Cave Research Foundation

In 2015 and 2016, the sons of Australian singer and songwriter Nick Cave and of the Danish author Naja Marie Aidt both died in fall accidents related to substance-induced psychosis. Subsequently, Cave released the album “Skeleton Tree” (2016) and Aidt published the book “Har døden taget noget fra dig så giv det tilbage” (If death has taken something from you, then give it back) (2017), which can both be linked to how they worked through the deaths of their sons. This article discusses how texts with a similar topic can appear so different in form, and how they portray different ways of coping with the grieving process. Neither of the texts are poetry per se, but both use lyrical forms of expression that make it pertinent to use a poetic analysis approach. Cave’s song lyrics and Aidt’s poetic prose both express experiences where the use of various lyrical effects in a musical and visual context reveals different ways of dealing with grief. In both cases, repetition is a key aspect. This article shows how Skeleton Tree and If death has taken something from you, then give it back represent the elasticity of contemporary poetic writing that makes the genre suitable to render strong emotional experiences.

Environmental problems affecting the Mammoth Cave area range in scale from local to global. In park caves, issues include corroding copper wire and aluminum light fixtures, lamp flora from cave lights, lint, dust, graffiti, excessive bolt holes drilled in cave walls for infrastructure, fumes from gasoline lanterns, creosote treated wood in cave streams, and management of cave atmospheric conditions. Surface issues affecting park caves include runoff from parking lots and highways, sewage treatment, sinkhole dumps, prescribed fire, hydrocarbon extraction, pipelines, and pollution plus impoundment effects on the Green River. On a global scale, there are exotic species brought in by commerce or war, air pollution, and the rising concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere from combustion of fossil fuels. This along with other greenhouse gasses is causing warming on a global scale and probably severe weather extremes.

The Collembola fauna of the Galápagos Islands is relatively unexplored with only thirty-five reported species. Entomobryoidea, the most diverse superfamily of Collembola, is underrepresented, with only five species reported from the Galápagos. Here we present the findings of the first survey of Collembola from Galápagos lava tube caves, providing a significant update to the total number of entomobryoid Collembola species reported from the Galápagos Islands. Collections made during a March 2014 expedition to study lava tubes of the islands yielded new records for seven species of Entomobryoidea, including four genera not previously reported from the Galápagos Islands: Coecobrya, Entomobrya, Heteromurus, and Salina. As a result, three new species (Entomobrya darwini Katz, Soto-Adames & Taylor, sp. n., Pseudosinella vulcana Katz, Soto-Adames & Taylor, sp. n., and Pseudosinella stewartpecki Katz, Soto-Adames & Taylor, sp. n.) are described and new diagnoses are provided for Heteromurus (Heteromurtrella) nitens Yosii, 1964, Lepidocyrtus nigrosetosus Folsom, 1927 and Pseudosinella intermixta (Folsom, 1924). Lepidocyrtus leleupi Jacquemart, 1976 is synonymized with L. nigrosetosus. An updated checklist of all species within the superfamily Entomobryoidea reported from the Galápagos Islands is provided.

A short-term rise in pool levels in Lechuguilla Cave in response to extreme precipitation and flash-flooding events demonstrates the connectivity between the cave and the regional aquifer system. Lechuguilla Cave, currently ranked as the deepest limestone cave in the continental United States, is formed in middle Permian carbonates in the Guadalupe Mountains of southeastern New Mexico. Lake of the White Roses, the lowermost pool in the cave, is thought to intersect the regional water table in the Capitan Reef Aquifer, which provides the water supply for the city of Carlsbad and much of surrounding Eddy County. Direct measurements and datalogger records show that pool levels had steadily declined by over 5 meters since the pool was discovered in 1989, a period during which New Mexico was subject to episodic drought conditions. In 2004 Eddy County experienced unusually high rainfall that included a severe storm in early April. This extreme precipitation event caused flash flooding in the Pecos River and in arroyos in the Guadalupe Mountains, which serve as line sources of recharge to the Reef Aquifer. Within 3 days, pool levels in Lake of the White Roses began to rise, reversing a 13-year declining trend. Water levels in the pool eventually rose 4 cm above pre-flood conditions, then began to decline over the next two weeks. However, beginning in September, pool levels began to rise again, ultimately increasing by almost a meter relative to levels recorded at the beginning of 2004. The higher water levels persisted for several months, consistent with the longer-term precipitation record in Eddy County, which was twice the annual average in 2004. The short and medium-term increases in pool levels in Lechuguilla Cave also correlate to increases in hydraulic head recorded in a monitoring well completed in the Reef Aquifer more than 32 km northeast of the cave, and appear to reflect the triple porosity system — conduit + fracture + matrix — that is typical of karstic aquifers.

Abstract In Dan 7:9–10, the apocalyptic seer narrates his vision of God's heavenly throne. According to most scholars, Daniel's vision account depends literarily on the supposedly more primitive visionary traditions found in 1 Enoch 14 and the Book of Giants of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Certain divergences in these traditions, however, reveal that it is in fact 1 Enoch 14 that depends on a vision account much like that found in Dan 7. The Book of Giants and Daniel, on the other hand, both seem to make use of a common tradition, each adapting it in a different way.

Abstract This paper summarizes an ongoing research project on the Delaware Basin studying interrelationships between oil-gas, sulfur deposits, Mississippi Valley-type (MVT) ores, and cave genesis. Such an integrated approach was taken by Hill (1987), who suggested that basinal H2S - generated by oil-anhydrite reactions at the Castile-Bell Canyon contact - was the ultimate source for the sulfuric-acid speleogenesis of Guadalupe caves and for MVT ores in carbonate rock along the margins of the basin.