Phantom Cave Spring Exploration Project 2012

In January of 2012, Dr. Tom Iliffe of Texas A&M University at Galveston invited the ADM Exploration Team to join him as part of an investigation of West Texas caves and springs. 

Dr. Iliffe’s research was funded by a cooperative science grant between Texas A&M and CONACyT, the Mexican national science foundation, and aimed at the collection of rare cave adapted species from Phantom Springs Cave and ecological investigations of this fragile habitat. 

Primary scientific goals of the expedition were to explore and map the upstream and downstream sections of the cave so as to characterize the habitat, conduct comprehensive photo and video documentation, use radio locators to pinpoint significant biological features, and record the distribution of species within the cave. 

In order to carry out this work, a team of expert cave divers and diving scientists were assembled. A more perfect combination could not have been made! 

The expedition team consisted of Curt Bowen and Walter Pickel from the ADM Exploration Team, Brett Hemphill and Dr. Andy Pitkin from Karst Underwater Research and Dr. Tom Iliffe, Sepp Haukebo and David Brankovits from Texas A&M University at Galveston.

Continue reading the exploration report on ADM foundation website.

Or watch this video documentary by Curt Bowen.