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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 talus cone is a cone-like collection of disintegrated rock material originating from and adjacent to a steeper slope [16].?
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Featured articles from Cave & Karst Science Journals
The author describes a new species, Niphargus toplicensis n. sp., of the spring «Toplitzata» near the village of Mussomischta (district of Goze Delcev). N. toplicensis n. sp. Is closely related to N. aquilex moldacicus Dobreanu, Manolache and Puscariu, 1953, N. smederevanus Karaman, 1950, N. anatolicus Karaman, 1950, N. pancici Karaman, 1929, N. pancici clkanovi Karaman, 1959 but differs for several characters (a greater number of setae on the internal lobe of maxilla I, the coxal plates longer than their width, different armour of the telson and of the uropods I etc.).
The acquatic cave Isopod Sphaeromides bureschi Strouhal was discovered by I. Buresch in the underground water of two caves in western Stara-Planina. In this paper the author describes a new station, a spring, in the same region and then exposes the results of ecological and biological observations on this species (biotope, temperature, sex-ratio, feeding regime, locomotion).
Eight breeding Caves of Miniopterus schreibersi (Kuhl) are described from South Australia, Victoria, New South Wales and Southern Queensland, in terms of their structure, the location of nursery areas at which juveniles are deposited after birth, and their physical environments. Maternity colonies are found at these caves through spring, summer and early autumn. Established colonies range from about 15,000 to 200,000 bats at peak size. These individuals are predominantly adult females and their young. Adult males are conspicuous only at the single South Australian breeding cave. Births occur from approximately the beginning of December to mid-January at all colonies except that in South Australia, where a birth period is evident between mid-October to late-November. Artificial warming, as a consequence of bat activity, appears to be characteristic of these Miniopterus schreibersi breeding caves. It is suggested that this may have functional significance in facilitating adequate development of juveniles, and that the habit could be a reflection of the tropical ancestry of this species.
Although small caves are numerous in the limestone Ranges of the Fitzroy Basin in West Kimberly, (sic, actually Kimberley) large and long caves are few on the basis of present knowledge, and reasons for this paucity are ready to find (Jennings, 1962). Of all the known caves, The Tunnel has probably the greatest geomorphological interest (Jennings and Sweeting, 1963a), though it offers little apparent prospect for further exploration. The string of caves ending in Cave Spring in Bugle Gap (Jennings and Sweeting, 1963b) seemed more promising in this latter respect when examined in 1959 and D.C. Lowry (Personal Communication) reports finding considerable extension to one of these caves in a recent visit. Although the cave to be discussed here - Old Napier Downs Cave - is not very large in terms of its known dimensions and a brief reference to it has already been made (Jennings and Sweeting, 1963b, p.27), fuller description in a journal more readily accessible to Australian speleologists and publication of a survey are justified because of the prospects for further exploration that the cave itself and its neighbourhood present.
Between July, 1960, and December, 1963, observations were made on the natural history of Rhinolophus megaphyllus Gray in north-eastern New South Wales. Typically the species occurs as small colonies in a wide variety of cave and mine roosts. It appears to be absent from available roosting sites at higher altitudes in this area. Seasonal changes in the sizes of testes and epididymides suggest that mating occurs in May and June. The single young are born at maternity colonies through November, and nursing lasts about eight weeks. Field weights do not reflect seasonal variation other than that associated with pregnancy. However, seasonal differences in daytime level of activity are noted and these correlate with behavioural changes apparently related to temperature selection. Changes in colony size are described for several roosts and three movements made by marked individuals are recorded. Males appear to be more sedentary than females. Considerable aggregation of females and their young at maternity colonies (size, 15 to 1,5000 individuals) characterises the spring and summer population.
Two new species of Halacarinae of a thermal slightly brackish spring near the Tiberiade lake in Israel are reported. Limnohalacaras capernaumi n. sp. Has certain characteristics typical of other species of the Genus, but is clearly distinguished by proper elements. Lohmannell heptapegoni n. sp. resembles Lohmannella stammeri Viets, of which it is distinguished by the structure of the dorsal plates, the palp and the morphology of the genital apparatus.
The three cave systems are developed along the course of a seasonal stream that has been superposed on a range of Devonian Limestone in north-western Australia. The cave system furthest upstream has the greatest known development of cave passages in the region (more than 2,300 yards) and is controlled by two sets of vertical joints approximately at right angles to each other.
Arranged by geologist Dr. Temucin Aygen, the International Conference of Speleology and Karstology at Istanbul, with the participation of about twenty foreign scholars, opened first at Beyazit de Stamboul University. For three days papers and discussions enlivened the sessions, broken by tours around the Bosporus. During the following two weeks the members of the Conference took a field trip across Anatolia, through Ankara, Konya, Mersin, Antalya, Burdur, Izmir, Bursa, and Istanbul. They thus had the opportunity to investigate the principal karstic phenomena of Turkey; the Konya obrouks, travertines of' Yerkòpru and Antalya, caves of the Mersin region, vauclusian springs of Irviz and Manavgat, and so forth. The interest of these occurrences of Anatolian karst is unquestionable; in addition to the scientific problems they pose, they represent a great economic value either as tourist centres or as producers of electric energy and sources of water for irrigation.
Arranged by geologist Dr. Temucin Aygen, the International Conference of Speleology and Karstology at Istanbul, with the participation of about twenty foreign scholars, opened first at Beyazit de Stamboul University. For three days papers and discussions enlivened the sessions, broken by tours around the Bosporus. During the following two weeks the members of the Conference took a field trip across Anatolia, through Ankara, Konya, Mersin, Antalya, Burdur, Izmir, Bursa, and Istanbul. They thus had the opportunity to investigate the principal karstic phenomena of Turkey; the Konya obrouks, travertines of' Yerkòpru and Antalya, caves of the Mersin region, vauclusian springs of Irviz and Manavgat, and so forth. The interest of these occurrences of Anatolian karst is unquestionable; in addition to the scientific problems they pose, they represent a great economic value either as tourist centres or as producers of electric energy and sources of water for irrigation.
A new subspecies and a new species are described: Monolistra (Monolistra) caeca meridionalis nov. subspec. was found in three caves in the northern part of Croatia, Yougoslavia. It is distinguishable from the typical form principally by the thin, acuminate form of the protuberance of the protopodite of the IInd male peraeopod, by the endopodite of the Ist pleopod which bears 3-4 setae (1-2 in M. c. caeca), by the somewhat wider endopodite of the IIIrd pleopod and by the shorter, only slightly curved uropods. A sketch shows the situation of 6 newly discovered localities in northern Croatia, 3 of the typical form and three of the new subspecies. Microtistra sketi is the 6th species known of its genus and lives in a cave, in stagnant water of a periodic spring, tributary to the river Gacka in Croatia. The number (three pairs), and the length of the spines of the carapace and the pointedness of the epimers of the pereion are intermediate between those of the spiny forms living in Slovenia and the tubercular species M. pretneri Sket from Dalmatia and M. schottlaenderi (Stammer) from the vicinity of Trieste.
Exploration of the subterranean tract of the spring of En-Nur (at the North end of Lake Tiberias) by scuba diving and by use of new collecting methods, led to the discovery of a living community associated with the blind prawn Typhlocaris galilea. A rich growth of sulphur bacteria and of pigmentless Cyanophyceae from the trophic basis in this peculiar biotope. Representatives of three hypogeic crustacean orders have been found as well as some peculiar gastropods, nematods and oligocaets. The latter are the main food of Typhlocaris galilea.
More than twenty species of oligochaeta belonging to the families Enchytraeidae, Naididae, Tubificidae and Lumbriculidae were found in the phreatic water of the river bank gravels. Psammoryctes barbatus, Rhyacodrilus coccineus and Styludrilus heringianus were found throughout the year, attaining maturity in the spring. These three species may be univoltine under these conditions. The family Naididae and a few species of Tubificidae show well marked seasons of abundance, chiefly in the summer and autumn.
The new subspecies Stenasellus skopljensis thermalis, from Banja Luka (Bosnie, Yugoslavia) is described. From the ecological point of view this form differs from the others because it inhabits underground waters of elevated temperature (240°C). Another constantly abundant species, St. hungaricus thermalis Mestrov, also occurs in Yugoslavia under the same ecological conditions, in the warm springs of Podsused near Zagreb. This indicates that these underground waters at elevated temperature are not accidental but preferred habitats for these forms, and confirms once again that thermal waters of this type are the biotopes-refuges in which certain relic forms are retained.
