Proceedings of VIII European Symposium of Exploration Speleology

Proceedings of VIII European Symposium of Exploration Speleology (Marbella 2011, Spain)

You can download a copy in any of the following formats: PDF (35.0 M) EPUB Kindle Daisy Full Text (868.0 K) DjVu (34.7 M)

Source: The Archive

Remote island caves reveal clues to world's climate

A cave on the remote South Pacific island of Niue.

On the remote South Pacific island of Niue, a new kind of weather reporting is taking shape far below the clouds — clues found deep in caves on the island.

Paul Aharon, a geologist at the University of Alabama, started coming to do fieldwork on the island, which lies about 1,500 miles (2,400 kilometers) northeast of New Zealand, in 1997 for a completely different project. "I was working on a project examining sediment cores, trying to reconstruct sea level variation over the past 20 million years. That's when I noticed the caves," Aharon told OurAmazingPlanet.

Aharon recognized the potential of stalagmites in the caves to provide clues on Earth's past climate. Stalagmites form slowly over thousands of years, as calcium, carbon and oxygen from water slowly dripping through the soil and rock above the cave builds up into the cone-shaped rocks seen on the cave floor. "They're like a layer cake," Aharon said, "building layers one on top of other."

Ebook: Les Abîmes by E.A. Martel (Fr)

Édouard-Alfred Martel, the 'father of modern speleology', was a world pioneer of cave exploration, study, and documentation.

Martel explored thousands of caves in his native France and many other countries, popularized the pursuit of cave exploration, introduced the concept of speleology as a distinct area of study, maintained an extensive archive, and in 1895 founded the Société de Spéléologie, the first organization devoted to cave science in the world.

Martel wrote many books and articles about speleology, hydrology and geology, of which Les Abîmes is one of the most famous.

Continue reading to download your copy of this book in which he describes his underground explorations in France, Belgium, Austria and Greece. (Note: It's the original book in French, no translation!)

New art installation introduces international visitors to Florida’s natural springs and caves

International visitors arriving through Orlando International Airport’s Airside 1 concourse now can get the impression that the “Orlando experience” is something more than theme parks, area beaches and hotels.

The airport has installed a multiple-work art display in the international arrivals corridors featuring paintings, pictures, poems, maps, and other media depicting the natural springs found throughout Central Florida. Travelers passing through the corridors encounter artworks offering hundreds of images of the springs, the caves that underlie them, and the water, flora and fauna ranging from crayfish and turtles to manatees and gar.

“The idea is that the “Orlando experience” really is all about the springs and the water here,” said painter Margaret Ross Tolbert, the principal artist, shown above with one of her works, “Orlando Springs.”

The images, maps and poems are drawn from a number of area springs, including Wekiva, Volusia Blue, Silver, Juniper and Silver Glen.

The installations also feature work by graphics artist Jarrod Ryhal, who was Tolbert’s principal partner in the project, and others including internationally-famed springs cave photographer Wes Skiles, who died last year. Other contributors include Bill Belleville, Jim Brown, Bill Foote, Eric Hutcheson, Mark Long, Nancy Morris, Tom Morris and Georgia Shemitz.

Tolbert said she hopes international travelers introduced to the springs and caves through the art will seek out the experience for themselves, or at least learn more about them.

“They need protection, and they really need our attention in that respect,” she said.

Source: Orlando Sentinel

Cueva Molino Dive video

Video from Cueva Molino with Artur Kozlowski, Arthur Diamond, Simon Cornhill, Juan Corrin and others.
Shown at Hidden Earth last weekend as part of Chris Jewell's lecture.

'Cold-Prep' Camp Food: Instant Meal, No Hot Water Required

The quest for camping food that is simple to make just moved a notch. With its new Chicken Salad product, Mountain House offers campers and backpackers a freeze-dried meal that requires nothing more than cold water and a short wait.

Until now, most all freeze-dried food companies recommended hot or boiling water for the reconstitution of “instant” camp food. But with its Chicken Salad product, which costs $6.50 a pack, Mountain House has formulated a mixture that necessitates no heat — add a small dose of cold water to the powdery mix and stir; let it sit for about 10 minutes; presto!, your meal is ready to eat.


It is for sale at outdoor stores like REI and on the Mountain House web site. The company uses white chicken meat and a mix of ingredients including cranberries, pumpkin seeds, corn starch, onion bits, vinegar, chives, and sugar. The result is a chicken salad that’s good, though not delicious.

When you’re on the move and not wanting to stop and fire up a stove, the Chicken Salad mix is a good alternative. With about 500 calories per pack, the chicken is enough to split between two adults.

Source: Gear Junkie

Cave diving: Introduction to Guideline procedures (ebook)

Free cave diving ebook

Introduction to Guideline procedures by Fred Devos, Chris Le Maillot and Daniel Riordan:

• Part 1: Equipment
• Part2: Methods
• Part3: Navigation

Philippines caving event

9th Spelunking in Calbiga Caves
Langun-Gobinbob Caves
Calbiga,Samar
October 28-30, 2011

"3 DAYS CAVING EXPLORATIONS & 2 NIGHTS INSIDE THE CAVES"

More details can be found on: www.samarcaves.multiply.com

Discover the exotic Samar island of the Philippines

Some nice 3D images of Chauvet

Wind Cave to unveil plaque, plant trees on National Public Lands Day Sept. 24

Wind Cave maintenance employees, from left,
Jeff Simmons, Steve Schrempp, Mike Carder,
and the JK Crane Service operator position
the boulder to be used to hold the plaque.
NPS Photo by Toni Gould

The Friends of Wind Cave National Park and park employees will be busy Sept. 24, National Public Lands Day, replanting trees and unveiling a bronze memorial plaque recognizing Stephen Mather, the first director of the National Park Service. Free cave tours will also be offered that day.

After Mather's death in 1930, the Park Service erected bronze plaques in the 27 national parks and 33 national monuments existing at the time. Wind Cave's plaque hung for many years in the breezeway of the visitor center, but when construction started on remodeling the building in 1979, the plaque was put into storage.

"After the Ken Burns series on The National Parks, we began receiving calls from people asking what happened to our Mather Plaque," said park superintendent Vidal Davila. "We decided it was time to bring it out of storage to honor this man who did so much for the country. The plaque will be installed on a boulder next to the visitor center."

Talk: Frontiers of Diving

Thurs 3rd Nov 2011 MacNeill Theatre (Hamilton building), Trinity College Dublin @ 7.30pm

Jim Warny, a cave diver originally from Belgium, will be making a tribute to our departed friend Artur Kozlowski and describing his achievements in cave exploration in Ireland. Jim was a good friend and co-diver of Artur's, and dived with him in their record traverse of the caves in the Gort lowlands of Galway.

Artur was looking forward to coming back to Trinity where he spoke to us in 2009, sharing his love of exploration, and making many friends. So it was with great shock and sadness that we heard the news that Artur did not return from his last dive.

Many tributes have been paid, both by those that knew Artur well, and by many more who followed his achievements in pioneering cave diving in Ireland. Tributes can be read on the Irish technical diving forum, where Artur was a frequent and well-loved contributor, and on the website of the Speleological Union of Ireland and Irish Cave Rescue organisation here.

Our thoughts are with his family and friends.

More info: http://dusac.org/talks#Artur_Kozlowski_RIP

There is an archive of Artur's reports at Technical Diving

News via UK Caving.

Huge Millipedes, Old Crayfish Show Weird Evolution of Cave Life

A drawing of a crayfish by Andrew Recher.
Above ground, most crayfish live for only three years;
cave-adapted crayfish can live for 80 years.

Avid cavers aside, most humans tend to think of caves as dark, damp and dangerous. But to a host of animals, caves are actually quite hospitable.

Though some cave denizens arrive accidentally, perhaps swept underground by water flowing into a sinkhole or through a crack in a creek bed, most seek out caves as protective havens from the elements and predators; some have evolved over millennia to exploit a previously unoccupied niche.

That’s not to say the living is easy. It’s not. Round-the- clock darkness and a scarcity of food make living in caves challenging.

So how do cave-dwellers survive below ground in Carlsbad Caverns,Jewel Cave, Mammoth Cave, Wind Cave and some 15 other national-park units?

Daily and seasonally, they employ a host of behavioral strategies. And on the Darwinian clock, they adapt to their subterranean environment, while random mutations alter their bodies and physical abilities and even extend their lifespan, making caves the equivalent of underground Galapagos Islands -- living laboratories of evolution.

Cave biologists spotlight the most obvious adaptations by distinguishing among three types of cave animals: Troglobites (or troglobionts) like tiny cavefish dwell in caves and nowhere else; troglophiles may live in caves most of the time or in similar environments outside; trogloxenes spend time inside and outside caves.

Earth's open Heart

Breathable ‘Space Blanket’ Bivy

Breathable ‘Space Blanket’ Bivy — Touted as the first “emergency reflective shelter with breathability,” the SOL Escape Bivvy from Adventure Medical Kits is a lightweight bivy bag made out of a crinkly reflective material (a “vacuum-metalized spun-bonded olefin,” according to the company).

 

The traditional AMK’s “space blanket” bivy sacks are lightweight and body-heat-reflective, though always clammy; water condenses inside the original design. But with this new bag, AMK claims condensation can escape, though the exterior is rain-, snow- and wind-resistant.

The SOL Escape Bivvy weighs about 280g and packs up to about the size of a Nalgene bottle. It has a hood and a drawstring opening to seal it shut. The bag will sell for $50 in 2012 when the company ships to stores.

Spectacular sixth- century cave temples resurrected through digital technology in China

The sixth- century cave temples of Xiangtangshan (meaning "Mountain of Echoing Halls") in China's Hebei Province, have been resurrected to their original appearance through intensive research and cutting-edge digital technology.

An experts' international team first photographed and scanned the caves' damaged interiors and subsequently restored the appearance of the sculptures and statues through advanced imaging technology technique.

Their work was showcased in a special exhibit called "Echoes of the Past" at the University of Chicago Smart Museum and the Smithsonian's Sackler Gallery in Washington, D.C.

"This exhibition is the culmination of an imaginative application of digital technology, years of scholarship and an unprecedented collaboration with Chinese art historians and archaeologists," said Freer and Sackler galleries' Associate director and curator of ancient Chinese art, Keith Wilson.

"Museum visitors will have a rare opportunity to experience these beautiful sculptures within their original historical, religious and social contexts. The format offers a new approach to understanding and interpreting damaged cultural sites", he added.

The cave temples were the cultural achievement of the Northern Qi dynasty, which was a part of the Northern Dynasties period (420-589), when northern China was ruled by the non-Chinese Xianbei.

Cave rescue action from Kita Gaćešina

After conducting a speleological research on July 16th and 17th 2011, team of cavers made a bivouac in cave system Kita Gaćešina at -300 m of depth. Speleological research similar to many others previously performed in Kita Gaćešina now devolved into a serious situation when the first cavers began their preparation for surfacing at approximately 10:00 hrs. During their usual dressing, sorting of things and putting on the equipment, the cavers noticed that Tomislav did not respond. He began twitching, his jaw stiffened ... the situation was alarming.

On Sunday, July 17th at 13:03 hrs Alen Kirin exited the pit and informed Darko Baksić, Head of the Cave-Rescue Commission of the Croatian Mountain Rescue Service that Tomislav G. fell into a hypoglycaemic coma during his sleep at bivouac on -300 m of depth.

Currently, there were 12 more cavers in the pit. Some of them began exiting. Ana Baksić, a member of the Croatian Mountain Rescue Service, was present in the bivouac and she took care of the injured Tomislav.

At this moment organisation of the rescue operation started. Head of the Croatian Mountain Rescue Service, Vinko Prizmić was informed of the accident. Dinko Novosel received the task of mobilizing Croatian Mountain Rescue Service physicians that can descend to such depths and to mobilize rescuers according to their Mountain Rescue Service stations. Luka Mudronja prepared rescue equipment in Cave-Rescue Commission’s equipment storage. Teo Barisić prepared drawings of Kita Gaćešina and organized a team to set up phone lines in the pit. At the same time another team was organised in order to set up phone lines along with three additional teams to extend the narrow passages.

New rules - EuroSpeleo Projects funding

Dear Caver Friends, 

From exploration expeditions to scientific conferences, from trainings to didactic or artistic projects, with more than 50 European projects granted since 2007, and 10 to 15 new requests every year, the FSE EuroSpeleo Projects have shown their great interest to bring together the European cavers from all over Europe to develop creative and dynamic new Speleological projects.

This email to inform you that the EuroSpeleo Projects (ESP) funding rules have evolved in order to adapt gradually the funding grant amount to the project size and to open it to the projects that count only 4 Europan countries (against 5 minimum previously). The projects made with FEALC or Africa-Middle-East countries are still with a minimum of 3 countries.

All the changes are summurized in the points 3 and 4 of the ESP request form available here : http://eurospeleo.org/main6/eurospeleo-projects/eurospeleo-projects-funding-application-form-v0-5.rtf The request must be sent to contact@eurospeleo.org at least 4 months before the begining of the project. After that delay, the requests are not valid.

We want to take this opportunity to warmly thank the 3 European FSE Official Partners (Beal’s rope, Aventure Verticale’s gear and Scurion’s Lamps) for all the support they bring to each ESP projects all along the year (500m rope, 500 euros gear and 1 Power-lamp over the 400 euros minimum FSE grant). You can visit their websites indicated hereunder.

Should you have any further questions on ESP, please let know at contact@eurospeleo.org , The FSE stand will be in Marbella next weekend (23-25 Sept), See you there and good luck for your future EuroSpeleo Projects organisation !

Flotation For Your GoPro

In the quest to remain the “world’s most versatile HD camera,” GoPro this week unveiled an accessory called the “Floaty Backdoor.” 

It is an attachment for GoPro’s popular line of waterproof helmet cams that acts as a mini life jacket. Until now, if your GoPro somehow became detached from your surfboard, kayak, water skis, etc., you could expect it to sink. But with this $14.99 add-on your camera will float — a simple but much needed upgrade!

Gouffre Berger, Petzl team follows in the footsteps of Fernand Petzl

From August 1-6, 2011, climbers and alpinists from Team Petzl were introduced to caving in the Gouffre Berger cave, which descends to -1100m. Team Petzl member and organizer of the expedition, François Lombard, tells the story.

"Caving has a long history for Petzl. In the 1950s, Fernand Petzl played a very important role in opening numerous caves in the Vercors region of France, designing and producing equipment that enabled him to make these incredible discoveries. In 1955, he was a part of the legendary team that first reached a record breaking -1000 meters at Gouffre Berger.

To retrace his steps, Phil Bence, an active caver and member of Team Petzl, along with Florence Guillot and Guillaume Capgras and in collaboration with their club from France's Ariège region, SSAPO Ariège, asked us to organize a "Team Petzl meeting at the Gouffre Berger.

2012 Speleo Projects Caving Calendar

The 2012 Speleo Projects Caving Calendars have just arrived.

Speleo Projects features a selection of wild and touristic caves from around the world.

The monthly pages provide a glimpse into the caves of China, France, Germany, Morocco, Spain, the United States, and Venezuela.

Bonus: 24 Postcards inside!

Available from the NSS bookstore for $15.95

Cave diving in Belgium: Abime de Nettine

A training dive of the Flemish Cave dive group in the Abime de Nettine

.

Ice Caves: The cryosphere special issue

• Rapid changes of the ice mass configuration in the dynamic Diablotins ice cave – Fribourg Prealps, Switzerland  S. Morard, M. Bochud, and R. Delaloye

• Cryogenic and non-cryogenic pool calcites indicating permafrost and non-permafrost periods: a case study from the Herbstlabyrinth-Advent Cave system (Germany) D. K. Richter, P. Meissner, A. Immenhauser, U. Schulte, and I. Dorsten

• Ice genesis and its long-term mass balance and dynamics in Scărişoara Ice Cave, Romania  A. Perşoiu and A. Pazdur

• First investigations of an ice core from Eisriesenwelt cave (Austria)  B. May, C. Spötl, D. Wagenbach, Y. Dublyansky, and J. Liebl

• The mass and energy balance of ice within the Eisriesenwelt cave, Austria  F. Obleitner and C. Spötl

• Isotope hydrological studies of the perennial ice deposit of Saarhalle, Mammuthöhle, Dachstein Mts, Austria Z. Kern, I. Fórizs, R. Pavuza, M. Molnár, and B. Nagy

• Imaging the structure of cave ice by ground-penetrating radar  H. Hausmann and M. Behm

• Glaciochemical investigations of the ice deposit of Vukušić Ice Cave, Velebit Mountain, Croatia  Z. Kern, E. Széles, N. Horvatinčić, I. Fórizs, N. Bočić, and B. Nagy

• Linkage of cave-ice changes to weather patterns inside and outside the cave Eisriesenwelt (Tennengebirge, Austria) W. Schöner, G. Weyss, and E. Mursch-Radlgruber

Rockfall in Shnnon Cave (IE)

Please be aware that there has been major movement in Shannon cave which appears to affect at least 300 m of cave. From the re-birth canal right down to at least the old entrance large rock fall has been noted. It is not known what has caused this movement though it appears it is not flooding related (a number of stal were broken in fossil parts of the cave). Large fractures have also been spotted in parts of the walls.

It is advisable that people stay out of Shannon cave until a proper assessment is made.

Source: Caving.ie

Cave expert Thomas C. Barr to be celebrated Sept. 17

Tom Barr Legacy honored by celebration event called Barraroo hosted by Nashville Grotto and Cumberland Caverns.

Tom Barr was a legend in his time and September 2011 would have celebrated 80 years of an astonishing life as a renowned cave biologist, university professor, and a gifted scientist.

To celebrate his life Nashville Grotto is hosting Barraroo at Cumberland Caverns on September 17, 2011.

Barraroo, named after Tom Barr to include some of Mr. Barr’s humor, will begin at 4:00 in the gift shop at Cumberland Caverns. Attendee’s will be lead down to the cave entrance at 4:30 and food will be served at 5:00.

A fun night filled with guest speakers who knew Tom personally, live music to honor Mr. Barr’s love for the mandolin and violin and the evening will end with a DVD capturing moments of his life and his book Caves of Tennessee.

You can find more information about Barraroo at: http://www.barraroo.com, http://www.nashvillegrotto.org or http://www.cumberlandcaverns.com.

Tickets are $25.00 which will include, live music, display’s of Tom Barr’s artifacts from his work and life, meal, presentation with speakers and DVD movie about Tom Barr and his book Caves of Tennessee.

Copies of the DVD and t-shirts will be available to purchase the night of the event. Barrarroo event can be found at Cumberland Caverns, September 17, 2011 starting at 4:00; tickets are available by calling Cumberland Caverns at: 931-668-4396 or online at: http://www.barraroo.com Tickets to include meal on sale until September 12, 2011, tickets without meal available up until September 16, 2011.

British rescue team recovers body of missing cave diver

Six days after Polish cave diver Artur Kozlowski was reported missing in a south Galway cave, a British rescue team brought his body to the surface at the weekend.

The highly risky and challenging operation concluded just before 5pm on Saturday, when the rescue team led by Coventry firefighter Rick Stanton and John Volanthen completed the last of a series of recovery dives at Pollonora in Kiltartan.

Mr Kozlowski’s body was taken for a postmortem yesterday at University Hospital Galway.

The team of three British experts, working with the Irish Cave Rescue Organisation and the Garda, had estimated last Friday that the slow and painstaking recovery could take several more days due to siltation in the cave system.

At that stage, Mr Kozlowski’s body had been taken halfway through the 800m (2,600ft) cavern.

Conditions had improved sufficiently on Saturday for a full recovery through the last 400m, according to Supt Pat Murray of Gort Garda station, who was supervising the effort on behalf of the Garda.“Artur’s life was devoted to cave diving. He died pursuing his dreams, exploring to the limits.”

Source: Irish Times

Caverns of western New York run dark, deep

 The call of 19th-century hucksters beckoning to tourists still echoes in these hills where Howe Caverns and Secret Caverns yawn below green pastures. But despite the trail of billboards and some hokey trappings, the caverns are natural wonders. Although not physically connected, they lie within a mile of each other in this pastoral region 44 miles west of Albany. Both have extraordinary water features. And both were discovered by cows.

This is no coincidence. In the humid summers of central New York, dairy cows, long the economic mainstay of the region, naturally roam their pastures seeking relief from the heat. Caves, insulated by layers of soil and rock, maintain a constant, year-round temperature - in this case, between 52 and 60 degrees. Sooner or later, farmers were bound to notice cows huddled around outcrops of ledge on hot days, because the ledges were exhaling chilly air.

The Buddhist Cave Temples of Xiangtangshan

This exhibition represents the culmination of a six-year project that began in 2004 at the Center for the Art of East Asia at the University of Chicago. The project’s aim was to research and “reconstruct” Xiangtangshan, a series of six-century Buddhist cave temples hollowed out from the living rock in a mountainous region in northeast China. Although they survive to the present day, the temple interiors were severely damaged in the early twentieth century when large numbers of stone figures and fragments were removed and offered for sale on the international art market. Using advanced technology in conjunction with straightforward research, the team studied the history of these grotto temples and investigated their subsequent despoliation in an effort to reconstruct the original appearance of the caves’ interiors. A focal point of the exhibition is the digital recreation of one of the largest cave temples of Xiangtangshan, by which visitors can better understand the architectural setting in its original context. The results of these efforts form the basis of this exhibition.

Xiangtangshan, or the “Mountain of Echoing Halls,” is a Buddhist devotional site created during the brief Northern Qi dynasty (550-577). Carved into the mountains in the southern Hebei province of Northeastern China, Xiangtangshan originally comprised a total of eleven man-made caves divided between two main locations, Bei Xiangtangshan and Nan Xiangtangshan.

Australopithecus sediba may be an ancestor of modern humans

The cranium of the juvenile male Australopithecus sediba.

Researchers say two skeletons found in a cave in South Africa may belong to a species that was the direct ancestor of Homo erectus, and hence modern humans

It was a traumatic and lingering death. The adult female and young male probably fell through a fissure in a cave roof and remained alive for days or weeks with little or no food before finally meeting their end. The pair – possibly a mother and her son – were then washed by a rainstorm into an underground pool where they gradually solidified into rock.

Their unusual demise nearly 2m years ago, and the preservation of most of their fossilised skeletons, has given scientists a unique glimpse of what kind of creature they were. The researchers who have studied them in detail believe they may be direct ancestors of modern humans.

Spelunker HD PS3 game

 

Tozai Games Company launched the game Spelunker HD to the European and PlayStation Network.

The game is an enhanced version of the older game created by Tim Martin "Spelunker" and released in 1983. The new version contains 3D graphics, no more than 100 new levels and multiplayer in both competitive and cooperative manner for up to six players.

In Spelunker HD players explore the labyrinthic levels in search of ancient statues. Throughout the game you can use old mining equipment to help you fullfilling the different quests. You will meet with various creatures that have to be beaten to reach the end game.

For more information about Spelunker HD, including complete history of the game Spelunker visit www.spelunker-hd.com

Hills couple makes hall of fame

Citing the verbage on one of his favorite spelunker T-shirts, which proclaims, “No end in sight,” pioneering caver and climber Herb Conn said that statement pretty much sums up he and his wife Jan Conn's 22-year history spent immersed in the sport.

“And it still is that way,” Herb said.

This time, instead of going down in a cave, the duo is going down in history. The pioneering spelunkers, from Custer, who in their 22-year caving careers singlehandedly opened up 65 miles of passages in Jewel Cave, paving the way for a total of 155 and counting, will be inducted into the South Dakota Hall of Fame at a special ceremony Saturday evening at the Cedar Shore Resort in Oacom.

“When we started exploring Jewel Cave in 1959, there was a sign out front that said, 'This is a small cave,'” explained Herb Conn. “But over the next 20 years, we ended up opening up more than 65 miles of passages.”

“In their small cave,” threw in Herb's wife Jan Conn. “They have more than doubled it since we quit.”

Their initial discovery has led to the ultimate discovery that Jewel Cave is, in fact, the second longest cave in the world.

New room & tunnel found underwater in Jeita Grotto (Lebanon)

A diagram shows the newly discovered area at Jeita Grotto.  

A new room and the tunnel leading to it were discovered underwater in Jeita Grotto, the administration of the tourism site announced in a press release Friday.

The entrance of the waterway was first detected in early 2004, and a team of volunteer divers have since been working to unearth the path of the tunnel, under the direction of MAPAS, a German company tasked with rebuilding the cave network after its destruction in the Civil War.

The all-Lebanese team, some of whom are professional divers, had to first widen the entrance of the tunnel in order to gain access to the latest room to be discovered at Jeita, one of the top tourist sites in the country.

Battling low temperatures and poor visibility, the team, comprised of Joe Khoury, Joseph Sharbine and Habib Haddad, used the latest technology to investigate the new cave room, and ultimately created a 3D map of the waterway, the first time such a task was completed in the Middle East.

Diver's body unlikely to be recovered for some days

The body of Polish cave diver Artur Kozlowski (33), who died during a solo expedition in south Galway, is not expected to be brought to the surface until early next week.

The team of three British experts who are working with the Irish Cave Rescue Organisation and the Garda on the recovery from a cave system believe it could take several more days.

Supt Pat Murray of Gort Garda station told The Irish Times the body had been moved almost halfway along the 800m distance traversed by Mr Kozlowski in the Pollonora caves.

Mr Kozlowski, who had set new Irish/British records over the past three years, had reached the end of the cave system when he was found by diving colleague Jim Warny at a depth of 52 metres last Tuesday. The alarm had been raised last Monday night when Mr Kozlowski did not surface from a dive at an agreed time.

The cause of his death is as yet unknown. Family members have travelled from Poland, but a gathering of divers planned for today to pay tribute to Mr Kozlowski, familiarly known as “Artur Konrad”, has been postponed.

The dive team, including international rescuers Rick Stanton and John Volanthen, had moved Mr Kozlowski’s body to a position 450m from the cave entrance at a depth of 37 metres yesterday evening. Wales-based speleologist Martyn Farr, who trained Mr Kozlowski, said Stanton and Volanthen were “the experts” in the field. The challenging terrain is “very silted”, Supt Murray said.

The divers are working in relays of four-hour trips, taking one hour to reach the body and one to move it, and then decompressing for two hours on the ascent.

Slow progress in recovery of Polish diver's body

A British international cave rescue team has begun the slow and very challenging recovery of the body of Polish cave diver Artur Kozlowski (33), who died during a solo expedition in south Galway earlier this week.

The team secured Mr Kozlowski’s body yesterday some 850 metres along the Pollonora cave system at a depth of 52 metres below Kiltartan.

In the first of two dives, the team towed his body 50 metres back along the 850-metre cave route that he had traversed last Monday afternoon.

The team was flown in to south Galway in response to an inter-governmental request this week.

In the dark, cave fish follows its own rhythm

Somalian cave fish (Phreatichthys andruzzii) evolved in the perpetual darkness of caves more than a million years ago. Even so, they have a working, albeit distorted, biological clock.

A blind cave fish that has spent millions of years underground isolated from evidence of day and night still has a working biological clock, albeit an unusually distorted one, scientists find. This research could yield new clues on how such clocks might work in animals in general, researchers added. Internal clocks known as circadian rhythms help animals, plants and other life to adapt their daily activities to the cycle of day and night. These clocks do not always follow a precise 24-hour schedule, so to keep synchronized with the natural world, they get reset on a daily basis by signals such as daylight.

One question circadian clocks bring to mind is whether and how those creatures that live in perpetual darkness still keep time. For instance, about 50 fish species worldwide have evolved to live without sunlight in caves, many times losing their eyes.

34th International Speleo Photography Contest

RULES OF ADMISSION FOR THE XXXIV PARTICIPANTS: Open to all interested parties, with exception to members of the organizing club. THEME: Spelunking and its surroundings. PRESENTATION: Minimum size 20x30 cm / Maximum size 30x45 cm. Do notmount on support. Each participant will be allowed to enter a maximum of eight pieces. Each piece must have the title in the back. Each participant must submit a sealed envelope with the following information: Title, participant’s name, address, telephone number, e-mail address. All type of photographic procedures accepted (chemical as well as digital). Please use appropriate packing.

PRIZES:

• First Prize: Clay Statuette and 1000 Euro.
• Second Prize: Clay Statuette and 500 Euro.
• Third Prize: Clay Statuette and 250 Euro.

Bat's saliva to cure stroke victims

Common Vampire Bat (Desmodus rotundus)

The saliva of vampire bats, which feed on blood, can save lives of stroke victims, new research shows.

The saliva has a compound that can thin blood and dissolve clots in the brain.

Currently, most types of strokes need clot-busting shots within four hours of the attack for effective treatment. But a drug derived from proteins in bats' saliva can have the same effect for up to nine hours.

Researchers who carried out a previous smaller study said the drug was "the biggest breakthrough" in stroke treatment in two decades.The difference implies that drug Desmoteplase could be administered to stroke victims while asleep.

Vampire bats were chosen because they use their spit to keep the blood of their prey thin enough to drink.

Doctors at the University Hospital of North Staffordshire are among the firsts in Britain to test the vampire bat saliva.The trial is in its early stages, but if it went well, it could be in widespread use within three years, said consultant Christine Roffe.

Stroke units in Newcastle, London, Bournemouth, Glasgow, Liverpool and Exeter are also among more than 40 hospitals taking part in the international research, involving about 400 patients.

Source: India Times

Original article:

Vampire Bat Salivary Plasminogen Activator (Desmoteplase) Inhibits Tissue-Type Plasminogen Activator-Induced Potentiation of Excitotoxic Injury

Courtney Reddrop; Randal X. Moldrich; Philip M. Beart; Mark Farso; Gabriel T. Liberatore; David W. Howells; Karl-Uwe Petersen; Wolf-Dieter Schleuning; Robert L. Medcalf

European Youth Camp - Juhöfola 2012

The European Speleological Youth Camp, Juhöföla 2012, will take place in the Schwabian Alps during summer 2012, in co-organisation with the FSE.

It is open to all European cavers under 25 years old, with a tolerance up to 29 years old, and it's a very great experience for all the young cavers who had the chance to live the previous editions.

If you are interested, you can send back as soon as possible the filled forto petra.boldt@gmx.net

If you have questions about the camp, Petra will be happy to answer you at this same address.

All information can be found in this pdf or on the Juhöföla website.

Move over planking, 'Batmanning' is the latest internet craze

Hanging upside down whilst only supported by your feet does not sound like everybody's idea of fun, but "Batmanning" is the latest stunt to sweep the internet.

The "sport" is inspired by planking, in which people are photographed lying face down in unusual places.

A group of young men, calling themselves the Batman Boilers, are now looking to surpass the popularity of planking with this latest activity.

A video showcasing their attempts has gone viral and has attracted close to 150,000 views in just over a week:

  

Other daredevils are posting their efforts online, with one man playing the Batman theme tune on a guitar while performing the stunt and a whole host of failures, highlighting the potential dangers of the activity.

Source: The Telegraph

Neanderthal survival story revealed in Jersey caves

La Cotte is fundamental to our understanding
of Neanderthal behavioural development

New investigations at an iconic cave site on the Channel Island of Jersey have led archaeologists to believe the Neanderthals have been widely under-estimated.

Neanderthals survived in Europe through a number of ice ages and died out only about 30,000 years ago.

The site at La Cotte de St Brelade reveals a near-continuous use of the cave site spanning over a quarter of a million years, suggesting a considerable success story in adapting to a changing climate and landscape, prior to the arrival of Homo sapiens.

Tributes paid to Polish cave diver as body found

Tributes have been paid to Polish cave diver Artur Kozlowski (34), whose body was found underground during an extensive search in south Galway yesterday.

The 22-hour search for the highly experienced cave diver was stood down shortly before 7pm last night, when a colleague located his body some 800m into the Pollonora borehole at a depth of about 52 metres.

Mr Kozlowski, who held several records including one for the longest and deepest cave traverse in Ireland and Britain, had been reported missing at 9pm on Monday night when he failed to return from a solo dive in the Kiltartan system north of Gort in the county.

Artur Kozlowski (34) who died during a cave dive in Ireland

The quantity surveyor and cave diving trainer had been continuing his exploration of a new shaft in the karst limestone boreholes.

Irish Cave Rescue Organisation warden Conor McGrath said it was too early to speculate on the cause of his death, as he had been found with his gear intact at the extreme end of the cave.

Conor McGrath

British cave divers had been asked to assist in the recovery of Mr Kozlowski’s body, weather-permitting, if necessary.

Mr Kozlowski’s friend and diving colleague Jim Warny had undertaken the first of three attempts over the last 22 hours to locate him, by following a lifeline which Mr Kozlowski had set from the borehole entrance.

The Pole had been using mixed oxygen when he set off at 3pm on Monday, and had sufficient gas for six hours.

Mr Kozlowski had deposited “stage” oxygen bottles en route, in case of an emergency and had made arrangements with two colleagues to raise the alarm if he had not returned by 9pm.

Two more dives were undertaken yesterday, co-ordinated by the Irish cave rescue group in co-operation with Gort gardaí and it was during the second of these that his body was found.

Describing the longest traverse which he undertook with Mr Warny a year ago in south Galway, Mr Kozlowski said that it could often be very difficult to find subterranean routes in visibility of less than half a metre.

“We found it was useful to dive during rainy periods so we could use underground rivers to guide us,”he said, explaining that cave divers had to be “totally self-sufficient” due to the difficulties involved in rescue.

Irish Farmers Association south Galway official Michael Kelly paid tribute to Mr Kozlowski’s role in assisting and informing flood victims during the heavy rains of 2009-2010.

Kiltartan resident David Murray also said that the Polish adventurer, who was “charismatic” and with a passion for his sport, had shared his knowledge of the extensive limestone cave systems with the community.

He had stayed regularly with the Nolan family in Kiltartan, and arrived there last weekend to undertake his last dive.

There had been hopes earlier yesterday that Mr Kozlowski might have found an air pocket, and would wait it out until supplementary oxygen could be brought to him.

“He would have known exactly what to do, as he had several close shaves before – but it was what he lived for,” one close friend said.

Polish Cave Diver Missing in Ireland Cave

A search operation is underway for a man who went missing during a cave dive in County Galway.
The experienced Polish diver Artur Kozlowski was exploring Pollonora hole n°10. A secondary sink located in Ireland, north of Gort, in a place called Killartan. The cave is 810m long and 52m deep.

"The cave diver was fully equipped with all the necessary diving equipment and had sufficient compressed air and mixed gases with him."Following correct cave exploration protocol, the cave diver informed two colleagues of his planned cave-diving trip and when he did not return at the expected time, the Irish Cave Rescue Organisation (ICRO) was immediately alerted."

It is understood he went diving in at 3pm yesterday afternoon and had enough oxygen to last until 9.30pm last night.

The search began when he did not resurface and another diver attached to Doolin Coast Guard went into the caves at 11pm.

He resurfaced at 1am with no sign of the missing man. 

The search will resume at midday.

Conor McGrath is a warden with the Irish Cave Rescue Organisation:“He was undertaking an exploratory dive to try and extend the known limits of this particular cave. He was a very experienced diver and had been into this cave before. The cave is completely flooded under any conditions so the fact that is was raining or flooding didn’t really concern them, that was actually to their advantage for what they wanted to do.”

"From our point of view this is very difficult," he said."As time is passing, we are more and more concerned."

---

Artur was born in Poland in 1977 and came to Ireland in 2006 with 13 warm water dives under his belt. He started learning cave diving with Welsh cave diving instructor Martyn Farr in 2007.

In 2008 Artur explored pollatoomary and recorded the deepest underwater cave dive in Ireland and Britain, at -103m. Since that time his main interest has shifted to largely unexplored, massive underwater cave systems underlying the Gort Lowlands in Co. Clare.

In 2009 he started using a rebreather which resulted in spectacular discoveries in the Gort area - over 6km of new underwater passages found together with Jim Warny. At the same time Artur is actively sustaining tradional style cave diving exploration - dry caving with sidemount sump diving, mostly in challenging caves in the north of the country.

The year the exploration in the north saw the Marble Arch System length increased from 4.5km to 12km through various underwater connections.

In 2010 he plunged to new depths in epic 4km underwater adventure. Read more about it here.

Artur is a PADI and DSAT Tec Deep Instructor.

Diving news: Pozo Azul (Spain) pushed to 9685m

An international team of divers have returned from an expedition to the Pozo Azul cave system in Spain.  The group, with cave divers from UK, Spain and The Netherlands were able to pass last years endpoint.

During a 15 day campaign they were able to extend the cave for another 500 meter to a total of 9685m of which 9135m has to be done diving, a world record.

The furthest point was reached by Jason Mallison along with John Volanthen, Rick Stanford and René Houben during a three day push dive.

The group was able to pass the third sump (about 260m from the limit set last year), and followed a streamway for about 180m, before reaching another sump, sump 4. This new passage is nasty terrain: razor sharp rocks, with 27 cascades for a total vertical distance of 10 - 15m to reach Sump 4, wich remains undived due to the fact that they were unable to move all their heavy equipment to here.

Pictures of the expedition can be found on the respective facebook page, along with a gallery of all participants.

Source: Diario de Burgos & Speleo Limburg

Belgium Caving Convention 2011

"Speleogical Days 2011" convention from 16th September to 18th September.

Program on Saturday
Participants can arrive as from Friday, September 16 at 17H00. Bring your tent, mattress and sleeping bag!
After a hearty breakfast on Saturday morning as of 7H30 we start the registration for the caves at 08.00. The order of your registration for cave visits is determined by the date of subscription and your payment. First registered AND paid on time will give you the largest and finest selection of caves.

Caves

As always, the finest Ardennes caves are chosen to open up for the visiting cavers.
Following caves are already opened for us, some of which are recently discovered and explored: Grotte de Hotton (non-touristy part), Réseau de Fesnes / Resurgence Lucienne, Grotte de Fonds des Cris, Souffleur de Beauregard, Han sur Lesse, Grotte de la Fosse aux Ours, Chantoir Morville, Chantoir de Rostène, Quarry "De Keel" in Dutch Limburg. The list will of open caves grows continuously and will be a lot longer by September 17.
Groups leave at 10H00 for the visits of the selected caves.

Workshop
There is a workshop provided on Resisitivitysounding for locating caves from the surface. The company Verbeke Deep Sounding provides the specialized equipment and a geologist.

Walking
For the non-cavers, a family-friendly walk in the area will be organized.

Reception and Doemen Award
At 18H00, after visiting the caves, workshop and walk follow a reception and the awarding of the Prize Doemen.

Developers threaten animals in Croatia's cave network

Species of animals, millions of years old, could be wiped out by pollution and development in Croatia, according to a new breed of cave biologists.

Jana Bedek and her team of bio-speleologists have recently discovered that the underground networks of the Balkans, especially Croatia, have the richest cave fauna in the world.

"We are now in the place with the best range of cave animals in the world," she says.

"The other countries have their own rich fauna in rainforests, marine ecosystems etc, but here in this area we have cave fauna. Really important at world level."

But on a political and economic level, Croatia is emerging from decades of communism, and the devastating Balkan war, with a desire to develop.

They are expected to join the EU in two years' time and the government has a queue of road, rail and power projects awaiting approval.

Some 41% of the country rests on the massive shard of limestone known as the Karst.

One cave known as "Vilina Spila" or Fairy Cave, boasts archaeology alongside its biology. Athenian pottery adorned with the goddess' symbol of an owl can be found amongst broken Roman amphora which litter the floor.

It is one of the biggest and most abundant caves in the Balkans, yet it is earmarked for an extraordinary hydro-electric scheme which will store water in the cave itself by sealing much of it with concrete.

Ebook: Tourism and Karst Areas Volume 4 n°1 (2011)

A new edition of the Brazilian Tourism and Karst Areas magazine, (formerly known as Pesquisas em Turismo e Paisagens Cátsticas) is available online.

Individual Articles:

• Show cave development with special references to active caves, Arrigo A. Cigna
• Water as a focus of ecotourism in the karst of northern Puerto Rico, Andrea B. Hall & Michael J. Day
• Hongs of Phang Nga Bay, Thailand, Liz Price
• Monitoring of water temperature of the Roncador river: contribution to speleoclimate analysis and tourist management of the cave of Santana (Iporanga, Brazil), Heros Augusto Santos Lobo
• The Photographic record applied in environmental studies at the Gruta do Lago Azul in Bonito; Retrospective of two decades - from 1989 to 2010 (ES), Maria de Fátima Bregolato Rubira de Assis; Maria de Fátima Lessa Bellé; Marina Brun Bucker; Mercedes Abid Mercante & Silvio Carlos Rodrigues
• Tourism and conservation of active tufas of the Bodoquena Plateau, Mato Grosso do Sul state (ES), Paulo César Boggiani; Ana Cristina Trevelin; William Sallun Filho; Emiliano Castro de Oliveira & Luis Henrique Sapiensa Almeida

First International Meeting of the Photographers of the Underworld

It ended up being a great succes:

13 nations, for a total of 80 participants, including photographers and assistants.

The meeting will be repeated in 2 or 3 years.

Here you can watch the photos and videos of the meeting

Mars Pit

Sunlight casts a crescent shadow on the floor of an underground cavern in a recently released picture of a Martian "skylight." This round opening likely leads to a lava tube, which is created when lava solidifies on the surface but keeps flowing underground. Eventually the lava drains away, leaving an empty cave.

Snapped by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, the picture revealed that the skylight is 115 feet (35 meters) across. The shadow helped scientists calculate that the cave floor is about 65 feet (20 meters) below the surface.

Oldest cave drawings found in Romanian cave

The oldest cave drawings in Central and Eastern Europe were found in Romania, in Coliboaia cave, in Bihor county.

The discovery shows that the land was inhabited 32,000 years ago. The carbon that was used to draw them is 36,000 years old. The amazing 13 drawings and an engraving were found in a gallery of the cave. They represent several animals such as rhinos, Buffalos, horses and cats. Experts are guessing that the place (at the entrance of the cave) was used for hunting related rituals.

Also found among the total of 14 cave paintings were a buffalo head, with horns and mane, a partially drawn horse, and one or two bear heads. Among the drawings that were better preserved, there is a rhino head.

The drawings were discovered by chance in the Coliboaia cave, in Apuseni during a routine expedition in a very remote area in National Park Apuseni.

The pictures are very well preserved because the gallery is located in an area that was not affected by floods. Romanian experts immediately contacted their French colleagues to evaluate the paintings and some samples from the gallery were also sent to France.

Archeologist Jean Clottes is an expert on cave drawings and says, "The cave in Coliboaia is very important because it's the first in central Europe where we have tens of animal representations . It's also important because on the basis of the radio carbon data, we have concluded an age of 36 000 years for the carbon used for those specific drawings and 32 000 years for the drawings themselves. This places the cave in a culture that is the oldest known European culture. It's similar data as the one in the cave Chauvet in France, considered until now the oldest in Europe."

Sbite Viorel Lascu president of the Romanian Speology Society says, "It was a difficult exploration of Speovest, Speodava Stei Speovest Arad. They went into some galleries that had been explored by Gabor Hallasy. They noticed some drawings on the wall and had the inspiration to announce the experts and I called Jean Clottes here and he confirmed they are authentic; you were informed of that today. For sure, there are other traces here as well; other things were discovered here in the past two years, extraordinary things as skeletons and other drawings, very important for Romania's and Europe's heritage"

The drawings are very similar to the ones discovered in the Chauvet cave in France, considered to be the oldest in Europe. Specialists say that this is proof that 36000 years ago, in France, Spain and Romania there were groups of Homo Sapiens with the same conceptions about the world, who went into caves to perform rituals.

Source: Todaysthv