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Hello everyone!
I pleased to invite you to the official site of Central Asian Karstic-Speleological commission ("Kaspeko")
There, we regularly publish reports about our expeditions, articles and reports on speleotopics, lecture course for instructors, photos etc. ...
Dear Colleagues, This is to draw your attention to several recent publications added to KarstBase, relevant to hypogenic karst/speleogenesis: Corrosion of limestone tablets in sulfidic ground-water: measurements and speleogenetic implications Galdenzi,
A recent publication of Spanish researchers describes the biology of Krubera Cave, including the deepest terrestrial animal ever found:
Jordana, Rafael; Baquero, Enrique; Reboleira, Sofía and Sendra, Alberto. ...
Exhibition dedicated to caves is taking place in the Vienna Natural History Museum
The exhibition at the Natural History Museum presents the surprising variety of caves and cave formations such as stalactites and various crystals. ...
Did you know?
That specific storage is the volume of water released from or taken into storage per unit volume of the porous medium per unit change in head [6].?
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Search KARSTBASE:
KarstBase a bibliography database in karst and cave science.
Featured articles from Cave & Karst Science Journals
This paper reviews the current state of knowledge of the biospeleology of the northeast Indian hill state Meghalaya. Since the early 1990s the Meghalayan Adven- turers Association (based in Shillong), in partnership with European speleologists, has conducted a series of projects with the objective of mapping and documenting caves. To date over 320 km of cave passage have been mapped and much more remains to be discovered. The quantity and length of caves in Meghalaya exceeds that of any other known karst region of India. An exhaustive search of historical records yielded one highly detailed biological survey of a single cave in the west of the state and a few records of opportunistic specimen collection from caves at other locations. This data is supplemented by a review of numerous biological observations made during the Meghalayan Adventurers Association cave mapping program. Taxa with pronounced troglomorphic characteristics appear to be relatively common in the Jaintia Hills region of eastern Meghalaya and rare elsewhere in the state. In contrast, taxa with partial troglomorphy are widespread throughout Meghalaya. There is a range of taxa which occur regularly within caves and should be considered as significant components of the cave ecosystem regardless of troglomorphy. In some cases there is evidenceof reproductive activity and opportunity for feeding which indicates that a proportion of the population complete their lifecycle within the caves and can be regarded as troglophiles. Sources of nutrition are primarily composed of flood borne debris, although dense colonies of bats (or cave-nesting swiftlets at some sites) can also contribute. The composition of cavernicole communities is not constant throughout the region and varies due to environmental and geographic factors. A major expansion of the limestone extraction industry is underway in the Jaintia Hills and elsewhere in Meghalaya. This will inevitably cause significant destruction and perturbation of cavernicole habitat. It would be prudent to implement formal studies to document the biospeleology of the region before significant loss or damage occurs.
This paper reviews the current state of knowledge of the biospeleology of the northeast Indian hill state Meghalaya. Since the early 1990s the Meghalayan Adventurers Association (based in Shillong), in partnership with European speleologists, has conducted a series of projects with the objective of mapping and documenting caves. To date over 320 km of cave passage have been mapped and much more remains to be discovered. The quantity and length of caves in Meghalaya exceeds that of any other known karst region of India. An exhaustive search of historical records yielded one highly detailed biological survey of a single cave in the west of the state and a few records of opportunistic specimen collection from caves at other locations. This data is supplemented by a review of numerous biological observations made during the Meghalayan Adventurers Association cave mapping program. Taxa with pronounced troglomorphic characteristics appear to be relatively common in the Jaintia Hills region of eastern Meghalaya and rare elsewhere in the state. In contrast, taxa with partial troglomorphy are widespread throughout Meghalaya. There is a range of taxa which occur regularly within caves and should be considered as significant components of the cave ecosystem regardless of troglomorphy. In some cases there is evidence of reproductive activity and opportunity for feeding which indicates that a proportion of the population complete their lifecycle within the caves and can be regarded as troglophiles. Sources of nutrition are primarily composed of flood borne debris, although dense colonies of bats (or cave-nesting swiftlets at some sites) can also contribute. The composition of cavernicole communities is not constant throughout the region and varies due to environmental and geographic factors. A major expansion of the limestone extraction industry is underway in the Jaintia Hills and elsewhere in Meghalaya. This will inevitably cause significant destruction and perturbation of cavernicole habitat. It would be prudent to implement formal studies to document the biospeleology of the region before significant loss or damage occurs.
Four scuttle fly species (family Phoridae) were collected from caves in Meghalaya, India, of which one was from deep inside the caves, while the others were restricted to the vicinity of the cave entrances. Illustrated notes are provided to aid future recognition of these species.
Cave fauna are unique and constitute one of the important components of biodiversity. The prevalence of cave organisms (cavernicoles) is always more in wet and longer caves compared to small and dry ones. Cavernicoles continue to evolve in the habitat characterized by complete darkness, constant temperature, high humidity and low predatic pressure. The subterranean biospheres located in tropical and sub-tropical India are poorly explored. Quarrying/mining activities in the karst area directly or indirectly harm such subterranean biosphere. Krem Mawkhyrdop located in Meghalaya, is affected by such activities. Recently, a portion of this cave collapsed despite early warning calls. In this article, we explain how an unscientific and random quarrying/mining process may possibly lead to extinction of biodiversity of this cave.
Two caves developed in sandstone are described from southern Meghalaya, northeastern India. Krem (Cave) Pubon is a fault-oriented sub-horizontal, sub-rectangular cave maze containing an active rivulet. Krem Lymbit is a relict horizontal cave, with a form that testifies to the former existence of a more extensive system, now largely eroded. Because both caves are unusual for this region, being developed in sandstone host rock, they are presented in support of the case for future exploration and scientific investigation in this important northeast Indian karst region.
