PALEONTOLOGY SECTION
The Paleo Section was chartered by the NSS on December 27, 1983, to "improve and facilitate the exchange of data among cavers interestedin paleontology and to bring into contact people of similar interests". The Section is a group of cavers, caver scientists, and scientists who share the common bond of caves, caving, and paleontology. They encourage all forms of cave related   paleontology, including, vertebrates, invertebrates and plants found in caves. Often overlooked however are the fossils found within the cave limestone or matrix itself. They also encourage the study of these forms.

BIOSPELEOLOGY
While this is clearly not a geoscience site, multidisciplinary studies between the biological and geosciences are increasing in karst regions, and this site offers considerable insight and information on cave biology.

CALENDAR OF KARST GEOSCIENCE EVENTS
This list to the International Union of Speleology includes an
"International Speleo Calendar" which is probably the web's most comprehensive calendar of caving and karst events.

CENTER FOR CAVE AND KARST STUDIES
THE LIMESTONE RESEARCH GROUP
Geography and geologystudents interested in karst studies will be interested in these sites. The Center for Cave and Karst Studies is the only university in the U.S. with a karst-focused program. The Limestone Research Group is an equivalent program in Great Britain. The Section is not endorsing any university program, but since little educational information is generally available on karst, these sources are offered to help students obtain the information they need to better evaluate their graduate program options. Other karst programs not listed are welcome to submit their addresses to the web editor for inclusion.

EDWARDS AQUIFER THE FINAL THIRST
This site is on a major karst aquifer in Texas, although it unfortunately does not mention karst. However, it has an online Edwards Aquifer Simulation Model, where you plug in whatever regional water usage and replenishment statistics you want to test and then see how the aquifer should respond.

EXETER SPELEOTHEM RESEARCH GROUP DATABASE
This web site is full of good information on speleothem dating and analysis, including a list of the Group's published papers, and a bibliography of nearly 2,000 publications on speleothem growth and paleoclimate interpretation.

INTERNATIONAL UNION OF SPELEOLOGY INFORMATICS COMMISSION
Perhaps this site's most useful item to karst scientists is an international list of cave database coordinators. If you are considering a karst project in an unfamiliar region or country, through this link you can find out who coordinates the regional cave database.

THE KARST WATERS INSTITUTE
The Karst Waters Institute is a non-profit institution organized to improve the fundamentalunderstanding of karst water systems through research and the education of professionals and the public. The site is primarily a clearinghouse of information on KWI. An online "brochure" on KWI provides a good general introduction to caves and karst topics. The site does not contain information on the latest advances in karst geoscience, but lists KWI sources that contain such work.

MISSOURI SPRINGS -- JEWELS IN THE OZARKS
For the amateur geoscientist, this site has a lot good basic information on karst springs, and for the professional geoscientists, it offers a good overview of Missouri spring hydrogeology from which future investigations might be planned.

SHERRY MAYO'S CAVE PAGES
This site is the most complete directory of cave-related sites available on the web. Relatively few have significant amounts of geoscience information, but many regional sites contain good basic information useful to initiating research in those areas.

SOUTHEAST ALASKA PALEONTOLOGY
Several papers on cave vertebrate paleontology in Alaska are included in this site.

SPELEOLOGICAL ABSTRACTS
Speleological Abstracts is an annual bibliographic listing of papers covering all topics of caving and cave science discussed each year in the international literature. Abstracts of most reports are provided, with increasing numbers provided in English.

SPELEOLOGICAL PAGE OF THE MOSCOW STATE UNIVERSITY
This site contains a detailed report on the geology of caves of the Kugitangtau area in Turkmenistan. It focuses on the caves'  hydrogen sulfide speleogenesis, and the origin of the strange and beautiful speleothems found inside.

..............................................................................

HOME