[CML #16283] Fwd: Cave and karst news from NCKRI

Dear Friends,

Below are several cave and karst news items and announcements:

1) International Congress of Speleology abstract deadline nearly upon us!

2) International Conference of Geomorphology and Karst Sessions

3) Fund raising for karst spring study

4) Biospeleology conference

5) 25^th International Karstological School “Classical Karst”

6) Calendar and cave and karst events

As always, please contact the people and organizations listed below for more information and feel free to share this information with any person or list you think may be interested.

George

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International Congress of Speleology

The abstract deadline for the 17^th International Congress of Speleology is almost here. Please be sure to submit you abstracts by 20 November 2017. For information on how to prepare and format your abstract and paper, visit https://www.speleo2017.com/Circulars/Information_for_presenters.pdf. To submit the abstract visit https://conference.speleo2017.com/index.php/uis/speleo2017/about/submissions#onlineSubmissions. And of course for all of the information about this excellent and important upcoming meet that will be in Sydney, Australia, visit https://www.speleo2017.com/.

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International Conference of Geomorphology and Karst Sessions

Dear colleagues,

The 9^th International Conference on Geomorphology is the main event of the International Association of Geomorphologists and will be held in New Delhi, India, on November 6-11, 2017.

http://www.icg2017.com/

The conference programme includes a karst session to be convened by Paul Williams and Francisco Gutiérrez: http://www.icg2017.com/session.php

The abstract submission period will close on April 30, 2017.

Foreseeably, a special issue with a collection of selected contributions will be published in an international Geomorphology journal.

The conference organizers offer a large number of pre-, mid-, and post- conference field trips to areas with stunning geomorphology. http://www.icg2017.com/field_trips.php

Namaste!

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Fund raising for karst spring study

Hello karst enthusiasts!

Over the past six to seven months, Brian Ham and I have initiated a project which seeks to determine and characterize the largest springs in the state of Tennessee. While many different aspects of Tennessee karst hydrology have been studied over the years, one of the gaps in the karst literature for the state is the flow dynamics of the springs and specifically how the springs rank when compared to one another.

In an attempt to begin quantifying the flow of these large karst springs, we began a citizen-science, volunteer-based study in April 2016 which began with measuring many of the springs and establishing a continuous stage monitoring site (East Fork Obey River Rise). As we continue down our path to quantify flow, we are moving forward to establish additional dataloggers at as many of the larger springs as possible. We will then be using the field discharge measurements to establish stage/discharge rating curves to provide continuous flow data at the springs. As mentioned above, we have already established a continuous monitoring site at Enchanted River Spring on the East Fork of the Obey River, a huge karst spring which drains one of the largest swallets (with regards to drainage area) in the United States.

We are hoping to add a new site each year to quickly get comparable data among the springs but in funding this study with our own capital we have found it difficult to expand our network at the desired pace. To achieve our goal of expanding our network, we have set up a platform for crowd-sourced funding through the scientific research site experiment.com. The website for our project is: https://experiment.com/projects/karst-springs-initiative-documenting-tennessee-s-largest-springs. With the data we hope to eventually publish our results in peer-reviewed literature as well as highlighting the project at several conferences.

If you think this research is something that is important to the scientific community and is work which deserves to be funded, we ask that you visit the site and consider donating to the cause. We thank you all for your time and if you have any questions or would like more information about the project, Brian or I would be more than happy to discuss the project in further detail. Also, since many of you are employed by academic institutions with students focused on karst hydrology, we are also happy to engage volunteers in the project and have already taught several undergraduate hydrology students how to measure discharge at several of the springs we are studying. Thanks again for your time and consideration.

Sincerely,

The Karst Springs Initiative

Ben Miller and Brian Ham

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Biospeleology Conference

Seville, Spain, will be the site of a conference on biospeleology on 21-23 September 2017. For more details, visit http://bioespeleologia.blogspot.com.es/2016/11/v-encuentro-iberico-de-biologia.html.

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25^th International Karstological School “Classical Karst”

Dear colleague!

You are cordially invited to participate at the 25^th International Karstological School “Classical Karst”: Milestones and challenges in Karstology from 19^th to 23^rd June 2017 in Postojna, Slovenia.

Abstracts in English are submitted at the registration. More information will be available in mid-December 2016 at http://iks.zrc-sazu.si

Organizing Committee

Karst Research Institute ZRC SAZU

Titov trg 2

SI-6230 Postojna

Slovenia

T: +386 5 700 1900

F: +386 5 700 1999

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Calendar of cave and karst events

1) American Geophysical Union, 12-16 December 2016 (San Francisco, California, USA), http://fallmeeting.agu.org/2016/

2) Karst Waters Institute Awards Dinner for James Reddell, 4 March 2017 (San Marcos, Texas, USA), http://karstwaters.org/save-the-date-march-4th-2017-karst-award-to-james-reddell/

3) Hypogea 2017: International Congress of Speleology in Artificial Cavities, 6-10 March 2017 (Cappadocia, Turkey), www.hypogea2017.com

4) US Geological Survey Karst Interest Group Meeting, 16-18 May 2017 (San Antonio, Texas, USA). Website to be posted soon.

5) Climate Record: The Karst Record VIII, 21-24 May 2017, (Austin, Texas, USA), http://sites.uci.edu/kr8conference/

6) 25^th International Karstological School “Classical Karst”: Milestones and challenges in Karstology, 19-23 June 2017 (Postojna, Slovenia), http://iks.zrc-sazu.si

7) National Speleological Society Convention, 19-23 June 2017 (Rio Rancho, New Mexico, USA), http://nss2017.caves.org/

8) National Association of Mining History Organisations Conference 2017, 23-26 June 2017 (Godstone, Surrey, UK), http://namho2017.info/

9) 17^th International Congress of Speleology, 23-30 July 2017 (Sydney, New South Wales, Australia), http://speleo2017.com/

10) Biospeleology Conference, 21-23 September 2017 (Seville, Spain), http://bioespeleologia.blogspot.com.es/2016/11/v-encuentro-iberico-de-biologia.html

11) National Cave and Karst Management Symposium, 16-20 October 2017 (Eureka Springs, Arkansas, USA), http://nckms.org/

12) International Conference on Geomorphology, 6-11 November 2017 (New Delhi, India), karst session: http://www.icg2017.com/session.php

13) The Sinkhole Conference, joint with the 3^rd Appalachian Karst Symposium, 2-6 April 2018 (Shepherdstown, West Virginia, USA), http://www.sinkholeconference.com/

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George Veni, PhD

Executive Director

National Cave and Karst Research Institute

400-1 Cascades Avenue

Carlsbad, New Mexico 88220-6215 USA

Office: 575-887-5517

Mobile: 210-863-5919

Fax: 575-887-5523