Volume 31(2), 2004

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Subaerial tufa stalactites: biota and biological processes Invertebrate fauna of Ogof Ffynnon Ddu, South Wales Pseudoparonella doveri in the Dark Cave, Malaysia Algal studies in the Shulgan-Tash Cave, Russia U-series date, Keld Head, Kingsdale, UK Forum IGU Glasgow Congress abstracts Cover photo by David Lowe The open, fault-related chasm of Hull Pot presents a spectacular landmark on the broad but largely drift-covered bench of sub-horizontal Carboniferous limestone between Ribblesdale and the western slopes of Penyghent, one of the "Three Peaks" of the Yorkshire Dales. Normally the surface streambed meeting the open pot on its northern side - the mid-left of the photo - is dry (see plates in the Forum section of this Issue), as the substantial flow of Hull Pot Beck is swallowed by a variety of holes upstream of the main Pot. This image captures the relatively rare occurrence of the beck overtopping its streambed sinks to plunge c.20m to the bouldery floor of the open Pot. The surface stream course and the lip of the waterfall are cut within the Lower Hawes Limestone, with good exposures of the "Girvanella" nodular band upstream of the Pot. Thus, whereas the streambed and upper part of the chasm are cut within the basal limestone bed of the Yoredale Group, the open walls and cave passages below lie within the Malham Formation, the uppermost limestone unit of the Great Scar Limestone Group. Hull Pot is a classic and mesmerising site in itself, with many questions about its development and past or present hydrological functions remaining to be answered. However, this photograph also has "historical" interest having been taken during a highly successful BCRA Geology for Cavers Weekend fieldtrip in March 1987.

Editorial

(Gunn, J. & D. Lowe)
Editorial
Vol 31 (2) p 50

During the gestation of this issue of Cave and Karst Science one of us (JG) has had the good fortune to attend three conferences, whereas the other has spent part of his time in general musings on the future of cave and karst science in Great Britain, with thoughts influenced in no small part by coincidental encounters with related activities in Slovenia. Ideas from both have contributed to the following, which, as always, represents our own opinions and is intended to provoke comment and debate.
The first conference was that of the International Geographical Union (IGU) in Glasgow. This was a huge event attended by around 1500 delegates, of whom only a small number had any direct interest in caves and karst. The IGU has a series of Commissions and Study Groups covering a whole gamut of subject areas, including karst, and the Karst Commission sponsored a pre-Congress field trip to Ireland and three sessions during the actual Congress. Abstracts from the 14 papers presented are included in this Issue. It is interesting to note that nine of these (a clear majority) are concerned with broadly surface karst issues, three involve the use of cave sediments for palaeoclimatic or palaeoenvironmental reconstruction and only two are concerned directly with caves as such. One of these considers the inception, development and destruction of karst caves in central Scandinavia and the other discusses cave conservation in Great Britain.
A lack of research on caves might be expected from a community of geographers, many of whom make no claim to be cavers, although they may visit caves to obtain data and/or samples. However, much more was expected from the work that underpinned the China Caves meeting at the Royal Geographical Society (RGS). In many ways this was a superb event and Andy Eavis deserves a vole of thanks for making it possible both in terms of his long-term support and involvement in the China Caves Project and specifically for the RGS meeting itself. The amount of exploration that has been undertaken - and the potential that remains - is immense, and the lectures were generally of a high standard, particularly in terms of the visual presentations. However, there was a real paucity of scientific information, and one was left with a feeling that opportunities had been missed.
As we have said many times on these pages, exploration is a vital pan of our science, and the preparation of high quality surveys and visual images is essential to our understanding of speleogenesis and related issues. But when we look back to some of the great international explorers of old - Bretz, Casteret, Martel and Schmidt for example - their explorations were accompanied by all manner of observations, including water flow, water quality, cave climate, the nature of the speleothems and the make-up and origin of clastic sediments. More parochially, similar work was done by British explorers, such as Balch, Cullingford, Dunnington, Leakey, Railton, Simpson, Tratman, and many of their contemporaries and more recent explorers - some still active. These British observations were not simply hoarded, but were published, many of them in the predecessors of this journal, the original Cave Science (British Speleological Association) and the Transactions of the Cave Research Group of Great Britain. Again it is a point we have raised before, but many of these early authors were not university academics but 'amateur' cavers who wanted to learn more about the places they enjoyed exploring. It is perhaps worth noting that, based on a very limited number of talks attended at the China Caves meeting, and perusal of journals such as Karstologia and Carsologica, there seems to be a greater willingness to undertake basic scientific studies amongst cavers in the rest of Europe than there is in Great Britain.
Coincidentally, earlier this year, one of us (DL) was involved in the redrafting of the various forms that are used routinely by Slovenian cavers for recording and describing their explorations for inclusion in the Slovenian Cave Registry. This is the national database and library of all the known caves in Slovenia, and is produced and administered as a joint project between the Speleological Association of Slovenia and the Karst Research Institute of the Scientific Research Centre at the Slovene Academy of Sciences and Arts, which we refer to more commonly as the Karst Research Institute at Postojna. What stood out while working on these forms was first and foremost the virtually total commitment of Slovenian cavers to contribute - and contribute usefully - to this database, which also incidentally collects data from visiting cavers of other nationalities. More striking though was the fact that the forms allow not only for the recording of standard passage descriptions, but also have space for (and invitations to record) a wide range of scientific observations or references to them. Perhaps still more surprising was a more recent request to assist with the editing of a series of cave descriptions for inclusion in Nase jame (The Bulletin of the Speleological Association of Slovenia), compiled in similar format, relating to explorations carried out in the Philippines by Slovenian and local cavers. Here again the cavers' descriptions include abundant comments relating to cave development, calcite and clastic deposits, air and water temperature, aspects of geology and observations of cave life. Perhaps such interest and involvement should come as no surprise in a Nation where symposium field trips commonly appear on the National television news and where ongoing aspects of cave exploration and karst research appear to have the same fascination for the general public as they do for active cavers.
And so to Hidden Earth, another excellently organised and well attended event. As at the RGS meeting the paucity of presentations that included a science component was striking. Again there was a talk on cave origins, which was clearly enjoyed by the audience, but this contained material that was at best misleading and at worst factually incorrect! At the same event, the BCRA AGM was very poorly attended - barely quorate - and, although there was some useful debate, the average age of the contributors must have been well over 40. Cavers on the whole eschew 'politics', and as editors of Cave and Karst Science we try studiously to avoid being drawn into any 'political battles'. For all that, it is clear to us that there is a real need for increasing scientific awareness among British cavers and hopefully for a greater involvement of cavers in general, both within the day-today activities of cave and karst science and in the enhancement and running of both the BCRA and the fledgling BCA.

Papers

(Taborosi, D. & K. Hirakawa)
Biota and biological processes associated with subaerial tufa stalactites in the tropics
Vol 31 (2) pp 51 - 62

Abstract: Stalactitic deposits of subaerial tufa are a common feature of humid tropical karst areas. Distinct from classic speleothems by dint of their epigean locations and tufaceous makeup, and from classic calcareous tufa by dint of their stalactitic form and subaerial depositional settings, these unique and rarely acknowledged sediments are intermediate forms between the two. They contain considerable organic material and provide habitats to a bewildering variety of living organisms, including bacteria, cyanobacteria, fungi, eu-karyotic algae, bryophytes, higher plants, and invertebrates.
Tufa stalactites are unique products of inorganic and biogenic carbonate deposition from dripping epikarstic water. The fundamental inorganic mechanisms (CO2-degassing and evaporative effects) are affected by a plethora of superimposed biological processes. The latter range from the largely inconsequential colonization and minor bioerosion to the significant photosynthetic enhancement of carbonate precipitation and direct biomineralization. These processes operate simultaneously and in complex interrelationships, and may produce distinct biogenic and bioconstructional fabrics and macromorphologics, the most apparent of which are the light-oriented stalactites commonly seen in the entrances of caves.
Keywords: speleothems, outside stalactites, biofilm, biosediments, stromatolites, twilight zone

(Jefferson, G.T. (Jeff), P. Chapman, J. Carter & G. Proudlove)
The invertebrate fauna of the Ogof Ffynnon Ddu cave system, South Wales, UK
Vol 31 (2) pp 63 - 76

Abstract: The Ogof Ffynnon Ddu cave system is one of the largest in Great Britain and supports a rich and diverse fauna. At least 62 taxa have been recorded, including 3 troglobites, 4 stygobites, 26 troglophiles, 8 stygophiles, 2 threshold troglophiles, 5 threshold trogloxenes, and 14 accidental taxa. Taxonomically the fauna is composed of 1 platyhelminth, 3 annelids, 1 mollusc, 10 Crustacea (including 4 stygobites), 3 diplopods, 13 Collembola (including at least 2 troglobites), 2 Trichoptera, 2 Lepidoptera, 1 hymenopteran, 9 Diptera (with 1 troglobite), 11 Coleoptera, 3 Araneae and 3 Acari. It is very likely that some components of the current fauna, most probably the stygobitic Crustacea, survived some or all of the Pleistocene glaciations within the system.
Dedication: To the memory of Jeff Jefferson, the most articulate cave biologist of his generation. He took the data collected by many, collated by Mary Hazelton into the Biological Records, and produced several seminal reviews, which not only informed but also provide deep insight into many important problems in biospeleology.

Reports

(Murphy, P.J., J. Lundberg & J.N. Cordingly)
A uranium-series date from Keld Head, Kingsdale, North Yorkshire, UK
Vol 31 (2) pp 77 - 78

(Moseley, M.)
Rediscovery of Pseudoparonella doveri (Collembola: Paronellidae) and notes on the Collembola of the Dark Cave (Gua Gelap), Batu Caves, Selangor, Malaysia
Vol 31 (2) pp 79 - 82

Abstract: Pseudoparonella doveri is an unusual troglomorphic springtail that appears to have no close epigean relatives. Previously it was known only from specimens collected in the Dark Cave, Batu Caves, Malaysia, almost 80 years ago. The species was recently rediscovered on gour pool-dripstone habitat in the same cave. A brief qualitative survey of this and other habitats in the Dark Cave was also carried out to improve our knowledge of the little-known collembolan fauna of this important speleobiological site.

(Rabdullin, S.R. & M.Y. Sharipova)
Studies of alga in the Shulgan-Tash (Kapova) Cave, South Ural, Russia
Vol 31 (2) pp 83 - 86

Summary: Algal flora in the Shulgan-Tash (Kapova) Cave (South Ural, Russia) was investigated. 61 algae species, varieties and forms were found in this cavern during investigations in 2000 and 2001. Algae with filamentous thalli, belonging to the Cyanophyta (Cyanobacteria) Division, were found to dominate during both years. Among the several algal divisions recognised Baciltariophyta was found to exhibit the highest resemblance between the 2000 and 2001 studies, whereas wall growths displayed the highest resemblance among the various recorded biotopes. Divisions and genera of underground algae that dominate in the caverns all over the world were found also to prevail in the Shulgan-Tash Cave. Several species that are common worldwide were revealed during this and foregoing investigations. It was also found that entry of algae to this cave is related to the "influation" of surface waters via open fissures and karst cavities.

Forum

(Murphy, P. & A. Parr)
Late 19th or early 20th century photographs of Hull Pot, North Yorkshire, UK
Vol 31 (2) pp 91 - 92

Book Reviews

(Larionova, E.)
Maximovich, E., N.G. Maximovich & V.N. Kataev 2004, George Alekseevich Maximovich, "Cursive" Press, Perm
In Russian, with English Summary, 512 pp, photos 32 pp
Vol 31 (2) pp 93 - 94

(Larionova, E.)
Maximovich, E. & N.G. Maximovich 2002, Geologist-Karst Researcher K.A. Gorbunova, "Cursive" Press, Perm
In Russian with English Summary, 240 pp, 36 photos
Vol 31 (2) pp 94 - 95

Abstracts

Abstracts of papers presented at the International Geographical Congress, Glasgow, August 2004
Vol 31 (2) pp 87 - 90

The 14 abstracts that follow are from papers presented orally or as posters at three congress sessions that were sponsored by the IGU Karst Commission. Although an abstracts booklet was provided to participants this is not widely available. Hence it was decided to include them in this issue of Cave and Karst Science. The papers were grouped into two themes: "Advances in Karst Geomorphology and Hydrology" and "Karst Resources Management".
One area in which karst geomorphologists have made an important contribution to knowledge is in the reconstruction of past environmental conditions on the basis of evidence from underground and subaerial deposits. The first three papers explore different aspects of paleoenvironmental reconstruction, whereas the fourth considers the hydrology of percolation waters that supply the inputs to speleothems. The next four papers provide new understanding on karst landform evolution in a variety of environments, from the cold regions of Scandinavia, through the now temperate but once glaciated regions of northwest England to the Mediterranean and finally the arid extreme of the Egyptian desert. Two more papers consider palaeokarst and the final destruction of caves when the lowering ground surface intersects their roofs. Three papers address different aspects of resource management in karst terrains: the management of tropical karst terrains, the problems of heavy metal contamination of karst soils in the more industrialised areas of Europe, and the tricky question of how statutory agencies can manage wild caves without actually entering them. The final paper takes a more historical approach, considering the research undertaken by an early karst scientist and what can be learned from his work.

Dissertation Abstract
(Dunn, M.)
Facies changes across the Asbian-Brigantian boundary on the southern part of the Askrigg Block
MPhil dissertation, University of Sheffield, UK
Vol 31 (2) p 92

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