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For more information, to suggest a topic, or to help, contact Debbie Spoons at webinars@caves.org

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Murder Hole Cave -- Preserving
Cave History for Future Generations
By Marian McConnell and Dave Socky
March 23, 2017

Videographer David Socky and author Marian McConnell talk about the Murder Hole Cave movie and book as an example of preserving cave history for future generations. This infamous cave in Catawba, Virginia is now the subject of the book and a movie documentary, both of which educate (and entertain) the public about cave safety, conservation, and lessons learned from the past. Stories, artwork, photographs, and music, as well as more modern tools such as drones, helmet-mounted cameras, and video were used to preserve the history of this significant cave.

Marian, landowner of Murder Hole Cave, is an Author, artist, musician, and caver. She has written songs about caving (including "Legends of Murder Hole" on the video), painted and drawn pictures of it, written the "Murder Hole" book, and now, with David Socky, created the movie, "Murder Hole Cave"

David has been actively caving since 1974. He has caved throughout the U.S., Puerto Rico, Mexico, Belize, and China. In the late 1980's he got into doing cave videography and since then has produced a good number of programs – mainly about caving and mountain climbing. (56:10) Download a copy (147 MB)

Geophysical Applications to the
Karst of Edwards Aquifer
By Mustafa Saribudak
January 24, 2017

This webinar presents resistivity imaging (2D and 3D), natural potential (NP) and other geophysical data (conductivity, magnetic, induced polarization, and seismic refraction data) collected over the karstic features of the Edwards Aquifer of southcentral Texas. Features include caves and conduits filled with air and/or sediments, sinkholes and major faults. More than 16 years of experience using geophysical techniques in karst terrains has proven that the best methods are a combination of NP and resistivity techniques. Several case studies of resistivity and NP methods applied to the karst terrains and to major faults are discussed in detail.

Mustafa Saribudak, Ph.D. is the President of Environmental Geophysics Associates (EGA). He received a master's degree in geology and a doctorate in geophysics from Istanbul Technical University, Turkey. He came to the University of Houston in 1989 to work on a project funded by the National Science Foundation. During the last sixteen years he has conducted geophysical surveys at more than 300 sites in the U.S and Central America, and has published numerous papers in geophysical and environmental journals. (1:34:48) Download a copy (275 MB)

A Review of Knot Strength Testing
By Tom Evans
November 29, 2016

The strength of rigging knots is a much debated subject, and yet data and evidence are rarely used to discuss life safety knot strengths. A literature review and meta-analysis of knot strength research (114 studies) was performed and the results show just how strong knots are both in relationship to each other and their absolute strengths in various materials.

Tom Evans will be discussing facts and debunking myths during this webinar. Tom has been a vertical caver for a decade, and has been trained in both above and below ground rope rescue. He is an NCRC instructor and cofounded the nonprofit SAR3, dedicated to providing research and teaching in support of rescue and sport rigging. Its results are published by the International Technical Rescue Symposium. Through his work, Tom is constantly immersed in the science and practice of rigging. (1:15:53) Download a copy (128 MB)

Underground Cave Cities of Central Turkey
By Trevor Parker
October 6, 2016

Turkey, the area bridging Asia and Europe, has a long and amazing history. It has seen wars, peace, swelling empires, and crumbling governments. One chapter from its long history was the creation of "cave cities". For many years, people actually dug their homes underground. Entire cities were formed that branched off to create a sprawling underground civilization. This wasn't just one city, or even just a few in an area, this is hundreds if not thousands of cities that thrived underground. The numbers of these ancient cities were so numerous that more cities are still being discovered to this day.

In this webinar Trevor Parker will take you to Turkey on a trip through the country experiencing culture, history, geology, and exploring several of these cities.. (54:59) Download a copy (120 MB)

This webinar describes the history of mapping karst at the national scale in the United States by the U.S. Geological Survey, beginning with the maps compiled in the 1960s, to the digital compilation published in 2014. Different approaches to mapping karst regions are highlighted, as focus shifted from compilation of information solely on caves to information on karst landscapes as a whole. Modern approaches for mapping karst geomorphology are also discussed, with emphasis on high-resolution surface topographic mapping through LIDAR.

Dan Doctor (NSS 44638) is a research geologist with the U.S. Geological Survey, specializing in karst. His research interests include the hydrology and geochemistry of karst aquifers, assessment of sinkhole hazards, evolution of Appalachian karst landscapes, and paleoclimate records from karst areas. Dan is a fellow of the Cave Research Foundation, and serves on the Virginia Cave Board and on the board of the Karst Waters Institute (KWI). (1:31:28) Download a copy (161 MB)

La Pasiega cave, located in the province of Cantabria in Northern Spain, is one of the premier examples of cave art in the world. The cave is located on El Castillo mountain, with caves that were inhabited and used by humans (both Homo sapiens and Neanderthal) going back at least 150,000 years. La Pasiega has been declared UNESCO World Heritage sites for its Paleolithic art, created some 25,000 to 12,000 years ago. It is richly decorated with hundreds of animal figures and ideomorphic symbols whose underlying purpose and meaning are an enigma to us today.

Charles Schwalbe is Chief Experience Officer at Northern Exposure Spain, providing custom crafted, private tours in Northern Spain to the Paleolithic art caves and beyond. (1:37:57) Download a copy (202 MB)

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