogenic karst/speleogenesis: Corrosion of limestone tablets in sulfidic ground-water: measurements and speleogenetic implications Galdenzi,
A recent publication of Spanish researchers describes the biology of Krubera Cave, including the deepest terrestrial animal ever found:
Jordana, Rafael; Baquero, Enrique; Reboleira, Sofía and Sendra, Alberto. ...
Exhibition dedicated to caves is taking place in the Vienna Natural History Museum
The exhibition at the Natural History Museum presents the surprising variety of caves and cave formations such as stalactites and various crystals. ...
Did you know?
That quiet reach is the reach of a river with no features disturbing the flow pattern [16].?
Deprecated: Function get_magic_quotes_gpc() is deprecated in /home/isthin5/public_html/addon-domains/speleogenesis.info/template/toolbar_right.php on line 7
Search KARSTBASE:
KarstBase a bibliography database in karst and cave science.
Featured articles from Cave & Karst Science Journals
Mullamullang Cave N37 is the longest and most complex cave on the Nullarbor Plain, Southern Australia. Unlike the other caves, it possesses extensive levels of phreatic solution tube passages which permit stronger inferences to be made on the development of the collapse passages constituting the bulk of Mullamullang Cave and other deep Nullarbor caves. These passages have been formed by collapse through overlying belts of solution tube networks along an elongated zone of cavitation in the limestone. Massive breakdown was probably initiated at depth within the zone, at least 50 feet below the present watertable level. Upward stoping of the collapse would have been facilitated by the higher network levels in the zone, such as the Ezam and Easter Extension. Channelling of groundwater flow under the Plain is suggested by the belt-like nature of the networks. An epiphreatic origin is proposed for the network levels though convincing morphological evidence is wanting. Eustatic changes in sea level have been of fundamental importance in the development of the multiple levels. Wetter periods in the past were probably important as little development is taking place under present-day dry conditions. Correlation of wetter periods with Pleistocene glacials would help explain the development of huge collapse passages, but such correlatien cannot be assumed on present evidence. Massive collapse and doline formation were followed by subaerial weathering and vadose activity which modified the cave - especially near the entrance. Correlation of levels in Mullamullang with those in other Nullarbor deep caves is attempted. However, Mullamullang Cave is unique probably due to the lithology of the Abrakurrie Limestone in which it is developed.
A preliminary inquiry to the extent and boundaries of subterranean waterways within the Mystery Cave System was explored. Rhodamine WT dye in 500 ml quantities was used in fluormetry determinations of surface flow to ground water basins. A Turner Model 111 fluorometer was utilized for detection purposes powered by a portable 12 volt, 220 amp hour battery-inverter system. It was shown that water entered underground passageways through sinkholes or highly creviced limestone/dolomite rock strata and reappeared several kilometres downstream. The outflow appears in the form of "springs". The possibility exists that contaminated surface water may seep through the soil for long distances. It is obvious there is acute danger of underground contamination of municipal and private water supplies situated in this area.
A preliminary inquiry to the extent and boundaries of subterranean waterways within the Mystery Cave System was explored. Rhodamine WT dye in 500 ml quantities was used in fluormetry determinations of surface flow to ground water basins. A Turner Model 111 fluorometer was utilized for detection purposes powered by a portable 12 volt, 220 amp hour battery-inverter system. It was shown that water entered underground passageways through sinkholes or highly creviced limestone/dolomite rock strata and reappeared several kilometres downstream. The outflow appears in the form of "springs". The possibility exists that contaminated surface water may seep through the soil for long distances. It is obvious there is acute danger of underground contamination of municipal and private water supplies situated in this area.
Whereas the North Coast Tertiary Limestones of Puerto Rico are classic karst locales, their southern counterparts are almost devoid of karst development. The El Convento Cave-Spring System is the most prominent feature of the only large scale karst area developed on the South Coast Tertiary limestones. The karst topography is localized on the middle Juana Diaz Formation, which is a reef facies limestone, apparently because of the high density and low permeability of this zone as compared to the surrounding chalks and marls. In the El Convento System a sinking ephemeral stream combines with the flow from two perennial springs inside the cave. The surface drainage has been pirated from the Rio Tallaboa to the east into El Convento's subterranean course. The climate is generally semi-arid with 125-150 cm of rain falling principally as short, intense showers during Sept., Oct., and Nov. Sinking flood waters are absorbed by a small sinkhole and appear two to three hours later in the cave. In the dry season this input is absent. The two springs within the cave have a combined inflow to the system of 1.0 m3/min at low flow but half of this leaks back to the groundwater before it reaches the resurgence. The spring waters are saturated with CaCO3 and high in CO2 (26.4 ppm). As the water flows through the open cave it first becomes supersaturated by losing CO2 and then trends back toward saturation by precipitating CaCO3.
Projected road improvements in south Hampshire included plans to dispose of surface drainage into soakaways to be sited near an area of swallow holes in the Chalk. An experiment was undertaken to establish if there was a direct connection between the swallow holes, located near the junction of the Chalk and the Lower Tertiary strata, and major springs used for water supply in the Havant area. As the swallow holes are dry except in periods of storm rainfall a tracer, the fluorescent dye Rhodamine WT, was injected together with a large volume of water into one of the swallow holes. Water samples were collected from the springs at Havant and analysed for Rhodamine WT using a Turner fluorometer. The tracer was found at both sets of springs sampled and the straight line velocity from input point to spring was in excess of 2 km per day. Computations based on the concentration of dye recovered from the springs show that in the event of a tanker spillage within the proposed drainage scheme severe contamination would be expected to occur at the springs. The experiment and the results obtained make it clear that extreme caution should be exercised to avoid contamination of fissure-flow within the Chalk aquifer
The Republic of Mexico has an ambitious and effective national water program. The Secretaria de Recursos Hidraulicos (SRH), whose director has cabinet rank in the federal government, is one of the most professionally distinguished government agencies of its kind in the Americas. Resources for the Future, Inc., has been assisting the World Bank with a water planning study which the Bank is undertaking jointly with the Mexican government. The study is intended to provide guidelines for the development of government policies and projects designed to bring about the most efficient use of Mexico's water resources. However, to date, their study has not been directed toward the growing problems of the northern Yucataan Peninsula which are discussed here.LeGrand (13) suggested that man has inherited a harsh environment in carbonate terranes. In the case of the northern Yucatan Peninsula, the physical environment creates a set of hydrogeologic constraints to future economic and social development. Planning for intermediate and long-range land use on the peninsula must be related directly to the limited and fragile groundwater source. Continued contamination will make future aquifer management a difficult challenge for federal, state, and territorial agencies. We conclude that any strategy for long-range land use in the study area should include establishment of a regional aquifermonitoring network for long-term measurements of key hydrogeologic parameters, including precipitation, evapotranspiration, water table elevations, and water quality. Information from this network would flow into a central facility for storage, interpretation, and analysis. At present the SRH is collecting some of these data. Expansion of the existing program to provide sound information for regional planning will greatly benefit present as well as future generations. If such a program is implemented, it will represent a model for regional planning in other tropical and subtropical karstic terrains
In the alluvial ground of the river Fulda valley and in the diluvial terrace of the river Weser assortments of tubes of various lengths were sunk into sandy and gravely underground to bring to light groundwater of different depths. The installation of these groundwater pump stations was effectuated by two different methods: 1. with the aid of an apparatus for bringing down bore-holes, 2.by ramming in the pump tubes with the aid of a pneumatic hammer. The first biological and chemical investigations in these subterranean water research stations indicated that the vertical distribution of groundwater organisms and chemical substances in special cases may depend on the nature of subterranean water currents and the infiltration of polluted water into the sandy and gravely underground of valleys and terraces.