Yorkshire Dales Cave Monitoring Weekend

[JoW]

Yorkshire Dales Cave monitoring weekend 12th/13th August 2017

A chance to be involved in some cave science... For the past year I have been monitoring the Mistral area of Easegill and I am hoping to remove the loggers from the cave on this weekend and download the data before replacing them for further study.

Briefly this study's aim is to provide background date to Palaeoclimate studies on a stalactite from this cave alongside  similar studies being undertaken in White Scar showcave.

During the weekend there will be opportunities to be involved both underground and on the surface, and the cave does not require any SRT to enter.

If you would like to know more or get involved in the weekend please get in touch

We can also be found on Facebook
https://m.facebook.com/Yorkshire-Dales-Cave-Monitoring-Project-1925090417767892/?notif_t=page_fan&notif_id=1497628110444313&ref=m_notif

 

[JoW]

Please note the date has now changed to 19th/20th August

 

[JoW]

Further details on the Cave Monitoring weekend 19th/20th August.

Saturday 19th August - workshop in Mistral area of Easegill to download data off loggers and collect samples. Chance to discuss geological features of the cave and methods of cave monitoring. 

Evening meet: location to be confirmed

Sunday 20th August - trip into White Scar cave looking at data logging, sample collection and geological features.

Accommodation is likely to be in one of the local caving club huts (tbc) but camping, bed and breakfasts etc are also available locally

Please email j.white@bcra.org.uk to register or for further information (limited places available).

 

[nobrotson]

sorry I won't be able to make this, sounds very interesting. What method is being employed to study the caves paleoclimatology from the stalactite? I was involved in a project with Dan Sinclair at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand, last year using trace element concentration changes (magnesium, strontium, potassium, phosphorus and barium) by ICP-MS analysis of radial and circumferential tracks through the stalactite obtained by laser ablation. The stalactite in question was from Niue and there were records from stalagmites from the same cave to compare with. We found that it was hard to get an informative dataset because accounting for the unpredictable growth mechanisms of stalactites was very difficult to do accurately with this data, ie the 'rings' that one might look for were very hard to reliably and accurately identify compared to a stalagmite. Did you encounter similar problems?

 

[JoW]

Sorry to hear you can't make the weekend. If you're interested do keep an eye on my Facebook page / blog. I also head down the caves every 6-8 weeks to take readings if you would like to come along another time.
The modern cave monitoring and data collection is my area and the stalactite climate analysis has been undertaken by others in the team. I will pm you their contact details if you'd like to get in touch. We also hope to present our research so far at the BCRA symposium in October in Leeds if you'll be there?