Snottites resemble stalactites composed of jelly-like microbial biofilms. They are traditionally defined as living in highly acidic environments (pH 0–1). However, Derbyshire mine drainage adits (soughs) are pH neutral. To discuss snottites from these environments required a redefinition of snottites to include a wider range of pH environments. I therefore developed 3 models of snottite formation to work towards a broader definition of snottites.

Snottites and other biofilms from pH neutral environments are also largely unstudied. My PhD research focused on examining the microbial populations of pH neutral mine drainage environments, and their survival mechanisms. Using a combination of geochemical and microbiological data I constructed metabolic cycles which suggest the processes that microbial communities are using to survive in these nutrient-poor environments.

The 500,000 km² area of southwest China's carbonate rock outcrops, home to some 80,000,000 mostly rural people, is certainly among the world's great karst landscape/aquifer systems. The purpose of this presentation is to present a very personal narrative of 30 years of collaborative hydrogeology research throughout this region, with Institute of Karst Geology, and since 2008 the International Research Center on Karst Under the auspices of UNESCO (IRCK), in Guilin. This work has also been tied to other UNESCO programs including the International Geoscience Program (ICGP, after the program's original name the International Geological Correlation Program), the World Heritage Convention, and the Man and the Biosphere Program.

An added benefit, in the author's view, is that in an uncertain world the value of "scientific diplomacy", even at small scales, cannot be overestimated. UNESCO helps to create a more peaceful world by helping people to "understand one another and the world around them".

Excavation of Heaning Wood Bone Cave, Great Urswick, Cumbria has produced an assemblage of human remains and prehistoric artefacts showing that the cave was used for burial at three periods in the prehistoric past: the Early Mesolithic; the Early Neolithic and the Early Bronze Age. Heaning Wood is just one example of many caves in North-West Europe which have evidence for burial and ritual activity at these dates. This talk will examine what we know about these practices and what that might tell us about prehistoric beliefs about caves and the underground world.

Excavation of Heaning Wood Bone Cave, Great Urswick, Cumbria has produced an assemblage of human remains and prehistoric artefacts showing that the cave was used for burial at three periods in the prehistoric past: the Early Mesolithic; the Early Neolithic and the Early Bronze Age. Heaning Wood is just one example of many caves in North-West Europe which have evidence for burial and ritual activity at these dates. This talk will examine what we know about these practices and what that might tell us about prehistoric beliefs about caves and the underground world.

Cave and karst research depends on collaboration. Scientists, amateur speleologists, heritage professionals, and voluntary contributors routinely work together to explore, document, and interpret subterranean environments. However, the transdisciplinary collaborative efforts that sustain this work often remain invisible.

This talk draws on ethnographic research conducted for a PhD on collaboration in cave and karst research in the Basque Country. It examines two types of collaboration: informal collaborations grounded in continuity, trust, and shared practice; and formal, project-based collaborations shaped by funding, regulation, and institutional accountability. Based on the study of several collaborative projects and interviews with amateur speleologists, scientists from a range of disciplines, landowners, and representatives of government administrations, the talk examines how these forms of collaboration interact in practice and how they shape knowledge production, participation, responsibility, and visibility.

The aim of this talk is to make the often unseen structures of collaboration in cave and karst research visible. By linking everyday practices of underground research with their wider institutional and regulatory contexts, the talk invites participants to reflect on how collaboration is shaped and sustained, where it becomes fragile, and what conditions help it endure.

With cave radio equipment, there has been a trend away from the use of induction loop antennas to the use of so-called earth-current antennas, i.e. long wires grounded at both ends. Both the HeyPhone and Nicola system use this type of antenna. However, the popular explanation for how this antenna works is fallacious. The antenna does not operate by allowing the current to flow in a ‘big loop’ in the ground and in fact, it does not depend, fundamentally, on current flow in the ground at all. The fact that the popular explanation is wrong is important because, if we do not understand how the antenna works, it is difficult to know the best way to use it, or how to design a better one.

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CREG's summer series of talks: BCRA runs a monthly programme of online cave science seminars, broadcast using the Zoom platform. Generally, these are on the second Monday of the month, with a summer break. This summer, CREG (one of BCRA's special interest groups) will be filling in with some talks on cave radio and electronics topics. We might try a slightly different format, with several short contributions of 15 minutes each, rather than a single hour-long presentation but it depends on what is offered. We are considering a mix of technical topics, practical discussions; possibly a historical look at through-the-earth communications and some project guidelines for students.

If anyone would like to give a talk in this mini-series of CREG seminars – anything from a short 10 minute presentation to a one-hour in-depth lecture – please contact David Gibson via BCRA's Contact Page (Search for Special Interest Groups).

Although through-rock radio is now well-established, there are a number of puzzles still to answer. The first part of this talk will outline some topics for further study. For example, the relative merit of loop versus line antennas is not straightforward to answer. Neither is the merit of tuned v. untuned antennas or ferrite v. ceramic antennas. Other topics such as geophysical surveying using broadcast radio, and the anisotropic properties of limestone could benefit from further work, and perhaps make useful student projects. The second part of the talk will describe some of the practical problems of building equipment - waterproofing, battery choice, switches and connectors could all benefit from some careful study. For example, why do supposedly waterproof boxes tend to end up with water inside them when left in a cave for a long period? That, in itself, would make an interesting student project that could be investigated, underground, at BCRA's Cave Science Centre in Poole's Cavern, Buxton.

Download and print this poster.

CREG's summer series of talks: BCRA runs a monthly programme of online cave science seminars, broadcast using the Zoom platform. Generally, these are on the second Monday of the month, with a summer break. This summer, CREG (one of BCRA's special interest groups) will be filling in with some talks on cave radio and electronics topics. We might try a slightly different format, with several short contributions of 15 minutes each, rather than a single hour-long presentation but it depends on what is offered.