Unlocking the Mysteries of Underground Worlds
Speleology is the scientific study and exploration of caves. Speleologists study caves, the ways they form (speleogenesis), change over time, their physical structure and properties, what lives within them, and their history as it relates to humankind. Cave research is as varied as the caves themselves. Cave scientists of many different disciplines investigate caves and what they contain (their resources).
Cave scientists study geology, biology, archeology, paleontology, and most of the others “ologies” in science. Caves have abundant and diverse resources. These resources can often affect or are essential to people. Speleologists develop new ways to gather that information, to help us unlock the mysteries of caves and better understand our world.
About NCKRI Research
Cave and karst research is incredibly diverse. To explain NCKRI’s research program, we divided the research into two groups: basic and applied. The purpose of basic research is to figure out how things work, while applied research looks at practical applications. Both are needed. For example, you can’t estimate how much water is available for use in a karst aquifer unless you first know what an aquifer is and how it works in karst.
The number of research possibilities is immense. How do we decide what to study? There are several considerations. Money is obviously one. Research grants and contracts to work on specific topics determine many of our projects. Expertise is another factor. While we are not skilled in every question involving caves and karst, we know the experts around the world and recruit or partner with them for projects.
But whenever we are approached about a project or think about one on our own, we ask, “Is this project likely to teach us something new about cave and karst science?”
NCKRI is not a consulting company, but we do consulting-type work when it may increase the world’s knowledge of caves and karst. The US Congress has directed us to advance scientific knowledge of caves and karst, which we do through grants, contracts, donations, and our internal funding. Several of our projects are led by our Academic Program Director, Dr. Daniel Jones, with his colleagues and students at New Mexico Tech. Like other NCKRI projects, they include both basic and applied research, often as part of a student’s Master’s thesis or PhD dissertation.
We welcome opportunities to conduct studies with public and private organizations. Further following our Congressional mandates, we make the results of our research available through publications in peer-reviewed journals and open-file reports. If your organization is interested in working with us, contact NCKRI’s Executive Director, Dr. George Veni, or our Karst Hydrogeologist, Dr. Lewis Land.
Below are a few reports showing some of the diversity of cave and karst research conducted by NCKRI.
Balamku, Yucatan, Mexico
Farmers discovered Balamku (Cave of the Jaguar God) in 1966 amid ruins of the Maya city of Chichen Itza. Shortly after, cave archaeologist Victor Segovia Pinto visited the cave. He explored two small rooms and a crawlway; observing several archaeological artifacts, Pinto demanded the farmers disguise the cave’s entrance. The cave remained sealed for 53 years. In 2019, a team of speleologists reopened the cave and pushed it into the crawlway.
After crawling through long and low passages, they saw something astonishing. They found, undisturbed, 1,000-year-old Mayan artifacts: vases, incense burners, decorated vessels, with some holding remnants of gifts to the gods: food, seeds, jade, shell, and bones. Tired but exhilarated, cave archaeologist Guillermo de Anda explained that upon that discovery, he couldn’t speak. He started to cry.
A couple of months later, de Anda’s Gran Maya Acuífero Project invited NCKRI to study this cave and others in the area. Research is ongoing, but we are optimistic these caves will give valuable insights to Maya life in the World Heritage Site of Chichen Itza.
Cave of the Crystals, Naica, Chihuahua, Mexico
In 1910, miners working in Mexico’s Naica Mine discovered Cave of the Swords at a depth of about 120 m. It was unlike any cave known; its walls covered with selenite crystals up to 2 m long. But it was only a hint of the spectacles hidden deeper in the Earth. In April 2000, at a depth of 300 m, miners dug into the most incredible crystal cave known. Cueva de los Cristales is a large room roughly 70 m long by as much as 42 m wide and 14 m high. It contains over 150 of the world’s largest gypsum crystals. The largest is 11.2 m in length. The cave is also hot—about 50°C!
NCKRI geomicrobiologist, Dr. Penelope Boston, joined an international team of scientists to study this magnificent cave. Wearing special suits with ice packs and air-cooling units, team members knew they could only stay in the cave about 30 minutes before starting to overheat. While others mapped and photographed the cave, Dr. Boston collected tiny gypsum samples. She discovered bizarre microbial life-forms inside fluid inclusions, water-filled bubbles inside the crystals. In her lab, Dr. Boston found the microorganisms are not closely related to anything known. Currently, Dr. Boston works as the Director of Astrobiology for NASA. She uses these and other cave microbes to hypothesize what life on other planets would be like and how it would evolve. Dr. Daniel Jones and his students now conduct similar groundbreaking studies for NCKRI.
Sauna Cave Mount Erebus, Antarctica
Dr. Aaron Curtis conducted the first systematic survey of the ice caves on Mount Erebus as his dissertation research when he was a NCKRI scholar at New Mexico Tech. Studying caves on the tallest mountain in Antarctica pushes the boundaries of exploration and discovery. From 2009-2012, he documented 120 caves formed in the ice. Mount Erebus is an active volcano. Its ice caves formed where geothermal heat and warm gases rise through fumaroles, gas-emitting fissures along the flanks of the volcano. Dr. Curtis collected temperature data in the caves as an indicator of how much volcanic gas fumaroles emit. His research suggested a link between changes in barometric pressure, temperature, and gases like CO2. Dr. Curtis found that as temperatures dropped, barometric pressure rose, and vice versa. The results of the study indicate barometric pumping of the gas vents. The results of this study enable the use of the caves’ ice temperatures as indicators of the degassing rate on Erebus, aiding in the monitoring of an active volcano.
Dr. Curtis also examined the microbiology of organisms living inside the ice, in that volcanic environment. His published research has influenced other scientists to study the caves, particularly those interested in the microbial life that could live in these extreme fire and ice environments.