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MEETING REPORT 2011 Ref. UNESCO Contract No. 4500142744 IGCP/SIDA Project No. 598 ______________________________________________ MEETINGS: Date: June 8-10,2011 June 27-30, 2011 Place: Bowling Green, Kentucky, USA Birmingham, UK, Itinerary (if field excursion) Excursion at Mammoth Cave National Park, KY, USA, June 9 Excursion in Buxton, Derbyshire, UK, June 30 SCOPE AND RESULTS OF MEETINGS Scope of Meetings: (Program or outline of geological study) 1. Symposia. IGCP/SIDA 598 Symposia were held in Bowling Green, KY, USA, June 8-10, 2011 with a scientific program of “Karst Hydrogeology and Ecosystem”, and in Birmingham, UK, July 27-30, 2011 with a scientific program of “Climate Change - The Karst Record”. The new development of the Project in all its 4 objectives, including karst carbon sink potential and climate change; karst aquifer systems and water resource processes; karst watersheds sustainable protection; and environmental change records were exchanged in oral or poster presentations. The discussions were concentrated mainly on the achievements of previous karst-related project IGCP 513 made by participants from different countries after the last meeting of IGCP 513 in April, 2010, Malaga, Spain. 2. Field Excursions. Two excursions took place in the project’s first year. One is at Mammoth Cave National Park, KY, USA, the other is in Peak District Buxton, Derbyshire, UK. The South-Central Kentucky Karst, also known as the Mammoth Cave Area is a world-class example of a shallow, intensely karsted, carbonate terrain. The area has been the subject of scientific investigations since the early 1800’s and has accumulated a vast literature. This trip focuses on The Turnhole Drainage Basin (Pennyroyal Plateau Surface karst) and The Historic Section of Mammoth Cave. The Peak District is one of the classic karst areas of the UK and this trip focuses on its border with overlying clastic sediments, and the interesting heritage resulting from lime-burning in previous centuries. Poole’s Cavern, being used as a model system to demonstrate colloidal transport processes, is also visited. 1 3. Business Meetings. IGCP/SIDA 598 business meeting was held in Bowling Green, USA(June10,2011). The background, objectives, work schedule of the Project were introduced and the new development of the Project in the first year was reviewed. Its achievements in different countries were exchanged. The second year’s activities were also discussed. The primary meeting for the year two will be in Brisbane, Australia, and at the annual karst commission meeting in Niagara Falls, Canada during the 40th IAH Congress. A symposium (36.4) [IGCP Project 598] in the theme 36 was listed in the second circular of the 34th International Geological Congress (IGC), in Brisbane, Australia, 2-10 August. The meeting in Bowling Green is a joint meeting with the major international karst communities, including the Karst Commision of IAH (International Association of Hydrogeologists); the Commision of Karst Hydrogeology and Speleogenesis of UIS( Union of International Speleology). The new direction and priority for the development of karst sciences in the next five years, and the future cooperation between IGCP and the 2 international academic organizations of karstology were discussed. Achievements of Meetings 1. The achievements made by IGCP/SIDA 598 members in the first year were reflected in the presentations and discussions at the symposia. Although there was impact of short time between the project’s formal approval from Paris and the conference, remarkable people took part in the meetings, i.e, about 60 people from 12 countries (Canada, USA, China, Jamaica, Slovenia, Brazil, Indonesia, Netherlands, Hungary, Germany, Ukraine and England) took part in the meeting in USA, and 130 people from 28 countries (Australia, Austria, Belgium, China, Croatia, Egypt, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, UK and USA) attended the meeting in UK. A total of 70 papers were presented, including 33 in USA, and 37 in UK. 111 poster presentations were exhibited, including 11 in USA, and 100 in UK. The major scientific achievements could be summarized in accordance with the main objectives of IGCP/SIDA598: (1) karst carbon sink potential and climate change. Discussions on this topic were focused on the impact of human activities such as landuse change; especially, the impact of vegetation(including aquatic vegetation) variation on karst carbon sinks. V. de Montety et al. (USA) studied the influence of diel biogeochemical cycles on carbonate equilibrium in a karst river. Diel cycles of water chemistry and δ13C of dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) were measured to assess how biogeochemical processes affect dissolution and precipitation of calcite and thus channel development in Ichetucknee River, a large spring-fed river (discharge > 6 m3/s) flowing over carbonate karst terrain in north central Florida (USA). It is approved that variations in temperature, photosynthesis, and respiration force diel variations in pH and dissolved CO2 concentrations of surface streams, possibly controlling carbonate equilibrium between river water and carbonate stream beds. Although CO2 outgassing occurs, it is shown to be a minor component of the DIC mass balance while carbonate precipitation represents 88% of DIC loss. The important lost of DIC observed in Ichetucknee River demonstrates that large systems with abundant subaquatic vegetation act as natural sink of carbon. Zhang Cheng(China) reported the landuse change impact on carbon sink caused by karst processes in southwestern china area. Data from monitoring and experimental sites showed that karst processes, as a low-temperature geochemical 2 open system, are very sensitive to environmental change and are a special geological process that is involved in the short-term carbon cycle. Carbon sinks of terrestrial ecosystems increase with vegetation development or reforestation, here it was shown that similar processes caused by karst dissolutional denudation can occur underground as well. Shen Licheng(China) et al reported carbon dioxide degassing flux from two geothermal fields in Tibet, China. Simulations of CO2 partial pressure within the two hydrogeothermal systems showed that CO2 degassing occurs during hot water migration from the aquifer to the surface. Carbon dioxide degassing flux from the Langjiu geothermal field was estimated to be ~3.6×106 kg km–2a–1, and that from Dagejia was ~3.3×106 kg km–2a–1. (2) karst aquifer systems and water resource processes. Water resources in mountainous karst regions are vital for regional water budgets and freshwater supply. Ute Bellmann et al.(Germany) reported the underground drainage pattern of steep, high-alpine mountain chains (karst systems) and its geological structure characterization in the Wetterstein Mountains, Germany. The area is mainly formed by up to about 1 km thick Triassic limestone. Two different underground karst drainages have been identified: High velocities (ca. 100 m/h) and convergent flow in the Zugspitz Cirque, and lower velocities (ca. 10 m/h) and divergent drainage in the adjacent Alpspitze area. Augusto Auler (Brazil) analyzed the hydrochemistry and sulfur isotope in the semi-arid dolomitic Una Group karst of northeastern Brazil. The results demonstrated that both mechanisms (sulfide oxidation and evaporative concentration) are operative in the area. The absence of sulfate intercalations in the dolomite and the frequent occurrence of sulfide beds suggest that sulfide oxidation may be a major process in the area, contributing sulfate anions to groundwater and increasing the potential for carbonate dissolution and speleogenesis. Chris Groves et al (USA) developed a monitoring strategy and equipment design that allows for quantitative characterization of flow and hydrochemical behavior of autogenic recharge of soil-mantled karst aquifers travels through the epikarstic zone before entering the main part of the aquifer, using electronic data logging, weekly site visits for data collection, instrument maintenance, and calibration, and storm monitoring. Work is underway to understand the movement and biogeochemistry of autogenic storage water flowing to a single epikarst drain in Crump’s Cave on Kentucky’s Mississippian Plateau. Moreover, Ben Haaff et al (USA) measured rainfall rates above the cave and discharge of the water flowing from the drain below every ten minutes in winter and spring 2010-11. A nominal recharge area parameter ζ was determined for eleven discrete storms. Values of ζ range from 843 m2 to 11,200 m2. Values of ζ may thus provide way to quantify varying epikarst storage input, and a trend is that values for the epikarst drain are 2-3 orders of magnitude higher than published UBF values for regional springs in the same geological setting. This gives quantitative evidence that storage is more concentrated in the epikarst than in the regional aquifers as a whole. Martin Knez and Tadej Slabe (Slovenia) reported some karst phenomena in breccia and flysch (Mount Nanos, Slovenia). They distinguished characteristic types of caves and initial stages in the development of dolines. The largest and most frequent are caves that developed in breccia above the contact with flysch. Earthworks have revealed the early stages in the formation of unique dolines. The true karst caves are formed in a locally and periodically flooded zone and they are often