Red Rose Cave and Pothole Club - Newsletter Vol 3 No 1 - Spring 1965
THE WEEKEND COURSE ON “THE ORIGIN AND
DEVELOPENT OF CAVES IN BRITISH LIMESTONE”
HELD AT WEDGEWOOD MEMORIAL COLLEGE, BARLASTON,
STAFFS STAFFS. (30th. OCT.-1st.
NOV. 1964).
The course, which was open to all
interested persons, was run jointly by the Cave Research Group and the Extramural
Department of Keele University. It was designed for
those who have a first-hand acquaintance with British caves, and at least some
knowledge of the geology of caves and limestone.
The lecture programme was as
follows:-
1) Geology of Limestone Areas --- Dr. T.D. Ford.
2) Caves and Landscape. --- Dr. G.T.
Warwiok.
3) Type of Caves. ---
"
4) How to study a Cave.--- "
5) Methods of Measurement &
Survey --- Mr. C.L. Railton.
6) Theory of Cave Formation
with
Reference
to Yorkshire. --- Mr.L.B. Cook.
7) Theory of Cave Formation
with
Reference
to S.Wales --- Mr. C.L. Railton.
Considered as the first attempt at anything of this sort, the course was a great success. Over fifty
people attended & another fifty applied but
could not be accepted for lack of places. Unfortunately however, the lectures in
general did not give talks which corresponded with the titles & almost
nothing was in fact said about the origin &development of caves. This was undoubtedly
due to having a too comprehensive syllabus for the time available.
This could be avoided to some extent by aiming the course much lower, for absolute beginners & giving a mere introduction to the subject, or
aiming higher & restricting the syllabus considerably. (any one of the
above lectures could be made the theme of a weekend course). Despite these deficiencies,
the talks were both interesting & stimulating. Dr, Ford’s was perhaps the most
successful and he gave very adequate talk on limestone geology, discussing the terminology of limestone's
and the processes of diagenesis (what happens to the
rock after it has been deposited e.g. dolomitization
& silicification) which causes shrinkage and the
opening up of pore spaces. Most limestones contain
about 1% of hydrocarbons and Dr. Ford suggested
that these would probably be the first rock constituents to be attacked in cave initiation - perhaps even by
bacteria, as recent work has shown large numbers of those organisms to exist in limestones
Dr. Warwick’s lectures also
provided some interesting information. He pointed out that besides the usual mechanisms of limestone removal in caves (i.e. Chemical solution,
mechanical corrosion & block fall.) there are two others:- corrosion due to the implosive effect of
collapsing air bubbles in rapid streams an also the biological (bacterial) corrosion as mentioned
by Dr. Ford. He then briefly described the theories of cave formation postulated by Rhodes
& Sinacori, Swinnerton,
Gardner, Davies & Bretz and discussed Bretz’s criteria of phreatic origin, illustrating these
with slides. He also mentioned the red clays which Bretz
assumed to be the result of solution of limestone, and pointed out that red
material is rarely left when limestone is dissolved and also in certain
American caves gravels had been found under them, suggesting a stream (vadose) origin.
In his description of cave surveying, Lewis Railton
suggested abandoning the use of a field note book as described in British
Caving and using instead separate sheets of paper with ruled columns as follows:-
|
St.N |
BEAR |
DIST. |
W |
H |
L.H.W |
R.H.W |
L.O.S. |
Notes |
|
Station Number |
Compass Bearing |
Measured Distance |
Width |
Height |
Distance to Left Hand Wall |
Distance to Right Hand Wall |
Line of Sight Distance |
|
Blank sheets should also be use for sketches. This method is no doubt
easier & quicker than using a field note book and sketching each length of
passage, but using the latter method a great deal more information can be included and the more accurate
& complete survey which will result, is, in my opinion, well worth the extra time & effort.
Dr. Cook’s lecture was purely descriptive, but we were
treated to an excellent series of slides, mainly of Gaping Gill & Stump
Cross - both as he readily admitted atypical, but then that is a typical
Yorkshire cave ? Lewis's second talk was mainly on the
formation of Ogof Ffynnon Ddu & Tunnel Caves and we were given the opportunity
to see his original drawing of the O..D. survey - a tremendous piece
of work as anyone who has tried cave surveying will know.
The lectures finished at lunchtime on Sunday, but many people
stayed behind to discuss the course with the lecturers and others,
thus showing that the weekend was enjoyed - appreciated by most who
attended. It is to be hoped that with the experience obtained from this experiment
the C. R.G. will organise further courses - with potholing
as popular as it is at present, the education of the ordinary sporting caver
is vitally important to prevent unintentional damage to our caves.
