Caving

View of a geological trench can lead to cavity. The presence of a current of air entering or leaving the main index is a caver. Speleology is the activity to identify, explore, study, map and visit the underground chamber, then to share knowledge. Those who practice this way are called a caver.

Caving is a multifaceted activity: science; sports; art and contemplative. It is practiced mainly in karst areas. However, the cavers were also interested in tectonic, volcanic (lava tubes), glacial and man (career underground cave habitats and underground) cavities. Unlike the Anglo-Saxon word “Speleology” which refers primarily to scientific activities, caving in French covers sports, leisure or tourism as well as science and exploration.

However, some purists prefer to use the term “speleiste” or “tourist” to denote the only followers of the sport or leisure. More recently, visits designated by the English words or trekking safari, by analogy with hiking or hunting. Caving is also practiced in water.

When completely submerged, the caver is then called ’speleoplongeur’ or ’speleonaute’. It is not necessary to penetrate underground to make a useful contribution to the caving in its scientific, sporting, or technical associations. Thus, the canyoning falls of techniques and activities are close to caving. The French Federation of Speleology has also become increasingly popular for canyoning. By cons, those who climb the trees and hikers in karst are not considered cavers.

Birth of caving

Man has visited the caves to find shelter and protection and to be closer to their gods and beliefs from the early ages. The result is a modern myth of a mixture of curiosity and science of the Enlightenment. Finally, learned societies were born and associations including Edouard-Alfred Martel, Robert de Joly and Norbert Casteret were, in their time, the founders of the most famous in France (See ‘history’ part of the French Federation of Speleology). The first Institute of caving in the world was created in 1920 in Cluj (Romania) by biologist Emile Gustave Racovitza.

Conquest chasms
Conquest of sinkholes in Belgium
See Caving in Belgium – Large expeditions / exploration
Conquest chasms in France
See Caving in France – Large expeditions / exploration
Conquest of sinkholes in Switzerland
See Speleology in Switzerland – Large expeditions / exploration
Conquest of the deepest chasms

The world record depth reached in a natural cavity remained in France, with cavities known as Henne Morte, the gulf Berger, Pierre-Saint-Martin, Jean-Bernard abyss and the abyss Mirolda. Since October 2004, however, the greatest depth reached by cavers in natural cavities was located in the gulf Voronya Cave, located in Abkhazia, a breakaway province of western Georgia. In September 2008, a new record was set in the gap of Abkhazia, at 2191 meters. Among the 50 cavers of the expedition, mostly Ukrainians, three men have reached the final level are the Ukrainian and Chief Operation Yuri Kasyan, Gennadij Samokhin Simferopol and Moscow Yuri Evdokimov.

Caving and society

Today caving is also practiced as a recreational nature, democratized, where some cavities become “classics”, surveyed by the cavers but both visited by cavers like youth camps, families or professionals of ‘entertainment industry with their customers.
Alongside the practice of tourism and leisure, speleologist carries an ethical viewpoint, made especially by the International Union of Speleology (UIS).

It contributes to knowledge and protection of underground heritage. It becomes a real player with real sustainable development. In addition to the ethical values it conveys, caving is gaining increasingly in the scientific world.

Besides it provides a necessary complement to the geology, karstology, hydrology, archeology, palaeontology and rock mechanics. Caving also involves a practice of topography, biology and meteorology, forms adapted to the underground environment. The contributions of caving in scientific disciplines mentioned above can be summarized as follows:

Hydrogeology

Hydrogeology is the study of surface and groundwater dealing with geological structures. In karst, the water circulation is very different from that observed in other environments, it deserves a special study. The caver who directly observed phenomena generally inaccessible to the majority is the essential contributor hydro geologist.

Even the ’speleologist Sunday’, sometimes described as ‘tourist’ can make an important contribution by unpublished observations of water flow that can relate. We can not stress enough the value of a given geological, hydro geological, even approximately (provided it is correctly identified), collected during a caving output: we must remember that the same data, drawn from a Mechanical survey to several hundred meters deep, would cost much more.

The waters of interest in urban hydrogeology limestone have three distinct types of source, whose impact on the development of karst are very different. The path of the groundwater is generally tortuous and largely conditioned by the fracturing of the limestone, its lithology and by the inclination of strata.

Given their origins, underground streams may experience flash floods and large, sometimes delayed in relation to initiating precipitation, falling on different slopes and sometimes far from the entrance cavity. In general, the height of surface waters rarely coincides with that of groundwater. It is therefore important to clarify the limits of movement of underground waters. The karst springs are characterized by high variability in flow, with raging floods alternating with periods of low water mark or depletion.

The study of the flood hydrograph shows the gradual saturation of cracks in the rock: the phase concentration. In a second step, water invaded the ducts: the climax phase, which lasts until end of the main supply. Just then a slow decline corresponds to major drainage pipes and cracks.