Vulcanospeleology Symposium in Mexico

The Twelfth International Symposium on Vulcanospeleology will be held in Tepoztlán, Mexico, just south of Mexico City, July 3-8.

The Association for Mexican Cave Studies is helping sponsor this event; it will publish the proceedings as an AMCS Bulletin and provide copies to the registrants after the event (sometime this fall). Further information is at www.saudicaves.com/symp06.

I have just sent to the printer an AMCS Bulletin on lava tubes in the area of the symposium. The author is Ramón Espinasa, co-chairman of the symposium. The publication is a joint one with the Sociedad Mexicana de
Exploraciones Subterráneas and will be for sale at the symposium. If you are driving from the U.S. down to the symposium and can take a couple of boxes of books with you, please contact me and I'll have the printer ship some directly to you.

-- Bill Mixon, AMCS Editor
[email protected] or [email protected]

Biospeleology website has moved

Please note:  Biospeleology has moved to... http://www.utexas.edu/tmm/sponsored_sites/biospeleology/

Please come visit the updated website with new photos of cave biologists doing field work, new bibliographies and new links. 

Two new books

Please find below details of two new speleological books.

• Essential sources in Cave Science
• Subterranean fishes of the world

Essential sources in Cave Science.

British Cave Research Association Cave Studies series no. 16. (2006). Edited by Graham S. Proudlove. This book contains 15 chapters covering all of the disciplines within cave science. Each chapter (see below) contains an introduction to the discipline and then a list of literature sources which provide up to date information on the breadth and depth of the subject. A third section contains links to internet based (web
and listserv) resources. The book is aimed at three audiences, the novice who needs to read up on a discipline, the researcher who wants to expand out of their normal field (e.g. for interdisciplinary research), and the ordinary caver who is curious to learn more. 

Each chapter is written by a recognised authority and all chapters were peer-reviewed by at least two world class reviewers. This is the first colection of its type to reach publication.

Chapters
1. Introduction
2. Geology - Dave Lowe
3. Geomorphology - Tony Waltham
4. Hydrology + Hydrogeology - Chris Groves
5. Chemistry - Simon Bottrell
6. Physics - David Gibson, Clark Friend, Phil Murphy
7. Speleogenesis - Dave Lowe
8. Minerals and Speleothems - Charlie Self
9. Palaeoenvironments - Andy Baker
10. Biology - Graham Proudlove
11. Bats - John Altringham
12. Archaeology and Palaeontology - Andrew Chamberlain
13. Conservation and Management - Graham Price
14. Speleology - Ric halliwell
15. Periodicals - Graham Proudlove

See bcra.org.uk/pub/cs/index.html for details. Price 4.50 GB pounds (8 US dollars, 6.5 Euro). Available from BCRA sales and from Speleobooks.com

---

Subterranean fishes of the world. A monograph of the subterranean (hypogean) fishes described 1842 - 2003 with a bibliography 1541 - 2005.
Graham S. Proudlove (2006). 304 pages, 87 black and white Figures and 20 colour plates.

Currently in press and due in July 2006.

The first comprehensive account of the subterranean fishes of the world since 1969. Provides accounts for 104 species and with a bibliography covering all publications on subterranean fishes (more than 2000 entries). With an extensive "Note added in proof" which adds 21 further species and 50 further references (including 2006 publications).

Published by the International Society for Subterranean Biology.

Available from Speleobooks.com and other outlets.

It will be helpful if anyone interested in purchasing this book could contact me in advanvce so that we can determine demand. Please mail me at [email protected]

Alpine Karst 2006---Table of Contents
Greetings:
 
Release date for the next Alpine Karst publication is late spring 2006.
  
 
You can preview the Table of Contents by clicking on:
 
http://www.alpinekarst.org/2006_Alpine_Karst_TOC.pdf
 
Cheers,
 
Joe Oliphant

Texas Cave Conservancy Educational Show Cave

The Texas Cave Conservancy  (TCC) announces acqusition of Avery Ranch Cave, located near Round Rock, Texas.

On March 6, 2006 the Avery Ranch Homeowner's Association transferred ownership of this small, one room cave to the TCC.  The Conservancy will be developing this site as an educational show cave, available to cavers and members of the public at no charge.  It will become a valuable tool  in the TCC's cave related public education efforts.

Background
On May 2, 2001 contractors, excavating a one meter wide trench for a sewer line at Avery Ranch inWilliamson County, cut into the side of a small, highly decorated cave.  Caver Kimble White was
summoned to check out the cave.  He found a room twenty five to thirty feet in diameter, up to eighteen feet high and filled with formations.

The following is Kimble's account of what occurred next: "It was hit during trenching of a sewer line on May 2, 2001. I was the first to enter and explore it that evening. Hub Bechtol, Brad Sappington, and Kristin White returned with me the next morning and helped  map it. We took clean shoes into the cave with us and changed into them after making it past the muddy trench...we used a long piece of bamboo to place the end of the tape at various locations for our survey shots so as not to have to climb on the speleothems.  To their
credit the developer re-designed the sewer trench and the road it followed to avoid the cave. They gave up three lots on top to protect the cave and had the hatch installed on top to keep the speleothems from drying out. Others who entered the cave in that first week were Sylvia Pope and some others from COA, and  Heather Beatty from TCEQ.

Mike Warton came out later when I recommended him to the owners for installing the hatch.  An interesting anecdote: While Sue Hovorka (Edwards Aquifer expert with!  the UT Bureau of Economic Geology) was rewriting the TCEQ guidelines for conducting Geologic Assessments in the recharge zone, we took her to a
couple of our field sites to help her with some ground level input on the methods involved. We probably walked right over this cave in the process of inspecting several of the previously identified CEFs that
are nearby...no sign of it at the surface whatsoever.  It's also interesting to note that we are very lucky that the trench intersected the cave where it did. Had it done anything else but just knick the cave then it may not have been salvagable, not to mention the fact that the trencher could have taken a serious fall."

Since there was no observable cave life, Avery Ranch Cave became a potential site for an educational show cave.  While the TCC is purchasing three endangered species caves on the 4.25 acres at the TCC Headquarters site, this is the first cave to be owned outright by the conservation organization.  Over the next three months, the TCC will install an observation deck inside the cave and make additional improvements.  Your support with this effort and others is invited.

Cace day
Don't forget, Saturday, April 15, 2006, the Texas Cave Conservancy will host a public event, "CAVE DAY", in Cedar Park, Texas.  Come on out and help.  You will even get to see the latest TCC
cave acquisition.  For more information contact me.

Donna Mosesmann
TCC Director
713-777-7339
[email protected]

SPELEOFEST 2006

SPELEOFEST 2006 

Hart County Fairground , 

May 25-29

Gates will be open Thursday from Noon till Midnight

$ 2.00 per person for early arrival camping for Thursday night

Gates will reopen Friday morning at 6:00AM and remain open till Noon on Sunday.

You can get more information and directions at the Louisville Grotto Web Site

Speleofest 2006 Chairperson
Shelly Wolf
NSS #44482
[email protected]


Update:
Check out the photo gallery.

Save Planinsko Polje

Dear colleagues and friends,
Some of you might never have heard of Planinsko polje in Slovenia, some of you might have read about it and some of you might have seen it, even if only once. If you have heard of it, or seen it, you will know that, arguably, it is the best-preserved example of a large karst polje in the Dinaric Karst region of Europe. 

During the past year or so, an apparently highly aggressive international consortium has been pressing ahead with plans to erect a monstrosity of a building that will form a blot on the pristine landscape at the most environmentally sensitive point in the entire polje. 

This juggernaut venture is steaming forward as part of the seemingly innocent aspiration of providing a European Museum of Karst. Whereas provision of such a museum can only be seen as an exciting and worthwhile prospect, the potential effects on the polje's landscape and ecology really are unjustifiable, doubly so as a more environmentally acceptable and economically viable location for the planned complex could readily be found elsewhere within the Slovenian karst.

The Speleological Society of Ljubljana has launched a campaign that will attempt to gain statutory protection for Planinsko polje and its close neighbourhood, from this and from any future such initiatives. 

We would feel much stronger if we could demonstrate international concern about the issue, and attract the support of cavers, speleologists and all like-minded people who value and wish to preserve the natural environment. 

If you are interested in helping us, please, click http://emk.speleo.net and follow the instructions provided to register your support. 

Furthermore, it would be even more helpful if you can take the time to forward this message to any individuals or organizations that you suppose might be willing to add their support and encouragement to our cause. 

Thank you in advance! 

On behalf of the Speleological Society of Ljubljana, 

Yours sincerely, 

France Sustersic

Upcoming Cave Rescue Seminar in Colorado

April 22nd-23rd, the Colorado Cave Rescue Network will be presenting a seminar in basic cave rescue techniques. Details are available at: http://www.coloradocaverescue2006.org

As the number of participants is limited and we only have a few spots left, please e-mail me as soon as possible if you are interested in attending.

[email protected]

Hidden Earth 2006

The UK's National Caving Conference and Exhibition Hidden Earth 2006 is on 22-24 September at Leek High School, Staffordshire.

Leek is a market town about 12 miles south of the spa town of Buxton, which is at the heart of the Peak District National Park in Derbyshire.

Information about the event will be posted at http://hidden-earth.org.uk/ in due course.

The Hidden Earth team apologises for the delay in fixing the date and location. A venue was, in fact, booked last autumn but due to unforeseen difficulties we had to find a new venue at short notice.

Call For Papers - PseudoKarst Symposium

Please submit your abstracts by May 1, 2006 for the Pseudokarst 2006 Symposium at the 2006 NSS Convention in Bellingham, Washington.

The abstract should be 250 words or less and contain the authors complete contact address.

Your current telephone number should also be included, but will not be published.

Electronic submission as a MS Word or PDF file as an email attachment is preferred, but paper submissions to the following address will also be accepted.

Steve Stokowski
NSS #14425FE
508-881-6364

mail to:
S. Stokowski
1058 Sodom Rd.
Westport, Mass. 02790

Safety and Techniques Committee Chair Needed

The Education Division, under the Department of the Administrative Vice-President, is looking for a motivated and effective chairperson for the Safety and Techniques Committee.

The new chair will organize a committee focused on educating the NSS membership on proper and safe caving practices and informing us of new techniques. The committee chair will also work with the Education Division Chief and other committee chairs on collaborative efforts within the Division. Recommendations on equipment and educational material are passed on to the NSS membership through the STC column in the NSS News and through workshops at the NSS Convention.

Please consider volunteering to work for the goals of the Education Division of the NSS. For more information on these committees or to apply, please send questions or a vision statement and resume to Amy Bern ([email protected]), Education Division Chief.

Volunteers for Youth Groups Cave Projects

The NSS Youth Groups Liaison Committee (YGLC) (Education Division, Department of the Administrative Vice President) is seeking volunteers to fill several committee and sub-committee positions.  If you're interested in helping youth learn about the importance of caves and karst, please go to the NSS YGLC Website's index page from www.caves.org/youth/ and click on the "To Join the YGLC" button to learn about committee goals, positions, responsibilities, and application process.

Some positions require very few responsibilities and a small time-commitment, while others require high skill-levels in project management, writing, and communication, as well a considerable time-commitment.  All positions require people skills, Internet access, and a desire to improve access to information on topics concerning youth groups and caving for grottos, cavers, and youth groups.

No positions require working directly with youth, but all positions will have a major impact on meeting the conservation, safety, and education goals of the NSS.  Please check out the positions and see where your skills would fit in the structure of the YGL committee.

Subcontinent’s longest cave found in Meghalaya

An international team of experts has discovered the longest cave system of the subcontinent in Meghalaya’s Jaintia Hills, surpassing the record of the previously known one by almost a km in the same district.

“The linking of the Krem Um Im-Liat Prah limestone cave system to Krem Labbit (Khaidong) to create a single cave system of 22 km in length is the longest cave known to date in the subcontinent,” the team members said at a news conference today.

This finding surpasses the previous record of the longest cave system in the subcontinent ? the Kotsati-Umlawam in Lumshnong measuring 21.56 km, said B.D. Kharpran Dally, a reputed speleologist in Meghalaya.

The 28-member team, comprising 17 members from the UK, two each from Switzerland and Denmark, one each from Austria and Ireland and five from India, spent three-and-a-half weeks in the district focussing on the cave areas of Shnongrim ridge near the Nongkhlieh area.

The experts explored 39 caves between February 7 and March 1, mapped and photographed them to discover 15,498 metres of new cave passages.

BCRA Cave Science Symposium Saturday 4th March Bristol UK

Location is the School of Geographical Sciences http://www.ggy.bris.ac.uk/, University Road, University of Bristol, BRISTOL, BS8 1SS, UK. Start Time: door open 9:30, start 10:00, finish at 16:30.

Further information (maps, parking, travel, etc.): see www.bcra.org.uk/#events

Admission charges (payable on door) will be £5 (BCRA members £4, undergraduate students £3). This charge includes tea/coffee in the morning and afternoon. The cost of lunch is not included but there are suitable venues within walking distance of the venue.

For information about the venue, including accommodation, please contact Dr Phil Hopley, Department of Geographical Sciences, University of Bristol, BS8 1SS. +44 117 928 9111. Phil.Hopley[at]bristol.ac.uk

Presentations

• Peter L. Smart, Patricia A. Beddows, Jim Coke, Stefan Doerr, Samantha Smith and Fiona F. Whitaker Cave Development on the Caribbean Coast of the Yucatan Peninsula, Quintana Roo, Mexico
• Andrew Farrant Swildons Hole: a centenary reappraisal
• Peter Smithers The Diet of the Cave Spider Meta menardi (Latreille 1804), (Araneae-Tetragnathidae).
• Alison Blyth Vegetational and microbial ecosystem signals as preserved in stalagmites from Scotland and Ethiopia
• Stephanie Leach, Martin Smith and Megan Brickley A Shot in the Dark. Identification of a fatal projectile injury in the skeletal remains of a young woman excavated from Feizor Nick Cave, North Yorkshire
• Gina Moseley, Peter L. Smart and David A. Richards Quaternary Sea Level and Palaeoclimate from Submerged Speleothems 
• Ian Fairchild, Claire Smith, Andy Baker, Lisa Fuller, Emily McMillan, Christoph Spötl, Dave Mattey, Frank McDermott, Silvia Frisia, Andrea Borsato Karstic systems and the preservation of palaeoenvironmental signals by speleothems
• Simon Bottrell Tracing the impact of mine drainage pollution in a karst aquifer, Xingwen, China
• Sam Allshorn Rapid karstic by-pass flow in the unsaturated zone of the Chalk and implications for contaminant transport. 
• Trevor Faulkner Relationships between cave dimensions and local catchment areas
• John Gunn The Roosky turloughs, County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland
• Stephanie Leach In Sickness and in Health: Earlier Neolithic human mortuary activities in Yorkshire caves and rock shelters
• Julia Lee-Thorp Interpretation of isotope proxies and variability in a mid-latitude savanna: the Cold Air Cave stalagmites, Makapans Valley, South Africa.

Auriga 1.0 soon

Version 1.0 of the Auriga cave survey freeware for PalmOS handheld computers is approaching soon. Some minor bugs are still reported once in a while, mostly from testing done by Chris Chénier - author of the

Compass and VisualTopo exchange conduits - and myself, but very few from the field, other than congratulations. I wish to launch a bug hunt so as to quickly publish version 1.0 before the Summer expeditions. I thus ask users to report with as much details as possible any error they may encounter.

http://www.speleo.qc.ca/Auriga

Two Hungarians die in avalanche in Italy

Two Hungarian speleologists died in an avalanche in Mount Bila Pec in northern Italy as they explored a cave, the ANSA news agency reported.

The two - a man and a woman - were found dead today. A third, who was with the victims when they were hit by the avalanche, was reported safe, the Alpine rescue service in north-eastern Italy said.

The three had been the first in the group to leave the cave. They were hit first by a minor avalanche yesterday morning on Mount Bila Pec, near Udine. They managed to free themselves from the snow, but were struck by another avalanche two hours later as they descended from the mountain, rescuers said.

Heavy snowfall was complicating efforts to rescue the remaining seven, rescue teams said, but added that the seven did not appear to be in immediate danger as long as they remained inside the cave.

Italian civil protection officials then discovered the bodies of the two Hungarians, one man and one woman, the agency said.

The seven others were still trapped in the Bila Pec cave.

Update:

Two Hungarian speleologists, a man and a woman died in the north Italian Julia-Alps region, while a third, reported missing earlier, escaped an accident unharmed, the rescue services told Italia ADNKronos news agency on Tuesday.

Hungarian Consul in Milan, Miklos Karpati confirmed to MTI the death of the two speleologists.

A group of ten Hungarian speleologists disappeared at the Sella-Nevea pass in the Canin mountain region on Monday. Three of them reported over mobile phone that due to an avalanche rolling close, seven of their colleagues got stuck in a cave but they were not in direct danger, the agency said.

The search and rescue operations for the ten speleologists by the Friuli-Venezia (Venice)-Giulia region mountain rescue services and a helicopter continued on Tuesday. Heavy snow and bad weather in the region seriously hindered the rescue operations on Tuesday morning.

Rescuers had the last contact with the speleologists outside the cave at 1530 local time on Monday, but contact with them was then lost as their mobiles went dead.

The ten speleologists were participating in a several days long cave tour in the 1750-metre-high Canin mountain. Three of them left the cave they toured on Monday afternoon to go to another one called Cave del Predil. An avalanche rolling down when they left the cave dumped the three in a 3-metre-deep snow. One of the three managed to free himself and alert the rescue services, ADNKronos said, and added that the survivor was in good physical condition.

Meanwhile, rescue operations for the seven Hungarians, who were advised to stay inside the cave, is going on, Italian sources said

Spring VAR info--revised to include kids' prices

Grand Caverns, Grottoes, Virginia

April 28-30, 2006

Price
Pre-registration price (must be postmarked by April 12): $25; kids 4-14 $20
On-site price: $27; kids 4-14 $22 (kids under 4 admitted free)

Cave Trips
There will be a variety of cave trips offered, both led and self-guided.

A kids'rsquo trip to Fountain Cave is planned.

Trips to less demanding caves such as Church Mountain, Linville Quarry, and Island Ford Caves will also be available.

Other more challenging cave trips will be 3-D Maze, Lyles Pit, Glade Cave (one of the muddiest caves in Virginia), and Cave Spring Cave (which has a most spectacular wall of flowstone called "Buttermilk Falls").

A trip! into Crozet Tunnel (an old railroad tunnel) is planned.

In addition to guided trips into Grand Caverns (not the new section!), you will be able to explore the hillside above Grand Caverns and check out many of the "new discoveries" on Cave Hill.

Friday Night
Music by John Fox

Saturday Night Menu 

Chicken Bake
Meatloaf
Salad with assorted dressings
Mashed potatoes
Macaroni & cheese
California blend veggies (cauliflower, broccoli, carrots)
Corn
Rolls & butter
Brownies, Banana Cake, Carrot Cake, Cheese Cake, Cookies
Tea, Lemonade

Saturday Night Program
Grand Caverns Video by Dave Socky
Talk on Cave Hill by Jim McConkey
Photos of the "New Section" from various contributors
More music by John Fox

Other Attractions
Speleovendors and the Guillotine Trough Squeeze Box will be on-site.

Registration Form
Make checks out to D.C. Grotto and mail to Carol Tiderman, 7600 Pindell School Road, Fulton, MD
 20759-9725

Be sure to PRINT neatly so that you will get your Region Record in the mail.

Book Review: Wind Cave by John Eric Ellison

WIND CAVE
(2003) by John Eric Ellison
PublishAmerica, Baltimore
Paperback, 211 pages, 5.5 x 8.5 format.
ISBN: 1-4137-0407-7
$19.95 retail
$16.95 direct from PublishAmerica.com

On Saturday, June 14, 1969, John Ellison, age 13, and his stepfather were exploring Wind Cave, a segment of the Arnold Lava Tube System in Bend, Oregon. Shortly after entering the cave, John had a sudden, overwhelming feeling of dread and a premonition that something was terribly wrong.

John convinced his stepfather to leave the cave as quickly as possible. About a half hour later, two other men in the cave discovered the badly decomposed body of Mrs. Beverly Gayley. The body was wrapped in bedding and hastily buried under rocks near the entrance. She had an electrical cord around her neck and severe head trauma. Gayley, age 54, had been reported missing from her home since mid-April. An autopsy reported her death was due to "combined acts of violence." For young John Ellison, the memories of that trip and the ensuing murder investigation would have a profound effect on him for years to come. So profound in fact that as an adult, "the need to purge his soul of disturbing memories" would inspire him to write Wind Cave.

In Wind Cave, Ellison (NSS# 50750) has relived the events of his youth through the eyes of Ronny Hazelwood and his young companions. When a woman's body is found in Wind Cave, the kids begin their own murder investigation and unintentionally get caught between supernatural forces of good and evil, culminating deep underground where the known laws of nature seem to have disappeared. It is the perfect book to read aloud the next time you find yourself trapped underground with a bunch of scouts.

Anyone wishing to explore Wind Cave after reading this book should be reminded that the murderer of Beverly Gayley was never found. And you know what they say: the guilty always return to the scene of the crime.

Call for 2007 Calendar Photos

Speleo Projects is now accepting submissions of quality caving photographs for publication in our 2007 Caving Calendar, and possibly other publications.

**** DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSIONS: MARCH 15, 2006 ****

Guidelines and a submission form may be downloaded from our web page, http://www.speleoprojects.com

For more information or questions, please contact me at [email protected]

Caves of California Parks Yield Tiny Discoveries

The Crystal Cave millipede on roots in the Rapunzels Canyon
section of the cave. This animal is very likely a new
species from the Striariidae family.

Sequoia National Park in California may be famous for its massive trees, but some very tiny creatures that live there are also making news. Biologists have discovered new species of spiders, millipedes, and other critters deep in the underground caves of the park.

So far, reports Sasha Khokha of member station KQED, scientists have discovered 27 new species in caves throughout Central California, at Sequoia and at Kings Canyon National Park. They found creatures so tiny they couldn't pick them up with tweezers. Some had to be collected on the delicate ends of a paintbrush.

The spiders and centipedes were pickled and shipped off to taxonomists all around the world. The experts have confirmed that while these little creatures may be close to relatives above ground, they've adapted into completely different species. Now, the next task is to give all of them names.

This new species of pseudoscorpion lives in Walk Softly Cave, which also contains a bat colony. These eye-less animals are predators that hunt in the complete darkness of the cave.

World's longest salt cave

Expedition news:
A team of Czech cavers have extended Tri Nahacu Cave to over 6 km, making it the world's
longest cave formed in salt!  It has exceeded the  former longest salt cave - Malham in Israel - 5685 m.

The cave is located  in Iran - island Queshm in Hormus - the name means "Cave of three nudes" often abbreviated to 3N-cave, as the first explorers were naked the first time they explored the cave as there is a large and deep salty lake at entrance. The Czechs were able to  connect The Big ponor cave to the 3N cave.

The expedition will return to the Czech Republic on 9 February.

Source: Pavel Bosak, Prague

Details: http://aktualne.centrum.cz/domaci/zajimavosti-a-veda/clanek.phtml?id=53343

Click below for more images and a survey of the 3N cave system in Iran.

Book: Underworld by Catherine MacPhail

Underworld by Catherine MacPhail

Product Details:
ISBN: 1582349975
Format: Hardcover, 284pp
Pub. Date: July 2005
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA
Barnes & Noble Sales Rank: 250,925
Age Range: 5 to 12

FROM THE PUBLISHER
A school trip goes disastrously wrong when five troubled high school students find themselves trapped in an underground cave. Their best chance of escape is to stay together. But when a member of the group disappears, their hope of finding a way out starts to fade. Does one of the remaining four know more than he or she is letting on, or is there something evil lurking in the caves?

FROM THE CRITICS
With its breathtaking hills and crashing waves, the remote Scottish island is hauntingly beautiful. To five social outcasts, however, it is their worst nightmare. In hopes of reforming these teenagers, their school administration has handpicked them to participate in an educational two-week trip to the island. For the reluctant crew, it promises to be a miserable time for all. But even Axel, arguably the most troubled of the group, could not have foreseen the disaster waiting to befall them. The night before a caving expedition, the gravelly cook regales them with the Legend of the Great Worm that roams the dark tunnels. Although they laugh at her, there is an undercurrent of fear at her words. When the outing ends abruptly with a rockslide that traps the teens in the tunnels with their teacher gravely injured, their bravado crumbles. Bickering escalates into fighting, and the group splits into two factions. Now they must not only battle the unknown dangers of the underground, but they must also face secret fears within themselves.

Suspenseful and mysterious, this tale of making choices and survival will fascinate young adult readers. Although set in Scotland, the archetypal characters-bully, liar, punk, prankster, and showoff-are universal and well developed. Although the ending is a bit anticlimactic, it retains enough adventurous flavor to keep one guessing as to what is real and what is only a figment of imagination. Fans of mystery with a blend of
unreality will enjoy this quick read.

Available from Amazon.

3 men grew pot in cave, D.A. says

Authorities say operation could grow 100 pounds every 8 weeks

Investigators from the 15th Judicial District Drug Task Force found a mother lode of marijuana in the unlikeliest of places--a cave.

Beneath a stylish A-frame home on Dixon Springs Road in eastern Trousdale County, three men allegedly set up a sophisticated operation to grow as much as 100 pounds of marijuana every eight weeks.

"It's pretty amazing what they had under there--water for irrigation, special lighting, devices to keep the humidity just right. These guys were professionals. They knew what they were doing," said District
Attorney General Tommy Thompson of Hartsville.

"They could grow in 60 days what it would take four and a half months to
grow outside."

Arrested on Wednesday were Brian Gibson and Greg Compton, while a third man, Fred Strunk, was arrested near Gainesville, Fla. All three are in jail, with Gibson and Compton being held in the Trousdale County Jail. Bail was set for Gibson and Compton at $5 million, while Strunk's was set at $15 million, Thompson said. Local authorities were in Florida yesterday to return Strunk to Tennessee.

Book: A Wonderful Underground. By Kyung Sik Woo

Caves: A Wonderful Underground. Kyung Sik Woo
(English translation by Kyeong Park and Eunmi Chang).
Hollym, Elizabeth, New Jersey; 2005.
ISBN 1-56591-221-7. 6 by 9 inches, 230 pages, softbound. $29.50.

This is a fairly nice little introduction to caves from Korea.

The majority of the book is an elementary description of cave geology and biology at about, I'd say, a ninth-grade level. There is more about lava tubes than is usual in such a book, perhaps because they are relatively prominent among the caves of Korea. Except in a forty-page section devoted specifically to the caves of Korea, the coverage is international.

There are color photographs on most pages; a number of the photos of lava tubes are by Dave Bunnell. There is a good conservation message at the end, where the author bemoans vandalism in Korea's caves.

Unfortunately, there are some of things that are not quite right. The Clansman is not in Carlsbad Cavern. The town and cave in Kentucky are not named Horseshoe Cave. Mammoth Cave was not mined for saltpeter during the Revolutionary War.

The book can be bought on Amazon.

Urine-Powered Battery

In their quest to develop a smaller, cheaper battery for medical test kits - like those used to detect diabetes by analyzing a person's urine - scientists in Singapore had a eureka moment of sorts when they realized that the very urine being tested could also serve as a power source.

In the September issue of The Journal of Micromechanics and Microengineering, Ki Bang Lee described how he and his team of researchers created "the first urine-activated paper battery" by soaking a piece of paper in a solution of copper chloride, sandwiching it between strips of magnesium and copper and then laminating the paper battery between two sheets of plastic. In this setup, the magnesium layer serves as the battery's anode (the negatively charged terminal) and the copper chloride as the cathode (the positively charged terminal). An electricity-producing chemical reaction takes place when a drop of urine, which contains many electrically charged atoms, is introduced to the paper through a small opening in the plastic.

The scientists' largest prototype battery generated a maximum of roughly 1.5 volts, the equivalent of an AA battery, and sustained an average of about 1 volt for about 90 minutes. Lee explains that its uses could extend to any device that consumes a small amount of electricity. "For instance," he says, "we could integrate a small disposable cellphone and our battery on a plastic card, for use in an emergency. And we are continuing to develop batteries that could power regular cellphones, MP3 players and laptop computers." While Lee emphasizes that urine is the biofluid of choice (since "everybody produces large amounts of it"), he notes that other bodily fluids - blood, tears, semen and saliva - will work in a pinch.

Source: NY Times

Magazine: Expedition Volume 47, Number 3 Winter 2005 Special Issue: Caves

Cover: Photo by Graeme Barker

Features: Caves as Sacred Places on the Tibetan Plateau (Mark Aldenderfer) Burial Rituals of Prehistoric Forager-Farmers in Borneo--The Neolithic Cemeteries of Niah Cave, Sarawak (Graeme Barker) What Did Ice Age People Do in the Deep Caves? (Jean Clottes) Archaeological Caving in Croatia--The Illyrian Rituals of Nakovana Cave (Timothy Kaiser and Staso Forenbaher) The Heart of Creation, the Heart of Darkness--Sacred Caves in Mesoamerica (Holley Moyes and James E. Brady) The World of Ancient Ancestors--Australian Aboriginal Caves and Other Realms within Rock (Paul S. C. Tacon)

Book review: Cumberland Caverns

Cumberland Caverns. Larry E. Matthews. Greyhound Press, Cloverdale, Indiana; 2005. ISBN 978-0-9663547-2-0. 8.5 by 11 inches, 188 pages, softbound. $18.

Cumberland Caverns was known as Higgenbotham and Henshaw caves during most of its history, before it was turned into a Tennessee show cave by Roy Davis and Tank Gorin in 1955 and 1956. Similar in style and content to Matthews's recent book on Dunbar Cave, this book is a nice account of the history of Cumberland Caverns, which began in the pioneer days and continued, as far as significant events go, up to the completion of the current map in 1978, at 27.6 miles. Among the appendixes are a nice gazateer and a chronological summary. Roughly half the entries in the chronology, if one ignores trivial things like forty-four entries for the annual Cumberland Caverns christmas parties, are from the nineteenth century. There is also a poem that was apparently inspired by Higgenbotham Cave in 1880. It has over four hundred lines of the good old-fashioned sort that actually rhyme and scan.

This is a slightly revised and updated second edition of a book that was originally published by the NSS in 1988. It has been reformatted to a larger page size, and the photographs, many of which are new to this edition, are much better reproduced. (A number of photographs in the first edition could not be reprinted, though, so that edition may still be of interest to serious historians.) There are many nicely drafted maps, in the style of the 1970s, of parts of the cave, but the small scale required for even parts of such a long cave would not have permitted much floor detail anyway.

Cumberland Caverns was one of the most exciting cave exploration stories during the 1950s and 1960s, and cavers as well as speleo-historians will enjoy this book.

Ancient limestone cave suffers damage in Inner Mongolia

An ancient limestone cave took shape about 10,000 years ago in the Helan Mountain of north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region has suffered devastation due to illegal excavation and robbery, the local mountain administration said Monday.

The cave, containing innumerable stalactites of various shapes, is located in the Helan Mountain, Alashan League, northwest of Inner Mongolia. It was discovered by forest rangers in July this year.

Unfortunately, the potential tourist site has become a victim of robbers, who risk harsh punishment by stealing those stalactites

Experts said it was the biggest limestone cave in the Helan Mountain which has a history of 10,000 years and has a high value for archaeological studies.

But according to the forest police, the cave has been devalued due to damage caused by robbers, some of whom have been arrested.

Local administrators has installed an anti-theft door at the cave's entrance in September this year to prevent the cave from being further robbed.

Source: Xinhua

Children's book review: In the Dark Cave

In the Dark Cave. Richard Watson, illustrated by Dean Norman. Star Bright Books, New York; 2005. ISBN 1-59572-038-3. 8.5 by 11 inches, 40 pages, softbound. $5.95.

A cute little poem by Red Watson about a cave cricket, a cave rat, and a cave bat. Each stanza faces a cartoon by Dean Norman. The book could easily have been made much smaller without losing anything, but still the price is about as low as any for a book these days. Would be a nice gift for a smallchild.

Cave Diving Museum

The newly instituted Cave Diving Museum and Library needs your help.

An informational CD is being produced to raise money for the Museum and Library and we need more old photos and short video clips. We hope to include on this CD: photos significant to the history of cave diving equipment development influential persons current equipment inventory some historic maps, etc. 

So if you have anything you would like to donate to be included on this CD , now is the time. All pics / video, must be donated by the original owners. Digital format is best. If hard copy photos are to be donated, they can be scanned and sent back to the owner. 

Please email Brian Williams: [email protected] or Cindy Butler; [email protected] with a brief description of photos or video you may want to donate, or even suggestions and we will provide further information. 

 Or if you would like to send something snail mail, just email a request for the address. We are currently working on fund raising, equipment and photo donations. A building has been located in High Springs to house the museum and we are working out the logistics of the set up and inventory 

 Thanks, Brian Williams , Board of directors; Cave Diving Museum and Library NSS 43870

New Compass Release

COMPASS is a cave mapping software package designed to edit, process, analyze and view cave survey data using an IBM PC compatible computer. The programs in the system allow you to enter cave data, revise the data, generate statistics on the cave, close loops, view plots from various angles on the screen and finally, print finished quality plots on almost any of dot matrix, laser, ink jet printer and a variety of line plotters.

COMPASS has hundreds of powerful features, including a configurable survey editor, high speed real-time 3D passage wall modeling, GIS and data base compatibility, sophisticated loop closure and blunder detection. COMPASS is extremely fast capable of animating of caves in excess of 150 miles in length. It is also very easy to use, with built-in wizards and tools that make it easy for novice users to manage and work with large cave systems. COMPASS will run on any modern version of Windows. COMPASS is constantly being refined to add new features and take advantage of the latest technologies.

This is a major new release, with more than 45 changes and improvements. Here are the highlights of
the changes:

1. TRUE 3D ROSE DIAGRAMS.
CaveX now has the ability to generate 3D Rose-Depth diagrams where each petal is a 3D object that represents both angle and depth at the same time. These are full 3D solid models that can panned, rotated and zoomed allowing them to be viewed from any angle. 3D Rose Diagrams are much more useful than ordinary Rose Diagrams because they allow you to see passage trends that only exist at certain depths in the cave.

2. LOCKING IMAGES TO THE CAVE.
The Viewer now supports the option of locking bitmap images to the cave. This is useful for tying topographic maps, aerial photographs and other maps or drawings to the cave. Once the image has been registered, the image can expand, contract, shift and rotate synchronously with cave. There is also the option of editing, trimming, and resizing images using filtering and over-sampling to minimize artifacts. Finally, you can adjust the contrast, brightness and gamma of the image to improve its clarity and readability.

NSS Science Award

Dear Fellow Cavers/Cave Scientists: 

I am on the NSS Awards Committee and in my role as the new chair of the Science Award subcommittee, I want to strongly encourage you to submit a nomination for next year’s NSS Science Award. I’m sure you can think of some good scientists in the various cave/karst/pseudokarst disciplines who deserve the recognition. We are looking for people who have made significant contributions to the sciences, but who are also still very active. Close association of the scientist with NSS is not mandatory, but preferable. The nominee must be an NSS member for at least the past two years. Strong preference will be given to nominees who have not received the NSS Honorary Member or Outstanding Service awards (if you’re not sure, check next to the person’s name in your NSS Members Manual or I can let you know). 

The previous Science Award recipients are: 

1994 William B. White (geoscience) 

1995 John Holsinger (biology) 

1996 Arthur N. Palmer (geoscience) 

1997 Derek Ford (geoscience) 

1998 Thomas Poulson (biology) 

1999 Patty Jo Watson (archeology) 

2000 John Mylroie (geoscience) 

2001 James R. Reddell (biology) 

2002 Carol A. Hill (mineralogy) 

2003 Paolo Forti (geoscience) 

2004 E. Calvin Alexander, Jr. (geoscience) 

2005 Francis G. Howarth (biology) 

Your nomination letter should include details of the nominee’s contribution to cave science. Please do not assume that “everyone” knows your nominee and your nominee’s merits. Many members of the Awards Committee and the NSS Board of Governors are not scientists and will need this information to make a sound decision. If you do not send supporting information, I guarantee your nominee will not be selected. A resume attached to your nomination letter is very useful (and can often be obtained by collusion with the nominee’s significant other). 

Please do not let your nominee know that they have been nominated - not knowing that you were not selected is much nicer than knowing. Letters from other people supporting your nomination are helpful, especially if they provide additional useful insights into the nominee’s contributions. Last year, we had some excellent nominees. If your nominee was not selected and you still support that nomination, let me know and I’ll recycle the nomination materials; feel free to send updated material if you wish. Some excellent nominees did not rank highly in previous years because little or no supporting information was provided. Those nominations will not be recycled unless you provide some pertinent details about the scientist. The nominations can be sent to me by mail, e-mail, fax, or as attached e-mail documents. 

The deadline is November 15th. If you have general questions about the nomination procedure, contact Awards Committee Chairman Bill Tozer at [email protected]. Thanks, Diana Diana Northup Biology Department MSC03 20202 1 University of New Mexico Albuquerque, NM 87131-0001 +1-505-277-5232 (voice) +1-505-277-6318 (fax) [email protected]

Bulgarian Speleologists Trapped in World's Deepest Cave

Three Bulgarian speleologists and their partners from the Ukrainian-Bulgarian expedition Krubera 2005 have been trapped in the world's deepest cave - Krubera.

Due to the torrential rains continuing for a fourth day in a row the members of the expedition are trapped in their camps in the cave located in West Caucasus, Bulgaria's Speleology Federation announced.

Bulgarians Teodor Kisimov and Konstantin Stoilov are with their Ukrainian colleagues at a camp located at a depth of 1,790m.

Svetlomir Stanchev, the third Bulgarian in the expedition, is at a camp at a depth of 1,200m along with Russian speleologists.

It is still not clear when the speleologists will continue with their work, but the rain is expected to go on for another 4 to 5 days.

The head of the Bulgarian Speleology Federation Alexey Zhabov was cited as saying that the teams are fully equipped and have enough provisions for at least ten days.

The two base camps in Krubera are linked through a wire telephone and they keep in touch.

The Krubera 2005 expedition is a scientific one. The Bulgarian participants have to study the vertical and the horizontal galleries. The expedition is expected to end October 28.

Source: Novinite

Certificate of Merit Award

The deadlines for the NSS award nominations for 2006 are just a month away on November 15.

Certificates of Merit Award
Up to three Certificates of Merit Awards are awarded each year to individuals, jointly to no more than three individuals, or to organizations for specific accomplishments in cave exploration, study, or conservation which further the goals of the NSS. If you know a deserving person or organization, don't delay nominating them; emphasis is placed on more recent accomplishment. Document their work in a short letter and submit the nomination to Gary Moss by November 15 at:

[email protected]
or
Gary Moss
7713 Shreve Road
Falls Church, Virginia 22043-3315


Additional information on the NSS awards may be found at:
http://www.caves.org/nss-business/bog/description.html

1rst Central American Speleology Congress has been postponed

The 1rst Central American Speleology Congress has been postponed to April 8th to 12th 2006 due to exceptional climate events that have affected the region during this hurricane season especially Honduras, Nicaragua, San Salvador, Guatemala and northwest Costa Rica which have been hit with lots of tragedies.

The invitation is still open for cavers all around the world that want to participate in this first Congress. Updated information will be posted at: http://www.talgua2006.blogspot.com

Cave For Sale: Heiser Mystery Well

Howard Brown the owner of Heiser Mystery Well is selling his house and 33 acres which included the entrance to Heiser Mystery Well. 

The house is about 10 years old log house and is located in Harrison Country, Indiana, about 5 miles north of Depauw. The house is 3,600 square feet and has a basement. It is a 4 bedroom house with 3-1/2 baths. 

When I was surveying the cave I saw the house being built and it is a great house. It is Howard's retirement home. The cave is one of the best multi-drop caves in Indiana. It has the deepest drop (depending upon how people measures this drop and Gory Hole) at 137 feet.

It also has a 120' drop and a 103' drop plus numerous short drops. About a mile of cave passage has been mapped. The property is on a top of a large sandstone ridge. 

He is asking $420,000 for the house and 33 acres, which is about the going price form land that is within commuting distance of Louisville, KY. 

Howard's e-mail address is [email protected] . It would be a great place for a caver or caver friendly person to own.

Lew Bicking Award Nomination

Each year the NSS recognizes a caver who has demonstrated a long-term, solid commitment to the exploration and documentation of a cave or group of caves - this would be the Lew Bicking Award which is presented each year at the NSS Awards Banquet at the annual convention.

If you know of someone who deserves this recognition, please consider nominating them for this award. 

Letter length doesn't have to be much more than two pages and should outline the accomplishments of the nominee and why you believe that they are deserving of this award. . Letters of support from other cavers is also helpful. Support letters can be a page long - and they should also summarize the reason why the author believes the nominee is deserving and also could include a short summary of accomplishments. A one-line email stating "so-and-so deserves the award" is not an acceptable letter of support. Most of the time the awards committee does not know award nominees personally, so good letters of nomination and support are critical.

Another important qualification for this award is that nominee should be an NSS member for the past two years.

Nomination deadline for the award is November 15th, 2005. Nominations can be sent to the Bicking award subchair either via email or in hardcopy. If anyone has any questions please don't hesitate to contact me.

Pat Kambesis
Bicking Award Committee Subchair
Dept. of Geography & Geology
Western Kentucky University
Bowling Green, KY 42101
[email protected]
270-745-5201

1rst Central American Congress of Speleology

The Anthros Costa Rica Grotto will be sponsoring the 1rst Central American Congress of Speleology.

We will be in charge of the vertical course that is part of the Congress, and also several short presentations will be made by our Grotto related to responsible caving, safety, rescue, Central American cave database, etc. 

You are all invited; Honduras is a very nice place and good for caving, the same as Costa Rica and other countries in Central America. 

www.anthros.org

In Memoriam: Ransom Turner

Ransom Turner, former Cave Specialist at Lincoln National Forest/Guadalupe Ranger District died of injuries from a seizure and fall into a ravine on his ranch in La Luz, New Mexico on Friday, Sept 16th.

Anyone who caved in the Guads over the past twenty or so years will remember Ransom as the quiet but dedicated cave manager that he was for the Forest Service. He took his job as steward of the caves very seriously and was disappointed that he did not achieve more for them than he was capable of doing before his medical retirement in 2004. 

He reflected the true spirit of caving in the Guads and will be sorely missed.

His funeral on September 24 in Alamogordo was attended by virtually the entire Southwest Region of the NSS, a testament to his legacy. He is survived by his wife, Jacki Turner, his sister Michelle Whipple and mother Jane Murray Turner. An obituary will be published in the upcoming NSS News.

New Method For Dating Ancient Earthquakes Through Cave Evidence Developed By Israeli Researchers

Photo in the stalactite cave near Beit Shemesh, Israel,
shows a collapsed ceiling, evidence of an ancient
destructive earthquake. Note the stalactites that
were growing prior to the collapse, as well
as the stalagmites on top of the ceiling that
began to grow only after the collapse.
(Photo by Elisa Kagan)

A new method for dating destructive past earthquakes, based on evidence remaining in caves has been developed by scientists at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the Geological Survey of Israel.

Using this method, they discovered for the first time evidence of earthquakes that can be documented some distance from the Syrian-African rift that runs from Syria through Lebanon, Israel and Jordan and down into Africa. This rift caused great shifts in the topography of the region in prehistoric times.

An article on this subject was published this month in the journal Geology. The article is based on work carried out by graduate student Elisa J. Kagan of the Institute of Earth Sciences at the Hebrew University and on a report issued by the Geological Survey of Israel, a government research body.

Stalactite caves retain a record of environmental conditions, including climate and the seepage of water through cracks in the earth. The researchers examined the stalactite cave near Beit Shemesh and another nearby cave, which are located about 40 kilometers west of the Dead Sea. The Dead Sea itself is part of the Syrian-African rift.

Experts to look into Meghalaya cave row

Experts from the Indian Bureau of Mines (IBM), Nagpur arrived in the city today to investigate the controversy over the destruction of India?s longest cave, Krem Kotsati in Lumshnong, by cement factories.

In answer to a starred question by ruling coalition MLA P.T. Sawkmie, Meghalaya chief minister D.D. Lapang told the Assembly today that representatives of the IBM were in Shillong for an inquiry. He added that last month his government had requested the IMB to depute some experts to conduct the inquiry.

The chief minister assured that the inquiry would provide ?the most authentic report.?

However, even as Lapang said the IBM would start the inquiry soon, he said his government would prefer the state?s development to saving the caves in Meghalaya. Lapang?s volte face on the caves has come as a surprise to many and invited sharp criticism from the Opposition. A couple of months back Lapang had gone on record saying he would ensure that development was not at the cost of the environment.

Ruling MDA members like Pynshai Manik Syiem said if the caves in Lumshnong were of national importance, then under Article 49 of the Constitution it would be obligatory on the part of the state to protect every such monument.

Earlier, Lapang placed on the floor of the House an inquiry report by the Meghalaya State Pollution Control Board. Interestingly, the board?s report mentions that the Cement Manufacturing Company Limited, one of the offending factories, had been categorically asked to use scientific and latest mining technologies and to operate pollution control devices regularly.

In a separate development, the villagers of Lumshnong have written to local MLA Nehlang Lyngdoh and complained about pollution and blockage of water sources by debris from limestone quarries, besides excessive air and noise pollution from blasting operations.

Source: Telegraph India

10,000-year-old Etchings Found In English Cave

An engraving thought to be 10,000 years old has been uncovered in a cave, British researchers said Monday. The series of inscribed crosses -- found on the wall of the Aveline's Hole cave in Somerset, southwest England -- are thought to date from the early Mesolithic period just after the Ice Age.

Source: Orlando Sentinel

Lapang cements save-cave campaign

Caught in a storm over the growth of cement factories in the vicinity of the country?s longest cave system, Meghalaya chief minister D.D. Lapang today committed himself to a ?fact-finding exercise? to fix responsibility for lapses, if any, in sanctioning the plants.

The cement factories at Lumshnong in the Jaintia Hills were sanctioned after the Meghalaya Industrial Policy of 1997 introduced a single-window clearance scheme.

Environmentalists say the 21.56-km-long Kotsati cave, which combines with smaller caves to form a network that stretches for over 35 km, will cease to exist if the cement factories are allowed to go full steam ahead with production.

Lapang admitted the fragile ecology of the area could be imperilled by the cement plants, each of which occupy about 12 hectares of land. ?Yes, we must get to the truth and see that our environment and caves are not destroyed,? he said.

The chief minister said his government would scrutinise all relevant documents pertaining to the cement plants.

The Platonic Form Of Stalactites

Stalactites in the Big Room of Kartchner Caverns State Park,
Benson, Ariz. (Photo: Noelle Wilson

No matter whether they're big, little, long, short, skinny or fat -- classic stalactites have the same singular shape.

Almost everyone knows that stalactites, formations that hang from the roof of caves, are generally long, slender and pointy. But the uniqueness of their form had gone unrecognized.

"There's only one shape that all stalactites tend to be. The difference is one of magnification -- it's either big or it's small, but it's still the same shape," said researcher Martin Short of the University of Arizona in Tucson.

Short and his colleagues have developed a mathematical theory that explains how stalactites get their shape.

"It's an ideal shape in nature and in mathematics that had not been known before," said Raymond Goldstein, a UA physics professor and senior author on the research report. "The Greek philosopher Plato had the concept that there are ideal forms underlying what we see in nature. Although any particular stalactite may have some bumps and ridges that deform it, one might say that within all stalactites is a idealized form trying to get out."

Rescue attempt at Mexican cave abandoned

JOCHICH, Mexico -- Heavy rains filled a cave in southern Mexico where two children had been trapped for days, forcing emergency officials to abandon their rescue operation early today and give up hope that the two brothers were alive.

Five-year-old Pascual Saraos Jimenez and 6-year-old Miguel Saraos Jimenez disappeared Sunday night in the Indian village of Jochich, about 100 kilometers (60 miles) northeast of the state capital, Tuxtla Gutierrez.

Emergency crews have been trying to reach them for days, using heavy machinery from Mexico's state-run oil company, Pemex, to widen the mouth of the narrow cavern, estimated at 25 to 40 meters (27 to 43 yards) deep.

Rescue authorities had earlier heard the two boys talking, but eventually their voices disappeared. Heavy rains also hampered the search, and officials said an underground river filled the cave with water.

Authorities planned to drain the cave once it stopped raining, and begin searching for the boys' bodies.

The rescue operation had initially met with resistance from machete-wielding residents of Jochich who thought officials were digging for gold, not just removing earth.

Source: Chron

Mexicans Racing To Rescue 2 Boys Trapped In Cave

Rescue workers from five Mexican states worked frantically Thursday to rescue 5- and 6-year-old brothers who have been trapped for four days in a cave in southern Chiapas state. The workers used oil-drilling equipment to try to widen the mouth of the 80-foot-deep cavern through which the boys disappeared Sunday. Mexican Red Cross Commander Arturo Montero said time was of the essence. Weather conditions were worsening, and the children had been without food and water for four days. Rescue workers had heard the boys speaking to each other in their Tzeltal language.

Source: Orlando Sentinel

Rescue Workers Struggle To Reach 2 Children Trapped Deep In Cave

Rescue teams struggled Wednesday to reach two children who fell into a cave and were trapped about 80 feet deep. Brothers Miguel Saraos, 6, and Pascual, 11, were with their father on a hunting trip Sunday 60 miles northeast of the state capital when they slipped into the cavern, a state civil-defense official said.

Source: Orlando Sentinel

Cave Collapse Kills Woman, 4 Grandkids In Honduras

A woman was killed along with four of her grandchildren when the walls of a cave collapsed as they tried to extract a special white soil used to paint houses during the holiday season, authorities said Friday. A grandson survived. The accident happened Thursday in a hillside cave near the poor farming village of La Cocala, on the border with Nicaragua 60 miles east of Tegucigalpa.

Source: Orlando Sentinel

3 Explorers Rescued From Cave, But 4th Still Trapped Inside

Emergency officials rescued three cave explorers Friday, but one other person was still trapped in the cave outside Mexico City. The four were reported trapped Thursday while exploring the San Jose Balvanera cave, 75 miles southeast of Mexico City. Emergency officials located three of the explorers before dawn, and they were hospitalized for hypothermia, Red Cross official Daniel Olea said.

Source: Orlando Sentinel

Cave Brits finally saved

Free ... after nine days underground

Military divers have finally rescued six Brits trapped underground in a flooded Mexican cave for more than a week.

Rescuers worked through the night to pull out the cavers who were underground for nine days.

The group, who lived on pasta and instant chocolate cake cooked on a camping stove, were taken for check-ups.

The six were named as Jonathan Sims, Charles Milton, Simon Cornhill, Chris Mitchell, Toby Hamnett and John Roe.

Rescued Mr Sims, said the team was never in danger and would have preferred to just wait underground for the water to recede so that they could walk out without assistance.

"Everything went as planned," he said.

"We thought we might have a problem with the (water) so we put in a plan, we had food in there, communications."

Each explorer was given sandwiches and fruit drinks after being rescued and all were reported to be in good health.

They joked that they wanted beer and said they were looking forward to seeing their loved ones.

Human fossils set European record

The bones are the oldest found in Europe

Fossils picked up in a Romanian bear cave are the oldest specimens yet found of modern humans in Europe, scientists say.

One of the items - a male, adult jawbone - has been dated to be between 34,000 and 36,000 years old.

The other pieces, which include the facial bone of an adolescent, are still being tested but are thought to be of a similar age.

This puts the fossils - from three different individuals - in a period in history when modern humans are believed to have shared the continent with Neanderthals, their now extinct hominid cousins.

Indeed, the researchers reporting the discoveries go so far as to suggest the fossils show some degree of hybridisation - they are possibly the result of interbreeding between modern humans and Neanderthals, they argue.

This is a position that drives a heated debate among scientists, many of whom doubt there was much mixing of the species.

These researchers point to DNA studies that indicate Neanderthals contributed little or nothing to the genes of humans living today.

Man, Woman Rest In Safety After Cave Ordeal In Colorado

A man and a woman are recovering from dehydration after spending nearly five days lost in a cave. John Hadar and Sherry DeCrow were rescued Friday by family and friends, who criticized Garfield County deputies for delaying their search efforts. Sgt. Ray Hensley said investigators followed proper procedures. Hadar, whose age wasn't available, and DeCrow, 49, went into Hubbards Cave in Glenwood Canyon on the afternoon of Aug. 24 with flashlights but no food or water, said DeCrow's daughter, Ramiah DeCrow. Their flashlight batteries died, and the pair couldn't find their way out, the daughter said.

Source: Orlando Sentinel

Ancient American Indian Cave's Despoiler Fined $2.5 Million

A man who federal officials say spoiled a major archaeological find when he looted ancient American Indian remains from a Nevada cave in the 1980s has been fined $2.5 million in civil penalties. Jack Lee Harelson destroyed what could have been one of the most important archaeological cave sites in the Great Basin, Bureau of Land Management officials said. Before Elephant Mountain Cave was looted during several years in the early 1980s, it contained a 10,000-year record of human life in northern Nevada.

Source: Orlando Sentinel

"Buried Dams" Help Clean Recycled Water

Disease-causing microbes can effectively be eliminated from recycled water by storing it underground, new research by CSIRO scientists has found. Promising research findings into natural ways to cleanse polluted water have brought Australia a step closer to a revolution in water reclamation - the “underground dam”.

Researchers at CSIRO Land and Water have for several years been investigating the feasibility of diverting urban stormwater and treated effluent into underground aquifers, where it can be recycled for use on parks, gardens, ovals and farms.

The idea is to harvest surplus water during the wet part of the year, store it underground for some months, then bring it to the surface again for irrigation during the dry season.

Researchers consider these underground dams offer a uniquely Australian solution to the problems of water storage, water conservation and recycling. The water will be injected into appropriate aquifers, where it is protected from evaporation or pollution - and does not submerge valuable land or habitat, as does a surface dam.

Now, microbiologist Dr Simon Toze has produced the clear evidence that storing water underground also purges it of disease-causing organisms, making it clean enough to recycle as irrigation.

Afghan Caves Prove Daunting For U.S.

The extensive al-Qaeda training complex that U.S. warplanes have pounded since Jan. 3 is one of dozens in dry, cave-riddled valleys of southeastern Afghanistan where groups of fighters might be hiding, a senior Pentagon official said Monday.

Rear Adm. John Stufflebeem, deputy director of operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said there are so many of the complexes -- not simply cave hideaways but compounds with large, above-ground training camps -- that the work is overwhelming the small number of special-operations soldiers locating them and calling in airstrikes.

Source: Orlando Sentinel

Colorado Cave Yields Trove of Ice Age Mammal Fossils

Ancient, fingernail-size rodent skulls plucked from the dirt with tweezers are forcing scientists to rethink their assumptions about the arrival of much larger mammals in North America.

In recent years, bones from the world's oldest mountain goat, coyote and black-footed ferret—and several teeth from one of the oldest cheetahs ever found—have been pulled from Porcupine Cave in Colorado, said Russ Graham, chief curator at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science.

Subtle evolutionary changes in the tiny prehistoric rodents allowed scientists to date the larger animals. Those studies suggest that some Ice Age beasts were here hundreds of thousand of years earlier than scientists had thought, Graham said. It's even possible that some evolved here, then spread to the rest of the world.

The conventional view is that many Ice Age mammals came to North America from Eurasia and elsewhere relatively recently—tens of thousands of years ago, not hundreds of thousands or a million.

But at Porcupine Cave, researchers have found a mountain goat, a black-footed ferret, a coyote and a cheetah that date to 780,000 years ago, 1 million years ago, 1.5 million years ago, and 1 million years ago, respectively, Graham said.

Kentucky Boy In Cave Rescued

A teenager trapped overnight in an isolated cave was rescued Monday and airlifted to a hospital. The 15-year-old boy fell from a ledge into a 25-foot chasm and was unable to climb out because of his injuries, said Cave City fire Chief Kenneth Moulder. The boy, identified as Tyler Branstetter, was pulled from the cave about 9:15 a.m. The boy suffered a possible broken arm and leg, and also received cuts and bruises.

Source: Orlando Sentinel

Malaysian researchers should follow up on cave paintings

Thanks to the discoveries of French speleologist Luc-Henri Fage, in Kalimantan, the island of Borneo is now credited with hosting the earliest prehistoric cave paintings.

I would like to congratulate him and his team for this extraordinary contribution in the field of archaeology.

In doing so, I would also request him to look at these paintings from a special, peaceful Islamic perspective, and to accept participation from researchers in Malaysia and Indonesia, not by way of interference but as a measure of commitment to such initiatives.

The recurrent theme of the Fage caves is embedded in a human hand, stencilled on walls an ceilings.

The hand bears important dots, lines and patterns.

It will take time and eminent expertise to get down to the official meaning behind these drawings.

But the ball has been set rolling by Lafarge.

Both Malaysia and Indonesia should take notice, and consider this as a landmark in their archaeological position.

In time, these findings will lead to new archaeological truths and magnify the name of a partnerless God in the universe of early man.

Source: M. Yusuff Woozeer. New Straits Times [Kuala Lumpur] 07 June 2001: 11.

Bodies Of Cave Divers Found

The bodies of two Georgia scuba divers were found more than 500 feet inside a treacherous spring cave, police said. Mark Anthony Granger, 19, and William Anthony Ridenour, 34, both of Kingsland, Ga., received their diving certifications Sunday and were on a dive with their instructor when they died, authorities said. Rescue divers found Granger's body Monday morning in 40 feet of water 500 feet inside the Royal Springs cave, police said. Ridenour's body, which Hall said was hard to find because of silt in the water, was later recovered about 50 feet farther in.

Source: Orlando Sentinel

Exploring Earth's Interior With Virtual Reality

Seismic Tomography

In "Journey to the Centre of the Earth," Jules Verne took readers on an amazing expedition into the heart of the planet. University of Michigan geologist Peter van Keken takes students and fellow scientists on equally marvelous tours---skittering around subduction zones and zooming in on earthquake activity. But instead of using picks, axes and ropes as Verne's characters did, van Keken employs virtual reality to explore Earth's inner reaches.

In an invited presentation to the American Geophysical Union meeting here Dec. 16, van Keken described how the use of virtual reality in the geological sciences can foster collaboration, enhance education and advance research into such complex processes as mixing behavior in Earth's mantle.

Van Keken and colleagues at U-M, the University of Minnesota and the University of Colorado at Boulder, use virtual reality tools to "get inside and walk around" three-dimensional representations of data, discovering new patterns and relationships. The researchers can literally immerse themselves in their data using facilities such as the U-M Media Union's CAVE, a 10 x 10 x 10-foot room in which full-color, computer generated stereoscopic images are projected onto the walls and floor. Users wear special goggles that make the data appear as three-dimensional features around the viewer. They can also use a joystick and a wand to move images around and point out interesting features.

Cave Paintings Revealed

An amateur archaeologist searching in a cave for ancient Native American art found charcoal drawings that date back more than 1,000 years. Dan Arnold made the discovery in 1998 but kept the find secret until officials could map the cave, photograph the art and construct an iron gate to prevent thieves or vandals from getting in. Authorities are not revealing the site, which is somewhere in southeastern Wisconsin. The artists are thought to be from today's Ho-Chunk tribe.

Source: Orlando Sentinel

Mountain cave cure for asthma

Developers of a private hospital being built deep in a mountain cave are planning to target asthma sufferers with an unusual treatment.

Britain has the highest rate of asthma in the world, three times the European average, and at least 30% of British children are believed to be sufferers. Many experts blame the problem on house dust mites which are attracted by the fitted carpets present in most homes. Only about 10% of continental homes have fitted carpets.

The Pounds 10m hospital is being constructed from among 500km of linked chambers in a disused silver mine in the Austrian Tyrol town of Schwaz. It will market "speleotherapy", a treatment which some asthmatics believe has cured them.

The air found in deep caves is almost free of pollen, dust mites and the irritants which provoke an allergic reaction. It has high humidity and a warm temperature which helps to reduce the inflammation of the lining of the lungs.

Germany and eastern Europe all recognise speleotherapy, but is almost unknown in Britain.

SMU Geophysicists Discover Large Blob Deep In The Earth

Southern Methodist University geophysicists, using the latest in seismic technology, have discovered a large blob of concentrated matter deep within the earth that may provide clues to better understanding of geological activities on our planet's surface.

The concentrated matter, located more than 500 miles under the western Caribbean Sea, is about 80 miles thick by 380 miles tall, almost vertical, and is believed to be slowly descending vertically like the colored substance in a lava lamp. Scientists believe it may be an old subductive slab, but they are not certain how it moves.

SMU's Ileana Madalina Tibuleac made the surprising discovery while analyzing data gathered by sophisticated seismic equipment designed to detect underground nuclear tests. The equipment, which is being developed at SMU, is used to verify compliance with the international Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty now pending in Congress.

Teens Get Stuck In Cave, Are Freed After 10 Hours

Two teenagers exploring a popular underground cave were trapped for at least 10 hours after they got stuck in one of its narrow passages. Chris Hale was freed about 10:30 p.m. Wednesday from Nutty Putty Cave, located 120 feet below ground. His friend Chris Marrow was brought out a few hours later, sheriff's Lt. Ron Fernstedt said. Both 17-year-olds suffered minor abrasions.

Source: Orlando Sentinel

Newly Discovered Cave In Egypt Dates To 7000 B.c.

Egyptian and Belgian archaeologists have unearthed a cave with primitive wall paintings that dates to 7000 B.C. near an ancient Red Sea port. Granite axes, knives and hunting tools were found in the Neolithic-era cave near al-Qoseir, 340 miles southeast of Cairo, Mohammed el-Saghir, head of the Egyptian archaeology department, said Friday. Another cave found 500 yards away was expected to yield similar results, el-Saghir said. Until the 10th century, al-Qoseir was the most important port on the Red Sea.

Source: Orlando Sentinel

17 Rescued From Cave - Guide's Body Found

Rescuers on Monday pulled out 17 cave enthusiasts who were trapped overnight in a Puerto Rican cavern when an underground river sealed off their exit and swept away one of their guides. The group was touring a cave in western Lares, about 50 miles west of San Juan, when heavy rains began at about 3 p.m., swelling a subterranean river. One of their guides, Francis Reyes, tried to cross the river with a member of the group but was dragged deeper into the cave by the current, police said. His body was found Monday.

Source: Orlando Sentinel

Injured Explorer Finally Is Brought Out Of Cave

Dozens of rescuers helped an experienced cave explorer make it to the surface Saturday after he was injured in a fall more than 3 miles underground in the Southern Hemisphere's second-deepest cave. Kieran McKay, who smashed the left side of his body after plunging down a rock wall, hobbled during parts of the 3.4-mile underground journey but was carried most of the way on a stretcher. McKay, 30, was flown to see his father, then taken for treatment to a hospital, where a spokeswoman said he was ``stable and in very good spirits'' despite his injuries.

Source: Orlando Sentinel

Cave Yields Treasure Trove Of Climatic History

Stalagmites from a Missouri cave have yielded a clear picture of climate and vegetation change in the mid-continental region during the millennia leading up to the last ice age (75,000 to 25,000 years ago), a time period for which such data have been sketchy. The records show that average temperature fluctuations of four degrees C were associated with profound changes in vegetation, including a sharp shift from prairie to forest 55,000 years ago, when temperatures fell and ice sheets began to grow. The study, to be published Friday (Dec. 4) in the journal Science, reveals the value of stalagmites in reconstructing past climate, said lead author Jeffrey Dorale, a graduate student in geology at the University of Minnesota.

"It hasn't been clear how climate and vegetation changed between 120,000 years ago, when conditions were similar to today, and 20,000 years ago, when the last Ice Age was at its peak," said Dorale. "Much of the data comes from the oceans, and while that's good in determining global patterns it's less helpful in figuring out local and regional climate histories."

Long Lava Flows May Have Taken Years, Causing Global Cooling And Extinctions

A multidisciplinary group of scientists is challenging the century old theory that long lava flows must be formed by massive, but short lived, volcanic eruptions. Their research, reported in the Journal of Geophysical Research, suggests that some ancient flows of up to 100 miles in length built up gradually over years, rather than quickly in just days. This finding could have broad implications for the study of Earth and nearby planets.

One result of long but slow moving lava flows may have been global cooling caused by continuing emissions of sulphur dioxide. This cooling could have caused many major extinctions during the past 500 million years. For example, a major eruption in the North Atlantic might have wiped out most dinosaurs by eliminating their plant food supply, even before the presumed asteroid impact that finished the job.

The study is not limited to Earth. Lava flows significantly longer than any known on Earth have been observed on Venus, Mars, and the Moon, and their excellent exposure, coupled with improved spacecraft imagery may actually make them easier to study.

The latest findings on long lava flows are reported in the November 10 issue of the Journal of Geophysical Research, published by the American Geophysical Union. A special section of the journal is devoted to follow-up studies developed from an AGU conference at James Cook University in Townsville, Queensland, Australia. The meeting brought together volcanologists working on active flows in various parts of the world, other volcanologists analyzing flood basalt lava flows, planetary geologists, marine geologists, theoreticians, and economic geologists studying ancient ore-bearing lava flows.

The duration of a lava flow affects the amount of sulfur dioxide released into the atmosphere and therefore the degree of global cooling it causes. This cooling effect was noted following the relatively small eruption of the Laki volcano in Iceland in 1783. Therefore, the study of both active lava flows and ancient long lava flows can help in the assessment of future hazards. For example, there is now is an increased awareness of the role of lava tubes, through which molten lava can be transported over great distances with little loss of temperature. These tubes may play a role in future volcanic eruptions by carrying large amounts of lava to distant populated areas, as they have in the past.

Source: ScienceDaily

Caver Finds A Brave New World, And Brave New Creatures In It

Between January 2 and 9, 1998, Louise Hose, the country's leading female cave explorer and a geology professor from Westminster College in Missouri, will lead a team of scientists into an almost unknown world--where they will study living creatures so bizarre that for centuries no one realized they were alive.

Hose's team will travel to southern Mexico to delve into the Cueva de Villa Luz, or "The Cave of the Lighted House." This unique cave has been used for centuries by the Mayan people and their descendants the Chol, for religious ceremonies. Among the Chol, the story that the cave harbor mythical powers is a long tradition. In a sense, the scientists are about to prove the truth of the ancient myth.

Hose, who first visited the cave last year, studied and collected samples of what some cavers have ingloriously but descriptively called "snot-tites" growing there. These slimy white masses, known only to grow in this cave, were thought to be bacteria, living in a highly acidic, and largely unlit environment. They excited her scientific curiosity immediately.

Algerian Army Kills Group Of Militants Hiding In Cave

The Algerian army killed a group of Islamic militants hiding in a cave, ending a three-day sweep through the region that left at least 20 militants dead, witnesses said Tuesday. The witnesses said the cave was a stronghold of the Islamic Salvation Army.

Source: Orlando Sentinel