Devon science at Hidden Earth?

caverbabe

New member
Hello fellow speleologists! I know many of you are looking forward to 2013 Hidden Earth as much as I am.  This year I've offered to assist Emma Porter in coordinating lectures, and I hoped I could convince some of you to help out in a new way.

Last year I gave a lecture which was a brief introduction to cave geology.  In 45 short minutes I covered geology, hydrology and hydrogeology, chemistry of speleothems, passage morphology and much more.  Whew!  It was exhausting, and barely scratched the surface!  I had great feedback and loads of interest from cavers who are hungry for a little bit of science without too much....just enough to help them on their underground adventures so they understand and appreciate their environment much more.

To that end, I'm hoping I can encourage many of you to participate in furthering that casual caver knowledge.  If you, or anyone you know - particularly keen graduate or undergraduate students with a specific interest in karst science, who would like to offer a short session or two (or three!) where a series of topics on cave science can be presented in a way the general public or average caver could appreciate it would be fantastic.  Some ideas to consider are below:

The science of speleothems
Cave minerals
Vadose vs Phreatic
Where does that passage go and why?
Reading the cave by understanding the geology
Regional geology (Mendips, Yorkshire, Wales, Ireland, Derbyshire)
The geology and hydrology of a specific cave system
Cave critters
Cave archaeology
Air, water and the active chemistry of an average cave
Bats - an introduction

The list could go on and on and on!  Here is a chance for you to share your scientific know-how with cavers on a more informal basis than the usual, often intimidating, science lecture.  And who knows?  Maybe you will be the reason the next generation of cavers become scientists!

Please feel free to email me or call me to discuss.  My details are below. I'd be happy to email you a lecture form.  The information on the form will be used to summarise your lecture for the HE brochure, enable us to allocate a suitable slot for you, help your Chairperson introduce you on the day and make sure the Technical Team is aware of the equipment you will need to deliver your lecture. Ideally, we could do with the form being sent back to us by mid-August.

And remember, rules are made to be broken, so if two of you would like to work together, or you wish to present more than one topic, I would be keen to look at flexible scheduling that works with the other lectures on offer to ensure we can bring our enthusiasm for cave science to all the cavers of BCA. Feel free to pass this email on to anyone you feel may wish to participate, but may have been reluctant to lecture in the past because they thought maybe they didn't have enough interesting stuff to say.  Trust me, there are cavers hungry for your knowledge!

Thanks in advance!
Paula Grgich-Warke
caverbabe1@hotmail.com or lectures@hidden-earth.org.uk
Mobile - 07821 426 107
 
Top