Mark said:
Most of the stuff in Carlswark, particularly the Merlin/Big dig streamway is a fairly recent deposit consisting of diesel and fine tailings.
It is true that much of the sediment in the Streaks>Nickergrove>Merlin>Lower Streamway drainage route have been reworked and contaminated with taillings from workings at Cavendish Mill. Nevertheless the sediments are still valuable as they may be useful for understanding changes in the flow regime, which as you know has been complicated by sough drainage. Unfortunately they are less valuable when they have been disturbed by cavers.
Mark said:
Most of the deposits which were of any scientific interest in Carlswark have been mopped up by the clothes of passing school parties.
There has been a great deal of damage done to the sediment deposits in the 'dry' passage such as the Eyam Passage. However to say that most of the deposits of any scientific interest have been lost is an over statement, and is not really for you to say. The sediments certainly have lost value, but they do still exist, and may be useful to science in the future. We don't know what geologists may want to investigate in the future, nor what techniques for analysis will be developed, but they should not be written off because you don't appreciate their value.
Mark said:
The recent opening of a route through to Merlins, (which has been known about since Gimli's Dream was first discovered) has done nothing to preserve the classic sediments in this bit of cave. The original route through was sealed to discourage through trips after only a couple of months due to serious damage to the formations.
I would argue that no part of a cave should be concreted closed, and although your intentions were good, that this was in vain as most of the fine formations had already been trashed. Members of Chesterfield CC have recently taped off some of these formations, and have begun cleaning and restoring them, which should have been done years ago. We accept that Gimlis Dream will never look like it did when John Beck discovered in 1973 it, but our hope is to at least make some cave that can be enjoyed once again. Surely you can agree with me on that? In fact the speleothems are protecting the important sediments underneath, so there is another reason for protecting this important cave. We are waiting for a supply of water from the Merlin Streamway before continuing with this, as water supply is a problem at the moment. If anyone is interested in helping do get in touch.
Mark said:
Do you really care about caves?
I wouldn't have spent a lot of my spare time over the past 4 years working on the SMD audit if I didn't care about the caves. I wouldn't have filled a skip with old dig rubbish from carlswark and other caves in SMD, cleared the road drainage out of hungerhill, undertaken emergency shawing on big dig, replaced the rotting red and white tape in hangover hole with the proper DCA stuff, replaced a load of danderous hand lines, repaired the timbered shaft in nickergrove and undertaken SSSI monitoring for the DCA/Natural England if I didn't care about the caves.
I hope you will all understand that I complain about abuses of the caves in SMD because myself and others work so hard to manage them. This work is thankless and all we would hope for in return is a bit of respect from other cavers. The auidt will be published soon, which will provide information on the state of the caves, and suggest ways we can all work together to manage and protect them. There is still an opportunity for anyone interested to review and comment on the audit if you want to, just PM me with an email address and I add you to the circulation list. Please though don't personally have a go at me on this forum, as I mean no harm; as well as a professional Environmental Scientist I am a caver too
MarkC