The use of moonmilk for medical and other purposes in the Alps is documented since the 16th century. This article reviews speleological reports and sparse historical accounts about the extraction of moonmilk from 18 caves in the Eastern Alps of Austria in an artisan mining style. One such example from a cave in Tyrol is documented in detail, where moonmilk was mined until the...
Recent studies of ancient bat guano deposits in the caves of Gunung Mulu National Park and Niah National Park, Sarawak, Malaysia, have resulted in noteworthy records of phosphate minerals from these environments, including variscite, nano-particulate silica, fluorapatite, and niter.
As part of a microclimate study at Ascunsă Cave, Romania, we used Gemini Tinytag Plus 2 data loggers to record cave air temperature variability. At one of the monitoring points we recognized the presence of semidiurnal cycles on the order of a few thousands of a degree Celsius that could be produced under the influence of the semidiurnal tidal components of the Sun (S2) or the...
In this study, air, water, and host rock in show caves in a Vietnam’s karst region was monitored and analyzed to identify the ventilation regime and track the cave air CO2 sources. In general, the studied caves are well ventilated. In dynamic – multiple entrance caves, air ventilation is described with the use of U shape model. In static – single entrance cave, air circulation is...
Calcite surface has been reported by cavers and scientists over the last decades. Here, we present a methodological work aimed at quantifying that growth. We suggest a method of draping old photographs of a part of the Gournier Cave onto a 3D model. This work relies on a collection of photographs taken by cavers. We have chosen to study a site for which the maximum number of...
Sistema Muévelo Rico is a 1.2 km long cave in Quintana Roo, less than 2 km from the Caribbean Sea. We measured illuminance to a level of 0.1 lux, organic matter (weight loss on ignition), temperature, and relative humidity. The last two were measured at hourly intervals for nearly one year. Approximately one-third of the cave has illuminance values greater than 0.01 lux, and most...
The Carajás Mineral Province has one of the largest concentrations of caves in Brazil, and its iron ore is among the country’s main exports. As a result of iron ore intense extraction, new environmental policies have been implemented. In an attempt to balance economic activity and environmental conservation, an inventory and a relevance-based classification of caves were...
Endemic and rare species as bioindicators of habitat vulnerability were used to develop protection and management plans for biotope prioritization (mainly islands habitats, lava tubes or groundwaters). Due to their narrow distribution, the endemic species (species confined to a restricted geographic area) are more susceptible to ecological disequilibrium and habitat loss than the...
Although underground dinosaur tracksites inside anthropic cavities such as mines or tunnels are well-known throughout the world, footprints inside natural karstic caves remain extremely rare. The Malaval Cave (Lozère, southern France) is well-known by speleologists for the abundance and the exceptional quality of acicular and helictite aragonite speleothems. Recent...
In order to use speleothems in the reconstruction of past climate and environmental changes it is necessary to understand the environmental and hydrological processes that determine the physico-chemical conditions of carbonate precipitation and hence speleothem formation. Therefore, in this study an extended monitoring program was conducted in the Béke and Baradla caves located...
The first layers of rock underground are in thermal contact with the external atmosphere mainly through infiltrating meteoric water. This relatively cool zone absorbs rising geothermal energy, which heats the water. If the aquifer consists of gypsum, halite or quartzite, the water at those depths is usually salt-saturated, so the increase in temperature renders the water...
Short obituary of Giovanni Badino.
The Jahani Salt Diapir (JSD), with an area of 54 km2, is an active diapir in the Simply Folded Belt of the Zagros Orogeny, in the south of Iran. Most of the available studies on this diapir are focused on tectonics. The hydrogeology, schematic model of flow direction and hydrochemical effects of the JSD on the adjacent water resources are lacking, and thus, are the focus of this...
Infrasonic resonance has previously been measured in terrestrial caves by other researchers, where Helmholtz resonance has been suggested as the plausible mechanism resulting in periodic wind reversals within cave entrances. We extend this reasoning to possible Martian caves, where we examine the characteristics of four atypical pit craters (APCs) on Tharsis, suggested as...
Samples collected in Mammoth Cave, Kentucky, revealed the presence of a diversified but not too abundant diatom community in the cave. As the material was not subjected to culturing experiments but was investigated immediately after arrival, both in native and permanent preparations, it was possible to: 1. ascertain that the majority of the diatoms contained well developed...
After an introduction, comprising a historical summary on the researches on well fauna, a description of the study area in which 13 water wells have been investigated is given. The authors explain the adopted working method and indicate the physical and chemical characteristics of the waters (temperature, pH, alkalinity, hardness, O2-content, fixed residuum, suspended matter...
The development of a subterranean drainage system depends on the way in which subterranean confluences between different rivers can be formed. Different from surface, in which confluences are determined by processes related to the surface runoff of water, in subterranean karst confluences have a random pattern and are related to certain circumstances independent of the...
Three caves of the central part of the Bulgarian Balkan (Stara planina, close to the village of Etropolé) host cavernicolous beetles of the subfamily Bathysciinae (family of Catopidae) that constitute a new genus of the Brachyscapes group. In this paper the diagnosis of this new troglobe genus together with the description of the type species Balcanobius etropolensis, gen.n., sp...
Foiba (plural, foibe) is a term derived from the northeastern Italian karst region. The word is here suggested for use in preference to other terms referring to vertical cavities in soluble rocks. Foiba is defined as a cavity in relatively soluble rock which is natural, solutional, tends toward a cylindrical shape, and possesses walls which normally approach verticality. In...
The cavernicole asellid Asellus cavaticus Leydig has been reared in our laboratory for more than twenty months, permitting us to give some data on the sexual cycle of this species. Females provided with brood pouches seem to be more numerous in the spring, as is the case with the subterranean amphipod Niphargus virei Chevreux. The average length of the incubation period seems...
Bats, familiar to speleologists, play an important part in animal ecology in caves. Indirectly by their guano, they provide a source of food for numerous cave-dwelling animals and directly, by their own more or less constant presence. 26 species of bats are known from Switzerland, 15 of which occur in caves. Miniopterus schreibersi is considered the only true cave-dweller. The...
Antrolana lira, a new genus and species of troglobitic cirolanid isopod, is descnibed from Madison Cave, in the Appalachian Valley of Virginia. The problem of its origin from a marine ancestor is discussed. A supplementary description is given of Cirolanides texensis, and records of its occurrence are given. A key is given to the troglobitic Cirolanidae of the Western Hemisphere...
In the present study, the fossil bird fauna of the caves of the Hungarian Middle Mountains is examined for evidence in support of the hypothesis that the Carpathian Basin may have served as a faunal refugee during the last Quaternary glacial period. As an introduction, the reasons for the refugee hypothesis, including paleobotanical and glacial theoretical aspects, are discussed...