Section Of Cave Research Articles

Wounded Artifacts: Vulnerability and Montaigne's Essais

“[C]omme j’ay trouve Villon blesse en ses œuures, il n’y a si expert chirurgien qui le sceust penser sans apparence de cicatrice.” Thus Marot in 1533, in the preface to his edition of Villon.1 While not unexpected in the sphere of humanist textual scholarship in Latin, the term “blesse” is as unusual in the vernacular as it is striking, although in context it is readily justified as part of an extended metaphor of corruption and repair which Marot uses to characterize his editorial task.2 Yet if the special vocabulary of woundedness is uncommon in French at this date, the underlying idea, by contrast, might be familiar enough. Such would certainly be the view of Thomas Greene, who, in a chapter of The Vulnerable Text entitled “Vulnerabilities of the Humanist Text,” sketches a broad conceptualisation of the field to which vulnerability and woundedness might be applicable.3 Greene’s argument takes its cue from his reactions to a specific aspect of Terence Cave’s The Cornucopian Text. His query arises over the Apuleian proverb which is cited by Erasmus in Lingua and acts as the epigraph as well as a thematic strand in the first section of Cave’s study: “ubi

Uporaba metode električne upornosti tal na primeru Divaške jame

Električna upornost tal je geofizikalna metoda, s katero se ugotavlja struktura tal pod površjem. Za preizkus uporabnosti metode so bili izdelani profili nad jamo Trhlovca in Divaško jamo ter njenim nadaljevanjem v brezstropi jami na pobočju Radvanja na Divaškem krasu. Rezultati kažejo, da votlih jamskih prostorov zaradi velike električne upornosti matične kamnine ni mogoče zaznati, lahko pa zaznamo jarke brezstropih jam in podzemne jame, ki so zapolnjene z ilovnatim sedimentom.

Pendolomitan Batugamping Formasi Rajamandala di Lintasan Gua Pawon, Bandung Barat

http://dx.doi.org/10.17014/ijog.vol4no3.20095Diagenetic process records could be observed based on the petrography and XRD mineralogy labo- ratory analyses from thirty-two samples of limestone taken from the Rajamandala Formation at Pawon Cave Section, West Bandung. These laboratory analyses show that the rocks have partially been affected by a dolomitization. The dolomitization recorded at the limestone is a fabric selective dolomitization of the rock matrix, continued to the whole components of the limestone. The dolomite crystals are generally idiotopic to xenotopic mosaic rhombohedral in shapes with fine to moderate crystal sizes. Dolomite mainly consists of magnesium ion initiated from water formation trapped soon after the rock deposited. The middle part of the Rajamandala Formation, which is commonly affected by dolomitization is generally associated with meteoric water dissolution and creates several caves.

The Corona lava tube, Lanzarote: geology, habitat diversity and biogeography

The Corona lava tube on the Canarian island of Lanzarote is a unique subterranean ecosystem comprising both dry and submerged cave sections with a total length of almost 8 km. Here, we present the results of a diving exploration of the lava tube that took place from 11 to 25 March 2008. Environmental characteristics are given for ecologically disparate sections of the cave, including the Cueva de los Lagos, the Jameos del Agua, and the Tunel de la Atlantida. Moreover, we compare various habitats within the lava tube, and discuss the origin of the diverse hypogean fauna, including new species of remipede crustaceans and polychaete worms discovered during the expedition.

Initial excavation and dating of Ngalue Cave: A Middle Stone Age site along the Niassa Rift, Mozambique

Direct evidence for a systematic occupation of the African tropics during the early late Pleistocene is lacking. Here, we report a record of human occupation between 105–42 ka, based on results from a radiometrically-dated cave section from the Mozambican segment of the Niassa (Malawi/Nyasa) Rift called Ngalue. The sedimentary sequence from bottom to top has five units. We concentrate on the so-called “Middle Beds,” which contain a Middle Stone Age industry characterized by the use of the discoidal reduction technique. A significant typological feature is the presence of formal types such as points, scrapers, awls, and microliths. Special objects consist of grinders/core-axes covered by ochre. Ngalue is one of the few directly-dated Pleistocene sites located along the biogeographical corridor for modern human dispersals that links east, central, and southern Africa, and, with further study, may shed new light on hominin cave habitats during the late Pleistocene.

Stable isotopes of a subfossil Tamarix tree from the Dead Sea region, Israel, and their implications for the Intermediate Bronze Age environmental crisis

Trees growing on the Mt. Sedom salt diapir, at the southern Dead Sea shore, were swept by runoff into salt caves and subsequently deposited therein, sheltered from surface weathering. A subfossil Tamarix tree trunk, found in a remote section of Sedom Cave is radiocarbon dated to between ∼ 2265 and 1930 BCE. It was sampled in 109 points across the tree rings for carbon and nitrogen isotopes. The Sedom Tamarix demonstrates a few hundred years of 13C and 15N isotopic enrichment, culminating in extremely high δ 13C and δ 15N values. Calibration using modern Tamarix stable isotopes in various climatic settings in Israel shows direct relationship between isotopic enrichment and climate deterioration, particularly rainfall decrease. The subfossil Tamarix probably reflects an environmental crisis during the Intermediate Bronze Age, which subsequently killed the tree ∼ 1930 BCE. This period coincides with the largest historic fall of the Dead Sea level, as well as the demise of the large regional urban center of the 3rd millennium BCE. The environmental crisis may thus explain the archaeological evidence of a shift from urban to pastoral culture during the Intermediate Bronze Age. This was apparently the most severe long-term historical drought that affected the region in the mid-late Holocene.

U-series and oxygen isotope chronology of the mid-Pleistocene Lake Amora (Dead Sea basin)

This study establishes for the first time the chronology and limnological history of Lake Amora (Dead Sea basin, Israel), whose deposits (the Amora Formation) comprise one of the longest exposed lacustrine records of the Pleistocene time. The Amora Formation consists of sequences of laminated primary aragonite and silty-detritus, Ca-sulfate minerals, halite and clastic units. This sedimentary sequence was uplifted and tilted by the rising Sedom salt diapir, exposing ∼320 m of sediments on the eastern flanks of Mt. Sedom (the Arubotaim Cave (AC) section). The chronology of the AC section is based on U-disequilibrium dating ( 230Th– 234U and 234U– 238U ages) combined with floating δ 18 O stratigraphy and paleomagnetic constraints. The determination of the 230Th– 234U ages required significant corrections to account for detrital Th and U. These corrections were performed on individual samples and on suites of samples from several stratigraphic horizons. The most reliable corrected ages were used to construct an age-elevation model that was further tuned to the oxygen isotope record of east Mediterranean foraminifers (based on the long-term similarity between the sea and lake oxygen isotope archives). The combined U-series- δ 18 O age-elevation model indicates that the (exposed) Amora sequence was deposited between ∼740 and 70 ka, covering seven glacial–interglacial cycles (Marine Isotope Stages (MIS) 18 to 5). Taking the last glacial Lake Lisan and the Holocene Dead Sea lacustrine systems as analogs of the depositional–limnological environment of Lake Amora, the latter oscillated between wet (glacial) and more arid (interglacial) conditions, represented by sequences of primary evaporites (aragonite and gypsum that require enhanced supply of freshwater to the lakes) and clastic sediments, respectively. The lake evolved from a stage of rapid shifts between high and low-stand conditions during ∼740 to 550 ka to a sabkha-like environment that existed (at the AC site) between 550 and 420 ka. This stage was terminated by a dry spell represented by massive halite deposition at 420 ka (MIS12-11). During MIS10-6 the lake fluctuated between lower and higher stands reaching its highest stand conditions at the late glacial MIS6, after which a significant lake level decline corresponds to the transition to the last interglacial (MIS5) low-stand lake, represented by the uppermost part of the Formation. δ 18 O values in the primary aragonite range between 6.0 and −1.3 ‰ , shifting cyclically between glacial and interglacial intervals. The lowest δ 18 O values are observed during interglacial stages and may reflect short and intense humid episodes that intermittently interrupted the overall arid conditions. These humid episodes, expressed also by enhanced deposition of travertines and speleothems, seem to characterize the Negev Desert, and in contrast to the overall dominance of the Atlantic–Mediterranean system of rain patterns in the Dead Sea basin, some humid episodes during interglacials may be traced to southern sources.

Detailed Morphologicial Studies in Netopirjev rov, Predjama Cave: A Hypogene Segment of Slovenian Cave.

Netopirjev Rov, part of the upper level of Jana near Predjama Cave, is not a former fluvial cave passage but a complex void made up of coalesced, structurally guided elongate cavities with cupolas and a range of speleogens normally associated with hy­pogene caves. These cavities were initially separate and later became integrated by the breakdown of their common walls. The main chamber consists of at least two coalesced voids while an apparent bend, a pseudobend, towards the northern end of Netopirjev Rov results from the breakdown of the com­mon wall near the ends of two adjacent elongate cavities. It is proposed that this section of cave was excavated by the action of water rising from below (per-ascensum speleogenesis), but the nature and source of this water remains unclear.

Partitions, compartments and portals: cave development in internally impounded karst masses

Dykes and other vertical bodies can act as aquicludes within bodies of karst rock. These partitions separate isolated bodies of soluble rock called compartments. Speleogenetically each compartment will behave as a small impounded-karst until the partition becomes breached. Breaches through partitions, portals, allow water, air and biota including humans to pass between sections of caves that were originally isolated.

PALEOPHYLOGEOGRAPHY: THE TEMPO OF GEOGRAPHIC DIFFERENTIATION IN MARMOTS (MARMOTA)

Quantitative analysis of molar shape may provide a metric for paleontological phylogeography or the study of intraspecific relationships in the fossil record. In this study, outlines of the lower 3rd molars (m3) of North American Marmota were analyzed as between-shape distances after ordination with eigenshape analysis. Based on comparisons with cytochrome b, quantitative divergence in molar shape appears to be a reasonable proxy for phylogenetic reconstruction at the level of populations, subspecies, and the most closely related species of marmots. Phylogeographic analysis of living North American marmots and middle Pleistocene fossils from Porcupine Cave, Colorado, revealed that the latter were more closely related to extant Marmota monax than they are to M. flaviventris, which currently inhabits the Porcupine Cave area, suggesting that the origin of living species occurred in regions different from those they inhabit today. Change in molar shape was significant from level to level through the Porcupine Cave section, which spans a glacial-interglacial cycle, but was not correlated with environmental change. The amount of morphological difference among conspecific populations of living M. monax suggested that they differentiated over many glacial cycles, whereas morphological differences between M. caligata and M. flaviventris were smaller and may have evolved over fewer cycles.

Integration of ground-penetrating radar and microgravimetric methods to map shallow caves

Ground-penetrating radar (GPR) and microgravimetric surveys have been conducted in the southern Jura mountains of western Switzerland in order to map subsurface karstic features. The study site, La Grande Rolaz cave, is an extensive system in which many portions have been mapped. By using small station spacing and careful processing for the geophysical data, and by modeling these data with topographic information from within the cave, accurate interpretations have been achieved. The constraints on the interpreted geologic models are better when combining the geophysical methods than when using only one of the methods, despite the general limitations of two-dimensional (2D) profiling. For example, microgravimetry can complement GPR methods for accurately delineating a shallow cave section approximately 10×10 m 2 in size. Conversely, GPR methods can be complementary in determining cavity depths and in verifying the presence of off-line features and numerous areas of small cavities and fractures, which may be difficult to resolve in microgravimetric data.

Rare-earth elements in some environmental matrices

This study establishes for the first time the chronology and limnological history of Lake Amora (Dead Sea basin, Israel), whose deposits (the Amora Formation) comprise one of the longest exposed lacustrine records of the Pleistocene time. The Amora Formation consists of sequences of laminated primary aragonite and silty-detritus, Ca-sulfate minerals, halite and clastic units. This sedimentary sequence was uplifted and tilted by the rising Sedom salt diapir, exposing ∼320 m of sediments on the eastern flanks of Mt. Sedom (the Arubotaim Cave (AC) section).The chronology of the AC section is based on U-disequilibrium dating (230Th–234U and 234U–238U ages) combined with floating δ18O stratigraphy and paleomagnetic constraints. The determination of the 230Th–234U ages required significant corrections to account for detrital Th and U. These corrections were performed on individual samples and on suites of samples from several stratigraphic horizons. The most reliable corrected ages were used to construct an age-elevation model that was further tuned to the oxygen isotope record of east Mediterranean foraminifers (based on the long-term similarity between the sea and lake oxygen isotope archives).The combined U-series-δ18O age-elevation model indicates that the (exposed) Amora sequence was deposited between ∼740 and 70 ka, covering seven glacial–interglacial cycles (Marine Isotope Stages (MIS) 18 to 5).Taking the last glacial Lake Lisan and the Holocene Dead Sea lacustrine systems as analogs of the depositional–limnological environment of Lake Amora, the latter oscillated between wet (glacial) and more arid (interglacial) conditions, represented by sequences of primary evaporites (aragonite and gypsum that require enhanced supply of freshwater to the lakes) and clastic sediments, respectively. The lake evolved from a stage of rapid shifts between high and low-stand conditions during ∼740 to 550 ka to a sabkha-like environment that existed (at the AC site) between 550 and 420 ka. This stage was terminated by a dry spell represented by massive halite deposition at 420 ka (MIS12-11). During MIS10-6 the lake fluctuated between lower and higher stands reaching its highest stand conditions at the late glacial MIS6, after which a significant lake level decline corresponds to the transition to the last interglacial (MIS5) low-stand lake, represented by the uppermost part of the Formation.δ18O values in the primary aragonite range between 6.0 and −1.3‰, shifting cyclically between glacial and interglacial intervals. The lowest δ18O values are observed during interglacial stages and may reflect short and intense humid episodes that intermittently interrupted the overall arid conditions. These humid episodes, expressed also by enhanced deposition of travertines and speleothems, seem to characterize the Negev Desert, and in contrast to the overall dominance of the Atlantic–Mediterranean system of rain patterns in the Dead Sea basin, some humid episodes during interglacials may be traced to southern sources.

Breeding Biology of the White-rumped Swiftlet at Chillagoe

The White-rumped Swiftlet Aerodramus spodiopygius chillagoensis was studied during a good and a poor season at Chillagoe, Queensland. Most of the nests were in totally dark sections of caves where a single nest and colonies containing 4-264 nests were visited. The clutch of one was incubated for an average of 26.6 days during the better season when 64% of eggs hatched successfully. Lost clutches or young broods were usually replaced within 14 days. Fledging success in the good season was 69% giving a breeding success of 44% or 0.9 young fledged from the two broods of a breeding pair. In the poor season incubation took 27.8 days, hatching success was 60%, fledging success was 50% and the nestling period had increased from 46.1 days in the better year to 51.0 days in the poor year. While the fledging rate for the single-egg clutch of chillagoensis is well below that of the two-egg clutch of A. s. assimilis, the unique practice of laying a second single-egg clutch for the first chick to incubate, increases the breeding rate in good seasons to almost that of arsimih. There is no sexual dimorphism and both sexes share in incubation and feeding nestlings. Chicks were fed an average of 5.2 times a day. Most chick mortality resulted from the chicks falling from their nests, while the major ectoparasites (louse-flies) are thought to be unimportant to survival. Even though immediate energy demands were increased by synchronising moult and breeding, the length of time to complete the moult of primaries was as short as any apodid studied so far and is shorter than some that moult independently of breeding.

Secular Oscillations of the Geomagnetic Field Recorded by Sediments Deposited in Caves in the Mediterranean Region

Summary The palaeomagnetism of a 2.4-m section of interior facies sediments from the Upper Dry Cave, Jeita, Lebanon, reveals inclination oscillations which can be correlated with those recorded 1000 km away in core 1474 from the Black Sea. The ' magnetic ' ages so obtained for the Jeita section are consistent with the age (0–16 000 BP) deduced from anthropological and palaeoclimatic evidence. Entrance facies sediments have been studied from a 3.4-m section in Arbreda Cave and from a 1.1-m section in Hermits' Cave, Catalonia, Spain. The age of the Arbreda section, deduced from anthropological and palaeoclimatic controls is between 35 000 BP and 50 000 BP and the Hermits' Cave section is Middle Palaeolithic. At Arbreda, declination oscillations are observed and abnormally low inclinations are recorded at two horizons one of which may correlate with a geomagnetic excursion reported in an Indian Ocean core at about 40 000 BP. The palaeomagnetic record from Hermits' Cave exhibits large amplitude swings. The overall pattern of the results obtained from this and other studies is discussed in terms of a model field in which the long period secular variations originate from oscillations of fixed radial dipoles located in the outer core in the positions computed by Alldredge & Hurwitz.

The Divided Line and Plato's 'Theory, of Intermediates'

IN THIS essay I shall enter into the vexing question of Plato's of intermediates, and the relation of this theory to the Sun, Line and Cave section of Republic VI and VII. My thesis is that in the last 7j years or so scholarly opinion has reached a complete impasse, having veered from one extreme to another, rather in the fashion of an Hegelian thesis and antithesis; this conflict of opinion desperately requires a synthesizing third, and in the conclusion of the paper I try to supply this ,third.,