4TH MIDDLE-EAST SPELEOLOGY SYMPOSIUM (MESS4) 3-6 October 2018
PROCEEDINGS BOOK
Organized by Spéléo-Club du Liban (SCL) AKUMAK & ASPEG
Under the patronage of the Union Internationale de Spéléologie (UIS)
Conference Venue Akdeniz University Antalya – Turkey
Correspondence Address PO. Box: 70-923 Antelias, Lebanon info@mess4.com www.mess4.com
PROCEEDINGS, 4th Middle-East Speleology Symposium (MESS4) Akdeniz University, Antalya, Turkey – October 3, 4, 5 & 6, 2018
© 2018, MESS4 2018 / SCL Publication All rights reserved. This publication or parts hereof may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the publisher (i.e. MESS4 / Spéléo-Club du Liban – SCL).
MESS4 2018 / Spéléo-Club du Liban www.speleoliban.org Beirut – LEBANON Cover photo: Joey Abou Jaoudeh 2013, photo by Johnny Tawk.
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PROCEEDINGS, 4th Middle-East Speleology Symposium (MESS4) Akdeniz University, Antalya, Turkey – October 3, 4, 5 & 6, 2018
Organizing Committee Joe Zgheib Johnny Tawk Chadi Chaker Fadi Nader Patrick Lteif Ronald Sultanem
jzgheib@tyanzgheib.com johnnytok@hotmail.com chadi_chaker@hotmail.com fadi.nader@gmail.com plteif@hotmail.com ronald.sultanem@gmail.com
Scientific Committee Dr. Fadi Nader Dr. Carole Nehme Prof. Dr. Alexander Klimchouk Prof. Dr. Mladen Garasic Dr. Qassem Ghaderi Dr. Mohsen Rezaei Ass. Prof. Dr. Mehmet Sait Taylan Prof. Dr. Serdar Bayari
fadi.nader@gmail.com carole.nehme@univ-rouen.fr klim@speleogenesis.info mladen.garasic@zg.t-com.hr ghaderig1348@gmail.com Mn.rezaei@gmail.com msaittaylan@yahoo.com serdar@hacettepe.edu.tr
Spelemedia Committee Johnny Tawk Youssef Vaghef
johnnytok@hotmail.com Yousef.vaghef@yahoo.com
The Middle-East Speleology Symposium 2018 will be the fourth international meeting that discusses the speleology in the Middle-East region and its surroundings. Scientists and cavers from the region and beyond are invited to meet, discuss their achievements and prepare future ventures.
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PROCEEDINGS, 4th Middle-East Speleology Symposium (MESS4) Akdeniz University, Antalya, Turkey – October 3, 4, 5 & 6, 2018
MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIRMAN
Here we are once again surrounded by our Middle Eastern colleagues and our international friends all intrigued by the beauty and richness of this area.
Despite all the economic and political turmoil in our region, the caving community in the middle proves once again its resilience and its devotion to a border less (no-boundary) passion.
MESS4 is now mature enough to leave its nest in Beirut and flies to Antalya/Turkey, another wonderful Mediterranean city with a great history, young and active population.
With so much speleological activities happening in the region, from the emergence of a fragile caving community in Cyprus, to a record breaking sinkholes in Iran, and very promising sinkholes in Turkey, to a long awaited connection between the two deepest sinkholes in Lebanon, and so much to show about Oman, MESS4 is now a necessity for people to meet share and collaborate.
Yet we shouldn’t forget the great loss of the Middle East with Sami Karkabi who left us in 2017. A pillar of the Middle East speleology, founder of the Speleo Club du Liban with an international agenda of accomplishments.
Last but not least a special thanks to our Turkish colleagues, especially ASPEG, a group of young enthusiasts who worked hard for this event to see the light, and a sincere gratitude to Akdeniz University for hosting this event and making our stay an enjoyable one.
Joe Zgheib MESS4 Chairman
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PROCEEDINGS, 4th Middle-East Speleology Symposium (MESS4) Akdeniz University, Antalya, Turkey – October 3, 4, 5 & 6, 2018
THEMES OF THE SYMPOSIUM
The MESS4 includes four separate themes covering almost all aspects of speleology and karst sciences: (A) Technical Speleology, (B) Scientific Speleology, (C) Karst Management and Protection, and (D) Spelemedia. Some of these themes are further subdivided into separate sessions which groups the presentations by discipline (e.g. [A1] Exploration & New Discoveries, [B4] Biospeleology, [C3] Applied Speleology). All the themes and related sessions are presented in the following table:
THEMES Theme A: Technical Speleology
SESSIONS A1: Exploration & New Discoveries A2: Speleo-Techniques & CaveRescue
MESS4 3-6 OCT. 2018
B1: Archaeology Theme B:
B2: Hydrogeology
Scientific Speleology
B3: Geology B4: Biospeleology
Theme C:
C1: Tourism
Karst Management
C2: Protection and Sustainability
and Protection
C3: Applied Speleology
Theme D:
D1: Posters/Photos
Spelemedia
D2: Videos/Films
Theme A: Technical Speleology The theme on speleological discoveries and techniques includes submitted contributions concerning the subjects of ‘Exploration & New Discoveries’ (A1) and ‘Speleo-Techniques & Cave-Rescue’ (A2). New reports on speleological explorations, discoveries, techniques and cave-rescue in the Middle-East are expected. Contributions on the exploration techniques include papers on recent breakthrough in technological progresses, problems and appropriate solutions for caving. The diversity of speleology as a scientific discipline and as a sport activity is often burdened with problems. Therefore, technical innovation (in underground progression, topography and photography) and the use of already existing techniques in other related sport disciplines (e.g. climbing) are essential for caving.
Theme B: Scientific Speleology The Scientific Speleology Theme groups all the scientific topics (organized here below in sessions), namely (B1) Archaeology, (B2) Hydrogeology, (B3) Geology, and (B4) Biospeleology.
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PROCEEDINGS, 4th Middle-East Speleology Symposium (MESS4) Akdeniz University, Antalya, Turkey – October 3, 4, 5 & 6, 2018
Session B1: Archaeology Throughout the Middle-East, man was able to settle in hilly and uneven karstic regions, further adjusting the cavernous landscape to meet his needs. Cave constructions (fortified caves, monasteries, chapels, and hermitages), troglodyte habitats, and funerary vaults – usually found in many caves – illustrate that early tendency. Since the XIXth century, archaeologists have shown their interest in the study of caves, especially in order to unearth prehistoric vestiges. Yet, the ‘speleo-Archaeology’ is practiced as a separate new discipline only since the 1980s. It includes physical, technical and scientific aspects. It is worth noting that in this regard the Lebanese experience has had a significant impact on this discipline.
Session B2: Hydrogeology Speleology has become a powerful tool for hydrogeologists when dealing with karstic terrains. Some of the enigmatic hydrogeological issues are commonly observed and understood underground (e.g. water level fluctuations, flow dynamics, conduits dimensions). This Middle-East Speleology Symposium (2018) provides opportunities for earth scientists to present papers related to caves and karstic features. The topics that are welcomed within the framework of this symposium are those related to the hydrogeology of karstic formations (as well as numerical modeling).
Session B3: Geology Contributions related to speleogenesis and speleothems studies are grouped in one session together with geological studies involving karst terrains and caves. Speleogenesis is the study of the origin of caves (genesis) and their formation in various settings. Papers in this context will focus on the understanding of formation of caves in the Middle-East from the perspective of geology. The main topics in this theme will encompass, among others, the evolutionary typology of karst systems and the geological and hydrogeological controls over speleogenesis in various conditions. Papers related to paleoclimatic studies using speleothems as well as contributions to the description and characterization of special speleothems form the bulk of this session. The chemical composition of speleothems may help in reconstructing the nature and extent of groundwater recharge of the cave area, as well as the physico-chemical conditions during growth/precipitation.
Session B4: Biospeleology The session on biospeleology groups all the biological studies related to caves and the karst environment. The stable environment within caves with respect to temperature and humidity provides a very adequate living environment for many organisms. Biospeleology outlines all the recent discoveries and studies related to organisms living in caves having different ambient conditions.
Theme C: Karst Management and Protection The theme on karst management and protection includes subjects related to tourism (including archaeological-, religiousand cultural-based tourism), sustainable development and management of karstic resources, and applied speleology themes. During this session, a roundtable is proposed to discuss about show cave tourism in Lebanon and the Middle East. The high susceptibility to contamination and the incurable deterioration in cave aesthetic wonders are the most significant characteristics that render karst terrains in desperate need for protection. A new topic (compared to the previous MESS2 in 2006) will introduce the subject of applied speleology and its significance in underground constructions and public infrastructure and urban development.
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PROCEEDINGS, 4th Middle-East Speleology Symposium (MESS4) Akdeniz University, Antalya, Turkey – October 3, 4, 5 & 6, 2018
Theme D: Spelemedia With the era of internet and fast, easy access to information, the underground could make use of spelemedia in order to be well presented and protected. The Spelemedia theme groups the following subjects: photos and posters (D1), and videos and films (D2). Participants wishing to present photographic documents to the Spelemedia exhibition are required to adapt their material to the standard formats, with high quality posters and photos.
Underground photography and filming remain a means of expression and a tool which stretches beyond the scope of the classical shot. Its scientific approach entails the conscious, voluntary, and active adherence of the operator. The image helps in transmitting the difficulties that prevail in the cave environment. It describes the karstic phenomena, with its momentous beauty and details. The operators’ skills are put to test. One may encounter an unsteady ground, mud, an undesirable drop of water, which bounces on the lens, the steam which looms up unexpectedly before the viewfinder, the ramping in narrow galleries, the false step which drags you down in deep waters, the photo and/or movie equipment bag which slips in the pits, the insufficient lighting, the actors who are likely to lose balance and start showing their impatience, and finally this fearsome halo which irradiates from your own body and questions the moment to press on the release button.
The best way to understand the comprehensive evolution of underground phenomena remains the calcareous landscape in which the cave evolves. Some countries like Lebanon include wide karstic regions. In these calcareous massifs, zones with varied morphological characters are found. They are intrinsically linked with caves, abysses, shelters, etc. It is therefore important to mention that parallel to the underground photography, Spelemedia also involves recording these surface land-forms in their best aspects. The karren/lapiaz, dolinas, canyons, uvalas, and dry valleys offer various and spectacular forms. Let us not forget the impact of human occupation, whose troglodyte dimension confers to the speleology an additional historical interest.
The objective of spelemedia is to provide the necessary documents, which illustrate speleology-derived resources with the help of photography and film-making. This event will allow the participating Lebanese and foreign cavers to address the biggest number of people concerning the efforts cavers put benevolently and modestly for the cause of recording underground discoveries.
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PROCEEDINGS, 4th Middle-East Speleology Symposium (MESS4) Akdeniz University, Antalya, Turkey – October 3, 4, 5 & 6, 2018
MESS4 Program
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PROCEEDINGS, 4th Middle-East Speleology Symposium (MESS4) Akdeniz University, Antalya, Turkey – October 3, 4, 5 & 6, 2018
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PROCEEDINGS, 4th Middle-East Speleology Symposium (MESS4) Akdeniz University, Antalya, Turkey – October 3, 4, 5 & 6, 2018
Proceedings of MESS4
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PROCEEDINGS, 4th Middle-East Speleology Symposium (MESS4) Akdeniz University, Antalya, Turkey – October 3, 4, 5 & 6, 2018
Articles International Speleological Expedition 2014 in Lebanon (ISEL 2014) ............................................................... 12 Archaeological caves, the necessary collaboration between Speleology, Archaeology and Karstology .......... 13 Speleothem U/Th Dating as a key to understanding Early modern human Evolution in Europe: the case of Oase Cave, Romania .......................................................................................................................................... 15 Selma Plateau: “Tales And Amazing Playground For Cavers” ........................................................................... 19 First Time Solo Caving: Emotions and Feelings That Cavers Experience ........................................................... 20 The Introduction of Salt Domes Of Iran And 3N Cave In Qeshm Island ............................................................ 21 Developing a Method Concerned Determining the Codes of Ethics in Caving ................................................. 22 The International Speleological Expeditions Of The UIS (2004-2018)............................................................... 23 International Speleological Expedition 2014 in Lebanon (ISEL 2014) ................... Error! Bookmark not defined. Further East ....................................................................................................................................................... 24 Simultaneous Representation of the Primitive Art in the Caves of the Divandareh Region ............................. 25 Cliff Dwellings Of Koramaz Valley (Kayseri – Turkey) ........................................................................................ 26 “Dave Not Coming Back” A Nemesis Films Production ..................................................................................... 31 Speleothems from Cyprus - A New Record for Paleoclimate Studies in the Northern Levant ......................... 32 Presentation and Analysis of Speleothems from Ghale-kord Cave (Iran) ......................................................... 33 Es-Suweida Lava Caves (Southern Syria): Speleological Study Combining Geology And History ..................... 34 Microbial Diversity Of Yarık Sinkhole In Taşeli Plateau Of Antalya-Turkey ....................................................... 35 Fauna Of The Lava Tube Caves In The Mediterranean Region Of Turkey ......................................................... 36 Role of Bacteria in Formations of Speleothems ................................................................................................ 37 Exploitation, Geomorphological And Hydrological Studies, Exploration Of New Galleries In Qattine Azar Sinkhole (Lebanon) ............................................................................................................................................ 41 Storage in cave master drain and flood response: The Bou Akouss Cave ........................................................ 46 A Geological And Structural Survey On Ghale-Kord Cave (Iran)........................................................................ 48 Microorganisms as proxy of human impact in caves ........................................................................................ 49 Geological Survey of Jojar Cave (The Deepest Cave in Iran) ............................................................................. 54 Bacterial Community In Dupnisa Cave (Kirklareli- Turkey)................................................................................ 55 Cave Life Of Cyprus ............................................................................................................................................ 59 Biotecnological View To Bacteria Of Parsik Cave .............................................................................................. 60 Identify The Crustacea (Gammarus Sp.) In The Davresh Olia Cave ................................................................... 61 The Effect Of Globalization On Caving In Iran And Determination A Strategy To Convert The Threats Into Opportunities By SWOT Analysis ....................................................................................................................... 65 Underground Hydraulic Structures Of Gaziantep: ............................................................................................ 66 Livas’ And Kastels .............................................................................................................................................. 66
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PROCEEDINGS, 4th Middle-East Speleology Symposium (MESS4) Akdeniz University, Antalya, Turkey – October 3, 4, 5 & 6, 2018
International Speleological Expedition 2014 in Lebanon (ISEL 2014) Mladen Garasic1, Davor Garasic1, Ivan Krpina1, Fadi Nader2 & Johnny Tawk2 1 Society
for the Research, Surveying and Filming on Karst Phenomena Zagreb (DISKF Zagreb), Croatia 2SpeleoClub
du Liban (SCL), Beyrouth, Lebanon
In August and September 2014 an International Speleological Expedition “ISEL 2014” was held in Lebanon. The expedition was organized by the UIS and Speleo Club du Liban (SCL). 20 cavers from Lebanon, 2 from Turkey, 1 from Iran and 3 from Croatia participated to the expedition. This was the 3rd UIS expedition of the kind after the ones in Tanzania (2004/2005) and Iran (2008). As always, Croatian cavers participated and helped the UIS project. The leader of the expedition was Fadi Nader. The goal of this expedition was finding and exploring new caves on Jaj Plateau in central Lebanon.
impossible to do any exploration on Jaj Plateau due to the thick clouds that lowered the visibility to around 10 meters.
The altitude of Jaj Plateau varies between 1550 and 1985 meters above sea level. It's a very difficult terrain to walk on and easy to get lost in. In the period between 1990 and 1992 nine vertical caves were partially explored. After publishing the results of this expedition the valorization and potential suggestion for UNESCO protection will follow.
This find indicates that Jaj Plateau used to be a volcano so the caves longer/deeper than 500 – 600 meters are not likely to be expected. It is our goal to protect the area of Jaj Plateau and recommend it to be protected by the UNESCO.
ISEL 2014 had found, explored and mapped over 70 new caves in the Jaj Plateau. A significant amount of basalt rock was found in the areas of great faults. Even in the altitudes high as 1600 meters. It gives a whole new dimension of how the Jaj Plateau was created. 4 independent basalt outcrops were discovered dating from upper Jurassic till recent geological periods.
Jaj Plateau is a square shaped tectonic plate with the dimensions of 5x15 kilometers. It's surrounded with fault lines with subvertical and vertical leaps between 300 and 800 meters.
This expedition was special in the terms of exploration organization. The terrain was so difficult so there was no adequate place for the base camp on Jaj Plateau. The reason for this was mainly because there was not a single road or path that could be used to transport water and other necessities for the camp. Therefore, the base camp was located west of the Jaj Plateau on the altitude of 998 meters. For the purposes of the base camp, a building with hot showers, kitchen and lecture room was used. The usual day of Jaj Plateau exploration started at 5AM and finished at 3PM. After 3PM it was 12
Archaeological caves, the necessary collaboration between Speleology, Archaeology and Karstology Didier Cailhol Speleologist and Karstologist Université de Savoie – Mont-Blanc Institut national de recherches en archéologie préventive (INRAP) didier.cailhol@univ-smb.fr
The examples from Burgundy, Dordogne, Jura and Pyrenean Mountains sites in France.
In France, during the last decades, an important part of the archaeology in cave have been discovered by speleologists during exploration or visits. According to the French regulation, each discovery must be reported to the archaeological authorities. The objective of this is to install immediately a protection of the cave to preserve the remains, the art and the speleological context for the further studies.
The collaboration between Speleologists, Archaeologists and Karstologists is important. The speleologists are very active in the cave exploration, every year they discover and explore most of the new caves. Thus, they must have the skills to observe and detect the presence of archaeological remains or art and be able to organize the first protection before a scientific evaluation of the site with Archaeologists and others specialists.
Not so many Archaeologists have the skills to study in deep or long caves, the most of the archaeological studies are in the cave entrance or in rock shelters. But, the art or specific installations are generally in the deep and dark part of the caves, for that, the collaboration is necessary to detect the art susceptibilities, the anthropic installations or the remains in the whole of the cave network.
Archaeological caves are highly sensitive, the management of the cave protection strategy must have an ecosystemic approach with the monitoring of the climatology, hydrology, biology and microbiology. This different fields are also very important to understand the cave evolution from the actual to the archaeological times. The monitoring and the cartography must include the geomorphology, the geology, paleontology and the archaeology. A GIS approach including 3D model (Lasercanning, photogrammetry, data bases), is necessary for the studies, the management of researches and the cave protection. This is also an essential support for the didactic.
A collaboration between the French Ministry of the Culture and the French Federation of Speleology is now installed for 15 years, with a national course and regional training sessions. The aim of this action is to increase the archaeological knowledge of the speleologists in the detection of the remains or art in caves, to install the immediate protection of the cave and the collaboration with the archaeologists and the others scientists.
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PROCEEDINGS, 4th Middle-East Speleology Symposium (MESS4) Akdeniz University, Antalya, Turkey – October 3, 4, 5 & 6, 2018
The examples in the Pyrenean Mountains in Niaux, Mas d’Azil, in Dordogne like in grotte du Sorcier in Saint-Cirq, grotte des Bernoux in Bourdeilles or in Jura and in Burgundy in East part of France show the necessary collaboration between Archaeologists, Speleologists and Karstologists to organize the field studies and to improve the knowledge, the research and the education.
MESS4 Guidelines for Paper Preparation
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PROCEEDINGS, 4th Middle-East Speleology Symposium (MESS4) Akdeniz University, Antalya, Turkey – October 3, 4, 5 & 6, 2018
Speleothem U/Th Dating as a key to understanding Early modern human Evolution in Europe: the case of Oase Cave, Romania Silviu Constantin1, Oana T. Moldovan2 1
2
“Emil Racovita” Institute of Speleology, str. Frumoasa 31, 010986, Bucharest, Romania “Emil Racovita” Institute of Speleology, Cluj Branch, str. Clinicilor 5, 400006, Cluj-Napoca, Romania E-mail: silviu.constantin@iser.ro
ABSTRACT
In 2003, the mandible of an anatomically modern human was discovered in a cave from SW Romania. The discovery came quickly into the spotlight for three reasons: i) the old age of more than 40 ka which makes it the oldest European sapiens to date; ii) the particular morphology combining sapiens and Neandertal features; iii) the geographical position within the Danube corridor, ideally for advocating a potential “out of Africa” (and into Europe) trail. The skull of a second human has been discovered during systematic excavations in 2004 and 2005. This too shows some particular Neandertal traits and potential Neandertal /Sapiens interbreeding was speculated for both specimens from the very beginning. Both of the old age and the interbreeding theory were challenged in the scientific world. The measured radiocarbon age was close to method’s limit, thus bearing large errors, while the interbreeding theory has been seen as improbable by many and simply outrageous by others. In 2015, the advance of ancient DNA (aDNA) techniques has shown that the Oase1 mandible shows indeed that it contains ~9% of Neandertal DNA, more than any other anatomically modern humans known to date, confirming the initial morphological theory. However, placing the specimens within a chronological framework is a key to any human evolution study. In the case of Oase, the U/Th dating of two speleothems placed in stratigraphically relevant positions with respect to the human bones confirmed and constrained their old age between 42.5 and 40.3 MESS4 Guidelines for Paper Preparation
ka. This shows how U/Th speleothem datings can be to establish ages of fossil specimens from caves that are close to or beyond radiocarbon limits. Keywords: speleothem U/Th dating, Early Modern Humans, Oase Cave, Romania. INTRODUCTION
The discovery, in 2003, of Oase1 – the mandible of an anatomically modern human which was radiocarbon dated to more than 40 ka (Trinkaus et al., 2003) has stirred worldwide interest. Found in SW Romania, at only ~40 km north of the Danube Gorge, it has been considered as a proof for Homo sapiens migration from Africa into Europe via the Middle East and further on upstream the Danube Corridor. Several striking anatomical features, such as large third molars, (the largest known in the last 500,000 years) suggested a Sapiens/Neandertal admixture. The subsequent discovery of Oase2 (2004-2005), an almost complete cranial vault, face, and maxilla also shown anatomical features that are abnormal for H. sapiens. Due to very low collagen levels, Oase2 could not have been directly dated in spite of three attempts. A number of challenges where associated to the study of Oase cave. Firstly, the old age of human remains and the poor collagen preservation implied high uncertainties for the radiocarbon ages. Secondly, the absence of any cultural agency made impossible any association of the human remains with any artifacts. Thirdly, the position of the fossil remains accumulation, beyond a sump and atop of a shaft seriously hindered the systematic excavation works. It 15
PROCEEDINGS, 4th Middle-East Speleology Symposium (MESS4) Akdeniz University, Antalya, Turkey – October 3, 4, 5 & 6, 2018
soon becomes clear that additional chronologies should be established in order to confirm the questionable radiocarbon ages of these peculiar specimens. Speleothem samples have been collected from stratigraphically relevant positions within the cave system to be dated by means of U/Th method. In addition, a 17-meters trench was excavated along the sediments of the Shaft and measured for paleomagnetic and rockmagnetic properties, and Electron Spin Resonance (ESR) was used to attempt direct dating of cave bear bones within the old sediments. THE SITE
Pestera cu Oase is a part of an extensive cave network (~5 km of passages) that has functioned as the main drain for two old ponors, currently clogged. The human remains were found at the top and within a thick bone bed consisting largely (>95%) of cave bear remains. The ponors have been used as a cave bear hibernation site and many cave bear nests are still preserved. Subsequently, it was also used as a wolf den as appears from the remains of wolves and large herbivores (red deer, ibex) found at the site. The current understanding of cave genesis assumes that several surface sinkholes have acted as both accumulation sites for animal carcasses and entry points to the cave for the carnivores. Numerous radiocarbon dates of animal bones (Trinkaus et al., 2013) indicate that the site has been extensively used as a den during the Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 3, i.e. 45-35 ka ago. During this time, successive flooding of the cave through the ponors have created a 1.5-2 m-thick bone bed behind a narrow passage (Fig. 1). Two layers have been recognized within this deposit: (i) at the base, Level 2, consists of coarse
sediment, broken speleothems, and bone fragments that indicate a high hydraulic energy; (ii) at the top, Level 1 consists of finer sediments and more fragile bones (e.g. scapulae) that indicate a low-energy flooding.
SAMPLES AND METHODS A total of 28 speleothem samples have been sampled from different sectors of the cave system. Since the human remains correspond stratigraphically to the low-energy Level 1 we were especially interested in samples that postdate the deposition of Level 2 and Level 1, respectively. One especially interesting sample was the stalagmite group PPL6 that consists of: (a) a massive fragment of an old stalagmite that has been broken, rolled and transported within a torrential event that corresponds to the deposition of Level 2; (b) a thin layer of fine sediment including small cave bear bone fragments corresponding to Level 1; (3) a new stalagmite formed after the deposition of Level 1.
Fig. 1. Map of the Oase Cave and location of human remains and excavation site.
PROCEEDINGS, 4th Middle-East Speleology Symposium (MESS4) Akdeniz University, Antalya, Turkey – October 3, 4, 5 & 6, 2018
Several other speleothem samples have been collected from the top of the sediment, including those grown on sediment plugs from the former ponors. Most samples have been screened for Ucontent and age using alpha spectrometry U/Th method, and the most promising samples were further dated through a combination of TIMS and MC-ICPMS mass spectrometry. All datings have been done at Bergen University, Norway. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Most speleothems collected from the top of Level 1 were Holocene in age, with a few other samples dated back to ~20 ka. This is typical for many caves of Romania, where the deglaciation period corresponded to a rapid warming and abundant calcite deposition. A particularly interesting sample was the stalagmite PPL5 that started to grow at ~47.5 ±3 ka at a level that roughly corresponds to the base of Level 2. It is thus considered as pre-dating the depositional event that led to the Level 2 accumulation. Stalagmite group PPL6 was the key-sample into constraining the age of Level 1 (Fig. 2). An outer crust deposited over the base stalagmite fragment has been accurately dated to 42.5 ±0.4 ka and predates the deposition of Level 1. The base of the stalagmite that grew over the detritic layer has been dated multiple times and its minimum age is 40.3 ±1 ka. This combination of ages constrains the deposition of Level 1 and of the included human remains to the maximum time interval of ~43 to ~39.3 ka The U/Th determined age is in perfect agreement with the direct radiocarbon date of 40.5 (±1) ka of the Oase1 mandible. It also offers the only indirect date for Oase2 which could not have been dated using radiocarbon.
IMPLICATIONS AND CONCLUSIONS
Recent advances in ancient DNA analytical techniques have allowed for successful analysis of
Oase1 aDNA showing that the Oase specimen contains ~9% of Neandertal DNA, more than any other anatomically modern humans known to date (Fu et al., 2015). This confirmed the initial hybridization theory and opened the way for an assessment of the evolution of H. sapiens across Europe (Fu et al., 2016). Since chronology is crucial in studies on human evolution, the datings of archaeological artefacts and fossil remains which are close to or beyond the limits of radiocarbon method needs an alternative approach.
PROCEEDINGS, 4th Middle-East Speleology Symposium (MESS4) Akdeniz University, Antalya, Turkey – October 3, 4, 5 & 6, 2018
Fig. 2. The PPL6 stalagmites and measured U/Th ages.
U/Th dating method of speleothems may offer sometimes accurate ages, provided that highresolution dating methods such as TIMS or ICPMS are employed. However, since there may be considerable time gaps between sediment deposition and speleothem precipitation, extensive sampling is required. This cannot be done in many caves for conservation reasons but it is acceptable in excavation settings where the deposits are removed. When properly done and interpreted, the U/Th dating of speleothems is one is a reliable tool in establishing cave chronostratigraphy. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The discovery and study of the Pestera cu Oase and its remains involved more than 50 researchers and extensive financial support from various sources. We acknowledge the work of this great team – its members and funding organizations may be found in the monograph book by Trinkaus et al (2013).
REFERENCES
Trinkaus, E., Moldovan, O., Milota, S., Bîlgar, A., Sarcina, L., Athreya, S., Bailey, S. E., Rodrigo, R., Mircea, G., Higham, T., Bronk Ramsey, C. and van der Plicht, J. 2003. An early modern human from the Pestera cu Oase, Romania. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. USA 100, 11231-11236.
Trinkaus, E., Constantin, S., and Zilhão, J. Eds. (2013) Life and Death at the Pestera cu Oase. A Setting for Modern Human Emergence in Europe. Oxford University Press USA, 438 p. Fu, Q., Hajdinjak, M., Moldovan, O. T., Constantin, S., Mallick, S., Skoglund, P., Patterson, N., Rohland, N., Lazaridis, I., Nickel, B., Viola, B., Prufer, K., Meyer, M., Kelso, J., Reich, D. and Paabo, S. 2015. An early modern human from Romania with a recent Neanderthal ancestor. Nature 524, 216219. Fu, Q., Posth, C., Hajdinjak, M., Petr, M., Mallick, S., Fernandes, D., Furtwängler, A., Haak, W., Meyer, M., Mittnik, A., Nickel, N., Peltzer, A., Rohland, N., Slon, V., Talamo, S., Lazaridis, I., Lipson, M., Mathieson, I., Schiffels, S., Skoglund, P., Derevianko, A.P., Drozdov, N., Slavinsky, V., Tsybankov, A., Grifoni Cremonesi, R., Mallegni, F., Gély, B., Vacca, E., González Morales, M.R., Straus, L.G., Neugebauer-Maresch, C. Teschler-Nicola, M., Constantin, S., Moldovan, O.T., Benazzi, S., Peresani, M., Coppola, D., Lari, M., Ricci, S., Ronchitelli, A., Valentin, F., Thevenet, C., Wehrberger, K., Grigorescu, D., Rougier, H., Crevecoeur, I., Flas, D., Semal, P., Mannino, M.A., Cupillard, C., Bocherens, H., Conard, N.J., Harvati, K.,, Moiseyev, V., Drucker, D.G., Svoboda, J., Richards, M.P., Caramelli, D., Pinhasi, R., Kelso, J., Patterson, N., Krause, J., Pääbo,S., Reich, D. (2016) The genetic history of Ic
PROCEEDINGS, 4th Middle-East Speleology Symposium (MESS4) Akdeniz University, Antalya, Turkey – October 3, 4, 5 & 6, 2018
Selma Plateau: “Tales And Amazing Playground For Cavers” Khaled Abdulmalak Selma plateau is situated in the eastern Hajjar chain of Oman. It is at around 1300 m above sea level and hosts one of the most spectacular underground chamber in the world. One single surface of 58000 square meters the equivalent of 8 football pitches put together! The access to this massive room is by abseiling through one of the three entrances around 150m above the ground. Cheryl’s drop is the most impressive because it is in the middle of the roof and the first 20m meters are through a chimney of around 2m width after witch one reaches the center of the dome of this “mastodon” room underground. In the same area there is the most important known cave system in Oman with 12kms of galleries all joining underground and having one resurgence Kahf Tahri with its extraordinary porch measuring 8o meters height and across. Kahf Tahri drains four canyons on the plateau through 4 big sinkholes: Three window cave, Seventh hole , arch cave and funnel cave with depth range between 150 and 270meters. All four sinkholes have their own gallery and they all meet underground to deliver all the rain collected to Kahf Tahri. In 2002 and during my first ever caving trip with a professional couple of French climbers Nathalie and Patrick Cabiro I found by chance a very beautifully decorated chamber with all kind of calcite formations that I called “ The two brother’s room”. Beside the exceptional calcite formation, I found a massive amount of bat skeletons but not a single bat alive! We presume that these creatures were caught inside the chamber because of a massive earthquake that closed their way out. The distance between the entrance of Kahk Tahri and “ The two brother’s room” is around 2 kilometers. The locals of this region told me a tale about the formation of Kahf Tahri… …” Abou Mwarraq …”
PROCEEDINGS, 4th Middle-East Speleology Symposium (MESS4) Akdeniz University, Antalya, Turkey – October 3, 4, 5 & 6, 2018
First Time Solo Caving: Emotions and Feelings That Cavers Experience Andreas Antoniou1, Firuz Aytunç1, Inan Tasci1, Anoosh Iravanian1, Simge Öztürk1, Elena Ktisti1 1
Cyprus Caving Team; 41A Ioanni Kapodistria, 2321 Lakatamia, Lefkosia, Cyprus, andrantoni@gmail.com
Caving in Cyprus was practiced by amateur individuals who did not have the proper training or underestimated the dangers imposed by this activity. They were using primitive equipment and methods to research caves and apart from setting in danger their own lives, the flora and fauna hosted by the caves, was also set into great risk of being damaged and destroyed. This gap was identified by some caving enthusiasts in the past and there was a continuous effort for overcoming it. Thanks to people like Lauren Satterfield and Dr Salih Guzel and their associates, a funded project from the European Union (EU) and the United States Embassy in Cyprus, managed to offer to Cypriots the opportunity to dig into caving, using the latest technology and methods. One of the project objectives was to train Cypriots to do caving in a proper manner. This was achieved under the umbrella of the Union Internationale de Spéléologie (UIS) who undertook this task. The UIS and Dr Fadi Nader personally, invited the 'Society for research, surveying and photographing of karst phenomena - Zagreb (DISKF - Zagreb)' and the ‘Spéléo Club du Liban (SCL)’ for undertaking the training of the future Cypriot Cavers. The training took place in Cyprus, in three different expeditions which lasted for a week. During the final expedition the Trainers, suggested that we could do caving on our own, as a Cypriot Caving Group. Shortly after, 6 trainees, grouped and performed our first caving trip, using all the techniques and methods we learned. We visited ‘Hot Cave’, a cave that we had visited during our training, and we carried out rigging, SRT, exploring and derigging. After a short search on the internet for the profile of cavers as well as the emotions and feelings that they experience we didn’t manage to get any useful information. Who are these people, why are they doing caving, what is the driving force and finally are they normal?!!! The objective of this paper is an attempt to identify the emotions and feelings that we had, during this first caving trip, on our own. All of us answered to a questionnaire comprised of questions related to human feelings. There was a scale from 1 to 5 for each question, trying to identify the extension of the presence of each feeling at the moment. 0 indicated that the feeling was not present. The questionnaires were answered for three different occasions 1) before entering the cave, 2) during our presence in the cave and 3) when we were out of the cave. The results are considered to be unique due to the fact that all of us were doing this for the first time, after having a proper training.
PROCEEDINGS, 4th Middle-East Speleology Symposium (MESS4) Akdeniz University, Antalya, Turkey – October 3, 4, 5 & 6, 2018
The Introduction of Salt Domes Of Iran And 3N Cave In Qeshm Island Fateme Vaghef1 & Ghasem Ghaderi2 & Yusef Vaghef3 1 No.3, 3th block, 3th Faraz,OPG, Mehr Kohsar t.,Shahran,Tehran,IRAN, vaghef.fatemeh@yahoo.com 2 Poorab Fars; Mehr Bldg.44. Pasdaran Blvd., Shiraz, Fars, IRAN, ghaderig1348@gmail.com 3 Zamani; Tiraze Blvd. Punak Sq., Tehran, IRAN, Yusef_vaghef@yahoo.com
Salt rock has the most solubility in the soluble rocks. Effective porosity in these rocks is low, and the fractures usually close in depth. The water entering the salt rock change shortly saturated to salt and loses its dissolution potential. So it is expected that salt cave isn’t long cave or doesn’t create in depth except in places where it is possible to allow fresh water to enter this cave permanently. In Iran salt rock is mainly found in salt domes. These unique geologic phenomena occurred during salt accumulation in the evaporation basin in various geological periods (especially Infracambrian to Ordovician), which later due to the geo-pressure and the halo-kinesis process are bounced upwards and dropped to the surface of the earth. In these salt domes, alternation of sedimentary rocks (salt, gypsum, anhydrite, marl, limestone, and dolomite) and igneous rocks (tuff, Ignimbrite, basic and ultra-basic rocks), and iron oxides (hematite, oligist) are found. This article describes the salt domes of southern Iran in the first part. In this section, the distribution, age, lithology, karst, morphology, classification, economic significance, mineralogy, effects on water quality and genesis are briefly described. In the second part, a conceptual model for the formation and development of the cave in salt rock is presented. And in the third part, Namakdan cave (the longest salty cave in the world), which is located in the salt dome of Qeshm, is briefly introduced.
PROCEEDINGS, 4th Middle-East Speleology Symposium (MESS4) Akdeniz University, Antalya, Turkey – October 3, 4, 5 & 6, 2018
Developing a Method Concerned Determining the Codes of Ethics in Caving Abbas Ghaderi abbas.ghaderi@yahoo.com
This study intends to develop a structure-oriented method to propose ethical codes in every active caving group or organization. This research is done qualitatively based on phenomenology method. Data is gathered through interview using open questions and completion of questionnaires by candidates. The model consists of the following phases: 1. Discovering caving-beneficiaries: After forming a Delphi team, 6 beneficiary groups were known. 2. Revealing key values from the beneficiaries’ viewpoint: by open interview and questionnaires, 27 key values were concluded. 3. Finalizing, merging and prioritizing the values: 12 important key values were designated. 4. Determining the ethics codes in each key value: 23 ethic values were determined. 5. Creating codes of ethics in caving society: each ethic code is expressed by a phrase. Following this method, every single organization or group can take modular steps in determining the codes of ethics for itself.
PROCEEDINGS, 4th Middle-East Speleology Symposium (MESS4) Akdeniz University, Antalya, Turkey – October 3, 4, 5 & 6, 2018
The International Speleological Expeditions Of The UIS (2004-2018) Fadi Henri NADER, Mladen GARASIC and ISE teams International Union of Speleology (UIS) fadi.nader@gmail.com
About four international expeditions led by the International Union of Speleology (UIS) took place from 2004 until today. These expeditions share the same objectives: development of speleology and protection of caves and karst. They are organized by voluntary cavers from several countries. The first exposition was the International Speleological Expedition to Tanzania (ISET) which was achieved in two separate missions (2004 and 2005) and which aimed at training a Tanzanian team of speleologists. The International Speleological Expedition to Iran (ISEI 2008) took in the regions north and southeast of Tehran. Fifteen cavers from five different countries trained some 38 Iranian cavers and explored five outstanding caves. Training covered: exploration (surface and subsurface), technical review (SRT and basic self-rescue), cave surveying, and cave photography and filming. In 2014, a third expedition was organized, this time in Lebanon with a special objective for karst protection and rising awareness for the vulnerability of karst. ISEL 2014 helped in documenting the karst features and caves of the Jajj Plateau, a unique high altitude karst feature in crucial need for protection – more than 70 cavities were mapped and documented. In 2018, some of the cavers who were always behind the international speleological expeditions joined a EUsupported project, entitled “The Caves of Kyrenia Mountains Project” and trained a group of bi-communal Cypriots following the same spirit and objectives of the previous UIS expeditions. This contribution aims to present the results of all these expeditions and to discuss the perspectives of such initiatives.
PROCEEDINGS, 4th Middle-East Speleology Symposium (MESS4) Akdeniz University, Antalya, Turkey – October 3, 4, 5 & 6, 2018
Further East Chadi Chaker, Ronald Sultanem SpeleoClub du Liban (SCL), Beirut, Lebanon
Speleo Club du Liban, was the pioneer of caving in Lebanon and in the Middle East. Since its foundation, the Club has been focusing the major part of his activities in Lebanon, as caves were still new, unidentified and undiscovered. Now that the major part of the country has been explored, the Speleo Club Du Liban has begun to take his “caving energy” outside of Lebanon. Therefore the club has taken part in many international expeditions that would cover several aspects in caving such as the exploration of deep sinkholes like in Iran and Turkey, or training of new cavers in Cyprus, or further exploring identified caves like in Lebanon and Oman, or discoveries of new regions like in Kyrgyzstan and Philippines.
PROCEEDINGS, 4th Middle-East Speleology Symposium (MESS4) Akdeniz University, Antalya, Turkey – October 3, 4, 5 & 6, 2018
Simultaneous Representation of the Primitive Art in the Caves of the Divandareh Region Arash Yasamanpour Divandareh. Kurdistan. west IRAN a.yasamanpour@gmail.com (KURDISTAN IRAN 2017)
Simultaneous Representation of Rock Art in the Caves of the Divandareh Region, with cave wall paintings and rock reliefs, which are carved and embossed on the walls of the cave during prehistoric times, are quite evident. Evidence suggests that Primitive Art forms were not just decorating the living place in the cave because the caves where these designs were found were not the tangible place for human life. These images are mostly drawn in areas of the caves that were not easy to access. Some attitudes recognize motifs as ritualistic or religious, while in other attitudes, they recognize forms as a way of communicating. In the Divandareh region, with a series of caves, including “Karaftu”, “Kani Mikayla”, “Kola Tarikeh”, “Kole Khor” which there is a great deal of visual interaction as well as the existence of caves in the calcareous mountain range, Deep and watery valley. There are several works of shelter and crypt and cavities enclosed with abstract art forms and abstraction arts, many of which are in the form of Cupules spectacles in the rocky sanctuary. By investigating rock art in Rock Art Research, we conclude that in surveys and Conjecture speculations, in addition to the fact that in the cave layer, the layers are in the form of historical accumulation periodically, and the soils driven into the caverns are in the same shape, so that in each period, the newer inhabitants accumulate the soils of the previous period in the cavities and holes that they have. In the writings of the historian, Ayatollah Mohammad Mardukh Kordestani who wrote about a visit of the Karaftu Cave and the appearance of primitive objects, which is not vague, he gives a great deal of help in examining the past conditions of this cave. There are many similarities in the existing forms of the caves. Several Cupules views of the caves of “Karaftu”, “Kani Mikail”, “Cole Tarikeh”, and “Cole Khor” have been applied, which are more evident with the prehistoric image of the deer. In this paper, we will discuss the simultaneous representation in the history of present signs, and its effect on the habitat of the predator.
PROCEEDINGS, 4th Middle-East Speleology Symposium (MESS4) Akdeniz University, Antalya, Turkey – October 3, 4, 5 & 6, 2018
Cliff Dwellings Of Koramaz Valley (Kayseri – Turkey) 1 OBRUK
Ali Yamaç1 Cave Research Group; Acikhava Apt. 16/7, Nisantasi, Istanbul, Turkey, ayamac@gmail.com
Kayseri (Caeserea), the capital of antique Cappadocia, and its vicinity have tuffaceous and ignimbrite rocks that can be as thick as hundreds of meters in some parts due to volcanic activities that took place millions of years ago. Those volcanic rocks, rising to the east of Kayseri city, are worn away by streams and form deep valleys parallel to each other on the northeast – southwest axis. As in other areas of Cappadocia, this soft and easy to dig volcanic rocks of those valleys were carved out by locals to be used for many different purposes such as houses, barns, dovecotes, churches and underground shelters for several centuries. From Kayseri to the east, the land swiftly gains altitude and seven kilometers to the east of Ağırnas reaches an altitude of 1907 meters at Mount Koramaz. Sides of all these peaks facing westward towards Kayseri were broken down with melted snow waters, and deep valleys were formed. While some of these surface waters continue to flow westward and erode their own valleys, others have submerged into the ground and have returned to the surface as springs in different spots. There are countless springs around the settlements in the valley. The waters of all these rivers and springs in the region gently join to each other and form the Koramaz Valley, which extends westward. Today, there are seven different settlements in this valley. These settlements, dating back hundreds or even thousands of years, include countless rock dwellings. Extending a total of 16 km, Koramaz Valley is among the longest valleys of not only Kayseri but also Cappadocia and with both its natural beauty, as well as its cultural and historical richness, it is one of Turkey's most special valleys. Within this poster presentation we’ll explain our research and findings in this valley. Keywords: Kayseri, Koramaz Valley, cliff dwellings
INTRODUCTION From Kayseri to the east, towards Büyük Bürüngüz/Ağırnas, the land which rises about 300 meters forms a mountain range on the east west – northeast direction by swiftly gaining altitude at the east of these two settlements (Fig. 1)
Fig. 1. Location map showing the area of exploration (Google Maps)
Mount İvriz, which lies to the east of the Büyük Bürüngüz, and Kilise Tepe and Sivridağ rising further north, are among the highest peaks of this mountain range. Seven kilometers east of Ağırnas, the highest point of this range, Koramaz Mountain, is located at an altitude of 1907 meters. Sides of all these peaks facing westward towards Kayseri were eroded with melted snow waters, and deep valleys were formed. While some of these surface waters continue to flow westward and erode their own valleys, others have submerged into the ground and have returned to the surface as springs in different spots. From south to north; there are numerous springs in the vicinity of the Bürüngüz, Subaşı, Küçük Bürüngüz and Ağırnas settlements. The waters of all these streams and springs in the region slowly converged to the west and formed Koramaz Valley.
PROCEEDINGS, 4th Middle-East Speleology Symposium (MESS4) Akdeniz University, Antalya, Turkey – October 3, 4, 5 & 6, 2018
Today, there are seven different villages in this valley. These are Büyük Bürüngüz, Üskübü (Subasi), Küçük Bürüngüz, Ağırnas, Dimitre, Vekse and Ispıdın. Starting from Büyük Bürüngüz and extending up to Kayır Han region lying 2.5 km west of Ispıdın for a total of 16 kms, Koramaz Valley is among the longest valleys of not only Kayseri but also Cappadocia and with both its natural beauty, as well as its cultural and historical richness, it is one of Turkey's most special valleys (Fig.2).
Fig. 2. Koramaz Valley and villages (Google Earth)
GEOLOGY Millions of years ago, there were violent volcanic activities in a fairly large area including the present provinces of Kayseri and Nevsehir. From numerous small volcanic cones, to the large volcanoes such as Erciyes, Hasandağ, Melendiz, and Göllüdağ, lava and ash were being sprayed everywhere. Over the past 10 million years, this volcanic activity has slowed down from time to time and then resumed and continued until almost 2000 years ago. The volcanic cones we see today in this region are evidence of these explosions that lasted for millions of years. As a result of such eruptions, an incredible thickness of volcanic rock is deposited in the area. These rocks, which are called "pyroclastic rocks" that are sprayed onto the earth by the volcanoes and cover almost the whole of Kayseri today, are mostly porous and easily eroded. There is a 700 – 800-meter elevation difference between the plain where Kayseri is located and the mountains lying 30 km east of this plain and each stream flowing from these hills to the plain formed their own valleys by eroding these soft pyroclastic rocks. The east of Kayseri is full of valleys eroded by these streams descending from the high hills down to the plain. As an interesting geographical feature, most of these valleys are parallel to each other from north to south. All these valleys separated by only a few kilometers from each other; Avedik, Ötedere, Değirmendere, Nize, Gesi, Derevenk and Koramaz valleys have a great importance from a historical and archaeological point of view.
HISTORY As in all Cappadocia, the history of Kayseri is measured in thousands of years, and the settlements in the region date back to the Neolithic period. It is not known however when the volcanic tuffs, which completely cover the region, were first carved, and when the people living in this area made these underground dwellings a home to themselves. The use of these rock-cut structures for thousands of years uninterruptedly makes such an archaeological discovery impossible.
PROCEEDINGS, 4th Middle-East Speleology Symposium (MESS4) Akdeniz University, Antalya, Turkey – October 3, 4, 5 & 6, 2018
The earliest dated rock-cut structures of Cappadocia are probably Roman rock-cut tombs. Apart from a few examples in Nevsehir / Mazikoy, there are rock-cut Roman graves in the south of Kayseri, especially in Ayşepınar and Yeniköy, although they are not known as a tourist attraction destination. On the other hand, many other Roman rock tombs near the villages have been changed over time for different purposes. There are many buildings in the vicinity of the Ağırnas, which are evidently Roman rock tombs with their entrance gates in the walls of the Koramaz Valley and with their klines that have been converted into barns or dovecotes over the time. On the other hand, some of the dovecotes we found in Vekse and Ağırnas resembled the 'columbarium' of ancient Rome, rather than the classical dovecotes of the region, both in terms of building styles and nest recesses on the wall. Several numbers of Roman columbaria carved in ancient times in the region are likely to be transformed into dovecotes after a while.
From the times of ancient Rome to the Byzantine period, the diverse variety of underground and rock-cut structures around Kayseri is unbelievable. The buildings that are carved onto the rocks in the region are not only settlements, barns, dovecotes, graves or churches. There are monasteries, irrigation canals, cisterns and even beehives dug into the rocks. Since most of these structures continue to be used in the course of the past centuries by changing their characteristics, it is almost impossible to determine their initial construction dates (Fig. 3). Fig. 3. Map of a part of Agirnas cliff dwellings at Koramaz Valley, North Wall, Segments 1 &2. Total number of cliff dwellings in this part of the valley are 154 (Drawing C. Cankirili and A. Yamac)
The rock settlements observed at different points of Koramaz must have been used uninterruptedly from the Roman Empire period until the Middle Ages. Just taking the rock-cut churches that are found among the dwellings in the settlements as a reference, we think that it would be wrong to date the initial constructions dates of all of these buildings from the 7th to 11th century, like the churches (Fig. 4 and 5).
PROCEEDINGS, 4th Middle-East Speleology Symposium (MESS4) Akdeniz University, Antalya, Turkey – October 3, 4, 5 & 6, 2018
Fig.4. Some fragments of frescoes in Ispıdın Rock Cut Church No. 1 (Photo A. E. Keskin)
Fig.5. Ispıdın Rock Cut Church No. 5 (Photo A. E. Keskin)
It is also possible that these settlements began to be used as houses long before Christianity. Unfortunately, we do not have any archaeological data to support these estimates, and it is almost impossible to determine the date of the initial construction date of a rock settlement.
The oldest Cadastral Record Book of Kayseri belongs to the year 1500 and in the records of this book all seven villages on the slopes of Koramaz Valley today are present. This is natural because; the history of the Büyük Bürüngüz, Üskübü, Küçük Bürüngüz, Ağırnas, Dimitre, Vekse and Ispıdin is much older than the Cadastral Record Book. All of these villages are full of rock-cut structures. It is generally accepted that the underground cities of whole Cappadocia were carved between 7th and 11th centuries by Christians living in the region in order to defend themselves from the Arab raids of this region (Fig. 6).
Fig.6. Ağırnas Underground City (Photo R. Straub)
PROCEEDINGS, 4th Middle-East Speleology Symposium (MESS4) Akdeniz University, Antalya, Turkey – October 3, 4, 5 & 6, 2018
Beyond all these; the experts examining the rock-carved structures in the vicinity of Ağırnas, although they have changed due to different uses over time, have indicated that the first construction purpose of some of the structures could be the Roman rock cut tombs by looking at the entrance decorations and interior architecture. In summary; we can say that all these structures carved into the rocks in Koramaz Valley date back to at least 2,000 years and possibly even earlier. KORAMAZ VALLEY EXPLORATIONS AND SURVEYS As OBRUK Cave Research Group, we have been continuing “Kayseri Underground Structures Inventory Project” for more than 4 years. As the co-partners of this project; Kayseri Municipality and ÇEKÜL Foundation decided to have a 1. Degree Archaeological Protection for Koramaz Valley and an application to UNESCO World Heritage Site, we had concentrated our efforts to that region. After several trips, all the underground structures of the valley had been explored and surveyed. The results of our work is: *Üskübü Village - Subaşı Underground City - Subaşı Rock Cut Church and Monastry * Küçük Bürüngüz Village - 6 cliff dwellings *Ağırnas Village - Mimar Sinan Underground City - Ağırnas Underground City - Mustafa Bozdemir Underground City - More than 200 cliff dwellings with 3 rock cut churches and several underground shelters * Dimitre Village - More than 250 cliff dwellings with 5 rock cut churches and several underground shelters * Vekse Village - 5 rock cut churches - 4 cliff dwellings * Ispıdın Village - 10 rock cut churches - 4 cliff dwellings REFERENCES Alıcı Sen P., Temel A., Gourgaud A., 2004, Petrogenetic modelling of Quaternary post-collisional volcanism: A case study of central and eastern Anatolia. Geological Magazine, pp. 81-98. Cömert H., 2008. Koramaz Vadisi, Kayseri. Sen E., Kürkçüoğlu B., Aydar E., Gourgaud A., Vincent P. M., 2003. Volcanological evolution of Mount Erciyes stratovolcano and origin of the Valibaba Tepe ignimbrite (Central Anatolia, Turkey). Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research no.125, pp. 225-246. Gilli E., 2017, From columbaria to dovecotes: two thousand years of use of cave dwellings in Agirnas (Kayseri, Turkey) HYPOGEA 2017 Congress, Cappadocia – Turkey, March 2017. Yamac A., 2017. Underground Settlements and Cave Dwellings of Agirnas Village, Kayseri (Southeast Turkey), HYPOGEA 2017 Congress, Cappadocia – Turkey, March 2017
PROCEEDINGS, 4th Middle-East Speleology Symposium (MESS4) Akdeniz University, Antalya, Turkey – October 3, 4, 5 & 6, 2018
“Dave Not Coming Back” A Nemesis Films Production Marwan Haroun
Somewhere in South Africa, in the middle of the Kalahari Desert, on a patch of land that would have otherwise been quite ordinary, lies a chasm in the arid ground. V-shaped and about 100m deep, it holds at its bottom a rather ordinary pond of greenish water, a few meters in diameter. As soon as you put your head underwater, it turns into a crystal-clear pool, green only because of the duckweed floating on its surface, but apparently no deeper than 6m. All of a sudden you notice a small crack in the pool’s bottom, not much wider than a technical diver and his gear. If you decide to venture into this crack, it takes you down a vertical shaft that goes deeper and deeper below the water’s surface, until at a depth of about 45m, it opens into a fresh water reservoir that is almost as deep as the Eiffel tower is tall, and so wide in diameter that it is impossible to see its side walls, regardless of the strength of your light. This is Bushmansgat, one of the world’s deepest freshwater sinkholes, and a technical cave diver’s greatest aspiration. Going down to a depth of 280m, it remains one of the world’s most impressive underwater caves.
Also in South Africa, a few thousand kilometers away from Bushmansgat, lies another jewel: an 11 stories deep, maze like, flooded mine that goes down to 186m below the water surface. With shafts, corridors, rails and doors still holding on from after the mine was decommissioned in the 1970’s and left to flood, it is also a haven for cave divers.
For the past few years now, and under “Nemesis Films” production, I have had the chance to film inside both of these caves, spending more than 40 hours in total underwater, and going down to a depth of 107m. Nemesis Films is retelling the story of late cave diver David Shaw, who lost his life trying to recover the body of another perished cave diver, Deon Drayer, from the bottom of Bushmansgat. What I plan to do during the MESS4 event is to show you some of what we have filmed underwater and tell you the story of the fatal dive of David Shaw.
PROCEEDINGS, 4th Middle-East Speleology Symposium (MESS4) Akdeniz University, Antalya, Turkey – October 3, 4, 5 & 6, 2018
Speleothems from Cyprus - A New Record for Paleoclimate Studies in the Northern Levant Carole Nehme1, 2, Fadi H. Nader3, 4, Sophie Verheyden5, Salih Gucel6, Iris Charalambidou7, Hai Cheng8 1. Laboratoire UMR IDEES 6266 CNRS, Université de Rouen-Normandi, Mont Saint-Aignan, France. 2. Association Libanaise d'Etudes speleologiques, Mansourieh El-Matn, Lebanon. 3. Energie France Pétrole-Nouvelles, Reuil Malmaison, Paris, France. 4. Spéléo-Club du Liban, Antelias, el Matn, Lebanon. 5. Royal Belgian institute of natural sciences, directorate of earth & history of life & associate researcher at Vrije Universiteit, Brussel, Belgium. 6. Mağara Meraklıları Derneği (NGO), Nicosia, Cyprus. 7. Department of Life and Health Sciences, School of Sciences and Engineering, university of Nicosia, Nicosia, Cyprus. 8. Institute of Global Environmental Change, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, China.
Located at the interface between mid and high latitude climate systems and affected by both the North Atlantic Oscillation and the monsoonal system over Africa, the Levant region (East Mediterranean Basin) has the unique potential to record the occurrence and phasing of climatic changes in both systems. Known for its long records of prehistoric human settlements, the Levant straddles the transition zone between the humid Mediterranean climate in the north and the arid Saharo-Arabian desert climate in the south. This transition zone is characterized by steep precipitation and temperature gradients. Over the past 20 years, several studies have attempted to understand the palaeoclimate of this critical region using speleothems, marine and lake records. Whereas these different continental records reflect changes in atmospheric circulation, regional topographic patterns and/or site-specific climatic and hydrological factors mainly in Southern Levant (Egypt, Israel/Palestine), the lack of long term records from the northern Levant (Lebanon, Syria, Turkey, Cyprus), especially from speleothems, limits our understanding of the regional response to the climatic conditions. While the spatial coverage of paleoclimate studies from speleothem records is different between northern and southern Levant, the temporal gap is also significant with the Holocene period being well documented in both regions but not the MIS 3, MIS 5, 6 and 7 periods. This study attempts to document a new paleoclimate study from Cypriot speleothems in order to fill the spatial and temporal gaps within the global paleoclimate scheme of the East-Mediterranean region. The Kyrenia mountain range hosts several caves (e.g. Smoky, Pentadactylos, Kupo, Palace, Hot, Pigeon, Fig Tree, etc…) with a variety of calcite precipitates. Two speleothems were sampled from Smoky cave (Alt. 800 m) and pre-dated using Uranium-Thorium dating series. One speleothem was sampled from Pentadactylos (Alt. 1000 m) and was extensively dated. The results are compared to other Cypriot and regional records with the same temporal coverage and with an attempt to describe the regional significance of the Cypriot speleothem records for the understanding of the past climate changes in the East-Med. The final results (U-Th datings and isotopes analysis) will be included in the Speleothem Isotopes Synthesis and Analysis database (SISAL), a global database for sharing speleothem data among the scientific community in paleoclimatology.
PROCEEDINGS, 4th Middle-East Speleology Symposium (MESS4) Akdeniz University, Antalya, Turkey – October 3, 4, 5 & 6, 2018
Presentation and Analysis of Speleothems from Ghale-kord Cave (Iran) Ghassem Ghaderi1 & Yusef Vaghef2 1
Poorab Fars; Mehr Bldg. 44. Pasdaran Blvd., Shiraz, Fars, IRAN, ghaderig1348@gmail.com 2 Zamani ; Tiraze Blvd. Punak Sqr., Tehran, IRAN,Yusef_vaghef@yahoo.com
The speleothems are calcite precipitates formed in caves with various types(Moore 1952). The speleothems help in reconstructing past climate changes of the environment on the regional scale. This study has presented photographed and analyzed Ghale-kord Cave speleothems. The cave is located at 250 Km west of Tehran in Oligo-Miocene limestone. The cave is shaped in folding with universal trending NW-SE aligns with the west (W) folding of Iran (Zagros Range). Infiltrated water into cave had made very beautiful and distinct speleothems over thousands of years. Identifying and presenting this speleothem along with photography measurement and interpreting their formation can be lead to better understanding the cave calcite distribution and planning for preserving these valuable calcite formations. In this study, all the speleothems of Ghale-kord Cave were identified and about 80 photos were taken and their position was marked on the map. In analyzing the speleothems of Ghale-Kord cave, the types, subtypes and varieties of these formations were determined first according to Hill&Forti (1997) classification and their forming mechanism was studied. New soda straws and renewed growth of speleothems on older broken speleothems shows that the growth rate of speleothems in some corridors and halls are fast in the present day. Moreover, dissolution process on old speleothems expresses that dripping water is under-saturation with respect to calcite.
PROCEEDINGS, 4th Middle-East Speleology Symposium (MESS4) Akdeniz University, Antalya, Turkey – October 3, 4, 5 & 6, 2018
Es-Suweida Lava Caves (Southern Syria): Speleological Study Combining Geology And History Fadi Henri NADER, Johnny TAWK, and SCL Team Spéléo-Club du Liban, P.O. Box: 70-923 Antelias, Lebanon fadi.nader@gmail.com
This contribution presents the results of several expeditions of the Speleo-Club du Liban, which took place between 2008 and 2011 in Es-Suwaida region, in southern Syria. In particular, Omm el Rommane and Aariqa lava caves will be discussed based on speleological documentation combined to geological and historical investigations. Omm el Rommane cave is formed in the earliest Quaternary lava sheets (namely the paehoehoe lavas of β1Q1). The cave entrance (14m deep and 20m wide), which is situated in a flat agricultural area, may have been formed by roof-collapse. Almost all features found in volcanic caves are also found in Omm el Rommane cave; e.g.: levees and gutters, flow ledges, splash stalactites, lava columns and stalagmites, as well as rafts. In addition, beautiful calcite speleothems decorate this cave.
The Aariqa lava cave was also called Aahiré and it is found within the Recent lava sheets (β5Q4; dated to 4,000 years BP). The cave was used since the Nabatean period (64 B.C / 106 A.D) till the 1920s. The entrance is an impressive open-collapse with constructed structures. In addition, to the famous basalt door (probably Nabatean in age), remains of stone walls, bones and pottery were found. The cave, characterized with flat floor, hosts remnants of human construction (housing). A small fragment of a pottery was dated to the Arab Period in southern Syria (634 AD – 643AD). Inscriptions are also seen on the passage walls. Near the end of the cave a narrow passage leads to a second entrance.
PROCEEDINGS, 4th Middle-East Speleology Symposium (MESS4) Akdeniz University, Antalya, Turkey – October 3, 4, 5 & 6, 2018
Microbial Diversity Of Yarık Sinkhole In Taşeli Plateau Of Antalya-Turkey Nihal Doğruöz Güngör, Derya Nur Cömert, Elif Özlem Arslan- Aydoğdu Istanbul University, Faculty of Science, Department of Biology, 34134 Vezneciler, Istanbul, Turkey.
Natural caves, due to the unique characteristics (high humidity rate, limited nutritional sources, usually stable low-temperature, etc.), are becoming more important in terms of their microbial diversity. The microorganisms from isolated cave environments from the outside world are important both the discovery of new species and their potential for new bioactive substances. Furthermore, the bacterial diversity and composition are important also for the formation of cave structures. Therefore, the purpose of the study is to determine the bacterial and archaeal diversity of the Yarık Sinkhole Cave by the Illumina MiSeq based next generation metagenomic sequencing approach. Since the samples were taken during the discovery of this cave, the data of the work is unique and irreducible. The samples were collected from the -80, -120 and -300 m depths. DNA was extracted from soil using the Fast DNA Spin Kit according to the manufacturer's instructions. The protocol includes the primer pair sequences for the V3 and V4 region of the 16S rRNA that create a single amplicon of approximately 460 bp. A total of 33 OTUs comprising 4 bacterial phyla (Firmicutes, Proteobacteria, Bacteroidetes and Actinobacteria) were found in this study. When the results were analyzed, it was detected that as the depth increases Firmicutes, Bacteroidetes and Actinobacteria rise, but Proteobacteria decrease. The archaeal genome was not found from samples.
PROCEEDINGS, 4th Middle-East Speleology Symposium (MESS4) Akdeniz University, Antalya, Turkey – October 3, 4, 5 & 6, 2018
Fauna Of The Lava Tube Caves In The Mediterranean Region Of Turkey NURSEL AŞAN BAYDEMİR, Prof. Dr. University of Kırıkkale, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Department of Biology, 71450 Yahşihan, Kırıkkale, Turkey e-mail: nurselasan@yahoo.com
It has been reported that 40% of Turkish lands are suitable for karsification and caves are usually located in karst terrains. Recently, in addition to the karstic caves, several lava tube caves have been determined in Hatay province located in the Mediterranean region. Hitherto, 41 bat species have been recorded in Turkey, most of which prefer karstic caves to form large maternity and hibernation colonies. Various authors have noted that there are 17 bat species in Hatay. For the present study, four lava tubes were visited at least twice a year, once in spring or summer and once in autumn or winter between the years of 2015-2018. As few people as possible entered the lava tubes and took pictures so as not to disturb the bat colonies and invertebrates, which are hibernating particularly in winter, and the bats were analyzed in low light conditions. For the first time, it was found in the present study that Rhinolophus blasii (Blasius’s Horseshoe bat) creates large hibernating colonies, Rhinolophus mehelyi (Mehely’s Horseshoe Bat), Myotis capaccinii (Long-fingered bat), and Miniopterus schreibersii (Common bent-wing bat) form large maternity colonies in lava tube caves. In addition, Charinus ioanniticus (whip spider) and Chaetopelma olivaceum (Middle East Black tarantula) as well as Hystrix indica (Indian Crested Porcupine) and Hyaena hyaena (Striped Hyaena) were also recorded in those caves at different times. The present study established that the bat species that are existing in karstic caves are also found in lava tube caves in Turkey.
PROCEEDINGS, 4th Middle-East Speleology Symposium (MESS4) Akdeniz University, Antalya, Turkey – October 3, 4, 5 & 6, 2018
Role of Bacteria in Formations of Speleothems Elif Özlem Arslan, Batu Çolak, Nihal Doğruöz Güngör Istanbul University, Faculty of Sience, Department of Biology, 34000, ISTANBUL eoarslan@istanbul.edu.tr
ABSTRACT Caves are underground spaces formed by sedimentation and extend various depts. It was thought that cave formations such as stalactites and columns were only geochemical processes. However, the investigations have shown that microbial activities can increase the rate of expansion of caves and play a role in the formation of stalactites, stalagmites, cave pearls, curtains, etc. These microorganisms, responsible for cave surface formations, have the potential to use in building restoration studies. Therefore, the determination of calcification abilities of the bacteria, which were isolated from cave surfaces, has been important. For this reason, in the current study, the calcification formation capacities of the bacteria from different caves’ surface structures have investigated. The result showed that different bacteria belong as Bacillus, Brevibacterium, Sphingomonas, Brevundimonas, Enhydrobacter genus from different caves can be cause crystallization. These results are important to reveal the potential of cave microorganisms. Keywords: Cave, Microbiology, Bacteria, Calcification INTRODUCTION In our knowledge, the life is strict relations with its environment and can shape its surroundings in different ways to survive. These also true for microbial communities and geochemical process. Historically, researchers have tried to explain many geochemical reactions with purely inorganic chemistry, due to lack of culture methods in microbiology, microbial activity in geological environments has ignored (Amann et. al., 1995). It is known that CaCO3 accumulation has been a general phenomenon among bacteria since the 1970's (Boquet et.al. 1973). Many types of cave structures, which formerly thought to be of inorganic origin, are being re-evaluated. Nowadays, the last studies indicated that lots of these structures may be organic originates (Melim et.al, 2001). Microbial activities such as photosynthesis, ammonification, denitrification, anaerobic sulfide oxidation may lead to the extracellular precipitation of calcium carbonate (Simkiss and Wilbur 1989; Ehrlich 1996; Castanier et.al. 1999; Riding 2000). Bacterial calcification includes autotrophic pathways that induce local CO2 depletion of the medium and heterotrophic pathways that can lead to active or passive precipitation. The active or passive precipitation causes calcification of cell membrane or solid media, respectively. In this pathway, calcification capacity of the heterotrophic bacterial communities limits by the quantity of organic matter. The results of calcification studies indicate that the abiotic limestone formation can be caused by heterotrophic bacterial precipitation. Therefore, these carbonate formation activity of bacteria has the use for stonework preservation and restoration (Castanier et.al 2000). Under this knowledge, the aim of our study was the detection of calcification abilities of bacteria, which were isolated from different cave surfaces in Turkey. MATERIALS AND METHODS Sample Areas Morca cave is located in Anamur, MERSİN South eastside of TURKEY. Geology of cave hasn’t studied because of the recent discovery of Morca cave. Last expedition set the depth nearly 871 m and still going, this makes Morca cave one of the deepest caves in Turkey. Conditions in the cave like moisture and temperature were recorded. Yarık Sinkhole is located on the ANTALYA Sivastı which is centered 30 km north of Gazipaşa and is named with a specially assigned geological sequence such as Sivastı Yayla formation. Yarık Sinkhole cave was with a length of 1378 m with 533 m deep (Fig. 1).
PROCEEDINGS, 4th Middle-East Speleology Symposium (MESS4) Akdeniz University, Antalya, Turkey – October 3, 4, 5 & 6, 2018
Samples The temperature in Morca cave was around 5oC and humidity was %96. Conditions underground were stable. The sampling site from cave was near minus 500m altitude. Samples were taken from cave surface. The samples were diluted serially and spread onto R2A and TSA Agar plates for the isolation of aerobic heterotrophic bacteria. After the incubation, different types of colonies were selected and examined for colony morphology, gram characteristics and micromorphology. Isolates which are thought to be different by comparing micromorphology and stored at -86° C in stock medium containing 18% glycerol until further characterization. 50 strains chosen by these isolates and serial dilutions from samples spread on B4 medium (glucose, calcium acetate, agar, yeast extract, pH 8.0) (Boquet et.al. 1973). Isolates are incubated in 30oC for 3 weeks. All cultures were periodically examined by light microscopy to determine the presence of crystals.
(a)
(b)
Fig1. Mersin (a) and Antalya (b)
Identification of Test Strains For the identification of isolates, their genomic DNA was amplified by 27F (5′-AGAGTTTGATCCT GGCTCAG-3′) and 1492R (5′-GGTTACCTTGTTA CGACTT-3′) universal primers. The PCR protocol were 1 min initial DNA denaturation at 95°C, followed by 35 cycles (15 s denaturation at 95°C, 15 s annealing at 55°C, and 10 s extension at 72°C). The obtained PCR products were subjected to sequence analysis by Sanger Sorting Method. The results were evaluated by blast analysis and the bacteria were named (Argyros et al. 2000). RESULTS AND DISCUSION %92.85 of strains isolated from Morca cave and %64.70 of strains from Yarık sinkhole precipitated CaCO3 crystals (Fig. 2). From total 53 samples we get %67.92 biomineralization rate (Table 1 & 2). This indicate that bacteria interact and shapes its environment. In addition, these microbes, in the geological time scale, does significant change in cave structure. In this study the results of DNA sequencing indicate that cristalizing bacteria are belong to Bacillus sp., Brevibacterium sp., Sphingomonas sp., Brevundimonas sp., Enhydrobacter sp. genus. However, it was determined that the bacteria that do not produce the crystal particles used in this study were Microbacterium sp. and Acinetobacterium sp. Karstic cave formations include geochemical and biogeochemical process. Microorganisms, one of the most important agents for the geological process of the world, play an essential role in the formation of karstic systems (Cao et. al., 2001). Even though this knowledge is new, recently, researches in this subject have been developing.
R27
(a)
(b)
Fig2. CaCO3 precipitating bacteria microscopy (a) and macroscopy (b)
PROCEEDINGS, 4th Middle-East Speleology Symposium (MESS4) Akdeniz University, Antalya, Turkey – October 3, 4, 5 & 6, 2018
Table 1. The list of isolates from Morca Cave
Sample area
Sample No T2
Gram Reaction
Microscopy
+
Spore bacillus
Crystallisation -
T17
+
Filamentous bacillus
+
T71
+
Filamentous bacillus
+
T73
+
Bacillus
+
T74
+
Bacillus
+
T75
+
Bacillus
+
T90
+
Filamentous bacillus
+
T92
+
Spore bacillus
+
T116
+
Coccus
+
T117
-
Bacillus
+
T121
+
Bacillus
+
T123
+
Streptococcus
+
R1
+
Spore bacillus
+
R27
-
Bacillus
+
Morca
Table 2. The list of isolates from Yarık Sinkhole Sample area
Sample No
Gram Reaction
Microscopy
Crystallisation
Yarık Sinkhole
Y68 Y70 Y72 Y139 Y141 Y144 Y145 Y147 Y151 Y152 Y154 Y157 Y163 Y171 Y172 Y173 Y174
+ + + + + + + + + + + + +
Cocobacilli Cocobacilli Cocobacilli Coccus Coccus Bacillus Cocobacilli Coccus Bacilli Coccus Cocobacilli Bacilli Spore bacillus Cocobacilli Bacill Bacill Bacill
+ + + + + + + + + -
PROCEEDINGS, 4th Middle-East Speleology Symposium (MESS4) Akdeniz University, Antalya, Turkey – October 3, 4, 5 & 6, 2018
Y176 Y177 Y178 Y186 Y187 Y190 Y191 Y192 Y193 Y194 Y195 Y198 Y205 Y215 Y232 Y238 Y277
+ + + + + + + + + + + -
Bacill Bacill Bacill Bacill Bacill Spore Bacilli Bacill Bacill Bacill Bacill Bacill Bacillus Coccus Bacilli Coccus Bacillus Bacillus
+ + + + + + + + + + + + +
Due to the usage capacity of the bio-products in the different area, this calcification feature of the bacteria might help us in the construction of self-healing concretes (M é tayer-Levrel et al., 1999). We need more research to understand the forces of nature and interaction between life with it. These results have given a sign of the relationship between microbes and carbon cycle in karst systems. REFERENCES Argyros, F.C., Ghosh M., Huang L., Masubuchı N., Cave D.R., Geübel P., 2000. Evolution of a PCR Primer Based on the Isocitrate Dehyrogenase Gene for Detection of Helicobacter pylori in Feces, Boston , Journal of Clınıcal Microbiology , p. 3755-3758 Amann, R. I., Ludwig, W., & Schleifer, K. H. 1995. Phylogenetic identification and in situ detection of individual microbial cells without cultivation. Microbiological Reviews, 59(1), 143-169. Castanier, S., Le Métayer-Levrel, G., & Perthuisot, J.P., 1999. Ca-carbonates precipitation and limestone genesis—the microbiogeologist point of view. Sedimentary Geology, 126(1-4), 9-23. Castanier, S., Le Metayer-Levrel, G., & Perthuisot, J. P. 2000. Bacterial roles in the precipitation of carbonate minerals. Microbial Sediments (pp). 32-39). Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. Cao, J. H., Yuan, D. X., & Pan, G. X. 2001. Preliminary study on biological action in karst dynamic system. Earth Science Frontiers, 8(1), 203-209. Danielli, H. M. C., & Edington, M. A. 1983. Bacterial calcification in limestone caves. Geomicrobiology Journal, 3(1), 1-16. Boquet, E., Boronat, A., & Ramos-Cormenzana, A. 1973. Production of calcite (calcium carbonate) crystals by soil bacteria is a general phenomenon. Nature, 246(5434), 527. Ehrlich, H. L. 1996. Geomicrobiology. 3rd eds., 719p. Melim. A., Shinglman K. M., Boston P. J., Northup D. E., Spilde M. N., Queen J. M., 2001. Evidence for microbial involvement in pool finger precipitation, Hidden Cave, New Mexico. Geomicrobiology Journal, 18(3), 311-329. Laiz, L., Gonzalez-Delvalle, M., Hermosín, B., Ortiz-Martinez, A., & Sáiz-Jiménez, C. 2003. Isolation of cave bacteria and substrate utilization at different temperatures. Geomicrobiology Journal, 20(5), 479-489. Riding, R. 2000. Microbial carbonates: the geological record of calcified bacterial–algal mats and biofilms. Sedimentology, 47, 179-214. Simkiss, K. 1989. Mollusca-epithelial control of matrix and mineral. Biomineralization: cell biology and mineral deposition, 230260.
PROCEEDINGS, 4th Middle-East Speleology Symposium (MESS4) Akdeniz University, Antalya, Turkey – October 3, 4, 5 & 6, 2018
Exploitation, Geomorphological And Hydrological Studies, Exploration Of New Galleries In Qattine Azar Sinkhole (Lebanon) Helene Rechmany1, Ghada Salem2, Mazen Arzouni3… 123Association
Libanaise d’Etudes Spéléologiques (ALES); Mansourieh Metn, P.O. Box 1253 2010, Lebanon E-mail: ales.liban@gmail.com
INTRO. The system of Qattine Azar, located in Matn Caza, in Mount-Lebanon, was discovered in 1996 and explored to the depth of 517m, with a development of 4365m reached till 20041. Since 2004, the Association Libanaise d’Études Spéléologiques (ALES) carried numerous missions over the years, with many goals: exploration of new passages and galleries, topography, photography, training, different studies (geomorphological, hydrological). Below is the story of Houet Qattine Azar, from the beginning till the 2017 mission which uncovered that the system is now ranked second biggest one in Lebanon, with a current development of 7500m.
HISTORY. Qattine Azar sinkhole was known first as a small shelter cave for the shepherds and their sheep and goats herds. Due to their curiosity, two local residents of Aintoura (el Matn), the brothers Tony and Nohra Azar climbed the 8 meters high walls and reached the ceiling that revealed a narrow 30 meters passage that ended in a large pit, which stopped their adventurous progression. The providence made them meet one week later, and on site, the now deceased Pro. Hani Abdul-Nour, ALES mentor, who realized that this could be the discovery that every caver waits for all his life. Effectively, since 1996 the Qattine Azar system was home to many missions carried out by the ALES members, joined sometimes by other cavers from Lebanese clubs, or other international cavers. The story of the discoveries and studies till 2004 were published in Spéléorient, the ALES publication: including a water tracing in 1996 which showed that the underground river reappears in Faouar Antelias resurgence, near the sea coast and 1350m lower. Also diving missions in the up-stream sump and the terminal sump were conducted. The importance of the underground river (with a flow of 8000m3/day) urged the Council for Development and Research (CDR) to undertake a water catchment project to fulfill the needs of the upper Matn region. After the digging of 4 boreholes in the terminal sump, the water was dragged to the surface. In 2004 and in honor of its efforts for the public utilities, ALES obtained from the President of the Lebanese Republic the Silver Medal of Lebanese Merit with Palms; number 13879 (30 December 2004).
FROM 2006 TILL 2017. The following will display: 1- Different Hydrological studies done on its underground water, including tracing missions, and their results. a- Installation of a Luirographe 2007 b- 2 new tracing missions: ◼ Houet Tabet – Qattine Azar: 2013
PROCEEDINGS, 4th Middle-East Speleology Symposium (MESS4) Akdeniz University, Antalya, Turkey – October 3, 4, 5 & 6, 2018
◼ H. Faouar Dara – Qattine Azar: 2016 c- Geomorphological studies done by Badr Jabbour-Gédéon at EDYTEM - Université de Savoie were made in two different sections of Qattine Azar. This gave the sinkhole a subsequent scientific importance. Master 1 - 2009 - La cartographie géomorphologique souterraine, Application à la grotte -112m de Houet Qattîne Azar Haut Metn, Liban and Master 2 - 2011 : La Reconstitution Spéléogénique de Houet Qattîne Azar, Haut Metn 2- Different exploration missions lead to many galleries waiting to be explored. ACHIEVEMENTS AND WORKS IN PROGRESS ALONG H. QATTINE AZAR GALLERIES. -
-
-
-
-
Réseau Abdo (2008): Between P.15 and steps at -120 m: Total Length: 100m. This passage leads to a chimney that the cavers climbed to 20m high, but they stopped the ascent due to the realization that it leads to the land of the upper villa, an opening closed by the landowner with a big rock. The conclusion is that this forms the second entrance to the sinkhole, even if it’s artificially obstructed. Since the first discoveries of the underground river, we have been finding many objects (female shoe, agriculture remains, garbage), hence we have suspected that there must have been a direct connection with the surface. The Réseau Abdo and its chimney are the vivid proof of this connection. The search of other connections has been also conducted on both the surface and underground. This search leads to the inventory of many small caves or chambers (not more than 10m each) on the surface of Qattine Azar. These chambers were located on the general topography of Qattine Azar, and they could be part of the sinkhole’s system. Small Réseau (near Réseau Abdo) (2008): Between P.15 and Steps at -120m: Total Length: 60 to 70m. On top of P. 43 (-160m) (2008): The cavers escalated up to 10m. in a very narrow chimney, no way to continue the ascent. Ascent on bottom of P.43 (-220m) (2008): The cavers escalated up to 30m. On a side wall, over the Puits Latéral, to reach a small passage with an edge. Progression “main courante” on top of P.43 (2008) to reach a small passage covered with lithic fragments. Galerie des Francais Connection with Houet Tabet: For many years the ALES cavers conducted numerous expeditions in order to ascend the ending cliff in Galerie Des Français. The height reached by the cavers is 82m, but since it’s directed towards Houet Tabet, a sinkhole of -60m discovered in 2007 at 100m North of H. Qattine Azar’s entrance, the ALES decided to conduct a water tracing mission, to see if any connection could be established between Houet Tabet and Galerie Des Français. The water tracing was made in 2013 and the result was positive. The cavers started digging inside H. Tabet in order to enlarge the passage, and the work is still in progress. H. Tabet is to be considered as a 3rd entrance to H. Qattine Azar, when it’s finally opened. The exploration of the underground river main gallery is still in progress, since many openings were spotted on the walls or in the ceiling, all of which need to be climbed. Some of these openings were completed, and lead to small passages: Cimetiere des chauve-souris (2008): (Total length 150m.) One opening (at 150m after the Jonction lead to a new gallery, considered important for many reasons, one of which is that at 440m. we discovered a bats cemetery, with the remains of approximately 10 fossilized bats on
PROCEEDINGS, 4th Middle-East Speleology Symposium (MESS4) Akdeniz University, Antalya, Turkey – October 3, 4, 5 & 6, 2018
-
-
-
the ground. This discovery has made us puzzled about how the bats went so far inside the cave, unless there is a nearby entrance yet to be discovered. Affluent 1 (-460m, 2km from the main entrance): Expeditions from 2004 till 2017 lead to 700m development of this gallery. And in 2007 and 2008, the expeditions extended the gallery by 1km, but the progress was interrupted by a huge chimney that needed advance climbing. The continuation of this exploration was only done starting 8 years later, in 2016, when a water tracing was conducted in H. Faouar Dara, to see if there is a connection with H. Qattine Azar. The tracing result was positive, and fluorescein was spotted in the Affluent 1. During the watch of this mission, one ALES caver Badih Gabriel, with two SCL cavers, Patrick Lteif and Joey Abou Jaoude, visited the Galerie 2008, when Joey found a small opening in the ending chamber, that lead to a new discovered Gallery. Galeries Hani Abdul-Nour (2016) (at 3km. from the entrance): Expeditions in this new gallery were done in 2016, leading to a discovery of about 1 km of development, divided in 3 passages, with 3 ending walls that caused to stop the progression, but the cavers could clearly see openings to be reached by climbing. Expeditions in Galeries Hani Abdul-Nour were conducted also in 2017, to try to reach the 3 openings discovered the year before. In order to succeed in this mission, an advanced camp was established at Galerie 2008, so the cavers could have enough rest to spend more time underground. In the highest opening (a 70m high ascent) a new passage was discovered leading to a new gallery obviously caused by a visible fault. The cavers chose to follow one direction of the gallery, the same direction of the water flow, leaving the upper level to be discovered later. They descended a 70m pit, and reached a junction. At the left, they followed the path over 100m but the progression was stopped by collapsed blocks. (The topography later showed that this path leads to the Galerie 2008). After returning to the junction, the cavers went in the right path, and followed it over 900m, in a gallery that has huge dimensions, sometimes 10 to 15m large, with a 30m height approximately, noting that they were progressing in the opposite direction of the water flow. This gallery ends with a very narrow siphon, which forms a water source.
CURRENT DEVELOPMENT. The topography of all the discoveries made through the years so far reveals that Houet With a development of 7.500m and still more to come, Qattine Azar is ranked now 2nd biggest cave in Lebanon after Mgharet Jeita (more than 10km).
CONNECTION WITH HOUET FAOUR DARA. The progression of the new Hani Abdul-Nour Galleries lead the cavers towards the direction of Faouar Dara Sinkhole. Our next goal is to continue the progression and try to establish the connection between the two deepest sinkholes of Lebanon and the Middle East. The approximate distance yet to be discovered would be 650m in a straight line.
TRAININGS: Houet Qattine Azar is also considered an ideal site of underground advanced training: during the years, the ALES cavers improved their skills in rope progression, rigging, climbing, photography, topography and endurance, along with participating in scientific research and studies: 2 Masters in geomorphology.
PROCEEDINGS, 4th Middle-East Speleology Symposium (MESS4) Akdeniz University, Antalya, Turkey – October 3, 4, 5 & 6, 2018
EXPERIMENTATION: Rayan Zgheib one of the Lebanese ALES cavers who descended Krubera cave in Georgia (the second deepest sinkhole on Earth), in order to complete his training before the voyage, stayed 7 full days underground, inside Qattine Azar. He was assisted by the ALES members, who visited him every day and individually, at the base camp (-417 m). REFERENCES. 1
Spéléorient N°4, Association d’Etudes Libanaise
Fig.1 Galerie Hani Abdul-Nour
Fig.2 Galerie Hani Abdul-Nour
PROCEEDINGS, 4th Middle-East Speleology Symposium (MESS4) Akdeniz University, Antalya, Turkey – October 3, 4, 5 & 6, 2018
Fig.3 Topographie of H. Qattine Azar (ALES, 2018)
PROCEEDINGS, 4th Middle-East Speleology Symposium (MESS4) Akdeniz University, Antalya, Turkey – October 3, 4, 5 & 6, 2018
Storage in cave master drain and flood response: The Bou Akouss Cave Tebessa, Algeria Didier Cailhol1, Philippe Audra2, Bruno Arfib3, Stéphane Jaillet1, Fethi Baali4, Chemseddine Fehdi4, Hocine Benhammadi4, Ridha Mouici4 1 : EDYTEM - Savoie – Mont-Blanc University 2: Geoazur (UNS - UMR 7329 CNRS- UR 082 IRD - OCA), Polytech Nice – Sophia, University of Nice Sophia-Antipolis 3 : CEREGE - Aix-Marseille University 4: Department of Geology, Tebessa University
Bou Akouss cave system locates in Hammamet, East to Tebessa (North-East Algeria), and is the major karst spring of the Youkkous basin. This important cave, explored and studied during the 80th by Belgian speleologists, is a 1.3 km long underground river. The spring pours out from a pocket valley developed along the Youkkous fault in the Maastrichtian limestones. The active spring pours out at the contact of the Senonian marls aquiclude. The catchment extends in the Northern part of the Cheria plateau with a surface of approximately 45 km². Cheria Plateau is a large (770 km²) and opened syncline with Eocene limestones and marls from the Palaeocene located in the centre, finally covered by Pliocene and Quaternary gravels. The average altitude of the plateau is above 1200 m a.s.l. A collaboration started in 2013 began for 4 years, between Algeria (University of Tebessa) and France (University of Nice Sophia-Antipolis; CEREGE, Aix-Marseille University; EDYTEM, Savoie – Mont-Blanc University), in the frame of the “Tassili” scientific partnership “Hubert Curien”. The aims of this project are the understanding of the dynamic of Bou Akouss karst aquifer, the potentialities for water supplies, and investigations to understand the collapses on the Cheria plateau, especially in the city of Cheria and its surrounding. Thus, the studies have three axes: (I) Field investigations for a better knowledge of the geomorphological and hydrogeological context of the cave system and the Cheria Plateau, (II) Monitoring of the hydrosystem to understand the links between rainfall and flow rate of this aquifer (discharge and runoff), (III) Characterization of the karst aquifer, with physical analysing (water level and temperature changes), description of the phreatic and epiphreatic levels, boundary of the catchment in the northern part of the Cheria plateau aquifer. During two years, different campaigns in Bou Akouss Cave and on the Cheria plateau allow surveying and documenting the karst features. In the cave, a geomorphological map of the entrance gallery and in the river was realised. On the Cheria Plateau the main action was the realization of a high resolution mapping of the main collapses closed to the city of Cheria. The cave system linked with these two collapse dolines was explored and surveyed. The team made a precise description of the erosion processes and the comparative analysis of the sediments quantity in the cave system between 2013 and 2014. In Bou Akouss Cave, because of the high water on March 2013 and April 2014, it was not possible to reach the end of the cave. However, with the speleological investigations in the first part of the cave system, we have a good understanding of the organisation of the galleries and the connections between the different
PROCEEDINGS, 4th Middle-East Speleology Symposium (MESS4) Akdeniz University, Antalya, Turkey – October 3, 4, 5 & 6, 2018
levels, i.e. phreatic and fossil parts. In the same time, a monitoring of the temperature and water level was set in the river. On the plateau, a meteorological station records rainfall. To complete the studies, a database of the physico-chemical characterizations of 5 springs at the boundary of the catchment of Cheria Plateau was built. Results Bou Akouss spring is dammed by a major collapse of the cliff due to the regressive erosion of the pocket valley. The dam controls the outflow conditions of the system. The hydraulic conductivity of this barrier is controlled by the porosity of the boulders and their clay filling. During drought, the aquifer empties with a slow recession. Water level in the cave is low. Only the lowest channels contribute to the discharge. After rainfall, the water level quickly rises in the galleries. After extreme rain and snowmelt events, water rises up to 38m m and the cave entrance acts as an overflow. The lowering of the water level in the cave is controlled by the different channels in the barrier of collapse rocks and by several overflow springs. To verify and quantify these hypotheses, the flow rate inside the barrier has been determined by Darcy’s Law and Torricelli equation. The overflow discharge was calculated using the V-notch weir equation. The relationships between discharge and velocity were used to valid these calculated values. The annual average of the rainfall data for Cheria plateau is 273.06 mm. The dry season is generally on July, the outflow at the spring is very low, less than 1 L/s. The wet season is during winter and spring. The most important flood event record during the field studies was on March 2014. The water level inside the cave raise up to 32.9 m high, the discharge by the different overflow springs in the barrier was 2.25 m3/s. During an extreme flood event the water level flooded out by the cave entrance, the water level inside the cave is 38 m high, as shown by the survey of the galleries. The calculated discharge is about 14 m3/s. With this important field work and 2 years of hydrological record, it is now possible to have a good understanding of the Bou Akouss Cave system and its aquifer. With the comparison between the field data and the calculated values, we propose a description of the hydrologic response after a rainfall event and the dynamic discharge of the Bou Akouss aquifer.
Figure 1 : Sketch of the entrance of Bou Akouss cave. On this schematic section, we can see the basin in a median position, the extension of the major collapse with inside a proposition of the water circulations.
PROCEEDINGS, 4th Middle-East Speleology Symposium (MESS4) Akdeniz University, Antalya, Turkey – October 3, 4, 5 & 6, 2018
A Geological And Structural Survey On Ghale-Kord Cave (Iran) Ghassem Ghaderi1 & Leila Karimi2 1
Poorab Fars; Mehr Bldg. 44. Pasdaran Blvd., Shiraz, Fars, IRAN, ghaderig1348@gmail.com 2 Dibavaran; Mellat Bldg. Gaz Blvd., Shiraz, Fars, IRAN, l_karimi2007@yahoo.com
ABSTRACT Ghale-kord cave is locateded in 250 kilometer west of Tehran in Oligo-Miocene limestone. This cave is shaped in folding with trending northwest southeast align with folding of west of Iran (Zagros Range). Huge and regional faults come to existence in zone mostly with N300-330W trend and 40-50 degree dip. The expansion of joints and fractures in this limestone prepared the condition for water penetration and dissolution and Ghale-kord Cave formation. In this study with the use of air photos and field study, all fractures out of the cave (in radius one km away) have been taken, analyzed and compared with fractures in the cave. All the karstic phenomenon out of cave also have been measured and photographed. In addition to taking samples and supplying thin section to trace petro graphical characteristics of limestone, it was analyzed with XRF and XRD. T, TDS, EC and PH parameters were measured for hydro chemical study, in all the water ponds of cave (16 water ponds) and decomposition of anions and cations in two sample of water of cave and one sample fountain out of the cave was done. Finally, with regarding to stratigraphy, Tectonic, hydro chemical study of water, topography, morphology and petrography, it was tried to achieve a conceptual model for genesis of cave. The results of this study revealed that gradual entry of run off to limestone was began by the time which bed rock of river adjoining the cave, was located 100 meters above the current level and during the time caused cave formation. Although tectonic initially had the main role in conducting water into the host stone (as far as the cave expansion pattern is in conformity with dominant faults and fractures) but liquidation processes had more efficacy on cave formation.
PROCEEDINGS, 4th Middle-East Speleology Symposium (MESS4) Akdeniz University, Antalya, Turkey – October 3, 4, 5 & 6, 2018
Microorganisms as proxy of human impact in caves Oana Teodora Moldovan1, Silviu Constantin2, Silviu Bercea1, Ruxandra Năstase-Bucur1, Ionuț Cornel Mirea2, Dragoș Ștefan Măntoiu2, Marius Kenesz1, Alexandru Petculescu2 1Emil
1Emil Racovitza Institute of Speleology – Cluj Department; Clinicilor 5, Cluj-Napoca, Romania Racovitza Institute of Speleology – Dept. of Geospeleology and Palentology; Frumoasa 13, Bucuresti, Romania E-mail: oanamol35@gmail.com
ABSTRACT. Microbial pollution in touristic areas
pose a risk both for the integrity of an ecosystem and for human health. Four show caves from the Carpathian Mountains were selected for our study. Air and water were sampled monthly to obtain an overview of the changes that occur over a yearly cycle. Test plates were used for microbiological monitoring, alongside the recording of environmental parameters - physicochemical, drip rates, radon and number of both bats and tourists. A higher number of microbes were obtained during springtime and the summer tourist peak-season. None of the identified strains were cave-specific, and the presence of human-associated taxa was observed from all of the sites. Low or no correlation between the abundances of the microorganisms and the physicochemical parameters emphasise the reliability of microorganisms as significant proxies for impacts on underground environments and their use in management decisions. Keywords: Microorganisms; Caves; GIS maps; Management INTRODUCTION
Caves and especially show caves, as relatively constant environments, are extremely vulnerable to human impacts. Show caves are prone to irreversible modifications if measures of protection during the development of the touristic infrastructure and during touristic exploitation are not taken.
Tourism in caves started over 400 years ago and at present many countries have at least one cave if not dozens that are opened for tourism (Cigna and Forti 2013), with more and more caves that are opened each year all over the world. It has been demonstrated that the number of microorganisms occurring underground, even potential pathogens, increases with the growing number of tourists (Lavoie and Northup 2006; Fernández-Cortés et al. 2011; Porca et al. 2011; Saiz-Jimenez 2012; Griffin et al. 2014; Pusz et al. 2015; Ogórek et al. 2016a, 2016b). The present study is the first attempt to model microbiological risk in show caves by using GIS generated maps with classes of microbial pollution and provide management recommendations for four Romanian show caves. MATERIAL AND METHODS
Four show caves, Urșilor, Muierilor, Meziad and Polovragi, were sampled from March 2015 to April 2016 to obtain an overview of the changes that occur in airborne and water microorganisms in both abundance and compositions in relation to different environmental features (Fig. 1). We chose areas with high input potential from tourists (along the trail), high input potential from bats (rousting colonies), natural input areas (cave entrances) and low input potential areas (nontouristic areas). The four caves represent touristic attractions for their decorated passages, bats colonies and cave bear bones.
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Sampling of total viable count was done using RIDA®COUNT plates for Total Aerobic Bacteria (TB), Yeast and Molds (YM), and Enterobacteriaceae.
interpolation (natural neighbour) that used barriers (Sibson 1981). Results
Airborne Enterobacteriaceae were present in some of the sampling sites, generally in low numbers and missing in some winter and spring months in the monitored caves. The exceptions were the higher number in December in Meziad.
Fig. 1. The location of the studied caves in Romania The following parameters were registered continuously (when possible) or at each sampling session: temperature, air flow, CO2, particles in air, air relative humidity, tourist traffic flow, radon concentration, water conductivity and pH, dripping rates and number of bats. To establish management measures for visitation in the four caves in dependence to the abundance of air microorganisms we proposed seasonal risk maps using a classification method modified from Porca et al. (2011) that takes into consideration the sum of air TB and YM abundances. Five classes ranking from caves with no problem (Class 1) to caves with high ecological disturbance (Class 5) were established for each station: Class 1. TB + YM <50 colonies/m3; Class 2. TB + YM = 50 –150 colonies /m3; Class 3. TB + YM = 150 –500 colonies /m3; Class 4. TB + YM = 500 –1000 colonies /m3; Class 5. TB + YM > 1000 colonies /m3.
The results on the obtained classes were added within an ArcGIS 10.3.1. ESRI environment. Multiple 0.5 m resolution surfaces were generated with the help of a deterministic
The most abundant TBs were found inside Ursilor, surpassing Muierilor. Meziad had three times more TB than Polovragi. Polovragi had also the lowest number of YM. The highest total number of YM was found in Meziad, even if sampling was done in fewer months than in Ursilor and Muierilor. Water microorganisms in Ursilor had the TB peaks in April, May and July, while YM were predominantly in May, July and October. Enterobacteriaceae were in low number. In Meziad, the overall number of TB peaked in April, July, August and December with YM having a similar pattern of presence in lower number. Most Enterobacteriaceae were from April and June. Most TBs in Muierilor were present in the April–July period, with a smaller peak in September. Although in much lower numbers, YM had a similar peak presence from April until close to the end of the tourist season in September. The highest number of Enterobacteriaceae was in April. Values for the unvisited part of the cave were the lowest for total numbers of TB and YM. The dripping site in Muierilor had higher levels of TB, YM and Enterobacteriaceae compared to the pools in the same cave. TB in Polovragi were mostly present in April and July, with high levels also observed in December. The low YM number in this cave was mostly from April, July and August. The Enterobacteriaceae peak was in April.
PROCEEDINGS, 4th Middle-East Speleology Symposium (MESS4) Akdeniz University, Antalya, Turkey â&#x20AC;&#x201C; October 3, 4, 5 & 6, 2018
The five classes of risk were applied for airborne microorganisms for two months (Table 1; Fig. 2).
Table 1 Example of microbiological risk classes for four months for the studied caves. RISK CLASSES Ursilor
Muierilor
St
Aug
Dec
St
Aug
Dec
1
4
2
1
3
3
2
4
1
2
3
1
3
4
1
3
2
1
4
4
1
4
4
1
5
3
1
5
5
1
Fig. 2. Monthly risk maps for human health for the studied show caves: Ursilor (A), Muierilor (B), Meziad (C, with the two levels), Polovragi (D); from class 1 that indicates no pollution to the most polluted ones represented by class 5. Modified after Bercea et al., 2018.
7
4
1
6
4
1
DISCUSSION
8
4
1
7
2
1
9
2
1
8
3
1
10
3
1
9
3
2
In Ursilor, microbiological pollution in August was strong and observable even at the end of the cave. The main probable cause was the drastic increase of the touristsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; number and the air quality in the entrance building that showed high levels of pollution. August was also the month with the highest pollution level in Muierilor and the main cause was tourism. In Meziad elevated concentrations of airborne microorganisms were reached in the upper level, in August and December, due to the presence of bats. In Polovragi the concentrations of airborne microorganisms were low.
Meziad
Polovragi
St
Aug
Dec
St
Aug
Dec
1
4
1
1
3
2
2
3
1
3
3
1
3
3
1
4
1
1
4
2
1
5
3
1
6
4
5
In the studied caves, an increase in both cave CO2 and temperature was observed from spring to summer months explained by the natural increase of both parameters at the surface. This natural increase is enhanced inside caves by the summer tourism. The obtained results showed that the factors that explain better the abundance variations of air microorganisms in the studied show caves are number of tourists,
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CO2, air relative humidity, number of bats, and radon level.
input from the surface (dripping), and the presence of both tourists and bats (Table 2). Conclusions
Table 2. Summary of the factors that are susceptible to impact water bodies microbiology in caves CAVE Ursilor
Meziad
Muierilor
Polovragi
Physicochemistry
NO
NO
NO
NO
Tourism
NO
YES
YES
NO
Dripping rate
NO
YES (December)
NO
YES
Bats
N/A
YES
YES
NO
YES
YES
YES
for YM
for YM
for YM
Air microorganisms
NO
Among the identified strains, no cave-specific species were found throughout the monitoring program, although groups that were not previously known from caves were found. There was no significant correlation between the abundances of the three monitored groups of microorganisms in the water and the physicochemical parameters measured on site and in laboratory. The physical characteristics and chemical contents of the studied water bodies showed low variability throughout the period of the study, while the microorganisms registered significant variations, even from one month to another. The high number of TB (>1,000 CFU), in some of the monitored stations and in some periods, far exceeded the levels found in other investigated water sources in Slovenian and Slovakian caves, which capped out at 434 CFU (Mulec et al., 2012), or those from Altamira Cave, which had only up to 310 CFU (Laiz et al., 1999). The microbiological loads of the waters in the four studied caves were subject to variability caused by microhabitat type (pool or dripping water), seasonal water
The microbiological monitoring and microbiological risk maps should be instruments for the show caves management and although tourism impact is inevitable its effects can be minimized. We propose the following management measures to be taken after the microbiological study of water bodies in the four show caves: (1) Constructions at the entrance. In Ursilor, special care should be given to the state of the building at the cave entrance that presents a higher risk of microbiological contamination than the cave itself. (2) Visitation period. The summer visiting hours should be limited to maximum 8 hours/day for 6 days/week in Ursilor. In Muierilor the time spent by each group inside the cave especially in its middle part should be limited. The upper level in Meziad should be avoided during periods with a high number of bats and this measure can be applied by adopting a different trail inside the cave. (3) Paths. In the cases of Ursilor and Muierilor the concrete path act as a barrier that limits the touristsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; impact on the pools with water on the cave floor. Concrete paths can be cleaned and might be the best solution for show caves, where possible. (4) Bats. Meziad had high TB and the highest mean number of enterobacteria. This cave has a traced natural path which crosses several points where bats and guano are present. High abundance of enterobacteria were also found in Muierilor where bats are found all along the touristic path. For Meziad and Muierilor the management measures should concentrate on redesigning the paths to avoid the direct contact of visitors with bats and guano.
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(5) Other measures such as the opening of doors during the night in Ursilor together with microclimatic monitoring should be tested before implementation. REFERENCES Cigna, A. A., Forti, P., 2013. Caves: the most important geotouristic feature in the world. Tourism Karst Areas, 6, 9-26. Fernandez-Cortes, A., Cuezva, S., Sánchez-Moral, S., Cañaveras, J. C., Porca, E., Jurado, V. et al., 2011. Detection of human-induced environmental disturbances in a show cave. Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 18, 1037-1045. Griffin, D. W., Gray, M. A., Lyles, M. B., Northup, D. E., 2014. The transport of nonindigenous microorganisms into caves by human visitation: a case study at Carlsbad Caverns National Park. Geomicrobiology Journal, 31, 175-185.
Laiz, L., Groth, I., Gonzalez, I., Saiz-Jimenez, C., 1999. Microbiological study of the dripping waters in Altamira cave (Santillana del Mar, Spain). Journal of Microbiological Methods, 36, 129–138. Lavoie, K. H., Northup, D. E., 2006. Bacteria as indicators of human impact in caves. Proceedings 17th National Cave and Karst Management Symposium, pp 40-47.
Mulec, J., Krištůfek, V., Chroňáková, A., 2012. Comparative microbial sampling from eutrophic caves in Slovenia and Slovakia using RIDA ®COUNT test kits. International Journal of Speleology, 41, 1–8. Ogórek, R., Lejman, A., Matkowski, K., 2014. Influence of the external environment on airborne fungi isolated from a cave. Polish Journal of Environmental Studies, 23, 435-440. Ogórek, R., Višňovská, Z., Tančinová, D., 2016 b. Mycobiota of underground habitats: case study of Harmanecká Cave in Slovakia. Microbial Ecology, 71, 87-99. Porca, E., Jurado, V., Martin-Sanchez, P. M., Hermosín, B., Bastian, F., Alabouvette, C., et al., 2011. Aerobiology: an ecological indicator for early detection and control of fungal outbreaks in caves. Ecological Indicators, 11, 1594-1598. Pusz, W., Ogórek, R., Knapik, R., Kozak, B., Bujak, H., 2015. The occurrence of fungi in the recently discovered Jarkowicka cave in the Karkonosze Mts.(Poland). Geomicrobiology Journal, 32, 59-67. Saiz-Jimenez, C., 2012. Microbiological and environmental issues in show caves. World Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology, 28, 2453-2464.
Sibson, R., 1981. A Brief Description of Natural Neighbor Interpolation, Interpolating multivariate data. In V. Barnett (Ed.), Multivariate Data (pp. 21–36). New York: John Wiley & Sons.
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Geological Survey of Jojar Cave (The Deepest Cave in Iran) Ghassem Ghaderi1 1
Poorab Fars; Mehr Bldg. 44. Pasdaran Blvd., Shiraz, Fars, IRAN, ghaderig1348@gmail.com
ABSTRACT Jojar Cave is located in Peru Mountain, 450 km west of Tehran, in Zagros Chain Mountains (with trend of NW_SE)in cretaceous limestone. The total length of this cave is 3306 m and its depth is 1316 m.Its Exploration and mapping started 5 years ago. A large scale map and the related geographical settings ere fulfilled. Furthermore, 4 internal and external stone samples of Jojar Cave were taken. Petrography, XRD, XRF analysis, microfossil studies were done. All fractures and faults have identified and analyzed in the 1.5 km radius far from the cave entrance by air photos. The results proved that two regional faults control the cave expansion. And although the cave completely has been formed in the limestone, changes in Sio2, make a significant difference in the potential solubility of limestone which results in the orientation change of the cave.
PROCEEDINGS, 4th Middle-East Speleology Symposium (MESS4) Akdeniz University, Antalya, Turkey – October 3, 4, 5 & 6, 2018
Bacterial Community In Dupnisa Cave (Kirklareli- Turkey) Nihal Doğruöz Güngör, Yağmur Avcı Istanbul University, Faculty of Science, Department of Biology, Istanbul E-mail: ndogruoz@istanbul.edu.tr
ABSTRACT Cave habitats have no light, usually do not have any organic nutrient load or they barely have it, also they have a relatively constant temperature, and extensive areas of mineral surfaces. Caves have distinctive properties and this makes each cave unique. The uniqueness of caves indicates a microbial diversity and a rich genetic potentiality. Dupnisa Cave is one of these unique caves and located on the Turkish-Bulgarian border. The purpose of this study is to determine the bacterial diversity in Dupnisa Cave. For this purpose, we used culture-independent approach based on 16S rDNA amplicon sequencing using next generation sequencing platform. A total of 1109 OTUs comprising 8 bacterial phyla (abundance higher than 1%) were found in the cave samples. The most dominant phylum in the active and fossil region in the cave is Proteobacteria. In this study, bacterial profile differences and ratios were determined in each sampling area of Dupnisa cave. Keywords: Cave microbiology, Bacterial diversity, Next generation sequencing INSTRUCTIONS Microorganisms have inhabited all the niches of the biosphere, including caves. Cave microbiology has been established as a new interdisciplinary field of microbiology, geology and chemistry. Caves generally involve an ecosystem that has a high humidity rate, limited nutritional sources, no light and usually stable low-temperature. For all these reasons, caves can be characterized as extreme environments because they provide living space for highly specialized microorganisms. These distinctive characteristics have attracted many researchers to investigate in depth the potential of cave microorganisms to be used in biotechnology.
In underground environments, the development of plant and phototrophic microorganisms is blocked by lack of light. That’s why caves have limited resources. Lithotrophic bacteria found to play a role as primer producers in environments where there is no light and to develop the heterotrophic microorganisms. These cave ecosystems are not depend on organic entrances. In other caves where dripping waters, crawls, and organic material entry provided by animals that allow the life of heterotrophic microorganisms. Culture methods are mostly used in cave microbiology studies. As is known, culture-based methods are inadequate in determining all of the microbial diversity in a specific environment. Increasing use of molecular methods has led to the discovery of cave diversity and cave ecosystem characteristics. In this study, the new generation of sequencing technology enables much more microorganisms to be detected with high sensitivity at the DNA level and to identify non-cultured microorganisms. It is very important to discover the microbiological diversity of caves. Because caves are significant reservoir for biological and biotechnology studies. Our purpose in this study is to determine the bacterial diversity of Dupnisa cave by the next-generation sequencing method which is one of the molecular methods.
MATERIAL and METHODS Sampling areas; Dupnisa Cave is located on the Turkish-Bulgarian border and the second largest cave of Thracian caves (2720 m).
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Sampling; The samples were taken from 5 regions: 2 fossil and 3 active regions. Fossil regions and first active region are tourist areas. Soil samples were taken from both fossil and active parts of the Dupnisa cave. The samples were maintained at 4 °C for 24 hours during their transportation to the laboratory.
Fig. 1. Map of Dupnisa cave system DNA isolation and Metagenomic Sequencing; DNA was extracted from 0.3 g (wet weight) of soil using the Fast DNA Spin Kit for soil from Q-Biogene (Heidelberg, Germany) according to the manufacturer's instructions. The DNA concentrations of the samples were determined by micro-volume spectrophotometer. Subsequently, metagenomic and bioinformatics analyses were performed to detect bacterial profiles. RESULTS Dupnisa cave samples were obtained by targeting the V3 and V4 region of the bacterial 16S rRNA gene. A total of 1109 OTUs (based on 97% cutoff) comprising 8 bacterial phyla (abundance higher than 1%) were found in this study. The variation of the fractions of the phyla according to the sampling areas was shown in Figure 2. Taxonomic group with abundance higher than 1% was denoted. The most dominant phylum both in the active and fossil region of cave is Proteobacteria (Fig 2). At the class level, Alpha-proteobacteria and Actinobacteria were present at all sample areas. Except for the second active area, the most dominant class Alphaproteobacteria was found in both fossil and active areas.
Fig. 2. Relative abundance (%) of the detected phyla in Active and Fossil Areas
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It was determined that the bacterial species change according to the sample areas (Table 1) For instance, while Methylobacterium tardum were detected Active and Fossil Region 1, it does not exist in other sampling areas. Table 1 Relative abundance (%) of the detected species in Active and Fossil Areas Active Region (Cave Entry)1 Species
Methylobacterium tardum Propionibacterium acnes Bacillus sp. Geobacillus thermantarcticus
Active Region 2 Species
Flavobacterium succinicans Flavobacterium sp. Arthrobacter polychromogenes Massilia spp. Flavobacterium hydatis Massilia sp. Nordella spp. Kaistobacter spp. Acidobacterium spp. Rhodoplanes spp. Janthinobacterium spp.
Active Region 3 Species
Nordella spp. Nordella oligomobilis Hyphomicrobium spp. Nitrospira spp. Rhodoplanes spp. Mesorhizobium spp. Devosia spp. Pedomicrobium spp. Rhizobium spp. Acidobacterium spp. Novosphingobium naphthalenivorans Tepidamorphus spp. Chelatococcus spp.
Relative Abundance (%)
Fossil Region 1 Species
Methylobacterium tardum
48,68
Ochrobactrum tritici
32,99
Acinetobacter ursingii
12,01
Turicella otitidis
2,74
Clostridium spp.
1,50
40,94 39,83 15,41 3,32
Relative Abundance (%)
17,13 10,12 6,73 5,98 4,82 2,17 1,37 1,32 1,21 1,11 1,09
Relative Abundance (%)
24,01 11,43 6,14 4,09 3,45 3,34 2,68 2,67 2,67 2,62 1,59 1,01 1,07
Relative Abundanc e (%)
Fossil Region 2 Species
Dongia spp. Beggiatoa spp. Dokdonella sp. Nordella spp. Nitrospira spp. Acidobacterium spp. Mesorhizobium spp. Rhodoplanes spp. Steroidobacter spp. Chloroflexus spp. Longilinea spp. Rubrivivax spp. Pseudomonas sp. Hyphomonas spp. Amaricoccus spp. Luteimonas spp. Nitrosospira spp. Arthrobacter polychromogenes Caldilinea spp. Conexibacter spp. Devosia spp.
Relative Abundance (%)
5,43 4,15 3,21 3,26 3,81 3,95 2,10 2,95 1,84 1,79 1,76 1,56 1,42 1,33 1,22 1,16 1,05 1,05 1,05 1,05 1,05
DISCUSSION Caves are relatively accessible subterranean habitats ideal for the study of subsurface microbial dynamics and metabolisms under oligotrophic and nonphotosynthetic conditions. The bacterial habitat of each cave is specific to that cave. In our study, 8 bacterial phyla (abundance higher than 1%) were found. These phyla are Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria, Bacteroidetes, Gemmatimonadetes,
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Firmicutes, Nitrospirae, Chloroflexi and Acidobacteria. The most commonly identified groups in the studies that focus on bacterial communities in natural caves are Proteobacteria, Acidobacteria, Planctomycetes, Chloroflexi, Bacteroidetes, Gemmatimonadetes, Firmicutes, Nitrospirae and Actinobacteria (Chelius and Moore 2004; Gonzalez et al. 2008; Zhou et al. 2007). These phyla are encountered in various microbiological studies conducted through culture-based or molecular techniques.
Chelius, M.K., Moore, J.C., 2004. Molecular phylogenetic analysis of Archaea and Bacteria in Wind Cave, South Dakota. Geomicrobiology Journal, 21, 123-134.
From previous studies, it has been reported that Proteobacteria is the predominant phylum in the dripping water, soil and cave wall (Laiz et al. 1999; Schabereiter-Gurtner et al. 2002, Zhou et al. 2007). This phylum is considered to be a cosmopolitan group of bacteria that is prevalent and abundant in caves (Tomczyk-Zak & Zielenkiewicz 2016).
Gonzalez, J.M., Portillo, M.C., Saiz-Jimenez, C., 2008. Bacterial Diversity in the Cave of Altamira. Coalition. 15, 2-6.
For the first time culture-independent molecularbased bacterial diversity work was done in Dupnisa cave. According the results, we see that there is a great diversity among regions in cave. There is no one common species in active and fossil regions. These results may tell us that the bacteria have different adaptations. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Acknowledgements: The author would like to thank the Anatolian Speleology Association for sampling. The authors also thank to Istanbul University Scientific Project Unit (BAP Project no 29244 and 42517) for their financial support.
REFERENCES Barton, H.A., 2015. Starving artists: Bacterial oligotrophic heterotrophy in caves. New York, NY, p. 350.
Chen, Y., Wu, L., Boden, R., Hillebrand, A., Kumaresan, D., Moussard, H., Baciu, M., Lu, Y., Colin Murrell, J., 2009. Life without light: microbial diversity and evidence of sulfur- and ammonium-based chemolithotrophy in Movile Cave. ISME J. 3(9),1093104.
Laiz, L., Groth, I., Gonzalez, I. Saiz-Jimenez, C., 1999. Microbiological study of the dripping waters in Altamira Cave (Santillana del Mar, Spain). Journal of Microbiological Methods, 36, 129-138. Schaberiter-Gurtner, C., Saiz-Jimenez, C., Pinar, G., Lubitz, W. and Rölleke, S., 2002, Altamira cave Paleolithic paintings harbor partly unknown bacterial communities, FEMS Microbiology Letters, 211, 7-11. Palmer A.N., 1991. Origin and morphology of limestone caves. Geol Soc Am Bull. 103, 1–21. Porter, M.L, Engel, A.S, Kane, T.C, Kinkle, B.K., 2009. Productivity-diversity relationships from chemolithoautotrophically based sulfidic karst systems. Int J Speleol. 38 (1), 27-40. Tomczyk-Żak & Zielenkiewicz (2015): Microbial Diversity inCaves, Geomicrobiology Journal, 33(1)119. Zhou, J., Gu, Y., Zou, C., Mo M., 2007. Phylogenetic diversity of bacteria in an earth-cave in Guizhou Province, Southwest of China. Journal of Microbiology, 45, 105-112.
Cave Life Of Cyprus Nursel Aşan Baydemir1 And Şükrü Tüzmen2 1 Department of Biology, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, University of Kırıkkale, Kırıkkale, TURKEY; nurselasan@yahoo.com 2 Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Eastern Mediterranean University (EMU), TRNC, Mersin 10, TURKEY, sukru.tuzmen@emu.edu.tr
Caves are significant and fragile ecosystems with respect to its structure. Being located in the Mediterranean Basin hotspot makes the biological conservation of Cyprus even more important. Recently, distribution of 22 bat species, composed of one frugivorous and 21 insectivorous, were determined by various authors from the island. This study was carried out in some caves from T.R.N.C. between the years 2014 and 2017. Caves are visited at various intervals throughout the year and purposes of the bats and the invertebrate fauna using the caves are determined. In addition, new distribution localities of the fruit bat from Morphou and the Pentadactylos mountains have been recorded. Increasing human population, destruction of caves, cave tourism, environment pollution, and illegal killing of bat species in the caves are the major threats in the island. Therefore, cave ecosystems are negatively affected in Cyprus. Biology, distribution, ecology and habitat preferences of each bat and invertebrate species should be known for an efficient conservation of cave ecosystems.
Biotecnological View To Bacteria Of Parsik Cave Begüm Çandıroğlu and Nihal Doğruöz Güngör Istanbul University, Faculty of Science, Department of Biology, Istanbul
It is known that there are many different microorganisms that can live in different conditions and environments of the world. Caves are extreme environments have high humidity, dark conditions and generally low temperature. The fact that these subterranean spaces have particularly low amounts of nutrients and oxygen, suggests that microorganisms which are able to survive here may have rare and/or different characteristics. In this study, it was aimed to reveal the cultivated bacteria diversity of Parsık Cave (İzmit, Turkey), to determine antimicrobial agent production potentials and antibiotic resistance profiles of these isolated bacteria. The nomenclature and enzymatic properties of the isolated bacteria were determined using the Vitek 2 Compact 30 microidentification system. Analyzes showed that bacteria belonging to the phyla of Proteobacteria, Firmicutes and Actinobacteria are isolated from Parsık Cave. The most common bacteria species in the samples taken from surface formations and water is Kocuria, and in soil samples is Lysinibacillus. Enzymatic reactions’ data set indicate that Parsık Cave bacteria generally have proteolytic activity. This situation reveals the potential industrial use of isolated bacteria. According to antibacterial resistance profile examination, ampicillin was identified as the antibiotic with the highest frequency of bacterial resistance. Antimicrobial activity of the selected Bacilli and Actinomycetes strains isolated in the scope of the thesis experiments were evaluated against some pathogenic strains. Most of isolated strains (3,87 %) were effective againts Candida albicans.
Identify The Crustacea (Gammarus Sp.) In The Davresh Olia Cave Hero Alimirzanejad1 & Arash Yasamanpour2 1
Darwish Olaya.Marivan.Kurdistan.west IRAN heromirzanejad@yahoo.com 2 a.yasamanpour@gmail.com (KURDISTAN IRAN 2016)
Caves are the home of many beasts. Some animals only live in caves. They are called troglobites (meaning residents in the cave). These animals have adapted to life in the dark (often they are colorless and many can not see) and can not live outside the cave. In the cave of Koneh Dave and Davresh Olia in the Marivan district of Iran, the Iranian Kurdistan was discovered a Crustacea that was adapted to the cave conditions. This creature is from the family of freshwater shrimp and the issues surrounding its apparent recognition. Keywords: Kona Dave Cave, Davresh Olia cave, Gammarus sp. Introduction Gammarus sp. all kinds of the crustacea to the Gammaridae family and lives in waters rich in oxygen and lime. The temperature of the Davresh Olia Cave varies from 18 째 C to 20 째 C from the mouth to the depths, This crustacea is more visible at 18 째 C. The water temperature is 10 째 C and lives alongside the life of the snail.Varieties of Gammarus SP. are in the seas and samples in the waters of the caves, Springs are powered by nutrients from environmental sources of plant, animal and creature origin, leading to the transfer of matter to energy and higher levels of food chain ecosystems. In the cave of Davresh Olia, with the bats, the pyramid will feed the food chain to the bat. With these explanations, it is likely that the Gammarus SP. are considered to be food for bats. materials and methods The cave is located in Iran, Kurdistan, the village of Gurieh, Davresh Olia region, with geographical coordinates E 35 37 15.07, N 46 37 56.04 WGS1985 Alt: 2155. contract, Which is famous among the indigenous people called "Taurore Zineh".This crustacea was first discovered in Davresh Olia Cave by Cavemen of Arash Club of Kurdistan Province. After the available transfer to the lab and the microscopic photograph was taken, the species was identified by an entomologist and research on the way of life and its apparent recognition.
Gammarus sp. classification Gammarus sp. in the branch of the Artheropoda , of the Subphylum crustacea and class Amphipoda in this branch more than 740000 species are known, And the Gammaridae family. This order contains about 6,000 species. So far, about 800 grasses of Gammaridae have been identified, with the highest variation in cold regions. The amount of protein, fat, ash and significant amounts of cartenoids in their body, due to changes in the biological conditions, are different in different seasons that depend on the quantity and severity of their nutrition in the environment. These compositions in the Gammarus sp. body provide more information on them in food chains or use them more appropriately to feed aquatic organisms, including bats in the cave.
Gammarus sp. biology A female beast can carry 5 to 10 replicates during its lifetime. The number of eggs varies nutritional status and environmental conditions of the animal between 20 and 100 depending on age. The newborn Gammarus sp. that come out of the egg are almost complete and are similar the adult Gammarus sp. and the mother protects the baby in the vicinity of her baby. The secondary sexual characteristics of the male are due to the secretion of the androgen gland hormone that is present throughout the testicles. Gammarus sp. Morphology Because of their particular form, they are easily detected from invertebrates. All of the legs of the seven breasts have different buildings, because they are called (Amphipodae). Body parts:. From the back (head to Telson) : Head - Breast or Mesosome (7 layer on each side of the body (abdominal cavity or metazoom). Abdominal or epimerous plates. 3 layer on each side of the body. - telson or erosome fragments (6 limbs) - Eyes - Upper and lower antennas - Gnatopod â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Pryopods, The first two legs of the legs, called feathers, are pseudo-like and used to hold the bait are used The Gamvarus sp. body is compressed from the side and includes a part of the chest that is attached to the head, with seven free breasts and six demi straps and a tiny end telescope.
Conclusion and Discussion By finding this crustace in Davresh Olia cave we can say that this creature plays an important role in the ecosystem the cave has organic materials for refining and plays a big role in the bat's food chain. Depending on the life of this creature, you can see the calcareous cave and the high percentage of calcium in the cave.
Refrences 1) Mirmoidi, A.N. 2006. Principles of insect classification. 857p. University razi Kermanshah. 2) Goto, H.E. 1982. Animal Taxonomy. 58p. Edward Arnold publishers Ltd.
The Effect Of Globalization On Caving In Iran And Determination A Strategy To Convert The Threats Into Opportunities By SWOT Analysis Abbas Ghaderi Email: abbas.ghaderi@yahoo.com
This paper intended to qualitatively crystallize how globalization affects caving and speleology trends. Moreover, the way Iranian cavers and speleologists can take the most advantage of globalization in the sustainable development of caving and speleology was analyzed. Following this approach, the role of globalization concerning caving and speleology in Iran was surveyed through printed-source (library) research and consequently by forming a Delph team (10 academic and experienced cavers), the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats were pointed out. The Delphi team came into the following conclusions: 8 weaknesses, 10 strengths in internal environment, 7 threats and 9 opportunities in external environment ere clarified. Using SWOT, the data was analyzed and the strategies to face globalization were proposed.
Underground Hydraulic Structures Of Gaziantep: Livas’ And Kastels Ali Yamaç1, Ezgi Tok1, 2 1 OBRUK
Cave Research Group; Acikhava Apt. 16/7, Nisantasi, Istanbul, Turkey, Istanbul Technical University, EURASIA Institute of Earth Sciences E-mail: ayamac@gmail.com
2 ITU,
ABSTRACT It has been long known that Gaziantep, possessing a continuous inhabitancy since 3.000 BC, has hundreds of underground structures carved in sandy limestone. Some of those underground structures were used as storage facilities or cisterns, while some others are as yarn ateliers today. Furthermore, despite forming a huge and complex system, underground water structures, only a small part of which can be researched due to destructions, are another important phase of our project. While the section that can be surveyed is fairly limited, this system can be considered as an important engineering achievement for its era. This water distribution system is a network of water canals carved into limestone, locally known as “livas”. This system is similar to the one first applied in Persia 2000 - 3000 years ago and used today in many countries, known as “qanat” or “karez” while displaying a set of characteristics unique to Gaziantep. The system relies on the principle of distributing water originating from a source far away from the settlement area, by using well designed underground canals to distribute the water to a large settlement area and by using wells in locations of need or by clear water underground reservoirs known as “kastel”. As a result of our studies, a limited length of “livas” and all existing six “kastel”s were surveyed and mapped in Gaziantep. Within this presentation, we’ll tell the story of OBRUK Cave Research Group’s long term project extending from a
simple, local cultural accumulation to be an UNESCO World Heritage Site. Keywords: Gaziantep, underground hydraulic structures, livas, kastel INTRODUCTION The city of Gaziantep, located in Southeastern Turkey (Fig. 1), developed around a castle built in the 11th century, during the First Crusade.
Figure 1: Location map showing the area of exploration Archeological excavations documented that the previous location of the city was at the Düllük Village, 9 km away from the castle. This settlement, dating back to the Paleolithic Period, was abandoned and the city developed in its current location. The greatest problem of the city of Gaziantep is that it does not have a water table. The city that was built on a hill and that developed in time, has solved this problem by transporting the water from nearby springs through underground aqueducts. The plateau that houses the city of Gaziantep and its periphery
mostly consists of limestone and chalk, Upper Middle Eocene in age [MTA, 1997]. Although it mostly made of soft rocks, thicker layers of massive limestones can also be observed. Argillaceous limestone consist of whitish, gray, cream, dingy yellow, loose and thin middlelayered and chalky layers. Tens of kilometers of underground aqueducts, called “livas” locally, were dug under the city that is situated over this easy-to-dig soft limestone. Although it is not possible to determine the date when the digging of this aqueduct system started, it is known that the system was used until mid-20th century. On the other hand, apart from this water distribution system with similar examples throughout the world, there are impressive underground public areas, locally called "kastel", unique to Gaziantep and where the water coming through these underground channels were used publicly. During our survey in Gaziantep as the OBRUK Cave Research Group, we have conducted the first scientific study of both these underground aqueducts, and the "kastel" connections of these channels. Underground Aqueducts of Gaziantep; “Livas” There are numerous water resources around the plateau upon which Gaziantep is located. Despite all these resources, there is no water table under the city. Therefore, long tunnels were dug in order to bring water to Gaziantep from those springs. Length of some of these tunnels reaches a few kilometers, and they are the very image of ancient “qanat” or “karez” that were first implemented 2000-3000 years ago in Iran, and encountered in many countries such as Morocco, Persia, Algeria, Egypt and China (Castellani, 2001) The essence of the system is transporting the water to the city center by channels from a main source fairly outside the settlement to wide settlement areas by well-calculated, smooth-sloped underground galleries, and
distributing the water through wells dug where water was needed. The wells almost never went down directly to the water flow in the livas, but reached a point nearby. The wells were dug a little deeper than the livas level, and connected to the livas through a short, horizontal connection gallery and as the water waited in this reservoir, the residues settled to the bottom and the water was purified (Fig. 2).
Fig. 2: 3D sketch of a ‘livas’ and a well connection. (Drawing M. Egrikavuk) The dimensions of this system are very impressive in Gaziantep. The main water source that fed the old settlement was situated at the current location of the Alleben Pond. Although
the distance of Alleben to the city center is around 10 km, the total distance of the interconnected livas system would reach hundreds of kilometers. Various water tunnels like those in Gaziantep War Museum Cave, Tutun Han Cave, Nadir Bey House and Omer Ersoy Culture Center are all connected to the same underground water system. The longest undestructed livas we had surveyed so far is at the north part of Gaziantep, near to one of the main water sources, names ‘Pancarlı’ and exceeds 1000 meters. (Fig. 3 and 4).
Fig. 3 An active ‘livas’ under Nadir Bey House (Photo A.E. Keskin)
Fig. 4 ‘Livas’ of Pancarlı (Photo A.E. Keskin) Apart from its scope, the engineering calculations for the system are also impressive
for the period. It is obvious that obtaining the correct slope at every point to ensure a constant flow in the channels for tens of kilometers was very important in terms of the performance of the system. The scope of the labor may be better understood by considering that the work was conducted under the ground, in the dark, in very hard conditions and with limited technological means. Another problem was meeting the livas below from the wells to be dug at the surface. It is difficult today to determine how this was achieved. The landscape in downtown Gaziantep is very rugged and there are serious differences between the levels of neighborhoods, or even houses in the same neighborhood. Making a well being dug from the yard of a house meet with an active livas through a gallery that is precisely calculated, and that is dug from the correct level in the correct direction, is not a small feat. We could determine that the work flow was in this direction, i.e. from the well to the livas, for certain in at least one sample. Public Underground Water Structures; “Kastel” Apart from these aqueducts, another impressive feature of the underground water structure of Gaziantep are the structures unique to this city called "kastel". The difference of these structures from the individual wells in the city is that these are public places created to allow access to the clean water distribution in the livas for a wider audience. In all known samples, wide stairs provide access to a large underground space dug inside the main block of rock. These spaces were planned to allow many people from various classes to have an easy access to clean water, provision of washing and using water, and moreover, as social spaces. In a city where it is not possible to carry the water transported through underground aqueducts to the surface
through water fountains, we can think of the kastels as a social area of the past (Çam, 1982). Although these structures seem religious, because some of the six samples preserved until today are next to mosques, there are findings that suggest that the kastel structures date farther back in time. As evidenced in samples such as the Ahmet Celebi Kastel (Fig. 5 and 6), Ihsan Bey Kastel, Imam-ı Gazali and Pisirici Kastel there are no connections between the mosque structure and the kastel structure.
Fig. 6 Ahmet Celebi Kastel (Photo A.Yamac)
Fig. 5 Map of Ahmet Celebi Kastel and adjoining ‘livas’ (Drawing S. Coltu)
Moreover, the fact that most of these kastels contain a small underground mosque suggests that they were built before the mosques above. The best example for this is the fact that the Pisirici Kastel, built in 1283, is one of the oldest structures in the city (Çam, 2006) (Fig. 7).
filling them completely with mortar. The other one is that, the modern municipalities did not understand the historic value of the system and have damaged it underground beyond repair during infrastructure works for electricity, natural gas, water, etc. Within this project, the ancient water system of Gaziantep has been meticulously surveyed and inventoried (Yamac, Okuducu, 2017). The outcomes of the project compiled and interpreted within the scope of regional history. As representing a unique component of the cultural heritage, these structures has been considered for the candidacy of Unesco World Heritage. Currently, the structures has been accepted for Unesco World Heritage Tentative List. REFERENCES Castellani V. 2001 - Acqua, acquedotti e qanat, Opera Ipogea 2, pp. 25-32 Fig. 7 Pisirici Kastel (Photo A.E. Keskin) Although there were at least 15 kastels until 60 years ago, only 6 examples remain today. Yet, even the remaining ones give us an idea about the impressive architecture of these interesting underground structures. CONCLUSION Modern water distribution reached the city of Gaziantep only in the 1950s. Unfortunately, two kinds of destruction and neglect have brought this ancient livas system that served the city for centuries near destruction. One of these two factors is individual users filling the wells that they do not need anymore, and even worse,
Çam N. 1982 - Gaziantep’te “Kastel” Adı Verilen Su Tesisleri, Milletlerarası Türkoloji Kongresi (International Turkology Congress), İstanbul. Çam N. 2006 - Türk Kültür Varlıkları Envanteri: Gaziantep (The Inventory of Turkish Cultural Proporties: Gaziantep), Ankara. MTA (General Directorate of Mineral Research and Exploration) 1997 - Geological Map of Gaziantep - K24 Quadrangle, Ankara. Yamac A., Okuducu Z., 2017, Underground Hydraulic Structures of Gaziantep (Southeast Turkey), HYPOGEA 2017 Congress.
Pictures from the MESS4