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Full-Text Articles in Earth Sciences

The Ribbed Drapery Of The Puerto Princesa Underground River (Palawan, Philippines): Morphology And Genesis, Paolo Forti, Giovanni Badino, Jose Maria Calaforra, Jo De Waele Dec 2016

The Ribbed Drapery Of The Puerto Princesa Underground River (Palawan, Philippines): Morphology And Genesis, Paolo Forti, Giovanni Badino, Jose Maria Calaforra, Jo De Waele

International Journal of Speleology

During the 2011 speleological expedition to the Puerto Princesa Underground River (Palawan, Philippines) a drapery characterized by several close-to-horizontal ribs has been noticed. Even without sampling and analyzing its internal growth layers, a detailed morphological study allowed to present a possible genetic model. The presented model helps to explain its evolution, which is mainly controlled by variation in water flow as a consequence of the Palawan climate. When validated by further analyses, the same genetic mechanism could define also the evolution of the very common but still unexplained complex flowstones, which exhibit several close-to-horizontal steps, widenings and narrowings along their …


Mattes J., 2015. Reisen Ins Unterirdische. Eine Kulturgeschichte Der Höhlenforschung In Österreich Bis In Die Zwischenkriegszeit. [Travelling Into The Underground. A Cultural History Of Cave Exploration In Austria Through The Interwar Years], Monika Schöner Nov 2016

Mattes J., 2015. Reisen Ins Unterirdische. Eine Kulturgeschichte Der Höhlenforschung In Österreich Bis In Die Zwischenkriegszeit. [Travelling Into The Underground. A Cultural History Of Cave Exploration In Austria Through The Interwar Years], Monika Schöner

International Journal of Speleology

No abstract provided.


Seasonal Temperature Variations Controlling Cave Ventilation Processes In Cueva Larga, Puerto Rico, Rolf Vieten, Amos Winter, Sophie Friederike Warken, Andrea Schrӧder-Ritzrau, Thomas E. Miller, Denis Scholz Oct 2016

Seasonal Temperature Variations Controlling Cave Ventilation Processes In Cueva Larga, Puerto Rico, Rolf Vieten, Amos Winter, Sophie Friederike Warken, Andrea Schrӧder-Ritzrau, Thomas E. Miller, Denis Scholz

International Journal of Speleology

Two years of cave monitoring investigate ventilation processes in Cueva Larga, a tropical cave in Puerto Rico. The cave is 1,440 m long with a large main passage (about 120,000 m3). Cave air pCO2 in the main passage varies seasonally, between 600 ppm in winter and 1,800 ppm in summer. The seasonal variability in cave pCO2 permits the estimation of a cave air exchange time of 36 ± 5 days and a winter ventilation rate of 3,300 ± 1,000 m3/day for the main cave passage. Calculations of virtual temperature and differences between cave and …


The Morphology And Development Of Kalahroud Cave, Iran, Shirin Bahadorinia, Sayed Hassan Hejazi, Alireza Nadimi, Derek C. Ford, Karine Wainer Oct 2016

The Morphology And Development Of Kalahroud Cave, Iran, Shirin Bahadorinia, Sayed Hassan Hejazi, Alireza Nadimi, Derek C. Ford, Karine Wainer

International Journal of Speleology

Kalahroud Cave is located in central Iran, ~50 km north of Isfahan. The landscape is a typical mountain desert morphology of cuestas dissected by ravines and gorges created during rare surface run-off events; crest lines are ~2800 m asl and lowlands at ~2100 m asl. Kalahroud Cave (4500 m of mapped passages, ~60 m deep) is entered through breakdown in the eastern wall of a gorge. The host rock is a Cretaceous limestone and mudstone formation 60 m in thickness, underlain by sandstones and conglomerates and overlain by weakly permeable calcareous marl strata, all dipping 15-20o. Below the …


High-Resolution Signatures Of Oxygenation And Microbiological Activity In Speleothem Fluid Inclusions, Nigel Blamey, Penelope J. Boston, Laura Rosales-Lagarde Aug 2016

High-Resolution Signatures Of Oxygenation And Microbiological Activity In Speleothem Fluid Inclusions, Nigel Blamey, Penelope J. Boston, Laura Rosales-Lagarde

International Journal of Speleology

Speleothems frequently host “fossil” fluids that were trapped in small inclusions during growth. Such fluids may provide valuable clues to past microbial, geochemical, and climatic processes during their formation. However, one difficulty is to understand which gases represent background atmosphere and fluids within a given cave system at a particular time, and which may be the product of post-trapping residual microbial activity or abiotic chemical reactions? Do we have any hope of sorting out these differences? The success depends on a quantitative understanding of the gas composition trapped in the inclusions and an understanding of the interactions of cave mineralogy, …


Tube Coalescence In The Jingfudong Lava Tube And Implications For Lava Flow Hazard Of Tengchong Volcanism, Zhengquan Chen, Yongshun Liu, Haiquan Wei, Jiandong Xu, Wenfeng Guo Aug 2016

Tube Coalescence In The Jingfudong Lava Tube And Implications For Lava Flow Hazard Of Tengchong Volcanism, Zhengquan Chen, Yongshun Liu, Haiquan Wei, Jiandong Xu, Wenfeng Guo

International Journal of Speleology

Tube-fed structure occurs as a general phenomenon in Tengchong basic lavas, such as lava tubes, lava plugs and tube-related collapse depressions. We deduced the development of Laoguipo lava flows, which is the longest lava tube (Jingfudong lava tube) evolved in Tengchong volcanic area. Following the detailed documentation of the tube morphology of the Jingfudong lava tube, we propose that the Jingfudong lava tube was formed through vertical coalescence of at least three tubes. The coalescence and bifurcation process are re-constructed by interpretation of tube floor continuity, the distribution of remnant tubes and the scales of lava tube branches (shapes of …


Search For An Artificially Buried Karst Cave Entrance Using Ground Penetrating Radar: A Successful Case Of Locating The S-19 Cave In The Mt. Kanin Massif (Nw Slovenia), Andrej Gosar, Teja Čeru May 2016

Search For An Artificially Buried Karst Cave Entrance Using Ground Penetrating Radar: A Successful Case Of Locating The S-19 Cave In The Mt. Kanin Massif (Nw Slovenia), Andrej Gosar, Teja Čeru

International Journal of Speleology

The S-19 Cave was with its explored depth of 177 m one of the most important caves of the Mt. Kanin massif, but after its discovery in 1974, a huge snow avalanche protection dyke was constructed across the cave entrance. To excavate the buried cave, the accurate location of the cave had to be determined first. Since the entrance coordinates were incorrect and no markers were available, application of geophysical techniques was necessary to do this. A Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) with special 50 MHz rough terrain antennas was selected as the single suitable geophysical method for the given conditions …


Age Re-Assessment Of The Cave Bear Assemblage From Urşilor Cave, North-Western Romania, Marius V. Robu May 2016

Age Re-Assessment Of The Cave Bear Assemblage From Urşilor Cave, North-Western Romania, Marius V. Robu

International Journal of Speleology

The most common methods used for assessing the relative age of a cave bear bone assemblage are the P4/4 index (morphodynamic index of the cave bear fourth premolar), the K-index and the Index of Plumpness (both used for cave bear’s 2nd metatarsal). Preliminary work on this (Robu et al., 2011), for Urşilor Cave (NW Romania), has indicated one of the youngest European cave bear populations. As the number of extracted fossil bones from the palaeontological excavation increased recently, a re-assessment of the of the age of the cave bear assemblage is necessary. 206 cave bear fourth …


U-Pb Dating Of Speleogenetic Dolomite: A New Sulfuric Acid Speleogenesis Chronometer, Victor J. Polyak, Paula P. Provencio, Yemane Asmerom Feb 2016

U-Pb Dating Of Speleogenetic Dolomite: A New Sulfuric Acid Speleogenesis Chronometer, Victor J. Polyak, Paula P. Provencio, Yemane Asmerom

International Journal of Speleology

The 1100-meter Big Room elevation level of Carlsbad Cavern, New Mexico USA, formed 4 Ma by hypogenic sulfuric acid speleogenesis (SAS). The age of the Big Room level of 4.0 ± 0.2 Ma was previously determined by dating alunite, a byproduct of speleogenesis, using the 40Ar/39Ar method. Duplication of these results is possible by radiometric dating of other byproducts interpreted to be speleogenetic (a byproduct of speleogenesis) such as calcite and dolomite in certain settings. XRD and TEM analyses of sample 94044, a piece of crust collected within the Big Room level of SAS just below Left …


A Decade Of Modern Cave Surveying With Terrestrial Laser Scanning: A Review Of Sensors, Method And Application Development, Idrees Mohammed Oludare, Biswajeet Pradhan Jan 2016

A Decade Of Modern Cave Surveying With Terrestrial Laser Scanning: A Review Of Sensors, Method And Application Development, Idrees Mohammed Oludare, Biswajeet Pradhan

International Journal of Speleology

During the last decade, the need to survey and model caves or caverns in their correct three-dimensional geometry has increased due to two major competing motivations. One is the emergence of medium and long range terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) technology that can collect high point density with unprecedented accuracy and speed, and two, the expanding sphere of multidisciplinary research in understanding the origin and development of cave, called speleogenesis. Accurate surveying of caves has always been fundamental to understanding their origin and processes that lead to their current state and as well provide tools and information to predict future. Several …