19th International Congress of Speleology in Brazil

[me]

I can see people in your photo going towards a large cave entrance. What kind of rock is it?

Quartz. We walked through a landscape that looked like it had had a sprinkling of snow. Lots of little sand drifts.

 

[me]

A tast of the market opposite the venue.
I share there was a vortex inside that kept taking you back to the same entrance! Took me 3 goes to get out of a different exit

 

[me]

Coils of sausages not to be confused with the tobacco. And an influence of Wallace and Gromitt I think

 

[me]

Mark T is pleased with the survey displays. They printed them off and matched the sheets well.

 

[me]

Speleo Olympics is going well.
With 3 mins to climb a 50 mt rope... I am not going to have a go

20 is the current top number for the beer crate challenge

 

[Lankyman]

Quartz. We walked through a landscape that looked like it had had a sprinkling of snow. Lots of little sand drifts.

Thanks. I've heard of quartzite caves in Venezuela and in Africa (Zimbabwe?). I think the caves there form in a similar way to limestone caves because of the hot and wet climate. As far as I'm aware the quartzite in Britain doesn't get weathered like this (although who knows with climate change!).

 

[me]

Currently in a lecture on quartzite caves. Spoken in Portuguese and someone translating.
I will post the link to the notes when I can find them online.

 

[Tritim230]

Mark T is pleased with the survey displays. They printed them off and matched the sheets well. View attachment 23174

The Slaughter survey is missing the new section to the right

 

[me]

Andy's turn at Keynote Speech.
Made his points well, great laser scanner fly-throughs & many photos.
Silhouettes of the caves was a good visual for comparison of the relative size and shape.
Table of statistics made up-to-date this week by Tony Waltham.
Conclusion: Cave exploration in teams MUST be fun...!

Also have 3D printed models on the UK stand.

 

[me]

At Hidden Earth we should have a competition... "Name that chamber" non of them were labelled.

 

[me]

Interesting talk from Terry Faulkner on the Gower caves. I think a new discovery was mentioned too.
( such a small area but still worth discussion on an international stage)

Also said that it has been proven that glaciers covered Dartmoor but there hadn't been the same scientific study of Pridhamsleigh yet to see if the same process had happened there as on the Gower.

(Scientists are also saying glaciers didn't get as far as Stonehenge, so the stones must have been carried from Wales) BBC News - Stonehenge boulder debate settled, scientists say https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx2g25j71pxo

 

[me]

Congratulations to Mark Tringham for taking the 2nd prize in the Cartography competition with his survey of Meghalaya.

 

[me]

The prestigious Giovanni Budino
International Speleology Award

Has been awarded to:

Andy Farrant, Hazel Barton,
J. Max Koether, Stein-Erik Lauritzen, Christos Pennos, Andrew Smith, Jo White, Andrew McLeod, and Andy Eavis

For their paper on
Pervasive speleogenetic modification of cave passages by nitrification of biogenic ammonia

ScienceDirect.com

https://www.sciencedirect.com

Pervasive speleogenetic modification of cave passages by nitrification of biogenic ...

 

[Andy Farrant]

Just to say the Giovanni Badino International Speleology Award was very much a team effort, working in collaboration with the Mulu Caves Project, the Gunung Mulu National Park and Sarawak Forestry Dept. And of course all those who helped with the research, so thanks to Hazel Barton, Max Koether , Stein-Erik Lauritzen, Christos Pennos, Jo White, Andrew McLeod, Andi Smith and Andrew Eavis. Many other Mulu expedition members have helped over the years, so also thanks to Dick Willis, Pete Smart, Fiona Whitaker, Matt Kirby and Hugh St Lawrence, plus many others.

The great thing about caving is as well as discovering new caves, you can also discover new things about caves, which in many ways is just as exciting!

 

[me]

Hopefully Pete H will install a little video in here of Andy for me.

 

[me]

Another good keynote lecture from Robbie Schmittnee.
We have problems with sewage in water in the UK but nothing like on the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico where they remove the poisonous algi blumes from the beaches and dump it inland to leach back into the water systems that runs back to the beaches killing the 2nd biggest coral reef and creating blumes ....

 

[me]

I found Barbara Wielander's talk interesting firstly because of the effort they have to put in to do the remote dives they are doing but also how it connects to the system the UK are pushing.

 

[me]

Just out of the meeting.


Romania hosts the 2029 international Congress of Speleology.

 

[Ian Ball]

Congratulations Romania

 

[Ian Ball]

Many thanks for the updates, it has been engaging.