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Post by Karstscience on Aug 3, 2007 1:01:36 GMT -5
3500 year old frescos discovered in the region of BatnaAugust 2, 2007 An important archaeological discovery has been made recently in the region of Batna (east of Algeria) which consists in prehistoric frescos that date back to some 3500 years. Local experts are asking for the immediate intervention of the minister of culture to send international searchers to probe in the matter, because of the importance this unprecedented historical discovery. The province of Batna is famously known by its outdoor historical sites such as Timgad, Ouazana and Imedghassen. These frescos are similar to those, already existing, in the remote parts of the Algerian desert, Tassili and Hoggar, as well as those in the Atlas namely, Djelfa and Ain Defla. The drawings have been discovered inside caverns located in “Tachyoune”, some 14 Kms east of the town of N’guaouess and only few local inhabitants and shepherds are familiar with. www.echoroukonline.com/english/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=7063
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Post by Karstscience on Aug 29, 2006 19:55:33 GMT -5
Published online: 25 August 2006 Will the hobbit argument ever be resolved?Debate over tiny human's evolutionary status is set to rage on. Michael Hopkin For the past two years, researchers have been hotly debating (and coming dangerously close to fighting over) whether the fossils of a diminutive hominin found in Indonesia are those of a previously unknown species. The publication this week of some long-standing doubts over the 'hobbit' fossils show the debate is far from over. The dispute over the bones of Homo floresiensis has involved allegations of name-calling, nationalistic motives, and wilfully damaging specimens. One camp insists that the tiny inhabitants of the Indonesian island of Flores were a unique species; the other claims that the bones are of a diseased Homo sapiens pygmy. As the debate rages, news@nature.com set out to find whether there will ever be an end to the conflict. The latest instalment came on Monday, with the publication in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of doubts first raised by Indonesia's leading anthropologist, Teuku Jacob, of Gadjah Mada University, shortly after the finds were first published in 2004. Jacob and his colleagues cite a range of evidence that the 'hobbit' bones bear similarities to features found in various modern pygmies, including a Rampasasa pygmy from Flores who has a receding chin (the single complete hobbit skull features a jaw with no chin at all). Deformed by diseaseThe one complete hobbit skull found so far has additional 'deformities' not present in any modern Homo sapiens — but these, Jacob's team argues, have been caused by disease. In their paper, they divide the iconic photograph of the hobbit skull down the middle and create mirror images of the two halves. The two halves look distinctly different — evidence, the team argues, for developmental abnormality. Peter Brown of the University of New England in Armidale, Australia, one of the team members who unveiled the findings in Nature retorts that this type of analysis is very prone to bias. "Depending on the camera angle you can produce anything you want from mirror imaging," says Brown. Particularly for a fossil that has been buried and squashed for thousands of years. Accusations are also flying on both sides of bad conduct. Jacob has been accused of acting out of nationalistic pride and frustration at not having been the one to discover the bones. Meanwhile, authors of the new critique argue that this accusation is motivated by bitterness. "We have been introducing some scientific ideas and there has been quite a bit of name-calling in return," says Jacob's colleague Robert Eckhardt of Pennsylvania State University in University Park. Bone huntThe bitter argument over different aspects of the bones' appearance begs the question of whether debates based on morphology will ever come to a definitive conclusion. Brown remains convinced that definitive evidence of the hobbits' unique evolutionary provenance will emerge by studying further specimens: more skulls with the same features will make it more unlikely that the shape is caused by illness. "I think the issue will be resolved by fossils," says Brown. The prospects for finding any more fossils look bleak, however. Political wranglings have led to a ban, for the time being, on excavations at Liang Bua, the cave where the hobbits were uncovered. Negotiations to reopen the site next year are ongoing. Written in codeSome anthropologists have suggested that preserved DNA might provide a more definitive answer. If the Flores remains belong to H. sapiens, its DNA should fall within the range of modern human variation — if it is a unique species, its DNA should be unlike anything seen in modern humans. But excavation, cleaning and washing of the original specimens, done in part to harden and preserve them, almost certainly destroyed any DNA that might have been present. Attempts to obtain DNA samples (primarily from teeth, in which it should be best preserved) have so far been unsuccessful. Brown's colleague Mike Morwood remains confident that, if more specimens can be found, they will yield DNA. "Given that DNA has been recovered from 8,000-year-old pig teeth from the site, there is an excellent chance of getting H. floresiensis DNA from future excavated remains," he says. Brown is less hopeful, however. The hobbits are thought to have died out around 12,000 years ago, and although older DNA has been recovered from Neanderthals and mammoths in Europe, the damp, tropical Indonesian climate degrades DNA far more quickly. "It's a long way from ideal for preserving DNA," he says. "I would be surprised if DNA [from these samples] lasts even 2,000 years." Probing the pastDating the bones should provide more clues. Hominin tools have been found on Flores dating back to 880,000 years ago, leading Brown's team to speculate that the ancestors of H. floresiensis arrived then, surviving until perhaps 12,000 years ago (the various bones have been dated as 12,000 to 90,000 years old). That comes with its own problems. "It is hard to see how the founding populations would have been large enough to survive for 40,000 generations," says Eckhardt. It is also difficult to imagine the population remaining unchallenged for that long, particularly as sea-level rises and falls to create land bridges between islands. Perhaps instead Homo erectus was responsible for the tools, and H. sapiens, arriving much later, for the Liang Bua bones. But that pushes back the date of H. sapiens in Indonesia — by quite a lot. H. sapiens is thought to have appeared in nearby Australia no more than 60,000 years ago. Brown says an independent anthropological analysis soon to be published in the Journal of Human Evolution suggests that his story is correct: H. floresiensis is a unique species. Although he admits that the idea that the creatures developed their pygmy size while living on the island, as suggested in the original theory, may not be correct. "Now we think they arrived small." Whatever the truth, the story of the Flores hominins is not over yet. www.nature.com/news/2006/060821/full/060821-12.html
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Post by Karstscience on Jun 1, 2006 7:20:55 GMT -5
Stone tools used to back 'Hobbit' theory By Steve Connor, 01 June 2006 Scientists have produced further evidence to support the idea that a miniature species of human, nicknamed "the hobbit", lived on a remote Indonesian island until becoming extinct more than 10,000 years ago. The latest study suggests the one metre-high creatures could make fairly sophisticated stone tools despite having brains no bigger than grapefruits. Specialists are divided over ancient bones found in a cave on the island of Flores which seem to suggest that another human species lived alongside Homo sapiens as recently as 12,000 years ago. Skeletal remains of the creature - formally named Homo floresiensis - suggested that adults walked upright, were about 3ft tall and, unlike modern-day pygmies, had a small head in perfect proportion to the rest of the body. The most important specimen recovered from the floor of the cave at Liang Bua in Flores was of a complete skull, although the bones of about eight other individuals have also been dug out and analysed. The skull is so small that it can fit neatly into the palm of a hand. It has a cranial capacity of just 400 cubic centimetres - about two or three times smaller than the brain of modern humans. Sceptics have argued that a creature with such a small brain could not have possibly made the fine stone tools found at the same level in the cave sediments - and presumably buried at the same time that H. floresiensis had lived there. Proponents of the hobbit concept have suggested that the creature used the tools to hunt and butcher the miniature elephants, giant komodo dragons and oversized rats, whose remains were also found alongside the human bones. However, last month sceptics poured scorn on the idea, saying that the skull belonged to a person with microcephaly, a congenital disease resulting in exceptionally small skulls and stunted growth. James Phillips, professor of anthropology at the University of Illinois at Chicago, said that it was wrong to suggest that the stone tools could have been made by earlier species of humans, such as Homo erectus, a creature that evolved more than 1.8 million years ago and predated modern humans by many hundreds of thousands of years. "These tools are so advanced that there is no way they were made by anyone other than Homo sapiens," Professor Phillips said. Now, however, another team of stone-tool experts has cast doubt on this judgement, saying that similar stone tools have been uncovered on the island that clearly predate the arrival of modern Homo sapiens. Adam Brumm of the Australian National University in Canberra and his colleagues report in the journal Nature that they have found hundreds of almost identical stone tools at a site called Mata Menge just 30 miles away from the Liang Bua cave. They say the tools are between 700,000 and 840,000 years old - too old to have been made by Homo sapiens - and that the production techniques are practically identical to that used at Liang Bua 18,000 years ago. "The Mata Menga evidence negates claims that stone artefacts associated with H. floresiensis are so complex that they must have been made by modern humans," the scientists say. "Despite being separated by 30 miles and at least 700,000 years, there are remarkable similarities between the stone artefact assemblage from Mata Menge and that found with H. floresiensis at Liang Bua." No human remains have yet been found at Mata Menge so it is not clear who made the stone tools found at the site, but the scientists point to the only known possibility - Homo erectus. They suggest H. floresiensis could therefore be a direct descendent of H. erectus and that the knowledge of how to make the stone tools was passed down the generations to descendants who had evolved into a miniature form. "Pronouncements that H. floresiensis lacked the brain size necessary to make stone artefacts are therefore based on preconceptions rather than evidence," the researchers say. Bones of contention PILTDOWN MAN: The skull and stone tools of an apparent ape-man were dug from gravel deposits in Piltdown, East Sussex between 1911 and 1915 and were soon declared the "missing link" between apes and humans. In 1953, a study showed that the artefacts were elaborate forgeries, a mixture of human and primate bones. One of biggest scientific discoveries in human origins was declared an embarrassing hoax. TOUMAI MAN: French scientists discovered a six to seven million-year-old skull in northern Chad in 2002. Formally named Sahelanthropus tchadensis, the creature became the oldest known member of the human family. Other scientists later dismissed it as belonging to an extinct species of ape who did not habitually walk on two legs, a distinguishing characteristic of the human family. The journal Science, however, voted the discovery its Breakthrough of the Year. DMANISI MAN: Scientists discovered several skulls of early humans dating to about 1.8 million years ago near Dmanisi in Georgia. The small-brained creatures belonged to a species called Homo erectus and reignited the debate over early human migrations. One theory is that Homo erectus died out and was replaced by Homo sapiens, another theory is that the two species interbred and modern humans evolved not solely in Africa but in several regions of the world. news.independent.co.uk/
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Post by Karstscience on May 19, 2006 18:13:34 GMT -5
Similar remains have been excavated from Liang Bu Cave since the first skull was found in 2003. I would think DNA analysis would have been performed by now, though I cannot recall published reports stating that has been done. The debate of new species vs. deformed human is still in its infancy. Unless conclusive evidence surfaces the debate will linger indefinitely.
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Post by Karstscience on May 19, 2006 17:26:26 GMT -5
Authenticity of 'Hobbit' human discountedMay 19, 2006 Researcher sees genetic brain deformity instead BY GUY GUGLIOTTA Washington Post More than 1½ years after discovering a race of ancient, "Hobbit"-like little people on a remote tropical island, scientists still do not know what to make of them. Are they a new species of human ancestor? Or were they modern humans suffering from a debilitating genetic deformity? In dueling papers published today in the journal Science, researchers offer insights on both sides to explain how a 30-year-old female with a grapefruit-sized brain could have appeared 18,000 years ago on the Indonesian island of Flores. A research team led by primatologist Robert Martin, provost of Chicago's Field Museum, argues that no human ancestor could reach a weight of 64 pounds with a brain size of only 23.2 cubic inches and be able to make sophisticated tools like those found with the Hobbit remains. The Martin team said the Hobbit must have been a modern human with microcephaly — a condition, usually genetic, in which the brain fails to grow to normal size. "This brain is too small for any explanation besides pathology," Martin said in an interview. In a rebuttal, a second team led by Florida State University paleoanthropologist Dean Falk defended their earlier research, contending the skull was nothing like that of a microcephalic and the remains most likely represent a previously unknown species. While microcephalic brains shrink with age, causing the inside of the skull to smooth out, the Flores skull is highly convoluted, reflecting the imprint of a fully expanded, fully functioning brain, she said. Several scientists said that neither of the papers would be the last word. "This argument is going to run and run," said Ian Tattersall, an anthropology curator at the American Museum of Natural History and a bystander in the dispute. "This is an extraordinarily weird and unexpected thing, and even now nobody knows what to do with it." A multinational team led by archaeologist Michael Morwood, of Australia's University of New England, unearthed the remains in a limestone cave on Flores, an island east of the Java Sea. The team described the find as a new species of dwarf human ancestor that overlapped with modern humans and survived long after Neanderthals died out about 27,000 years ago. In late 2004, the team dubbed the fossil homo Florensiensis, but short stature and the presence of stone tool artifacts soon earned it the nickname Hobbit, after the small but clever villagers from J.R.R. Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings." Martin and several colleagues disputed the find from the beginning, arguing that no creature with a brain as small as the Hobbit's could make finely wrought stone tools and hunt the animals whose remains were found in the cave. www.twincities.com/mld/pioneerpress/news/local/14614142.htm
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Post by Karstscience on Oct 2, 2007 22:51:56 GMT -5
Fifth Annual Tulane Maya Symposium Sacred Cenotes, Hidden Caverns: Rituals, Beliefs, and Everyday Life Relating to Caves and Cenotes among the Maya hosted by the Stone Center for Latin American Studies, will be held the weekend of February 15-17, 2008 on the Uptown campus of Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana. Through a series of lectures, workshops, and a roundtable discussion, specialists at this year's symposium explore the physical and sacred geography of the Maya region. The history, geology, stories, beliefs, and rituals surrounding caves, cenotes, and mountaintop shrines from across the Maya area are among the topics that will be discussed. For further information, please contact Denise Woltering (crcrts@tulane.edu) at the Stone Center. Because New Orleans is hosting the NBA All-Star game the same weekend, we encourage you to make plans soon to attend! Please visit our website at stonecenter.tulane.edu/MayaSymposium/ for the 2008 program, registration, lodging information, and a retrospective of the 2007 symposium. There is a substantial registration discount before October 15, 2007.
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Post by Karstscience on Aug 16, 2007 20:21:10 GMT -5
Repost: Dear Colleague, The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is currently advertising 2-year postdoctoral fellowships for Fall of 2008. Applications for these fellowships are due November 9, 2007. For one of these fellowships, the research topic is "The impacts of Quaternary climate change on karst geomorphology and hydrology in the Appalachian region" (see description below). Additional information on this and other USGS postdoctoral fellowships may be found at the following website: geology.usgs.gov/postdoc/ Please forward this announcement on to those who may be interested in this opportuniy. Sincerely, David Weary, (703) 648-6897, dweary@usgs.gov Daniel Doctor, (703) 648-6027, dhdoctor@usgs.gov Christopher Swezey, (703) 648-6444, cswezey@usgs.gov Milan Pavich, (703) 648-6963, mpavich@usgs.gov ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The impacts of Quaternary climate change on karst geomorphology and hydrology in the Appalachian region Climate change occurs as a natural and continuous earth process; however, it is now clear that human activities are perturbing global and local climates. Perturbations in climate, in turn, can cause substantial modifications to landscapes and water resources, with serious consequences for ecosystems as well as for human societies and economies. Furthermore, the relations between changes in climate, landscape geomorphology, and hydrological systems are nonlinear, and it is therefore difficult to predict when a specific threshold of change will be crossed. Fortunately, the geologic record provides an excellent key for understanding these relations. Detailed, geology-based reconstructions of changes in climate, hydrology, and landscape geomorphology provide a framework for understanding patterns of natural variability and also provide a baseline for understanding the consequences of current and future climate changes. Such geologic data are an important guide for managing and adapting to future change. In the Appalachian region of the eastern United States, the Quaternary record of climate, hydrology, and landscape geomorphology is poorly documented. Much of this region consists of erosional landscapes, with poor preservation of Quaternary strata. Nevertheless, caves and other karst features within this region are unique settings in which Quaternary records may be preserved and interpreted. Caves in karst are the manifestation of groundwater flow in soluble bedrock; as such, they provide long-term records of geomorphologic evolution. These records include in-cave sedimentary deposits, sinkhole fills, speleothems, erosional features on cave walls, and the four-dimensional geometry of the caves themselves. Sedimentary deposits in karst contain information on paleoclimate, erosion, and paleohydrologic conditions. Age control on karst features may be provided by paleontologic, paleomagnetic, and isotopic (including cosmogenic) methods. Patterns of paleohydrologic flow conditions can be infered from cave elevations relative to present base level, cave morphology, and the sediments and sedimentary strata within caves. Sediment type and distribution as well as cave passage morphology provide information on past and present flow regimes. Combined, the information obtained from caves has great potential to provide a broad picture of landscape evolution in response to climate change in the Appalachian region. Under this Research Opportunity, applicants are invited to focus on the impact of climate change on karst landscape evolution and changes in groundwater flow paths in the Appalachian region. Applicants should choose a particular Appalachian karst system that is accessible for research projects and in which it is possible to obtain paleoclimatic and paleohydrologic data. Applicant proposals should describe the karst study area and any property access issues, discuss previous work on which this research might build, and propose methods of obtaining paleoclimatic and paleohydrologic data. If appropriate, applicants should discuss possibilities for interdisciplinary collaboration with hydrologists, geomorphologists, and other scientists. Several well-studied karst areas in the Appalachian region contain large caves and sinkholes with sediment accumulations (including paleo-lake sediments) and speleothems. A few of these areas have been the focus of multidisciplinary in-cave and karst-related surface studies since the late 1940s, and a wealth of background information and data are available. The postdoctoral candidate must have a strong background in Quaternary geology, geomorphology, hydrology, karst geology, and (or) related disciplines. The candidate should be able to work on a variety of scales, and the candidate should be able to work independently and as part of a team. Experience with Appalachian Basin geology would be an additional benefit. Application deadline: November 9, 2007 Proposed Duty Station: Reston, VA Areas of Ph.D.: Quaternary geology, geomorphology, hydrology, karst geology, or related disciplines Qualifications: Applicants must meet one of the following qualifications: Research Geologist, Research Hydrologist(This type of research is performed by those who have backgrounds for the occupations stated above. However, other titles may be applicable depending on the applicant's background, education, and research proposal. The final classification of the position will be made by the Human Resources specialist.) Research Advisor(s): David Weary, (703) 648-6897, dweary@usgs.gov; Daniel Doctor, (703) 648-6027, dhdoctor@usgs.gov; Christopher Swezey, (703) 648-6444, cswezey@usgs.gov; Milan Pavich, (703) 648-6963, mpavich@usgs.gov Human Resources Office contact: Kathy McDuffie, (703) 648-7408, kmcduffie@usgs.gov
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Post by Karstscience on Jan 7, 2007 21:57:45 GMT -5
KWI Workshop - "Future Directions of Karst Research" - San Antonio, Texas May 3-5, 2007The workshop, organized by the KWI, will be a forum for discussions of critical research needs in karst science. The outcome will consist of a published white paper of workshop discussions, which will be provided to meeting participants, the karst community, and funding agencies with interests in karst research. Participation in the workshop is solicited from biologists, biogeochemists, microbial ecologists, hydrogeologists, geomorphologists, paleoclimatologists and others who have interests in advancing all aspects of karst science. There will be no registration fee for the meeting, but a reservation fee of $50 is required which will be refunded following participation in and while at the workshop. Workshop DescriptionThe workshop goals are designed to bring together biologists, biogeochemists, microbial ecologists, hydrogeologists, and geomorphologists and others who have an interest in advancing all aspects of karst science. The workshop will in part assess the current state of knowledge, but its primary function will be to identify gaps in that knowledge, which will be described in the workshop report. The workshop discussions will include questions from disciplines outside of karst science (e.g. paleoclimate, microbiology) that can be addressed in karst areas. The workshop is not intended to be a meeting at which only recent scientific findings are discussed; instead, the successful workshop will lead to identification of the critical science questions to be investigated over the coming decade. Discussions will be organized around seven breakout groups and may include the following topics depending on participant's interests: * Geomicrobiology * Ecosystem function * Biodiversity * Surface-subsurface linkages * Hydrological modeling * Geochemistry: chemical and isotopic tracers, geochemistry of the epikarst * Biological evolution in karst—lineages and ages * Paleoclimatology: dating methods * Paleokarst and reservoirs * Land Use in Karst Areas: sinkholes, subsidence, flooding * Contaminants: NAPLs, metals, agricultural waste, pharmaceuticals Registration details and registration forms can be downloaded from www.clas.ufl.edu/users/jmartin/website/Karst_Workshop.html For more information, please contact a member of the Organizing Committee: Jon Martin (University of Florida, jbmartin@ufl.edu) Annette Summers-Engle (Louisiana State University, aengel@geol.lsu.edu) Will White (Penn State, wbw2@mri.psu.edu) Diana Northup (University of New Mexico, dnorthup@unm.edu)
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Post by Karstscience on Nov 29, 2006 21:30:01 GMT -5
The Karst Research Group at USF will serve as the depository of the donations from North America, and with the help of NCKRI will inventory and ship the books to the UIKS. A listing of items received has been posted, however I have not seen a listing of needed or requested titles. List of Donated Books and Publications Books* Big Bone Cave * Cave Conservation and Restoration * Caving Basics * Cave Minerals * Dunbar Cave * On Caves and Camera * On Call * On Rope * On Station * Speleogenesis * Taming of the Slough * The Hidden World of Cave: A Children's Guide to the Underground Wilderness Publications* Archives of Climate Change in Karst (Proceedings of the symposium Climate Change: The Karst Record IV) * NSS Bulletin/Journal of Cave and Karst Studies (2 complete sets) * NSS News (2 complete sets) Other* National Cave and Karst Mgmt Symposium Steering Committee Proceedings (past volumes in print and on CD) Here is the URL to check back as more items are received: www.karst.usf.edu/librarybooklist.htm
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Post by Karstscience on Nov 5, 2006 13:01:06 GMT -5
The Karst Research Group at University of South Florida (USF) will be hosting Alexander Klimchouk from the Ukraine in the spring of 2007. Dr. Klimchouk and the University of Ukraine recently lost their entire 10,000 volume collection of cave and karst literature to a fire. This was the largest speleological collection in Eastern Europe, and the base of what was to be the Ukrainian Institute of Karstology and Speleology Library. The Karst Research Group, along with NCKRI, is trying to help them rebuild a collection of speleological publications and literature. Any donations of cave and karst books or papers people may be willing to part with would be welcome. Donations can be sent to: Karst Research Group, c/o Beth Fratesi University of South Florida SCA 528 4202 E. Fowler Ave. Tampa, FL 33620 The Karst Research Group is working on setting up a page about the donation project on their website, which is www.karst.usf.eduIt will have a list of books they have already received and books they are still looking for.
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Post by Karstscience on Sept 24, 2006 9:26:12 GMT -5
As an additional note, the call for papers for the 58th Conference is currently in progress. Note the deadline is October 31, 2006.
CALL FOR PAPERS
Papers are invited on all aspects of the geosciences in the Jemez and Nacimiento Mountains. Potential authors are asked to provide an intent to submit a manuscript and/or minipaper to Barry Kues before October 31, 2006. This should include a tentative title and estimated manuscript length (including figures). Authors should plan to observe a 20-page (double-spaced) manuscript limit – about 10 printed pages with figures. Longer papers will be considered on a case-by-case basis. Minipapers are limited to 1500 words and one figure. Authors are required to secure two external reviews for each paper; the editors will review the minipapers. Deadline for final manuscript submission, complete with clean figures and two external reviews, is March 1, 2007. Papers submitted after that deadline may not be accepted.
Please direct all communications regarding manuscript submission to:
Barry Kues Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences MSC03 2040 1 University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131-0001 bkues@unm.edu
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Post by Karstscience on Sept 24, 2006 8:54:36 GMT -5
Unfortunately the 2006 Conference is full. Here is information on the 58th Fall Field Conference of the New Mexico Geological Society.
The 2007 Fall Field Conference will be held in the Jemez Mountains of north-central New Mexico, September 19-22, 2007. The trip will focus on the geology of the Valles caldera and neighboring areas, and incorporate much new information based on recent mapping and other studies since the last NMGS conference in the Jemez area in 1996. The tentative itinerary for the 2007 conference includes:
Day 1 – Travel from Pojoaque/Espanola around north side of the Jemez to Youngsville, then south to La Grulla plateau, Encino Point, Santa Fe Group phreatomagmatic deposits and a sectioned volcano, to the north rim of the caldera; then east to Lobato dacites, Rio del Oso fault zone, and Clara Peak, to Espanola and Los Alamos.
Day 2 – Entirely within the caldera, including El Cajete crater, Redondo Creek megabreccia, Redondo Creek rhyolites, Valle Santa Rosa lake beds, rhyolite intrusives in north caldera wall, an enigmatic thick sedimentary sequence, volcanic stratigraphy at Cerro Pinon, and a barbecue at the Valles Caldera National Preserve headquarters before return to Los Alamos.
Day 3 – Pajarito Plateau hydrology and environmental geology, paleoseismic studies, Pajarito fault kinematics, Bandelier Tuff, and south to Triassic structure and stratigraphy north of Ponderosa.
For further information on the Field Conference, contact:
Margaret Anne Rogers (Rogersmac@aol.com), Shari Kelley (sakelley@ix.netcom.com) Barry Kues (bkues@unm.edu)
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Post by Karstscience on Aug 29, 2006 19:59:14 GMT -5
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Post by Karstscience on Jul 31, 2006 16:23:10 GMT -5
Thank you for posting the link to the Karst Research Survey Lynn. I had came here to post the information and you had beaten me to it. Here is the original request for anyone who did not receive a copy. Dear Karst Researcher, This email message includes a link to an online survey concerning the types of information sources used in karst research. Your responses to this 20-question survey 1) allow us to measure the degree to which karst researchers require access to grey literature to accomplish their goals and 2) inform the design of the Karst Information Portal. No risks are associated with participating in this study. The benefits to karst researchers are as yet undetermined other than to state that the design of the Karst Information Portal is facilitated by the information derived from the study. If you wish to respond to a survey instrument in a different language, please contact Todd Chavez at tchavez@lib.usf.edu. Please feel free to forward this survey to other potentially interested persons/organizations. Your help in reaching the widest possible audience is greatly needed and appreciated! SURVEY LOCATED AT www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=258492193950 Background ---------- The Karst Information Portal (KIP) is an evolving international community of scientists, information specialists, and speleologists seeking to create open access to integrated information systems to advance karst, cave, and aquifer research. The operational challenge lies in the fact that the karst research community and its knowledge base are poorly integrated because both are fragmented, globally distributed, and highly interdisciplinary. As karst issues move to the forefront of attempts to develop solutions in response to significant human environmental degradation, information integration and linkages promoting collaboration and connectivity among researchers is essential. Implementing an information portal dedicated to karst-related information sources and services may serve to alleviate this situation. Confidentiality & Privacy ------------------------- The results of this study may be published. However, the data obtained from you will be combined with data from others in the publication. The published results will not include your name or any other information that would personally identify you. All web activity associated with the study is completely confidential. Thank you for taking the time to assist us! If you have questions regarding the project or this study, please feel free to contact ... Todd Chavez USF Libraries (813)974-7905 or tchavez@lib.usf.edu Dr. Anna Perrault USF School of Library & Information Science (813)974-6844 or perrault@cas.usf.edu If you have questions about your rights as a person who is taking part in a research study, you may contact the Division of Research Compliance of the University of South Florida at (813) 974-5638. Todd Chavez USF Library System (813)974-7905 tchavez@lib.usf.edu
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Post by Karstscience on Jun 25, 2006 12:44:21 GMT -5
The Association for Mexican Cave Studies has just published its Bulletin 17, "Lava Tubes of the Suchiooc Volcano, Mexico" by Ramon Espinasa. 80 pp softbound, $10.
Twenty-eight km of lava tubes have been surveyed in the flow of that volcano in the Sierra Chichinautzin south of Mexico City, including the two longest lava tubes in the Americas.
Contact Bill Mixon, AMCS editor, for more information or to purchase copies.
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Post by Karstscience on May 27, 2006 19:36:13 GMT -5
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Post by Karstscience on Mar 14, 2007 19:01:07 GMT -5
Final Announcement: The International Conference on Karst Hydrogeology and Ecosystems (Karst2007) will be held August 13-19, 2007 at Western Kentucky University, USA. Please note that detailed conference, field trip and registration information for this conference can be found at hoffman.wku.edu/karst2007/k2007.html and the abstract deadline is May 15, 2007. See the attached Appendix for information about the individual organizations and their goals. The conference website can be found at hoffman.wku.edu/karst2007/k2007.html or easily accessed from the Hoffman Institute site at hoffman.wku.edu . Limited funding will be made available from IGCP513 for financial conference support (i.e. registration costs, visa application fees, etc.), focusing on scientists from countries where travel funds are more difficult to obtain. Partial scholarships will be provided for students, in return for assisting conference organizers during the meeting. For additional information, or to be added to the conference email list, contact IGCP513 Secretary Amber Williams at karst2007@gmail.com .
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Post by Karstscience on May 27, 2006 19:34:28 GMT -5
International Conference on Karst Hydrogeology and Ecosystems (Karst2007) The International Conference on Karst Hydrogeology and Ecosystems (Karst2007) will be held August 13-19, 2007 at Western Kentucky University. Sponsored by Western Kentucky University, the Patel Center for Global Solutions, the Karst Waters Institute, and the Mammoth Cave International Center for Science and Learning, and hosted by the WKU Hoffman Environmental Research Institute, this conference is a joint meeting of the four major international karst research groups: * UNESCO International Geoscience Program (IGCP) Project 513: "Global Study of Karst Aquifers and Water Resources" * International Association of Hydrogeologists (IAH) Karst Commission * International Geographical Union (IGU) Karst Commission * Union Internationale de Spéléologie Commission on Karst Hydrogeology and Speleogenesis The conference will be held at Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green, Kentucky, August 13 -15, 2007, followed by a four-day field trip (August 16-19) to the karst of the Cumberland Plateau and southern Appalachian Mountains of Kentucky and Tennessee. August 13 will be for business meetings of the four groups, followed by a plenary session, followed by two days of technical sessions. This follows two successful similar meetings held at WKU in 1998, attracting about 100 scientists from 17 countries, and 2003, attracting about 110 scientists from 21 countries. A more diverse turnout is expected due to the increased international participation in these projects over the last few years--IGCP Project 513 alone now has over 300 members representing 56 countries. In collaboration with the Patel Center for Global Solutions, the National Cave & Karst Research Institute, the University of South Florida Libraries, the University of New Mexico Libraries, and the University of South Florida Karst Research Group, there will be a plenary session to facilitate international evolution of the emerging Karst Information Portal Initiative. (see www.lib.usf.edu/KIP/ ) The conference website can be found at hoffman.wku.edu/karst2007/k2007.html or contact IGCP513 Secretary Beth Medley at karst2007@gmail.com for additional information.
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Post by Karstscience on Feb 20, 2006 18:45:22 GMT -5
The Association for Mexican Cave Studies is seeking material for the forthcoming 2006 issue, number 29, of the AMCS Activities Newsletter, which is, despite the name, an annual magazine of one hundred or more pages. Material on all significant cave exploration, conservation, or study activities in Mexico is sought, either as short notes, which may include a map or photograph, for the "Mexico News" section, or a feature article of any length, accompanied by all available cave maps and perhaps photographs. Submissions may be on paper on in common e-mail attachment formats. See www.amcs-pubs.org/submit/html for details if in doubt. The editor for the issue is: Bill Mixon 14045 North Green Hills Loop Austin, Texas 78737 editor@amcs-pubs.org or bmixon@alumni.uchicago.edu. Deadline for material is April 1, 2006.
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Post by Karstscience on Jan 25, 2006 9:11:58 GMT -5
Thanks Dan, I've been reading the forum for a while.
Unfortunately, I will not be able to attend the dinner this year. Let us know how it turns out.
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Post by Karstscience on Jan 24, 2006 8:37:47 GMT -5
Dr. Jack Hess, KWI Director emeritus, and Dr. Ira D. Sasowsky, the Karst Waters Institute Vice-President for Communications, announce that the Karst Waters Institute is holding their annual dinner in Lafayette, Colorado on March 11, 2006.
This event is held in a different place each year, and honors a person who has made significant contributions in the field of karst studies. This year, the recipient is Ronal Kerbo, National Cave Management Coordinator for the National Park Service. Based in Lakewood, Colorado, Ron oversees caves and karst in National Parks and Monuments across the United States.
The schedule for this year's dinner is as follows: * 6:30 pm - Award Reception - Indian Peaks Golf Course, 2300 Indian Peaks Trail, Lafayette, CO * 7:00 pm - Dinner Indian Peaks Golf Course * 8:00 pm - Awards presentation and Talk by Ron Kerbo, "A speleological notebook, or 40 years of wandering about in the stone wilderness"
Reservations are required by February 21. Send $45.00 per person (includes hors d'oeuvres, dinner with choice of entrees, & wine/beverages) payable to Karst Waters Institute, to:
Karst Waters Institute Attn: Dr. Daniel Fong PO Box 537 Charles Town, WV 25414
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Post by Karstscience on Aug 16, 2007 20:18:22 GMT -5
Repost: Dear Colleague, The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is currently advertising 2-year postdoctoral fellowships for Fall of 2008. Applications for these fellowships are due November 9, 2007. For one of these fellowships, the research topic is "The impacts of Quaternary climate change on karst geomorphology and hydrology in the Appalachian region" (see description below). Additional information on this and other USGS postdoctoral fellowships may be found at the following website: geology.usgs.gov/postdoc/ Please forward this announcement on to those who may be interested in this opportuniy. Sincerely, David Weary, (703) 648-6897, dweary@usgs.gov Daniel Doctor, (703) 648-6027, dhdoctor@usgs.gov Christopher Swezey, (703) 648-6444, cswezey@usgs.gov Milan Pavich, (703) 648-6963, mpavich@usgs.gov ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The impacts of Quaternary climate change on karst geomorphology and hydrology in the Appalachian region Climate change occurs as a natural and continuous earth process; however, it is now clear that human activities are perturbing global and local climates. Perturbations in climate, in turn, can cause substantial modifications to landscapes and water resources, with serious consequences for ecosystems as well as for human societies and economies. Furthermore, the relations between changes in climate, landscape geomorphology, and hydrological systems are nonlinear, and it is therefore difficult to predict when a specific threshold of change will be crossed. Fortunately, the geologic record provides an excellent key for understanding these relations. Detailed, geology-based reconstructions of changes in climate, hydrology, and landscape geomorphology provide a framework for understanding patterns of natural variability and also provide a baseline for understanding the consequences of current and future climate changes. Such geologic data are an important guide for managing and adapting to future change. In the Appalachian region of the eastern United States, the Quaternary record of climate, hydrology, and landscape geomorphology is poorly documented. Much of this region consists of erosional landscapes, with poor preservation of Quaternary strata. Nevertheless, caves and other karst features within this region are unique settings in which Quaternary records may be preserved and interpreted. Caves in karst are the manifestation of groundwater flow in soluble bedrock; as such, they provide long-term records of geomorphologic evolution. These records include in-cave sedimentary deposits, sinkhole fills, speleothems, erosional features on cave walls, and the four-dimensional geometry of the caves themselves. Sedimentary deposits in karst contain information on paleoclimate, erosion, and paleohydrologic conditions. Age control on karst features may be provided by paleontologic, paleomagnetic, and isotopic (including cosmogenic) methods. Patterns of paleohydrologic flow conditions can be infered from cave elevations relative to present base level, cave morphology, and the sediments and sedimentary strata within caves. Sediment type and distribution as well as cave passage morphology provide information on past and present flow regimes. Combined, the information obtained from caves has great potential to provide a broad picture of landscape evolution in response to climate change in the Appalachian region. Under this Research Opportunity, applicants are invited to focus on the impact of climate change on karst landscape evolution and changes in groundwater flow paths in the Appalachian region. Applicants should choose a particular Appalachian karst system that is accessible for research projects and in which it is possible to obtain paleoclimatic and paleohydrologic data. Applicant proposals should describe the karst study area and any property access issues, discuss previous work on which this research might build, and propose methods of obtaining paleoclimatic and paleohydrologic data. If appropriate, applicants should discuss possibilities for interdisciplinary collaboration with hydrologists, geomorphologists, and other scientists. Several well-studied karst areas in the Appalachian region contain large caves and sinkholes with sediment accumulations (including paleo-lake sediments) and speleothems. A few of these areas have been the focus of multidisciplinary in-cave and karst-related surface studies since the late 1940s, and a wealth of background information and data are available. The postdoctoral candidate must have a strong background in Quaternary geology, geomorphology, hydrology, karst geology, and (or) related disciplines. The candidate should be able to work on a variety of scales, and the candidate should be able to work independently and as part of a team. Experience with Appalachian Basin geology would be an additional benefit. Application deadline: November 9, 2007 Proposed Duty Station: Reston, VA Areas of Ph.D.: Quaternary geology, geomorphology, hydrology, karst geology, or related disciplines Qualifications: Applicants must meet one of the following qualifications: Research Geologist, Research Hydrologist(This type of research is performed by those who have backgrounds for the occupations stated above. However, other titles may be applicable depending on the applicant's background, education, and research proposal. The final classification of the position will be made by the Human Resources specialist.) Research Advisor(s): David Weary, (703) 648-6897, dweary@usgs.gov; Daniel Doctor, (703) 648-6027, dhdoctor@usgs.gov; Christopher Swezey, (703) 648-6444, cswezey@usgs.gov; Milan Pavich, (703) 648-6963, mpavich@usgs.gov Human Resources Office contact: Kathy McDuffie, (703) 648-7408, kmcduffie@usgs.gov
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