C14 dating?

The next BCRA Cave Science seminar on Zoom is tonight at 7.30 pm Marion Dowd will be speaking on 'The Archaeology of Caves in the Burren, Co. Clare, Ireland' See https://bcra.org.uk/seminars2024.html for info on how to join.

Yup, definitely an oblique cross section through a solitary rugose coral.

What can caves teach us about climate change? The answer is a lot. This is mainly because caves preserve archives of climatic change in the sediments, speleothems, ice deposits and archaeology which are protected from surface weathering, degradation and erosion. And what's more, many of these...

I'd say it was worth it. It is something a bit different and fun from the sporting angle, with the bonus of some nice formations at the end in Far Rift. Certainly one an enthusiast of “collectors item” caves needs to tick off. Don't know the current access situation.

HS2 have been pretty lucky with these; had they occurred beneath an urban area, the consequences could have been more serious. There have been four sinkholes now. All are in areas where the potential for over-break was known, either where tunneling through areas of weak ground due to faulting...

Sad news. I first met Dave just before the 1991 Mulu expedition, and most recently in Miri last November. He was someone willing to pass on his knowledge and expertise; he did a huge amount to help conserve the caves and karst in Sarawak.

The BCRA is currently running a monthly series of cave science webinars on Zoom, held on the first Monday of the month (except bank holidays). The next one is on Monday 4th December at 19:30 GMT by Claire Ansberque (Stockholm University) on ‘The past, present and future use of stalagmites in...

The new series of BCRA online webinars starts tonight with a talk by Prof. Andy Baker on 'Caves as Observatories of Groundwater Recharge' at 7.30pm. For more info and instructions how to join, see https://bcra.org.uk/seminars2023.html This is followed by other talks on the first (or second)...

It is amazing how many people think that by watching a few Youtube video or reading a few online blogs, they become an authoritative expert on climate science. There is an awful lot of crap and misinformation out there on the web. It is complex matter, so I rather defer to the experts, the real...

The role of the lava beds and ash deposits, including the weathered ash deposits forming the clay wayboards are well known potential inception horizons and act in a very similar way to the shale beds in Yorkshire and marl seams in the Chalk. Other stratigraphical discontinuities within the...

Most of the published BGS maps and memoirs have been available for free online for some years now. This new update relates to some of the 10K scale maps.

After writing my last post, we received the sad news that Alexander Klimchouk passed away earlier this week. Alexander was the main exponent of hypogene speleogenesis and has done a huge amount to raise our awareness of this type of cave development. As part of his secondment to Manchester...

Pridhamsleigh is certainly hypogenic, Holwell probably is, and Baker's Pit may well have hypogenic elements, but also modification due to sediment input (paragenesis) and epigenic cave development. There are lots of other hypogenic caves in the UK, notably the Pennine maze caves, the Derbyshire...

It used to work OK; I just assumed it was the dodgy wifi in the hotel where I'm staying.. Perhaps there is a role for BCA or the Cave Surveying Group to act as an archive this type of survey data as it is all too easily lost...

That's nice... Some excellent paragenetic notches, half-tubes and anastomoses associated with a former sediment fill. There is also a 3D laser scan of Kents Cavern that is available on line, done by a company called Terradat – commissioned by Kents Cavern...

According to Chris Stringer, when the were digging at Gough's Cave in the late 1980's, the barman in the Galleries pub in Cheddar Gorge had a very Neanderthal type skull, so they are probably alive and thriving in Cheddar...

Here is a snippet from an old borehole log on Mendip near Priddy Dale Farm [ST 52230 51260] (BGS borehole record [ST55SW13] see http://scans.bgs.ac.uk/sobi_scans/boreholes/388008/images/14834592.html Well at Dale Farm Priddy for ?? Commissioners. Dug by F G Clements Ltd, and later filled in...

Merry Christmas from the BCRA Council to all our members and fellow cavers, and best wishes for 2023, which will be our 50th Anniversary year!

The current BCRA Secretary has decided to stand down, so we are looking for someone to fill this important post and to contribute to the future of the Association as we enter our 50th year. The Secretary handles the day-to-day administration of the Association, and the communications with our...