This book documents the highly technical exploration and mapping of three long caves in the Bald Knob region of Edmonson County, Kentucky. The author, an accomplished member of the elite team of spelunkers that has been pursuing the explorations for over sixty years, has gathered records, logs, photographs, first-person accounts, and countless recollections to make a comprehensive record of the unique challenge of exploring and documenting one of the world's great cave systems, one which challenges even expert cavers and which will be seen by only a few for that reason. The primary caves described are James Cave, Coach Cave, and Jackpot Cave, all near and somewhat geologically contiguous with Mammoth Cave.
This volume offers concepts, methods and case studies of innovative and evolving technologies in the area of watershed assessment. Topics discussed include: (1) Development and applications of geospatial, satellite imagery and remote sensing technologies for land monitoring; (2) Development and applications of satellite imagery for monitoring inland water quality; (3) Development and applications of water sensor technologies for real-time monitoring of water quantity and quality; and (4) Advances in biological monitoring and microbial source tracking technologies. This book will be of interest to graduate students and researchers involved in watershed science and environmental studies. Equally, it will serve as a valuable guide to experts in government agencies who are concerned with water-availability and water-quality issues, and engineers and other professionals involved in the design of land- and water-monitoring systems.
"More than four hundred books, pamphlets, scientific reports and magazine articles have been published by different writers besides innumerable newspaper contributions about Kentucky's great cavern... Yet there is a demand, and there seems to be room, for such a practical, condensed, and up-to-date hand-book as is now offered... Its design is to aid the average visitor as he follows the four regulation routes by which the cave is ordinarily exhibited"--Preface.
"The big cave sucked us in," write Borden and Brucker, and so begins their account (told in alternating first-person chapters) of the roles they played in extending Kentucky's Mammoth Cave from 144 miles in 1972 to over 300 miles in 1983. Generously illustrated with drawings and maps, their tale is both a history of spelunking and an underground adventure--for the non-claustrophobic--complete with competitive rivalries and physical peril. A sequel to The longest cave, by Brucker and Richard Watson (1973). Annotation copyrighted by Book News Inc., Portland, OR
Stone Houses and Earth Lords is the first volume dedicated exclusively to the use of caves in the Maya Lowlands, covering primarily Classic Period archaeology from A.D. 100 through the Spaniards' arrival. Although the caves that riddled the lowlands show no signs of habitation, most contain evidence of human use - evidence that suggests that they functioned as ritual spaces.
The Mogao Grottoes, a World Heritage Site in northwestern China, are located along the ancient caravan routes—collectively known as the Silk Road—that once linked China with the West. Founded by a Buddhist monk in the late fourth century, Mogao flourished over the following millennium, as monks, local rulers, and travelers commissioned hundreds of cave temples cut into a mile-long rock cliff and adorned them with vibrant murals. More than 490 decorated grottoes remain, containing thousands of sculptures and some 45,000 square meters of wall paintings, making Mogao one of the world’s most significant sites of Buddhist art. In 1997 the Getty Conservation Institute, which had been working with the Dunhuang Academy since 1989, began a case study using the Late–Tang dynasty Cave 85 to develop a methodology that would stabilize the deteriorating wall paintings. This abundantly illustrated volume is the definitive report on the project, which was completed in 2010.
“Heart-stopping and relentlessly gripping. Tabor takes us on an odyssey into unfathomable worlds beneath us, and into the hearts of rare explorers who will do anything to get there first.”—Robert Kurson, author of ShadowDivers In 2004, two great scientist-explorers attempted to find the bottom of the world. American Bill Stone took on the vast, deadly Cheve Cave in southern Mexico. Ukrainian Alexander Klimchouk targeted Krubera, a freezing nightmare of a supercave in the war-torn former Soviet republic of Georgia. Both men spent months almost two vertical miles deep, contending with thousand-foot drops, raging whitewater rivers, monstrous waterfalls, mile-long belly crawls, and the psychological horrors produced by weeks in absolute darkness, beyond all hope of rescue. Based on his unprecedented access to logs and journals as well as hours of personal interviews, James Tabor has crafted a thrilling exploration of man’s timeless urge to discover—and of two extraordinary men whose pursuit of greatness led them to the heights of triumph and the depths of tragedy. Blind Descent is an unforgettable addition to the classic literature of true-life adventure, and a testament to human survival and endurance. “Holds the reader to his seat, containing dangers aplenty with deadly falls, killer microbes, sudden burial, asphyxiation, claustrophobia, anxiety, and hallucinations far underneath the ground in a lightless world. Using a pulse-pounding narrative, this is tense real-life adventure pitting two master cavers mirroring the cold war with very uncommonly high stakes.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review) “A fascinating and informative introduction to the sport of cave diving, as well as a dramatic portrayal of a significant man-vs.-nature conflict. . . . What counts is Tabor’s knack for maximizing dramatic potential, while also managing to be informative and attentive to the major personalities associated with the most important cave explorations of the last two decades.”—Kirkus Reviews Includes a 16-pg black and white insert
Combining archaeology, local and military histories, community recollections, and landscape studies, this groundbreaking study, the first excavation of a Civil War site in Ireland, facilitates a wider discussion of the role of dugouts in guerrilla warfare and offers a unique view on the Irish revolutionary period at a regional and national scale.
This volume has its roots in the distant past of more than 20 years ago, the International Hydrologic Decade (IHD), 1964-1974. One of the stated goals of the IHD was to promote research into groundwater situations for which the state of knowledge was hopelessly inadequate. One of these problem areas was the hydrology of carbonate terrains. Position papers published early in the IHD emphasized the special problems of karst; carbonate terrains were supposed to receive a substantial amount of attention during the IHD. There were indeed many new contributions from European colleagues but, unfortunately, in the United States the good intentions were not backed up by much in the way of federal funding. Some good and interesting work was published, particularly by the U. S. Geological Survey (USGS), but in the academic community the subject languished. About this same time the Cave Research Foundation (CRF), organized in 1957 to promote the systematic exploration, survey, and scientific study of the great cave systems of Mammoth Cave National Park, was casting about for a broader scope for its research activities. Up until that time, CRF research had been largely restricted to detailed mineralogical and geological investigations within the caves, with the main part of the effort concentrated on exploration and survey. The decision to investigate the hydrology required a certain enlargement of vision because investigators then had to consider the entire karst drainage basin rather than isolated fragments of cave passage.
