Journal of Cave and Karst Studies
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259
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Published By National Speleological Society

1090-6924

2021 ◽  
Vol 83 (4) ◽  
pp. 163-188
Author(s):  
Kaitlin Read ◽  
Leslie Melim ◽  
Ara Winter ◽  
Diana Northup

Microbial diversity of cave pools, especially vadose pools, has received relatively little attention. To help fill this gap, this study reports on the bacterial diversity of 17 pools in three New Mexican arid land caves: Carlsbad Cavern, Lechuguilla Cave, and Hell Below Cave. These pools are spread throughout the caves and, with two exceptions, are not connected. The pools share a basic water chemistry, with fresh water of the calcium-magnesium-bicarbonate type. These 17 pools have Chao1 values between 40 and 1738; the Shannon diversity averages 4.6 ± 1.1, ranging from 2.6 to 6.4; and the Simpson averages 0.881 ± 0.099, ranging from 0.622 to 0.981. No two pools had the same communities, even at the phylum level. Nitrospirae, Alphaproteobacteria, Betaproteobacteria and Gammaproteobacteria were found >5% abundance in nine or more cave pools. Actinobacteria, Chloroflexi, Fibrobacteres, Firmicutes and Plantomycetes were at >5 % in four to six pools. Of the top ten widespread bacterial genera, Nitrospira was found in all pools, with >5 % in eleven pools. Other common genera include Polyclorovans, Propionibacterium, Polaromonas, Haliangium, Bacillus, Subgroup 6 uncultured Acidobacteria, Candidatus Omnitrophica, and uncultured Nitrosomonadaceae. Presence of several potential nitrogen cycling bacteria (e.g., Nitrospira) in the study pools suggests that nitrogen cycling may be an important bacterial role. There is some evidence of human contamination, particularly in the heavily visited Big Room, Carlsbad Cavern, but it is not the dominant control. Rather than a single stable cave pool community, adapted to the cave pool ecosystem, the data show 17 different communities, despite relatively similar conditions. The data support the hypothesis that each pool is a unique, isolated ecosystem, with differences likely caused more by the isolation of each pool than by variable chemistry. Thus, the common habit of grouping samples, while useful for some questions, may not capture the diversity present in cave ecosystems.


2021 ◽  
Vol 83 (4) ◽  
pp. 141-150
Author(s):  
Alexandra Tsalickis ◽  
Matthew Waters ◽  
Joshua Campbell

Whereas bat guano is gaining viability in accurately reconstructing local paleoenvironmental and climatic conditions, overall reviews of methods for analyzing and collecting bat guano cores have received less attention. Guano cores have been collected from several locations (e.g., United States, Romania, Philippines, and southeast Asia), and the processing and collection methods are quite similar despite a lack of standardized techniques. Physical, chemical, and elemental analyses on guano samples have focused on the interpretation of precipitation changes over time, with additional applications from stable isotope analysis being used for other paleoenvironmental conditions. We obtained three bat guano cores from Alabama and Tennessee to evaluate the collecting and processing techniques of guano. Climatic temperature changes were not analyzed in this study. The purpose of this investigation was to summarize multiple techniques and approaches used to process and analyze bat guano cores with a focus on reconstructing paleoclimate in cave environments throughout the globe. From these three cores, we describe challenges and make recommendations for improving guano analysis.


2021 ◽  
Vol 83 (4) ◽  
pp. 151-162
Author(s):  
Rachel Bosch ◽  
Dylan Ward ◽  
Aaron Bird ◽  
Dan Sturmer ◽  
Rick Olson

This work presents an analysis of a debris flow deposit below Earth’s surface in the Mammoth Cave System in Kentucky, USA, and is the first study to characterize an in-cave debris flow to this level of detail. The deposit, named Mt. Ararat by cavers, has a maximum thickness of 7 m, a head-to-tail length of 75 m, and a total volume of about 3400 m3, as determined by terrestrial LiDAR and electrical resistivity surveys. The deposit is chaotic, angular, matrix-supported, and roughly inversely graded, with grain sizes, quantified through various grain-size distribution measuring techniques, ranging from clay through boulders larger than 1 m. The clasts are predominantly Mississippian Big Clifty sandstone, which is allochthonous in this part of the cave. The angularity of the blocks in the deposit indicate that they had not experienced significant erosion; and therefore, are determined to have been transported only a relatively short distance over a short time. The deposit profile is compound in appearance with two heads. We thus interpret this as a debris flow deposit resulting from two distinct flow events, and present a chronology of events leading to the present-day Mt. Ararat in Mammoth Cave. The findings of this work will inform further studies of karst-related erosional events, sediment transport, and deposition at different scales in karst aquifers, as well as the ways in which surface and subsurface processes interact to contribute to karst landscape evolution.


2021 ◽  
Vol 83 (3) ◽  
pp. 93-108
Author(s):  
Alireza Sepahvand ◽  
Mitja Prelovsek ◽  
Ali Akbar Nazari Samani ◽  
Robert Wasson

We conducted a one-year-long study of solute load measured three times per month in three neighboring subwatersheds (Alashtar, Khorram Abad, and Biranshahr) located in the Karkheh River basin in the Zagros region of southwestern Iran. Research was focused on the chemical composition of water (solute load), karst denudation rate, spatial and temporal variability, as well as comparison of solute load with suspended load. Results show that Ca-Mg-HCO3 is the dominant water type that reflects the lithological characteristics of the catchment areas. Lack of seasonal fluctuation of solute load and absence of dilution during high water levels but evident seasonal course of discharge defines the highest solute flux during the annual maximum of discharge in spring months. The highest solute flux is related to flood events. High annual variation of Na1 concentration compared to conservative Cl2 as well as Chloro-Alkali indexes (CAI and CAI2) suggests that Na1 adsorption and desorption during ion-exchange reactions occur in the regolith. This Na+ variability, to some extent, explains weak Ca21 and Mg21 dilution effect during high water levels. During the measurement period (2014-2015), solute flux calculated per catchment area amounted to 49-69 t km-2 a-1 (tons per km per year). The chemical composition of water and discharge shows by far the highest chemical denudation of limestones and dolomites (87−89 %), while dissolution of gypsum is of minor importance (11−13 %). As a result, the carbonate karst solutional denudation rate is between 0.010 and 0.040 mm a21 , where the higher values are more probable for longer periods due to the relatively low discharge during the spring of 2015. Comparison of dissolved and suspended loads indicates that the transport of suspended load is an order of magnitude less than transport of the dissolved load; the only exception is one flash flood event when suspended load exceeded the dissolved load. Besides a small decrease in solute flux as well as carbonate karst dissolution rates from NW to SE, no large hydrochemical differences between the three subwatersheds were detected.


2021 ◽  
Vol 83 (3) ◽  
pp. 133-140
Author(s):  
Cinthia Campos ◽  
Jose Punzo-Díaz ◽  
Veronica Delgado ◽  
Avto Goguitchaichvili ◽  
Juan Morales

Cueva de la Huachizca is located in the humid forests of the Municipio of Santa Clara del Cobre, Michoacán. During the Postclassic period (1300−1520 ad), Santa Clara del Cobre was a part of the Tarascan Señorio. Ethnographic accounts describe the use of Cueva de la Huachizca as a place of refuge during the Cristero Rebellion (1921−1926). Recent investigations suggest a long history of use including graffiti and inscriptions from the 1800s–1900s and a rock art panel. The panel consists of pecked petroglyphs depicting a man facing an eagle, above a spiral motif. Stylistic analysis of the panel suggests that the rock art was created during pre-Hispanic times, likely by the Postclassic Tarascans. As observed in several regions of Mesoamerica, for the Tarascans, caves were also liminal spaces and had an important role in Postclassic Tarascan cosmology. A ceramic resinera, a pine resin pot, an eagle’s feather, and charcoal were also recovered. The resinera age was estimated by researchers at Archaeomagnetic Services, Geophysics Institute at the National Autonomous University of México-Campus Morelia, Michoacán to between 1921 and 1980. Ethnographic and ethnohistoric accounts describe caves as houses of fertility and rain deities, an idea that while slightly transformed, has survived over 500 years of colonization, and remains in the communities’ social memories. These findings demonstrate the cave’s significance among the descendent communities and Cueva de la Huachizca as an important sacred site.


2021 ◽  
Vol 83 (3) ◽  
pp. 109-119
Author(s):  
Xianxuan Xiao ◽  
Qiang Zhang

Rhythmic Karst Springs (RKSs) are rare geologic features that rhythmically outflow water. A mechanical model for the rhythmic flow with rhythmic spill-over configuration was constructed in this work. The evolution of the RKS was revealed by using geological process analysis. The analytical model can directly explain the existence of RKSs in soluble rock regions and their formation mechanism in nature. Visual observations and flow measurements were performed using a laboratory physical model of RKS. The physical model components included a soluble rock simulation area, karst pipes, cave-reservoir, karst depression terrain, water tank, rhythmic spring, and the outflow measurement system. Groups of tests were carried out to recreate the process of RKS functioning and to confirm the rhythmic cycle duration and the threshold of replenishment intensity. This research helped to interpret the behavior of rhythmic springs using the recharge and evacuation of the subsurface cave-reservoir by means of fluid mechanics and groundwater hydraulics theories.


2021 ◽  
Vol 83 (3) ◽  
pp. 120-132
Author(s):  
Xinru Li ◽  
Min Zhou ◽  
Yidong Mi ◽  
Haiyan Chen ◽  
Hailei Su ◽  
...  

Little is known about the difference between bacterial and fungal genetic and functional diversity in karst regions of south China. In this study, the genetic and functional diversity of bacteria and fungi in nine types of soil microenvironments in the karst region in Maolan National Nature Reserve in Guizhou were investigated by PCR-DGGE (Denaturing Gradient Gel Electrophoresis) and BIOLOG EcoPlates. Maolan National Nature Reserve is a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve and plays an important role in protecting the karst forest ecosystem and rare and endangered wild animals and plants in central Asia. The results showed that the diversity of both bacteria and fungi was high and the main factors influencing the diversity of bacteria and fungi were different. The bacterial community structure from different microhabitats under the same vegetation type had higher similarity than similar microhabitats in different vegetation types, which could indicate that the bacterial community structure was mainly controlled by vegetation. For fungi, similar microhabitat species under different vegetation types had higher similarities than different microhabitats species under the same vegetation type, which could indicate that the fungal community structure is mainly controlled by microhabitats. In addition, the metabolic patterns of similar microhabitats in different vegetation were different, while the metabolic patterns of different microhabitats in the same vegetation were not obviously different. In conclusion, the effect of vegetation types on soil microbial functional diversity was greater than that of microhabitats, and this difference was reflected by the different degrees of influence on soil microbial genetic diversity and community structure.


2021 ◽  
Vol 83 (2) ◽  
pp. 78-87
Author(s):  
Salisa Lewis ◽  
Jerry Lewis ◽  
William Orndorff

Caecidotea burkensis, a new species of subterranean asellid isopod, is described and illustrated from material collected from Lawson Cave, in Burke’s Garden, Tazewell County, Virginia. The type-locality in Burke’s Garden is located within the highest mountain basin in the southern Appalachians. Burke’s Garden is a unique, geologically isolated area encompassing one of the headwater streams of the New River basin. Phylogenetically, the isopod is a member of the forbesi Group, a clade comprised primarily of epigean species. The complex mountain valleys and coves of southwestern Virginia are an area of intense speciation among asellids that have produced a bizarre array of cavernicolous species belonging to groups of otherwise epigean isopods. In addition to a few subterranean species of the Caecidotea cannula and stygia Groups, the Lirceus hargeri Group possesses over a dozen species endemic to caves and springs in the region, mostly only now in the process of being discovered and described. With so much species richness, syntopy of two, or even three, asellid species is commonplace in caves and springs in southwestern Virginia.


2021 ◽  
Vol 83 (2) ◽  
pp. 57-65
Author(s):  
ivo Lucic

The history of studies of a subterranean tailed amphibian, known as the olm or proteus (Proteus anguinus), is a colorful indicator of the changing view of the world beneath our feet. Throughout history, the underground has been presented as other worldly inhabited by life not of this world. At first, caves were the habitat of ghosts and spirtits, and then as a symbol for hell with all its attributes. The olm, in light of this prominant worldview, is discussed here, in which its status changed from that of a mythical dragon, to a photo-model, to a biological indicator of environmental health. The mix of these roles, with which the modern notion of this animal is presented, is mostly generated by the experience of tourguides in Postojna Cave in Slovenia. For a long time, Postojna was the only place that the wider public recognized as a home for proteus. This clearly shows the need to analyze the popular media constructions of environment.


2021 ◽  
Vol 83 (2) ◽  
pp. 66-70
Author(s):  
Francis Howarth

Caves and cave-like voids are common features within and beneath glaciers. The physical environment is harsh and extreme, and often considered barren and devoid of life. However, accumulating evidence indicates that these caves may support a diverse invertebrate fauna with species endemic to each region. As glaciers continue to disappear at an alarming rate due to global warming, they take their largely unknown fauna with them. Thus, glacier caves may harbor one of the most endangered ecosystems globally, and yet their biodiversity is among the least studied or known. Faunal surveys and ecological studies are urgently needed before all examples are lost.


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