GPF expedition cave science weekend at SWCC, 3rd - 4th June: sign-ups open!

[nobrotson]

GPF have arranged a weekend of cave science aimed specifically at cavers who will be attending expeditions this year. The weekend will be held at the SWCC over Saturday 3rd - Sunday 4th June, and will feature underground workshops on both days. There is space for up to 20 participants currently (more space may become available), and places will be given on a first come first serve basis, though we will try and balance the attendee list between different expeditions. Anyone interested in attending should fill out the following form:

https://forms.gle/cwnM7cFFGtjEbEey7

The underground workshops on offer will be as follows:

1. Cave geomorphology and geomorphological mapping in OFD (Andy Farrant) - see this series of videos for an idea of what we might look at underground, this talk from Andy for an overview of cave passage formation, and this talk from Mike Simms about how we can interpret the history of a landscape from caves and their deposits.
2. Cave invertebrate fauna in OFD (Lee Knight) - see the cavelife website for an overview of what we might find underground (use the navigation bar on the left), the Hypogean Crustacea Recording Scheme website for more info on how Lee collects samples and what they are used for, and here for a general overview of British cave invertebrates.

There will also be plenty of opportunity in the evenings to talk about any science which can be done on caving expeditions and how to make it happen; a great chance to meet new people, ask questions and discuss ideas.

If you have any questions about the event, please send me a message.

We hope to see many of you there!