KWI Conduit Fall 1996 |
A total of 72 participants published 71 abstracts, with 48 talks and 24 posters being presented. The participants were from 22 countries (Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Romania, Slovenia, Sweden, Turkey, United Kingdom, and the United States). The extended abstracts for the conference were published as a hard-bound book of 195 pages (copies are available through the KWI for $29.00 each). The pre-conference excursion, to Sognefjord and the Dummdalen karst of southern Norway, had 14 participants and two trip leaders. A 33 page guidebook for this excursion was prepared. The post-conference excursion, to 11 arctic Norway locations, had 22 participants and 2 trip leaders. A 160 page guidebook for this second excursion was prepared (copies of these guidebooks are available through Dr. Lauritzen).
The conference was a clear success. The participation was excellent and diverse, and the papers interesting and thought provoking. Participant opinion about the meeting was extremely high, and efforts are being made to continue to hold such meetings in the future, perhaps as sessions at existing meetings (UIS, AGU, GSA, etc.).
Selected papers from the conference will appear later in a special issue of the journal Boreas (a leading journal on arctic and polar science). A listing of presentation titles and authors follows this article.
The majority of the papers dealt with interpretation of climatic records from speleothems. These interpretations were accomplished in two major ways. First, use of the U/Th method, especially the newer mass spectrometry (TIMS) technique, allows precise determination of when stalagmites grew and therefore potentially the climatic conditions on the surface that promote (or do not promote) such growth. Second, analysis of stable isotopes of carbon and oxygen found in the speleothems allows interpretations to be made of temperature and rainfall conditions on the surface over time. When coupled with precise U/Th dating, these stable isotope records offer the opportunity to derive long-term, high-resolution climatic records. It is also clear that such speleothem records are similar to tree- ring records, in that they record climatic variations of an extremely local nature as well as those variations of regional extent. Sorting out these local versus regional signals requires increased sampling density in order to recognize regional trends. In addition, work with modern stalagmite growth and modern drip water is critical to establish the necessary calibration to learn exactly what speleothems record about present climate. Speleothems display daily growth banding, or Shopov bands, that offer the promise of unparalleled climatic resolution as our techniques of analysis, calibration, and interpretation improve.
Presentations were also made on clastic sediments, paleomagnetic analysis of cave deposits and paleokarst, paleontology, and speleothem luminescence. Regional comparisons were made between the climatic signal determined from cave deposits, and those determined from the deep sea core oxygen isotope record, the ice core record, pollen studies, and other surficial records. A trend emerged in which cave scientists no longer seek to fit their data to the existing climatic data records mentioned above, but instead, argue that the cave record is more accurate and precise than that determined from surface environments, and it is the other data sets that should be fit to the cave data. Such arguments reflect the maturity of these cave studies.
The conference was well attended by the leaders in research on climate as interpreted from karst studies, and the discussions were collegial yet determined. Dr. Lauritzen is to be congratulated on bringing together such a diverse and important group of scientists, and for successfully instigating the thorough exchange of ideas that resulted. The KWI played a central role in developing the conference, and was recognized by the conference participants as a major player in global karst science.
Please note that 2 figures which accompanied the above conference report are not available in this electronic version of the article.
Please visit the KWI home page, and see all the information that is available there. If you have any comments, criticisms, or new ideas, use the home page interface as a way of sharing your input with Dr. Sasowsky. The KWI hopes to expand the presence of the KWI by use of the world wide web, making the KWI a truly global entity.
The conference is unique and timely for several reasons. First, the terrain of karstlands is highly fragmented and rarely pristine, often not visually spectacular, and there is almost never a species that captures the public's imagination and sympathy such as grizzly bears or spotted owls. Second, botanists, bat biologists, and cave biologists are seldom aware of each other's work and can indeed work at cross purposes in designing protection plans. Bringing these groups together will allow for a more comprehensive protection strategy. Third, the conference will have a strong international focus, with participation from biologists from many of the world's premiere karst areas.
The conference will be held from Thursday 13 February, 1997 to Sunday 16 February 1997 in Nashville, Tennessee. There will be a series of invited talks and a contributed poster session. We will take advantage of Nashville's location with Saturday field trips to Mammoth Cave National Park and to cedar glade botanical areas.
Registration cost is $150. The deadline for registration and submission of volunteered abstracts for the poster session is November 16, 1996.
The preliminary Program, along with registration information, may be accessed at the Homepage for the conference.
The goal of the project is to produce a theoretical framework for evaluating the environmental problems that occur in karst areas. While there is much empirical data about how karst aquifers behave, and theoretical models on how karst aquifers develop, a theoretical way in which to explain how contaminants and pollutants would actually move through a complex karst aquifer has never been adequately developed in concert with a detailed collection of data from an existing karst drainage basin. The study will seek to see how the surface and subsurface environments interact in terms of water, sediment and organic transfer. The karst aquifer will be examined in terms of its subcomponents, such as the epikarst, conduit, and fracture environments. Aspects of karst aquifer biology, such as inorganic versus organic carbon contributions, chemoautotrophy, degree of isolation, and response to pollutant stress will all be examined. The end result will be an understanding of how the karst aquifer behaves and responds to natural and artificial factors. Such knowledge will not only assist in treating contamination events in karst aquifers, but also will assist in how to most successfully manage karst aquifers in the face of development pressure.
The EPA-NSF proposal represents the KWI's first attempt to develop and execute a major research project. While the odds of successfully obtaining funding are low, given the tremendous competition for research funds, the KWI believes that the planning and writing process alone has been a contribution to our understanding of karst aquifers, and that the proposal can serve as a model for future action.
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The KWI Conduit seeks to help keep the karst community informed about its own activities and those of others. Announcements of karst-related meetings, conferences and symposia are solicited, as is any information that is to be shared with the karst community. Guest editorials on the state of karst science would also be appreciated. Please send any material, or subscription requests, to the Editor.
The heart of the Board meeting was the committee reports, and the discussion that evolved from those reports. Will White, Chair of the Research Committee, presented his report. The Karst Hydrology Atlas of West Virginia project, under the direction of Bill Jones, has completed the draft manuscript, and the printing budget and vendor are being negotiated. Will White reported on progress regarding the KARSTMAP project (a joint KWI-National Speleological Society project), the "Geochemistry of Karst Waters" review paper, the workshop on contaminant transport, and the International Project on Climatic Change. The bulk of the time was spent on a major new KWI initiative, which is to host a multidisciplinary, long-term study of a single karst drainage basin, with funding from the National Science Foundation (see article, p. 7, this issue, on the submitted proposal).
The Education Committee, chaired by Dave Culver, reported that activity in this area was minimal since the last meeting. The short courses on Biospeleology and Karst Hydrology will not be offered this year, to give the client pool (and instructors) time to recover. Planning is underway to offer a short course on caves and karst for resource managers (similar to that offered by the KWI in Lewisburg, WV in November, 1994), tentatively for November, 1997.
The Communication Committee, Ira Sasowsky, Chair, gave a long report. Topics presented included the current status of the KWI Conduit, the final report on the "Paleokarst Field Conference" (see KWI Conduit v. IV, no. 1), reports on the upcoming "Climatic Change - The Karst Record" conference for August 1996 in Norway, and the "Conservation and Protection of the Biota of Karst" conference for February 1997 in Tennessee (see articles elsewhere in this issue). Additional topics presented were the virtual library, the KWI Home Page, and Special Publications. The KWI has been asked and agreed to be a co-sponsor for the "Sixth Multidisciplinary Conference on Sinkholes and the Engineering and Environmental Impacts of Karst", to be held in Springfield, Missouri April 6-9, 1997. KWI Board member John Mylroie will be the keynote speaker (see article in this issue).
The KWI Board spent time reviewing KWI progress and setting plans for the future. KWI growth has about reached the limits that can be accomplished by a purely voluntary organization, and it is looking to increase funding so as to move into an enlarged status with a paid staff. Our current successes have mostly been in the realm of two of the three main KWI goals: education and communication, through short courses, seminars, and scientific meetings convened by the KWI. The goal of sponsoring and conducting research has not been met, as this activity requires sustained commitment and funding. There was much discussion on how to move forward in this area. The KWI will seek to initiate its "multidisciplinary, long-term study of a single karst drainage basin" project as the first big step in this direction.
Other topics discussed by the KWI Board included a possible fund for carbonate island research, a motion to commend the National Speleological Society for its recent upgrading of the NSS Bulletin into the Journal of Cave and Karst Studies (with three issues a year), and the site of the fall board meeting. The meeting adjourned at noon, on Sunday, March 24th, 1996.
The KWI Conduit is the official publication of the Karst Waters Institute (KWI), P. O. Box 490, Charles Town, WV 25414 USA (304) 725-1121. The KWI Conduit is published twice a year. The KWI was established to improve fundamental understanding and increase knowledge of karst water systems for more efficient management of water resources and to assist in the education of professionals and the public. Material for the KWI Conduit, comments, and subscriptions for the publication (checks made out to "KWI Conduit"), should be sent to the Editor:
| Dr. John E. Mylroie Department of Geosciences P.O. Box 5448 Mississippi State University Mississippi State, MS 39762 USA |
Phone: (601) 325 8774 Fax: (601) 325 2907 Email: Mylroie@Geosci.MsState.edu |
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