Caves have been used in the ancient past as shelter or habitat by many organisms (including humans). Since antiquity, humans have explored caves for the minerals they contain and sometimes for ceremonial purposes. Over the past century, caves have become the target of increasing exploration, scientific research, and recreation. The use of caves on extraterrestrial bodies for human habitation ha...

Speleothems are a recognized source of paleoclimatic information, but their value as signals from human activities in caves with an archaeological record has rarely been explored. Previous studies speleothems the Sierra de Atapuerca karst system (Burgos, northern Spain) revealed important fossil record, provided information about and around these caves, impacts on natural environment. The prese...

This experiment was conducted to evaluate the effects of single or multi-particle size limestone on the egg shell quality, egg production, egg quality and feed intake in laying hens. A total of 280 laying hens (ISA brown) were used in this 10-wk trial. Laying hens were randomly assigned to 4 treatments with 14 replications per treatment and 5 adjacent cages as a replication (hens were caged ind...

Sinkhole Flat, as the name suggests, is a region of relatively few features in southeastern New Mexico (Figure 1). There are a few arroyos and sinkholes. This study area is in the northern Chihuahuan Desert and plants are typical for this desert region which lies at about 1,000 meters elevation. The vegetation consists predominately of grasses, Opuntia, Yucca, Larrea, and Acacia. The caves at S...

The growth rate and composition of cave calcite deposits (speleothems) are often used as proxies for past environmental change. There is, however, the potential for bias in the speleothem record due to seasonal fluctuations in calcite growth and dripwater chemistry. It has been proposed that the growth rate of speleothem calcite in Texas caves varies seasonally in response to density-driven flu...

Abstract Abandoned quarries are valuable as a tourism element, they exhibit the building material of buildings built in geographical area located historical objects. However, order to determine how can be used for purposes, it is necessary constraints on choice solution spatial arrangements. The aim this study investigate ancient limestone quarry Mardin, which natural and cultural geological he...

In a littoral cave system, abiotic environmental properties, such as the intensity and spectral distribution of light, often change going from the exterior to the interior part of the cave, filtering the light and thus creating a deep-sea irradiance setting for marine flora. In this mini-review, we suggest that the supralittoral zone in littoral caves might provide a sanctuary for mesophotic ca...

Few studies document plants in caves. Our field observations of a widespread and seemingly angiosperm-rich cave flora in SW China lead us to test the following hypotheses, 1) SW China caves contain a diverse vascular plant flora, 2) that this is a relic of a largely absent forest type lacking endemic species, and 3) that the light environment plants occupy in caves is not distinct from non-cave...