Who isn’t tempted by a free book, especially when it’s about karst or caves? The Groundwater Project has just published a 300-page volume on the science of karst and management of aquifers. “Karst: Environment and Management of Aquifers” is a newly published book, authored by Zoran Stevanović, John Gunn, Nico Goldscheider and Nataša Ravbar. It…
The latest edition of the BCRA’s Cave and Karst Science contains five main papers, and a photo feature. It begins, however, with tributes to David St. Pierre, John Wilcock and David William Gill. The editors write that, yet again, it is their sad privilege to introduce and present words of tribute and celebration dedicated to…
The latest edition of the BCRA’s Cave and Karst Science contains six main papers, some shorter forum pieces, including meeting reports and photo features; it begins with a retrospective appreciation of Gerald Wilford. Many will not have heard of Dr Wilford, but the effects of his work reverberate throughout the work of the BCRA. Without…
There are five main papers, two short Forum pieces and a Photo Feature in the latest edition of the BCRA’s Cave and Karst Science, but it begins with an extensive tribute to the late Alexander Klimchouk. Alexander Klimchouk was undeniably one of the most influential cave researchers in the world and this well-deserved appreciation of…
There are five main papers in the latest issue of Cave and Karst Science, looking at aspects of cave biology, archaeology and karst science. There is also, in a new departure a photo feature on corals in Wookey Hole. Terry Reeve has been looking at available details of archaeological and Pleistocene palaeontological sites associated with…
New claims as to the use of fire in Rising Star Cave in South Africa have thrown the spotlight back on the activities of the enigmatic Homo naledi. And it now it appears that there might have been an easier way for these hominins to have made their way into the cave system….
There are four major papers in the latest issue of Cave and Karst Science, two looking at different aspects of invertebrate fauna in caves, one studying mixing corrosion in indurated limestones and the last showing an unusual result from the monitoring stations at Pooles Cavern. Lee Knight and colleagues have carried out a descriptive survey…
) The latest issue of Cave and Karst Science opens with a study of the impact of tourists on air flow in Poole’s Cavern. Later papers include a review of karstification of Permian limestones in northeastern England and a pictorial overview of travertine cascades from around the world. John Gunn, Matt Rowberry and Andrew Smith…
The latest issue of Cave and Karst Science is dominated (the editors’ word!) by karst and caves within the English chalk. There are also, though papers on aspects of cave archaeology, including historic graffiti in an underground stone quarry and the excavated remains of domesticated dogs from a cave on the Gower peninsula. An informative…
In a world first, British caver, polar explorer and climate change scientist Gina Moseley is preparing to lead an expedition to the planet’s northernmost caves in Greenland. While the expedition will explore several caves, there is one giant cave in particular that Gina is captivated by. She first found out about it in a conversation…
A BCRA field trip to the karst of the Arnside and Silverdale Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty will be held on Saturday 17th July, led by Phil Murphy. The striking landscape around Arnside and Silverdale in north west England consists of a series of partially-wooded limestone hills (knolls) separated by areas of water-logged low-lying ground,…
The latest issue of Cave and Karst Science opens with a comparison of straw stalactites in caves and those beneath bridges and buildings. Later papers include work on conservation in the tropics, bears in late-glacial Yorkshire and an account of early speleobiological work. The issue contains four major papers. in the first, Garry K. Smith…
The latest issue of Cave and Karst Science kicks off with two detailed biological papers, detailing work in Meghalaya and the Caucasus. Other papers are based on work in the UK and include LiDAR survey, fracture displacement monitoring and Palaeoenvironmental studies. This issue contains six major papers. The first two are concerned with biological studies….
Delegates from more than 30 countries came together virtually to take part in the 31st Cave Science Symposium of the British Cave Research Association on 14th November 2020. Peter Burgess reports from the comfort of his armchair … The meeting was arranged and hosted online jointly by Northumbria University and the British Geological Survey. Mike…
The BCRA Cave Science Symposium is being held by Zoom on Saturday 14th November. You can still register for free. BCRA Newsletter In this newsletter: Cave Science Symposium – how to register, Annual General Meeting – how to register, BCRA Review 2019 – now published. Cave Science Symposium Our annual cave science symposium will be…
In this newsletter: Cave Science Symposium, Annual General Meeting, BCRA Review 2019 now in press. Cave Science Symposium Our annual cave science symposium will be an online event this year, taking place via Zoom on Saturday 14 November. Details are being finalised and will be posted to our social media outlets as soon as possible….
In this newsletter: online event, Connecting with Cave Research – Advice for Student Researchers, BCRA Review 2019 available for pre-order now, and details of the Annual General Meeting. Connecting with Cave Research – Advice for Student Researchers ONLINE WEBINAR: Monday 19 October, 19:00 to 21:30 BST This is an online webinar, hosted…
To sign up for this event, please follow the link here, and please pass details of this to your club and any students you know.
The next BCRA Cave Science Symposium will take place on Saturday November 14th 2020 using an online portal. The meeting will be hosted by Professor Mike Rogerson at the University of Northumbria. BCRA would very much enjoy contributions that discuss how caves have behaved during the lockdown period and are also open to abstracts on…
The latest edition of the BCRA’s journal Cave and Karst Science is wholly dedicated to the reports from the 2019 Greenland Caves Project 2019 expedition. This was the latest and largest of a series of expeditions which started in 2015. It involved an interdisciplinary team, with members specialising in geology, glacial geomorphology, palaeoclimatology and…
Here we go with our latest round-up of news and views from around the world. If you see anything you think we might have missed, do drop us a line. Many thanks to Herman de Swart for his continued support sending in links! Cave Art Ancient Origins: Ancient Cave Found in Egypt with Unique Predynastic…
When we at DB Towers received our copy of Robin Taviner’s Somerset Underground Volume 1, we were intrigued to learn that one site that he had been unable to visit was Bucklewell Cave in the Avon Gorge. We therefore approached Paul Warrilow, who has studied the site over many years, and asked him for an…
A report on the big river caves of Papua New Guinea in the Nakanai Mountains and one on harvesting swiftlet nests in Sarawak by David Gill form a large part of this issue of Cave and Karst Science, along with reports on subjects as diverse as Northern Pennine maze caves and the hydrological significance of…
Here we go with our latest round-up of news and views from around the world. If you see anything you think we might have missed, do drop us a line. Many thanks to Herman de Swart for his continued support sending in links! Cave Art Fondation Maison des Sciences de l’Homme: Atlas de la grotte…
Here we go with our latest round-up of news and views from around the world. If you see anything you think we might have missed, do drop us a line. Many thanks to Herman de Swart for sending in a large number of links! Cave Art Science et Avenir: New cave art discovered in Spain…
Reports on large cave fish from Meghalaya, archaeological sites in Scotland and Derbyshire, ice caves in Yorkshire and carbon dioxide – historically and geologically – are amongst the features in the new edition of Cave and Karst Science. There are ten main articles in volume 46 no. 3 as well as some shorter pieces in…
On Saturday, 9th November 2019, the University of Bristol Speleological Society brought the public facing part of their centenary year to an end with a superb symposium, and attracted a good number of cavers to enjoy a day of fascinating talks on a wide range of cave science subjects. It was early afternoon on a…
The BCRA’s 30th annual science symposium took place at Keyworth,hosted by the British Geological Survey. I attended the Saturday session and was impressed by the depth and variety of scientific work being undertaken by British cavers. The morning session kicked off with a description of palaeokarst features found in the Pielkhlieng Pouk-Krem Sakwa system in…
Identifying geological features in a densely vegetated, steep, and rough terrain can be almost impossible. Imagery like LiDAR can help researchers see through the tree cover, but subtle landforms can often be missed by the human eye.
Scientists, studying evidence preserved in speleothems in a coastal cave, illustrate that more than three million years ago — a time in which the Earth was two to three degrees Celsius warmer than the pre-industrial era — sea level was as much as 16 …
Researchers from four international universities have returned from an expedition to a remote area of north-east Greenland where they broke two records. The team, comprised of researchers from the Universities of Innsbruck, Akron, Oxford, and Sheffield, documented and explored more than 30 caves that had never previously been visited. In doing so, they broke their…
New samples taken for DNA analysis from human bone from Aveline’s Hole by Natural History Museum researchers have thrown up surprising results. Graham Mullan reports on their findings. Aveline’s Hole, Burrington Combe, Mendip, contained the largest assemblage of Mesolithic human remains yet found anywhere in Britain. The cave was excavated in the 1920s by the…
An international team, led by an archaeologist from the University of Southampton and the University of Bordeaux, has revealed the first example of Palaeolithic figurative cave art found in the Balkan Peninsula. Dr Aitor Ruiz-Redondo worked with researchers from the universities of Cantabria (Spain), Newfoundland (Canada), Zagreb (Croatia) and the Archaeological Museum of Istria (Croatia)…
Pete Buckley and Ali Moody assisted by a band of Wessex diggers have had more success recently at their dig at Bagpit, on the south side of Mendip above Draycott. The site, a low cliff on the east edge of a closed basin with the same name, has three potential entrances. By excavating Pit 1,…
Thanks to Gina Moseley we have some more dates on speleothems sampled from Hallowe’en Rift. 230TH Age (yr BP) Corrected HR1-T 215,221 +/- 2476 HR1-B 219,378 +/- 2429 correlates with MIS7 HR2-T 125,341 +/- 1532 HR2-B 126,834 +/- 2197 correlates with…
Students interested in undertaking a cave-related dissertation will get the chance to talk to experts on in-cave monitoring next month. The BCRA (British Cave Research Association), in conjunction with CHECC (Council of Higher Education Caving Clubs), are holding a workshop on in-cave monitoring on 16th February 2019 at the British Cave Monitoring Centre, Poole’s Cavern,…
The December 2018 issue of Caves and Karst Science is now available. Volume 45, Number 3 carries six articles. The first is a report on the distribution of deposits of cool freshwater tufa, which are ubiquitous on the calcareous island of Lismore in Loch Linnhe, Argyll. Tufa deposits are rare in Scotland but at this…
For the first time, curious chalk inscriptions on the walls of an ancient stone quarry in Surrey are being systematically recorded, as part of a wider research project to better understand the long and hitherto hidden history of this important source of stone for London. Many of the chalk inscriptions have been identified as ritual protection marks (RPM).
Linda Wilson picked up some intriguing tips at the British Cave Research Association’s 29th cave science symposium as well as drinking plenty of tea … If you wanted to find out how to annoy our cross-channel neighbours, which caves you might want to avoid if spiders aren’t your thing and why you might soon be…
With Dr Gina Moseley, Dr Marc Luetscher and Roz, we were later
joined by Ray Deasy.
Gina and Marc are Palaeo-climatologists, with a specific focus on
cave sites, and had accepted an invitation to visit Hallowe’en Rift and comment
on the processes …
Camera expert Sid Perou looks back over a career of often dramatic and sometimes risky filming adventures, including the risk of foot fungus, and explosions under his stairs. It is one of so many magical times that I will always remember … Lindsay Dodd and I were stood on the relatively flat top of a huge…
The August 2018 issue of Caves and Karst Science is now available. Volume 45, Number 2 carries five main articles; the first being a subjective summary of the history, activities, publications and some of the characters of the former CRG and BCRA Hydrology Groups (1964–1999) written by John Wilcock. John hopes that current BCRA members…
The result is astonishing: Denisova 11 comes from an individual who had a Neanderthal mother and a Denisovan father.
Creswell Crags is an Site of Special Scientific Interest on the border of Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire. The beautiful limestone gorge cuts through an area of higher topographic relief that contains a series of horizontal caves that are perpendicular to the gorge itself. Several caves were first used by Neanderthals 50,000–60,000 years ago age followed by…
Dr Gina Moseley from the Innsbruck Quaternary Research Group will receive one of this year’s prestigious Austrian Science Foundation (FWF) START prizes. The START programme is an Austrian initiative to support and strengthen outstanding research projects in science and humanities. Gina, a member of the University of Bristol Spelaeological Society and current Symposium Lecture Secretary…
The April 2018 issue of Caves and Karst Science is now available. Volume 45, Number 1 carries six main articles, starting with an appreciation of Dr Trevor R Shaw, speleo-historian extraordinaire, to celebrate his 90th birthday. There are contributions from many of his friends, including those from the Karst Research Institute in Postojna, Slovenia, with…
Most of the popular coverage of the recent announcements about the possible Neanderthal link to parietal art in Spanish caves has, as usual, been focussing on the old paradigm of their being much less “advanced” or “intelligent” than their H. Sapiens successors in Europe. This is a view that has taken something of a battering…
DNA work carried out by researchers from the Natural History Museum (NHM) and University College London (UCL) has shed new light on Cheddar Man, a skeleton discovered 103 years ago in Gough’s Cave, Somerset. Specialists from the NHM have succeeded in extracting viable DNA from the 10,000 year-old-skeleton, a first for a British individual of…
The December issue of Caves and Karst Science is now available. Volume 44, Number 3 carries four main articles, starting with a paper on Karst conduit complexity by John Gunn, demonstrated by a dye tracing experiment from Rowter Hole, Castleton in Derbyshire, one of the most intensively investigated karst areas in Britain, with over 40…
New research by academics from the University of Leicester and the British Museum, working with colleagues from the British Geological Survey and Cambridge University, outlines the science behind the largest concentration of indigenous pre-Columbian rock art in the Caribbean. Exploration and surveys of around 70 cave systems — part of an interdisciplinary study of past…
To celebrate 50 years of pioneering British cave exploration and scientific research, renowned explorers of the subterranean world will come together to share their discoveries and experiences during 4 days at the Royal Geographical Society, London.
We reported last year that cryogenic cave crystals (CCCs) had been found for the first time in the UK in Wookey Hole in 2015. Gina Moseley and Mark Luetscher from Innsbruck University had been investigating CCCs for some time in the Alps and want to extend the research to the UK, and are calling for…
Hidden Earth are holding a survey salon and competition. The purpose is to promote cave surveying and provide the opportunity for clubs or individuals to display their surveys. In addition to drawn surveys, other surveying-related material can be displayed as part of the salon and competition and could, for example, include 3D models of caves….
The backbone of cave surveying is the data, in other words the numbers. We spend many hours collecting them, and some time building up pictures around the numbers. This means that as computers became a home item, cave surveyors rapidly adopted them to carry the burden of the tedious after-caving task of crunching the numbers….
British Cave Research Association, 28th Cave Science Symposium hosted jointly with the Yorkshire Geological Society and Leeds Geological Association Symposium – Saturday 21st October, 2017 Field-trip(s) – Sunday 22nd October, 2017 School of Earth and Environment, University of Leeds SECOND CIRCULAR & CALL FOR ABSTRACTS 1st July, 2017 The British Cave Research Association, Yorkshire Geological…
The bone caves of north Wales have received increased attention from archaeologists in recent years. Excavations have taken place at Llanarmon Cave (Llanarmon-yn-ial) and Ffynnon Bueno Cave (Tremeirchion) by Rob Dinnis, then of the British Museum, and his team. John Blore issued his final report on his fifty years work at Lynx Cave (near Eryrys),…
The British Cave Research Association, Yorkshire Geological Society, and Leeds Geological Association are pleased to announce details of the 28th Annual Cave Science Symposium and associated field-trip. The Symposium will be hosted by Prof. Simon Bottrell and Dr. Phillip Murphy of the School of Earth and Environment, University of Leeds, on Saturday 21st October, 2017….
In November 2015, the University of Bristol unveiled the brand new Bristol Radiocarbon Accelerator Mass Spectrometer (BRAMS). This instrument is based on one of the new generation of ultra-compact high-precision AMS instruments and will be used for 14C analysis in environmental, archaeological and palaeoenvironmental research. The term ultra-compact is relative, as the instrument weighs 4.5 metric…
Muons, once used to explore the inside of pyramids and volcanoes alike, are enabling researchers to see deep underground with a technological breakthrough.
27th British Cave Research Association Cave Science Symposium, Saturday 22nd October, 2016 Department of Earth Sciences, University of Oxford Call for Abstracts The response to the first call for abstracts has been very positive and it already looks like we will have a fascinating collection of talks on archaeology, biospeleology and hydrology. We still welcome…
