Sea Caves Research Articles

Exploring Apulia’s Regional Tourism Attractiveness through the Lens of Sustainability: A Machine Learning Approach and Counterfactual Explainability Process

Visitor attraction dynamics lead tourism industry paths. A complex artificial neural network model was built to predict the incoming tourism flow in the Apulia region of Southern Italy as a function of the heterogeneity of the tourism supply available in this area. Open data from the Regional Tourism Observatory were targeted. Information on the distribution of facilities and activities that attract regional tourist flows was collected and grouped by municipality. An artificial neural network model was built with total tourist attendance as the dependent variable and tourist attractions as regressors. The Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) was used to select the optimal model using the lowest value. The final model was run with a hidden layer consisting of three neurons and a decay value of 0.01. A Multi-Objective Counterfactual model (MOC) was then constructed using a randomly selected row of normalized data frame to validate a useful tool in increasing total tourist attendance by 20% over that of the randomly selected municipality. A Garson’s variables importance plot indicated natural landscapes such as beaches, sea caves, and natural parks have a primary role expressed in terms of variable importance in the AI algorithm when used as an innovative methodology for evaluating tourism flows in the Apulia region. A further MOC model built using a randomly selected row of normalized data frame showed convents, libraries, historical buildings, public gardens, and museums as the top five features most modified to improve total attendance in a randomly selected municipality. Use of AI modeling revealed that the implementation of nature-based solutions may speed up the flow of tourism in the Apulia region while also promoting sustainable social development.

The Influence of Fresh Submarine Groundwater Discharge on Seawater Acidification Along the Northern Mediterranean Coast of Israel

AbstractIn the oligotrophic Southeastern Mediterranean Sea (SEMS), it has been shown that dissolved inorganic nutrient (DIN) from fresh submarine groundwater discharge (FSGD) enhance primary production in coastal waters. In this study pH, Total Alkalinity (TA) and DIN of seawater and fresh water in a sea‐cave in the northern part of the Israeli Mediterranean coast and a nearby contact spring, respectively, were measured during October 2018–March 2020. The results show gradients of measured salinity, TA, pH and DIN along the cave axis year‐round, suggesting that they are influenced by FSGD. The seawater near the back of the cave was supersaturated with respect to atmospheric CO2 nearly year‐round and there is a strong positive divergence from its regional open‐water thermal dependence, which suggests that FSGD is also a source of atmospheric CO2 in this region. Comparison of TA, salinity and pCO2 from the back of the sea cave to their corresponding values from an abrasion platform monitoring site, ca. 3 km south of the cave, suggests that FSGD is occurring along the entire shoreline in this region. Thus, despite the increased productivity due to FSGD mediated nutrient enrichment of adjacent coastal waters of the oligotrophic SEMS, they are still a source of atmospheric CO2 nearly year‐round. Finally, the apparent trends of seawater acidification (ΔpH/Δt = −0.006 yrs−1) and pCO2 increase (+8 ppmV yr−1) observed at the nearby monitoring site since 2013 are explained by increased groundwater recharge and resulting FSGD total alkalinity compared to dissolved inorganic carbon inputs (ΔTA/ΔDIC = 1:1.2).

Factors influencing the evolution of sandstone sea caves: A case study from the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore (Lake Superior, USA)

Caves in coastal cliffs in the Apostle Islands were analyzed for factors controlling their origin and evolution. Even though the Bayfield Group quartz sandstones were found to be of relatively low tensile strength, the traditional explanation attributing speleogenesis to localized zones of lithological and tectonic weakness does not adequately explain all geomorphic features of the caves. The caves were found to be formed by coalescence of smaller arcade-shaped cavities serially developed along subhorizontal discontinuities. In concordance with the previously formulated “arcade principle”, positions and shapes of the cavities are defined by areas of reduced stress within the gravity-induced stress field. Evacuation of material from the rock massif can be attributed to wave action including the effect of water-pressurized air, and frost action. Compound cavities above the discontinuities tend to form “higher-order” arcade-like cavities/caves while those beneath more resistant strata rather develop into elongated overhangs similar to ordinary coastal notches. Propagation of the largest cavities, formed along steeply dipping joints and faults, is attributed to mass wasting and roof collapses. Similar examples of discontinuity-related cavities in coastal settings, suspectedly also controlled by gravity-induced stress distribution, can be found worldwide, being mostly concentrated to areas covered by ice sheets in the Pleistocene. The interplay between post-glacial isostatic uplift and Holocene lake-level rise is responsible for the development of mature forms of coastal caves in the Apostle Islands where present cliffs are estimated to have been exposed to the effects of wave action for the last 3–5 ky.

Sea Caves and Other Landforms of the Coastal Scenery on Gozo Island (Malta): Inventory and New Data on Their Formation

Sea caves are a type of cave formed primarily by the wave action of the sea. The coastal scenery of the Gozitan coast is very interesting in that sea caves and other coastal landforms, such as sea arches, develop at the sea level. We mapped seventy-nine semi-submerged sea caves opening at the sea level, five completely submerged sea caves, seven sea arches, one sea stack, and one shelter around the coast of Gozo, mainly in the Western and Eastern parts of the island, due to favorable lithological and topographical conditions. Additionally, we surveyed the topography of the emerged part of nine sea caves using the iPhone build-in LiDAR sensor, and eight sea caves in the submerged part using SCUBA equipment. This inventory represents the most detailed example of a database of coastal caves and related forms in the Mediterranean, mainly sourced from a swimming survey along the entire island. Thanks to the combination of outputs of the above-water emerged and submerged surveys, we defined three types of semi-submerged sea caves: (i) box caves, (ii) joint caves, and (iii) complex caves. Moreover, we added a cave-like landform above the sea level on calcarenites called shelter, or a little extended notch deeply carved into the cliff. The shape mainly depends on the structural and lithological setting of sea cliffs. In the Western sector of the island, we also discovered the only sea cave in Gozo, measuring 122 m in length and 10 m in width, with its floor developing above the mean sea level. This cave base is of interest due to rounded landforms related to marine erosion. In the innermost part of the cave, there is also a beach with rounded pebble at an elevation of about 7 m asl. Considering the tectonic stability of the island, it could be possibly related to the MIS 5.5 highstand.

Leeia speluncae sp. nov., isolated from Stegodon Sea Cave in Thailand.

A novel Gram-stain-negative, obligately aerobic, short rod-shaped and motile bacterium, designated strain BC00092T, was isolated from brackish ground water collected in Stegodon Sea Cave located at Satun UNESCO Global Geopark, Satun Province, Thailand. The phylogenetic analysis of BC00092T based on 16S rRNA gene sequences revealed that the strain represented a member of the genus Leeia and was closely related to Leeia oryzae DSM 17879T (96.68 %) and Leeia aquatica IMCC25680T (94.89 %). The average nucleotide identity and digital DNA-DNA hybridization values calculated from the whole-genome sequences between BC00092T and closely related type strains of species within the family Leeiaceae were lower than the species demarcation threshold values of 95 and 70 %, respectively. Moreover, five conserved signature indels of members of the family Leeiaceae were found in the protein sequences from the annotated assembled genome of BC00092T. According to the results of the polyphasic taxonomic study, strain BC00092T represents a novel species within the genus Leeia, for which the name Leeia speluncae sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is BC00092T (TBRC 13508T = KCTC 92111T).

Introduced species in Mediterranean marine caves: an increasing but neglected threat

Marine caves are protected habitats with high biodiversity and low ecological resilience, vulnerable to multiple pressures including biological invasions. Therefore, comprehensive lists of alien species in sea caves and assessments of their impacts are urgently needed. This study aimed to provide an updated and validated list of introduced species in marine caves of the Mediterranean Sea based on the latest available checklist (2014). The number of introduced species in the updated list (December 2022 status) has doubled in the last eight years. The updated checklist includes 126 species (107 alien, 15 cryptogenic, two crypto-expanding, and two questionable) belonging to 12 phyla. The highest number of introduced species in caves was evidenced in the eastern Mediterranean (105), specifically in the Levantine (99) and the Aegean (34) ecoregions. Most introduced species originated from the Indo-Pacific. Most species entered the Mediterranean Sea through the Suez Canal, followed by species transferred via vessels. Most introduced species were found at the entrance and in the semi-dark zone of caves (60 and 52 species, respectively), with only 19 species being reported from the dark zone. Approximately 28% of the introduced species have a high impact on ecosystems, including nine of the ten worst invasive species in the Mediterranean Sea. Despite the lack of data on the impact of introduced species on marine cave biodiversity, given their high species richness and the recently reported population explosions of some alien fish in the eastern Mediterranean, our results highlight the need for continuous inventorying and monitoring.

The swim-survey archive of the Mediterranean rocky coasts: Potentials and future perspectives

The Geoswim programme is an expedition-type project which is aiming to survey, monitor and measure the entire perimeter of rocky coasts of the Mediterranean Sea. The project officially started in 2012 with the first one-man survey of 193.4 km by snorkeling along the northeastern Adriatic coasts, and is ongoing. So far, 559.5 km of rocky coasts have been surveyed, over 98 days of survey, and several hundred thousand time-lapse images, continuous videos and outline images have been collected, both above and below the waterline. Bathymetric data and physical/chemical parameters, such as temperature and electrical conductivity have also been collected during the snorkel surveys. Instruments are hosted on a specially-built raft, called instrumental-supported raft (ISR). The data are not homogeneous because over the years the approach has changed following the introduction of new technologies and some redesign of the instruments used, and, in part, also the type of data collected. Moreover, observational data for use in coastal studies and for integrating instrumental data are collected. The paper presents and take stock of the geometry of the database and discusses the main results of the Geoswim programme.Data analysed highlighted that the database is a significant archive that provides 1) images and videos as a baseline for subsequent comparisons, 2) large amount of images to be used to build 3D models of coastal landforms, 3) data for statistics, and 4) a valuable source of possible discoveries of unknown coastal objects, such as sea caves, tidal notches at unexpected sites, ecological observations, etc.

First Speleological and Biological Characterization of a Submerged Cave of the Tremiti Archipelago Geomorphosite (Adriatic Sea)

The Tremiti Islands Archipelago is located in the Central-Southern Adriatic Sea and is characterized by a strong karst activity. Due to their landscape, geological, hydrological, archaeological, and historical value, Tremiti Islands are considered a geomorphosite. We carried out a preliminary, non-destructive survey by studying the speleological and biological features of the submerged sea cave Elle, located at Cala Sorrentino (Capraia Island), representing an EU Natura 2000 Priority Habitat. Topographic (perimeter length, width, height, GPS location, depth) and hydrological parameters (temperature, dissolved oxygen, pH, irradiance, water movement) were measured and its map was produced, based on morphological measurements and biological evidence. Species composition and biotic cover were investigated by image analysis. The benthic community was dominated by poriferans, together with remarkable assemblages of scleractinians and polychaete serpulids and clearly reflected the sharp light and hydrological gradients from the entrance to the cave bottom. Furthermore, different phases were hypothesized for the genesis of the cave during sea regression and flooding periods. To be signaled is the record of Petrobiona massiliana, a sponge was protected under both Barcelona and Bern Convention and of some individuals of polychaete Serpulinae, which are still under description.

Distribution and Ecology of Decapod Crustaceans in Mediterranean Marine Caves: A Review

Decapod crustaceans are important components of the fauna of marine caves worldwide, yet information on their ecology is still scarce. Mediterranean marine caves are perhaps the best known of the world and may offer paradigms to the students of marine cave decapods from other geographic regions. This review summarizes and updates the existing knowledge about the decapod fauna of Mediterranean marine caves on the basis of a dataset of 76 species from 133 caves in 13 Mediterranean countries. Most species were found occasionally, while 15 species were comparatively frequent (found in at least seven caves). They comprise cryptobiotic and bathyphilic species that only secondarily colonize caves (secondary stygobiosis). Little is known about the population biology of cave decapods, and quantitative data are virtually lacking. The knowledge on Mediterranean marine cave decapods is far from being complete. Future research should focus on filling regional gaps and on the decapod ecological role: getting out at night to feed and resting in caves during daytime, decapods may import organic matter to the cave ecosystem. Some decapod species occurring in caves are protected by law. Ecological interest and the need for conservation initiatives combine to claim for intensifying research on the decapod fauna of the Mediterranean Sea caves.

My Dearest Darkest by Kayla Cottingham

Reviewed by: My Dearest Darkest by Kayla Cottingham Quinita Balderson Cottingham, Kayla My Dearest Darkest. Sourcebooks Fire, 2022 [368p] Paper ed. ISBN 9781728236414 $10.99 E-book ed. ISBN 9781728236421 $9.99 Reviewed from digital galleys R Gr. 9-12 For Finch Chamberlin getting into Ulalume Academy means everything, but a campus visit to Rainwater's prestigious boarding school ends with a freak accident that leaves her parents dead. Despite her grief, Finch still ends up attending Ulalume, and the shy girl promptly finds her place among the cool kids, including part-time mean girl Selena for whom she develops an obvious crush. While Finch grapples with coming out (she wasn't sure she was gay but she's definitely attracted to Selena) and new school dynamics, a sinister force hidden in the sea caves is drawing strength from students, promising to fulfill their deepest desires. But when you make a deal with the devil—or in this case, Nerosi the Horned Queen, a soul-sucking god driven by an insatiable hunger to consume worlds—the bargain always comes at a cost. Exaggerated imagery and shifting perspectives, along with the over-the-top supernatural elements, call back to '90s teen horror movies à la The Craft and The Faculty. Finch comes across as sincere but sheltered, and her arc follows the familiar track of self-discovery through tragedy, as she struggles with guilt over her parents' death and her culpability in unleashing a murderous god. Mean girl Selena is well-developed as it's revealed that her callous façade is due to being outed by a friend, but several secondary characters fall into uncomfortable stereotypes. The twists definitely call for a reread, and whether readers identify with the queer characters or simply crave supernatural horror, Cottingham should be encouraged to continue her craft. [End Page 246] Copyright © 2022 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois

Prauserella cavernicola sp. nov., isolated from cave rock.

A novel actinomycete, designated strain ASG 168T, was isolated from cave rock collected from Stegodon Sea Cave in Thailand. Long chains of non-motile spores that were oval or spherical in shape with a smooth surface developed on aerial mycelia. Substrate mycelia fragmented into irregular rod-shaped elements. A polyphasic taxonomic study showed that strain ASG 168T had typical characteristics of members of the genus Prauserella. 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis indicated that strain ASG 168T shared 97.5 % similarity with Prauserella marina MS498T and 96.7 % with Prauserella coralliicola SCSIO 11529T. Average nucleotide identity values with P. coralliicola SCSIO 11529T and P. marina MS498T were 82.98 and 76.08 %, respectively. The cell-wall peptidoglycan contained meso-diaminopimelic acid. The whole-cell sugars contained ribose, arabinose and galactose. The predominant menaquinone was MK-9(H4). The predominant fatty acids were iso-C16 : 0, C16 : 0 and summed feature 3 (C16 : 1 ω7c/C16 : 1 ω6c). The phospholipid profile consisted of phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylmethylethanolamine, diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylinositol, phosphatidylinositol mannosides and two unknown phospholipids. The G+C content of the genomic DNA was 70.6 mol%. Differentiation of strain ASG 168T from closely related species was evident from digital DNA-DNA hybridization values of 29.2 and 21.3 % with P. coralliicola and P. marina, respectively. Based on comparative analysis of phenotypic, chemotaxonomic and genotypic data, the novel actinomycete strain ASG 168T (=TBRC 13679T=NBRC 114887T) is proposed to be the type strain of a novel species, Prauserella cavernicola sp. nov.

Insights from a small sea cave: Reanalysis of the bone technology from Durras North, Yuin Country, Coastal New South Wales, Australia

Almost 60 years ago, the small cave of Durras North was excavated to learn more about the Walbunga Yuin People who have lived along this part of the New South Wales coast for thousands of years. From a 2 m × 2 m pit, an extensive shell midden recording some 500 years of site use was uncovered. Amongst the many kilograms of marine shell were a small number of stone and shell artefacts and almost 500 tools made primarily on short-tailed shearwater bone. Such large collections of osseous technology are rare in the Australian archaeological record and consequently this assemblage provides a unique opportunity to better understand the use of bone on this continent. We revisited this remarkable bone tool assemblage and discovered that the fishing-spear tips indicate several distinctive approaches in their manufacture and style – including some ingeniously utilising the natural structure of the bird bone to create tangs. In addition, we also identified tools used in working organic fibres or leathers, as well as a rare interpersonal weapon. In total, the Durras North osseous assemblage not only provides unprecedented detail on the construction of the multipronged fishing spears which were so common a sight in southeast Australia on European arrival, but also insights into more ephemeral cultural manufacturing and use practices.

Tectonic Influence on Speleogenesis of Sea Caves on Biševo Island (UNESCO Global Geopark Vis Archipelago, Adriatic Sea, Croatia)

A geological and speleological investigation was conducted in the famous Blue Cave (Modra špilja) and the Monk Seal Cave (Medvidina špilja) on Biševo Island (Croatia) to promote the island’s geoheritage through the new Visitor Centre. The island is mainly composed of Cretaceous to Paleogene neritic carbonates, which form the bedrock, whereas parts of the island are covered with thin Quaternary sediments. The caves are of small dimensions and a simple layout, composed of the main channel and few shorter side channels, all positioned in the tidal zone. Thus, the caves are semi-submerged sea caves located along the coastline. The Blue Cave and the Monk Seal Cave developed within the bedrock limestones and dolostones, respectively, within a zone of left-lateral NNE–SSW striking strike-slip faults that belong to the Biševo fault system. Conjugated discontinuities within the carbonate bedrock indicate a specific strike-slip tectonic regime. Additionally, the host rocks were probably also deformed and fractured during the rise of salt diapirs that characterise this part of the Adriatic foreland. Tectonic and bedding discontinuities form the fragments of the host rock, that combined with the impacts of the strong southern waves, significantly influenced the genesis of the caves.

Machine Learning Based Assembly of Fragments of Ancient Papyrus

The task of assembling fragments in a puzzle-like manner into a composite picture plays a significant role in the field of archaeology as it supports researchers in their attempt to reconstruct historic artifacts. In this article, we propose a method for matching and assembling pairs of ancient papyrus fragments containing mostly unknown scriptures. Papyrus paper is manufactured from papyrus plants and therefore portrays typical thread patterns resulting from the plant’s stems. The proposed algorithm is founded on the hypothesis that these thread patterns contain unique local attributes such that nearby fragments show similar patterns reflecting the continuations of the threads. We posit that these patterns can be exploited using image processing and machine learning techniques to identify matching fragments. The algorithm and system which we present support the quick and automated classification of matching pairs of papyrus fragments as well as the geometric alignment of the pairs against each other. The algorithm consists of a series of steps and is based on deep-learning and machine learning methods. The first step is to deconstruct the problem of matching fragments into a smaller problem of finding thread continuation matches in local edge areas (squares) between pairs of fragments. This phase is solved using a convolutional neural network ingesting raw images of the edge areas and producing local matching scores. The result of this stage yields very high recall but low precision. Thus, we utilize these scores in order to conclude about the matching of entire fragments pairs by establishing an elaborate voting mechanism. We enhance this voting with geometric alignment techniques from which we extract additional spatial information. Eventually, we feed all the data collected from these steps into a Random Forest classifier in order to produce a higher order classifier capable of predicting whether a pair of fragments is a match. Our algorithm was trained on a batch of fragments which was excavated from the Dead Sea caves and is dated circa the 1st century BCE. The algorithm shows excellent results on a validation set which is of a similar origin and conditions. We then tried to run the algorithm against a real-life set of fragments for which we have no prior knowledge or labeling of matches. This test batch is considered extremely challenging due to its poor condition and the small size of its fragments. Evidently, numerous researchers have tried seeking matches within this batch with very little success. Our algorithm performance on this batch was sub-optimal, returning a relatively large ratio of false positives. However, the algorithm was quite useful by eliminating 98% of the possible matches thus reducing the amount of work needed for manual inspection. Indeed, experts that reviewed the results have identified some positive matches as potentially true and referred them for further investigation.

DESIGNING TOURISM IDENTITY COMMUNICATION IN SATUN UNESCO GLOBAL GEOPARK

Satun Geopark, located in the south of Thailand, was recently designated as UNESCO Global Geopark in 2018. The geopark is well known for its abundance and variety of Paleozoic fossils with many outstanding geological tourist sites, incl uding specular karst landscapes, stunning caves, and remarkable sea caves. To promote Satun Geopark as tourist destination, its tourism identities must be communicated to wider audiences. This will convey the unique value of local communities to draw attention to new visitors and attract existing ones for a revisit. This research conducted in-depth interviews with community leaders and surveyed on-site signage systems to find out an improvement on tourism identity communication. The design of identity mascot was proposed as a new tool to communicate its identity with visitors in various channels.

<span>First researches of the underwater ecosystem communities of an underground channel built in 1950s (Balaklava bay, Sevastopol)</span>

The results of the first studies of the ecosystem state of the underwater part of the channel, artificially created in the middle of the 20th century on the western shore of the Balaklava Bay (Sevastopol) as a naval base of the Black Sea Fleet for the submarines repair, are presented. Channel's ecosystem is determined by uniqueness of anthropogenic formation and considered as analogue of natural Black Sea cave. Hydrospelological survey of the channel and biological studies allowed assessing its current state, the nature of biofouling of its walls and anthropogenic and technical pollution of the bottom. Macrofauna of the channel wall biofouling is represented by the Mytilaster lineatus community, which has a high level of species abundance (about 80 species have been registered) and quantitative development. Both in taxonomic diversity and in quantitative terms, this community is comparable to the rocky substrate community near open Crimean coasts, but with a smaller share of crustacean group development. Due to weakened hydrodynamics, well developed fauna of bryozoans forming plurannual crusty structures and single sponges is observed on the channel's walls. In contrast to the channel walls biofouling, its bottom macrofauna has relatively lower quantitative and qualitative composition. Meiobenthos in the channel’s wall biofouling is represented by 18 higher taxa (type, class, order) of Protozoa and Metazoa with predominance of harpacticoids by abundance. Meiobenthos of the soft bottom of underground channel is represented by 15 higher taxa with predominance of free-living nematodes and harpacticoids by abundance. Average density of meiobenthos in the channel’s bottom sediments is comparable with similar parameters of its development in open water areas and Sevastopol bays.

Responsible Tourism Situations in Krabi Province

Krabi Province is located on the Andaman Sea, about 814 kilometers from Bangkok along National Highway No. 4 head to the south, with an area of 4,708 square kilometers (https://th.wikipedia.org,2020). The area consists of upland mountains, plains, and more than 154 islands; it is rich in mangrove forests and there is a river of about 5 kilometers long, that flows through the city into the Andaman Sea. Krabi Province is the main tourist city in the Southern Andaman Coast (https://www.tourismthailand.org, 2020). It is famous for its scenic view and breathtaking beach and island. It has the most beautiful coral reef vistas, in the world which makes the city a great spot for coral diving. Its tourist attractions include hot springs, a wildlife sanctuary, sea caves, flourishing coral reefs and exotic marine life, limestone cliffs that draw rock climbing enthusiasts from around the world, and national parks that include the island paradises of Koh Phi Phi and Koh Lanta. The top 5 foreign tourists that visited Krabi Province in 2018 are citizens of China, Malaysia, England, Germany and France. Krabi has 592 accommodations with 21,853 rooms in total around the province. It can be said that Krabi Province is an important tourist destination of the Andaman Coast after Phuket. Availability of infrastructure, accommodation, airports, seaports, travel connections between tourist spots within the province, and tourist attractions both on land and in the sea has attracted tourists from all over the world to travel continuously to the area every year. They are responsible for the consistent growth of Krabi tourism service industry. Therefore, the aim of this research is to study the readiness of relevant agencies to support the provincial tourism growth using the responsible tourism model of key tourism stakeholders within the province and related agencies - involving government agency, tour operators and community-based tourism. Keywords: Responsible Tourism, Sustainable Tourism Benefits, Tourism Resources in Krabi

Underwater

A unique exhibition was held between 19 and 22 September 2018 in the deep blue waters of Amorgos, Greece. Amorgos is the easternmost of the Cyclades islands, neighboring the Dodecanese island group. The island’s rich aquatic life and architectural beauty featured prominently in French director Luc Besson’s internationally acclaimed English-language film on freediving, The Big Blue (Le Grand Bleu, 1988), transforming the island into an international destination for tourists and freedivers. The exhibition Underwater Gallery: On a Single Breath, was installed at a depth of 7 to 17 meters inside a sea cave in the area of Aghios Pavlos, below the Monastery of Hozoviotissa. Hozoviotissa’s famous top-floor window of the “big blue” opens to the Aegean Sea, affording visitors a bird’s eye view to the Aegean. It is clear that the gallery’s connection to Besson’s artwork is indisputable.

Underwater

A unique exhibition was held between 19 and 22 September 2018 in the deep blue waters of Amorgos, Greece.1 Amorgos is the easternmost of the Cyclades islands, neighboring the Dodecanese island group. The island's rich aquatic life and architectural beauty featured prominently in French director Luc Besson's internationally acclaimed English-language film on freediving, The Big Blue (Le Grand Bleu, 1988), transforming the island into an international destination for tourists and freedivers. The exhibition, Underwater Gallery: On a Single Breath, was installed at a depth of 7 to 17 meters inside a sea cave in the area of Aghios Pavlos, below the Monastery of Hozoviotissa. Hozoviotissa's famous top-floor window of the “big blue” opens to the Aegean Sea, affording visitors a bird's eye view to the Aegean. It is clear that the gallery's connection to Besson's artwork is indisputable.

Coastal caves on the Interview Island of Andaman Islands, India

By the presence of well-developed terraces on the Interview Island of Middle Andaman, we conducted an exploratory study on the Interview Island of Andaman and Nicobar Islands to understand the development of coastal caves here. During the investigation, we identified seven coastal caves on the island. Morphometric data of these study caves were used for further quantitative analysis by following the area/perimeter (A/P) and entrance width/maximum width (E/M) ratios to classify the cave types. We recognized from the results that the coastal caves could not be easily differentiated as flank margin caves based on A/P and E/M ratios. Nevertheless, based on their morphometry, we could confirm the occurrence of sea caves on the East and West coast of the Interview Island. The present study, as part of the more extensive ongoing research to conserve a cave-dwelling bird, allowed us to report and discuss the occurrence of the coastal caves, and their importance to understanding the speleological significance of the Interview Island.