texascavers Digest 11 Nov 2008 19:25:05 -0000 Issue 641
Topics (messages 9346 through 9355):
Chinese History in a Stalagmite
9346 by: Mike Flannigan
Tzibichen
9347 by: Minton, Mark
Robber Baron Cave still calling to explorers
9348 by: Joe Mitchell
Kori Jones' BABY !
9349 by: Terri Sprouse
The November 2008 meeting of the Permian Basin Speleological Society
9350 by: Bill Bentley
Magnesium in Calcite
9351 by: Minton, Mark
TSS work session
9352 by: Ron Ralph
Texas Speleological Association 2009 officiers
9353 by: Ron Ralph
Thanks! from TCMA
9354 by: Linda Palit
International Congress of Speleology - registration adjustment
9355 by: Minton, Mark
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FYI:
re-posted from Dave Meadows' Explorator 11.29
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ancient cave yields clues to Chinese history
By RANDOLPH E. SCHMID, AP Science Writer Randolph E. Schmid, Ap Science =
Writer =96 Thu Nov 6, 2:00 pm ET
WASHINGTON =96 A stalagmite rising from the floor of a cave in China is =
providing clues to the end of several dynasties in Chinese history.
Slowly built from the minerals in dripping water over 1,810 years, =
chemicals in the stone tell a tale of strong and weak cycles of the =
monsoon, the life-giving rains that water crops to feed millions of =
people.
Dry periods coincided with the demise of the Tang, Yuan and Ming =
dynasties, researchers report in Friday's edition of the journal =
Science.
In addition, the team led by Pingzhong Zhang of Lanzhou University in =
China noted a change in the cycles around 1960 which they said may =
indicate that greenhouse gases released by human activities have become =
the dominant influence on the monsoon.
The Wanxiang Cave is in Gansu Province, a region where 80 percent of the =
rainfall occurs between May and September.
Chemical concentrations in the stalagmite indicate a series of =
fluctuations lasting from one to several centuries and roughly similar =
to records of the Little Ice Age, Medieval warm period and Dark Age cold =
period recorded in Europe.
There were decade-long fluctuations between A.D. 190 and 530, the end of =
the Han Dynasty and most of the Era of Disunity, the researchers said. =
From 530 to 850 the monsoon declined, covering the end of the Era of =
Disunity, the Sui Dynasty and most of the Tang Dynasty.
The monsoon remained weak, with another sharp drop between 910 and 930, =
then it rose sharply over 60 and remained strong until 1020.
The researchers found that after 1020 the monsoon varied but was =
generally strong until a sharp drop between 1340 and 1360: the mid =
14th-century monsoon weakening. It stayed weak, with substantial =
fluctuation, until a sharp increase between 1850 and 1880.
According to the researchers, the 9th-century dry period contributed to =
the decline of the Tang Dynasty and the Mayans in Mesoamerica. It also =
may have contributed to the lack of unity during the Five Dynasties and =
Ten Kingdoms period, they said.
The following strengthening of the monsoon may have contributed to the =
rapid increase in rice cultivation, the dramatic increase in population, =
and the general stability at the beginning of the Northern Song Dynasty, =
they suggested, adding that the end of the Yuan and the end of the Ming =
are both characterized by unusually weak summer monsoons.
The research was supported by the National Science Foundations of the =
United States and China, the Gary Comer Science and Education =
Foundation, the Ministry of Science and Technology of China and the =
Chinese Academy of Sciences
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081106/ap_on_sc/sci_monsoon_in_history_1
On the same topic:
http://www.newkerala.com/topstory-fullnews-42034.html
http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2008/nov/07/ancient-cave-yields-clues-to-=
chinese-history/
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/11/081106165233.htm
http://news.mobile.msn.com/en-us/articles.aspx?aid=3D27577705&afid=3D1
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/low/science/nature/7714019.stm
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The following link to an article about Mayan religious use of Yucatan
caves and cenotes was sent by Jim Coke.
<http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/L/LA_MEXICO_MAYAN_AFTERWORLD?SITE=NHCON&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2008-11-09-12-32-57>
Mark Minton
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Robber Baron Cave still calling to explorers
Colin McDonald- Express-News
In 1941, Charley Rodger and his brother Rodney Rodger took a
clothesline, a couple of candles and some matches into Robber Baron
Cave off Nacogdoches Road.
“We crawled on our bellies,” he said. “Then we turned to the left 6
or 7 feet to a room where we could stand up.”
Rodger was 13 and his brother was 10. The two went as far as they
dared with one end of the clothesline tied to a rock at the entrance.
It was an adventure partially inspired by their mother, who told
stories of going into the cave during Prohibition for a drink.
“Maybe Mother and Dad found a baby sitter and went out for the
night,” he said.
Like the Rodger brothers did then, more than 200 visitors crawled
through the cave entrance to find out for themselves where the
passages of Bexar County's longest cave led.
After five years of work by some 275 volunteers and $30,000 in
grants, the nonprofit Texas Cave Management Association hosted an
open house Saturday to celebrate the completion of their efforts at
the cave.
The cave will now be open by appointment only. But given the
popularity of the event, organizers are thinking of making the fall
open house an annual affair. The line for the cave stretched out onto
the street for most of the afternoon.
The volunteers spent their weekends hauling out tons of garbage and
construction debris from the sinkhole at the cave entrance, pulled
invasive species and landscaped the lot surrounding the cave so it
could be used as a community park. Several Boy Scouts did work on the
fence and garden beds to earn the rank of Eagle Scout. One volunteer
made a bridge to span part of the sinkhole and offer a clear view of
a tunnel leading into the Austin Chalk limestone. The hope is that
the surrounding neighborhood will now take ownership of the parklike
setting and help care for the cave and not see it as a garbage pit.
As they stood in line, the visitors had no problem with that, but all
had the same question: Where do the tunnels lead?
“The tale was it went to San Pedro Park,” said Jim Pettinos, 81, of
the narrow opening in the white rock. “And that it went all the way
to the Alamo, but even we didn't believe it.”
Pettinos was one of a half-dozen locals who gathered at the edge of
the sinkhole to share their stories of exploring the cave when
candles were still the most reliable source of light.
The story of a natural tunnel leading all the way to the Alamo is
most likely geologically impossible, given that the historic site
downtown is on a different limestone formation; but given the porous
nature of the Austin Chalk and other caves in the region, more
tunnels are likely, said Gary Poole, who was one of the first team of
cavers to study Robber Baron.
Poole spent the winter of 1976 and 1977 mapping the cave. About that
time, another large cave was found nearby during a construction
project, he said. Some cavers went in, never found the end of the
tunnels and came out. Then the property owner closed up the entrance.
Poole describes Robber Baron Cave as a “jungle gym” underground. With
all the construction that has occurred in the area, he said, many of
the passages that people such as Rodger explored have now either been
filled with sediment or collapsed.
But the cave most likely does connect somehow to other networks of
passages under San Antonio.
“I'm sure of it,” he said.
This summer, 70 feet of such a passage was discovered. And teams are
preparing to do more study and are gathering as many stories as they
can to figure out where to look next for more passages.
The attraction of the cave, Poole said, is that everyone who goes
into it feels like they are going into uncharted territory. More than
30 years after he crawled through garbage to explore the cave, Poole
brought his twin 13-year-old daughters, Ariana and Gabi, to explore
the cave.
“You feel like you are actually exploring,” he said. “It's pleasant.”
“It's more than pleasant,” Ariana said, her knees stained with the
mud of the cave and huge smile on her face.
Before she could finish Gabi broke in.
“It's awesome.”
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local_news/
Robber_Baron_Cave_still_calling_to_explorers.html
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To all who have not yet heard. . . Kori Jones (wife of Jubal Grubb) had a baby
girl on Thursday. 8 pounds, 4 ounces. She left the hospital yesterday and is
now at home.
Peter and I Skyped her a few minutes ago. She was feeding the baby, so her Mom
came on the screen.
As many of you know, Jubal is in Iraq, but may be coming home for a visit in a
few weeks.
Stay tuned . . .
Terri
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[Meeting Notice]
Greetings cavers, cave people, troglodytes, spelunkers, and just regular folks,
The regularly scheduled monthly meeting of the Permian Basin Speleological
Society will be on Tuesday November 11th, 2008 at 7:00 PM.
The November 2008 (299th) meeting of the Permian Basin Speleological Society
will be on Tuesday November 11th, 2008, 7:00 PM in the back room at Murray's
Deli which is located at 3211 West Wadley in Midland.
Topics of discussion: Cave stuff? DUES! Hosting the Winter Regional? 5M Cave
Dig Project? T-Shirts sales, Nominations & Elections!
For further information contact an officer: Kerry Lowery
klowe...@suddenlink.net , Sharon Long sharon_long2...@yahoo.com , Karen Perry
txcavem...@yahoo.com or Bill Bentley ca...@caver.net
PBSS web page:
http://www.caver.net/pbss/pbss.html
The Permian Basin Speleological Society was founded in October 1983 and was
chartered as the 300th grotto of the National Speleological Society on January
18, 1984. The Permian Basin Speleological Society is an affiliated Grotto or
Caving club with the Texas Speleological Association and the Southwestern
Region of the National Speleological Society and supports the cave conservation
ethics of the National Speleological Society.
National Speleological Society web page:
http://www.caves.org/
Texas Speleological Association web page:
http://www.cavetexas.org
Southwestern Region of the NSS web page:
http://www.caves.org/region/swr/
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Here is an interesting article on the contribution of biomolecules to the
presence of magnesium in calcite:
<http://www.vtnews.vt.edu/story.php?relyear=2008&itemno=687>
Mark Minton
Bare bones of crystal growth: Biomolecules enhance metal contents in calcite
By Susan Trulove
BLACKSBURG, Va., November 10, 2008 -- From shells to bones, the skeletons of
organisms contain small amounts of impurity elements such as magnesium. Because
the levels of these elements provide important clues to past environments, a
considerable effort has focused on understanding how to relate impurity
contents to the ancient environments in which an organism lived.
In the Oct. 31 issue of Science magazine, Allison Stephenson, a Ph.D. candidate
in geosciences, and Patricia Dove, professor of geoscience in the College of
Science at Virginia Tech, and colleagues* report that a hydrophilic peptide,
similar in character to those found in calcifying organisms, significantly
enhances the magnesium (Mg)-content of calcite.
"We knew from another study in our group (Elhadj et al., 2006, PNAS) that the
chemistry of simple peptides as well as proteins could be tuned to control
crystal growth rate and change crystal morphology," said Dove. "From that
understanding, we realized that the water-structuring abilities of certain
biomolecules could also influence the amount of impurities that can go into
minerals."
"All organisms use proteins to grow minerals into complex shapes with
remarkable functions," said lead author Stephenson. "But this finding is
especially meaningful for geologists because Mg-content in carbonates is used
as a 'paleo thermometer'. That is, we know that Mg content increases with
temperature, but now we see that certain biomolecules could also affect those
'signatures'. The findings raise questions about the interplay of different
factors on metal-contents in biominerals."
The findings also offer new insights for materials synthesis because a high
degree of control on impurities is often necessary to give specific properties
such as strength or electrical conductivity. By using biomolecules, it may be
possible to tune impurities to desired levels, Dove said.
"Also, this basic research suggests new ways of looking at biochemical origins
of pathological skeletal mineralization, and whether local biochemistry could
influence the uptake of toxic metals into human skeletons," Stephenson said.
*The article, "Peptides enhance magnesium signature in calcite: Insights into
origins of vital effects,"
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/short/322/5902/724, was written by
Stephenson; J. J. DeYoreo of the Chemistry and Materials Science Directorate,
Lawrence Livermore National Lab (LLNL), Dove's former student; L. Wu of LLNL
and the Department of Applied Science, University of California-Davis; K. J. Wu
of LLNL; J. Hoyer of the Department of Biological Sciences, University of
Delaware; and Dove. See also related work just published in Nature which cites
the "Shell study sheds light on biomineralization" article from naturenews,
http://www.nature.com/news/2008/081030/full/news.2008.1197.html.
The paper is part of Dove's ongoing research into mineral nucleation, growth,
and dissolution, aimed towards understanding processes of biomineralization,
cementation, global elemental cycling, and climate proxy models. Her research
group mimics processes from both biological and inorganic settings to
understand underlying reaction mechanisms through direct, nanoscale
measurements of mineral-water interactions and their kinetic and surface
thermodynamic properties.
Research in Dove's group is supported by the Department of Energy Basic Energy
Sciences, the National Science Foundation Division of Earth Sciences program in
geobiology and environmental geochemistry, and the National Science Foundation
Division of Ocean Sciences program in chemical oceanography. For more
information, visit the Biogeochemistry of Earth Processes website,
http://www.geochem.geos.vt.edu/bgep/.
Contact Dove, d...@vt.edu, corresponding author, at (540) 231-2444.
Contact Susan Trulove at strul...@vt.edu or (540) 231-5646.
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Cavers,
It is once again approaching the second Wednesday of the month. There will
be a Texas Speleological Survey work session at the JJ Pickle Research
Center on Burnet Road north of highway 183. We will file exchange copies of
newsletters from all over the country and continue to update electronic
files updated by Assistant Data Managers. Come by and see if you would like
to organize one of our cave rich counties. If you attend, you will be able
to work on your own projects as well. The door will be open at 5:00 p.m.
and stay open till we adjourn.
The TSS office phone is 475-8802 if you get lost or stopped by the guard.
Remember it is best to arrive before 6:00 pm, or the gate guards might not
let you in! If you have questions or andicipate problems at the gate,
please contact me at ronra...@austin.rr.com or go to
http://www.utexas.edu/tmm/sponsored_sites/tss/tsscalendar.htm for additional
information.
Ron Ralph
Cell: 797-3817
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Cavers,
I have counted 85 votes and await the afternoon post to make the final
count. If you did not vote and postmark your ballot yesterday, the 10th,
throw it in the trash and resolve to do better next year.
Ron Ralph, vote counter
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TCMA hosted a very successful open house on Saturday, ending the current
project which focused on putting new gates on the main and secondary
entrances of the cave, updating the fences on the property and planting
additional native plants on the grounds. We hosted several hundred
community visitors, and let over 200 of those visit part of the cave.
We want to thank all of our supporters on the project, including all of you
who came down for a work trip sometime in the last 5 years. The work would
not have been completed without your help.
Many, Many Thanks to our Robber Baron Open House Volunteers on Saturday, and
we are not sure we have all the volunteers listed. If we have omitted you,
please notify me so that I have a complete list for articles to be written
about the projects. Volunteers are listed below, in no particular order:
San Antonio TCMA and Bexar Grotto Volunteers:
Alan Montemayor
Cheryl Hamilton
Sara Ranzau
Bob Cowell
Allan Cobb
Joe Ranzau
Don Arburn
Michelle Bryant
Sue Schindel
Joe Mitchell
Kurt Menking
Rick Corbell
Evelynn Mitchell
Mike Harris
Linda Palit
Michael Cunningham
Steve Gutting
Kris Hernandez
Bobbie
Nicholas
Rob Bisset
Journey Bisset
Missy Egan
Tom Florer
Aspen Schindel
Nick Arburn
Aaron Wertheim
Fran Hutchins
Zach Schudrowitz
Jill Orr-Kettyle
Robert Kettyle
Houston TCMA Volunteers
Tommy Joe
Lyndon Tiu
Casey Campbell
Ronnie Harrison
Mallory Mayeux
Kevin McGowan
San Marcos TCMA Volunteers
Jon Cradit
Gary White
Austin TCMA Volunteers
Ron Ralph
Gary Franklin
Drew Thompson
Jordan
Waco TCMA Volunteers
Jim and Mimi Jasek
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Cavers,
I just wanted to call your attention to the fact that after discussions at the NSS Board of Governors meeting this past weekend, the ICS Organizing Committee will be making a cost adjustment to an event for the 15th International Congress of Speleology to be held next July in Kerrville, Texas.
The ICS Banquet is included in the cost of registration for the Congress. However, there originally was an additional charge for the NSS Convention Awards Banquet scheduled for the evening before. But since this is the traditional NSS annual event at which the Society honors members who have made extensive contributions to caving, speleology, and/or the organization, it was felt that the NSS banquet should be included for Congress registrants at no additional charge. Those who have already registered and have paid the supplemental NSS banquet cost will be refunded their money.
The Congress registration form will be adjusted to reflect this change. However, for those individuals who plan on registering for the Congress in the very near future, please keep in mind that you do not need to pay additionally for the NSS banquet.
Permission is gladly given to repost this message, and thank you in advance to those of you who will help spread the word about this change.
We look forward to seeing everyone in Texas next summer!
Linda Baker Devine
NSS Board of Governors
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