speleospace q2 2014 q2 2014.pdftsa spring convention may 3, 4, 2014 headshot of bennett from carl...

Textjjjjjjjjj

jfdsljkfdslLogo by Clint Ladd

Be sure to like Greater Houston Grotto on Facebook.

Second

Quarter

2014Left: Bill Steele tells us about the

Huatla Cave expedition from which

he had just returned. He is

speaking to the Spring Convention

of the Texas Speleological

Association at Cave Without a

Name in Boerne, Texas. Bill

carried a brand new Explorers

Club flag on this expedition and

displayed it during his lecture.

—Roger Moore

TSA Spring

Convention,

page 5.

Whirlpool, page 3

Jester Cave 2

Evolution of Disease and WNS 6

The Chemistry of Cave Formation 7

Other Features:

Speleospace, Second Quarter, 2014, page 2

Check Out: http://greaterhoustongrotto.org/

I had a terrific time hanging out with

everyone and exploring Jester Cave

together! I will remember the beautiful

gypsum walls, the numerous groupings of

bats, exploring all those fun side passages,

laughing at all of our punch-drunk jokes,

my rib eye at the Backdoor Restaurant in

Blair, the hospitality of Bill & Diana,

meeting Gillian from San Antonio and the

Dallas cavers, retelling the stories of where

we kindled our desire for caving, and

sharing all of these precious moments of

our lives together!

—Scott Cogburn

0

This trip is March 22nd. This is a two

and a half mile, mostly walking

passage, gypsum cave about seven

hours away in Oklahoma.

Below is the list I have of Jester Cave

trip participants:

TJ Tidwell

Chris Lafferty

Jill Orr

Peter Druschke

Troy

Scott Cogburn

—Mallory Mayeux

Jester Cave3/22/14

Mallory’s Text from the GHG Listserve 3/9/14Scott’s Text from the GHG Facebook Page 3/24/14

Headshot of Mallory and Scott by Lyndon Tiu, 6/7/14

An Article on Jester Cave by Diana Tomchick: http://dfwgrotto.org/images/jester-cave-01-07.pdf

Photo Credits, if Not Provided Elsewhere

Cover Left Photo: By Roger Moore at the 2014 Spring TSA Convention at Cave Without a Name, May 3, 2014.

Cover Right Photo: by Noah McDougall; Evan Strickland at Whirlpool Cave on March 1, 2014

Cover Lower Photo and on page 2: Modified from SeleniteGypsumUSGOV, public domain on Wikipedia at:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gypsum.

Backdrop on pages 3, 4, and 5: Airmen’s Cave on 3/20/11. Photo provided by Lydia Hernandez.

Page 5: Bennett Lee posted his photo on his face book page with, “Feel free to share,” and with a the following link:

www.flickr.com/photos/wittytexan/14115592984

Backdrop on page 6: Little brown bat affected by white nose syndrome, public domain on Wikipedia.org at:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_nose_syndrome.

Backdrop on page and 8: Whirlpool Cave on 6/21/08. Photos posted to Meetup.com by Clint Ladd on 7/1/08.

Note: There was no First Quarter, 2014 Issue of Speleospace.

Nicole Garcia

Mal Mayeux

Wes Rosenstein

Greyson Knapp

Dessie Pierce

Left, from Left to Right:

Matt, Daniel, Adrienne,

Girish, Chris Mys, Chris

Lafferty, and Dominic.

The GHG gathers at

Whirlpool for a beginner’s

trip. We had a lot of interest

in this trip. So much so that

we ended up splitting up into

two groups in the cave. Wes

and Chris lead one group

while Evan and I lead the

other.

WhirlpoolMarch 1, 2014by Ray Hertel

Headshot of Ray by Wes Rosenstein

Other Photos by Noah McDougall

Right: We began by

entering the cave in our

separate groups and

then meeting in the

Travis County Room.

Side Note: There were

so many people

interested in going on

this trip that Chris

Lafferty agreed to lead

another trip on 3/15/14.

Thanks, Chris!!!

Check Out: http://caving.meetup.com/24/



Above, from Left to Right: Merry, Holly, Evan, and Noah. My crew started out in the East

Passage, while Wes’ group went through the Birth Canal to the Whirlpool Room. After a

while the two groups met back at the Travis County Room switched venues.

Left: Back on 2/23/13 I

crawled back into this little

tunnel in the back of the East

Passage and found these

formations. They were about

30 feet back from the main

passage in a, say, 12” tall

tunnel. They seemed rather

peculiar to me, so I just had to

get some photos this time.

Wes and I had talked about the possibility of a loop passage in Whirlpool, but the map does not

show it. As he and his team were heading out, they found a passage that loops back to one of

the earlier passages, a short cut to the Travis County Room. Cudo, Wes! But there might be

another loop; Wes’ loop does not go where I expected it to based on my experience.


TSA Spring ConventionMay 3, 4, 2014

Headshot of Bennett from Carl Sherman

Headshot of Roger provided by Roger Moore

Text from E-mails by Roger Moore on the Grotto Listserve

Dec. 5, 2013, Feb. 21 and April 28, 2014


Our own Roger Moore

was the TSA Vice Chair,

heading up the

convention, which took

place at beautiful Cave

Without A Name.

Mallory Mayeux, our

Grotto’s president,

headed up the speaker

program for the

convention. A big

thanks to both of you

for all the hard work

you put into the

convention. —Ray

A grand thank to Tom Summers for hosting this year’s

convention. Not only is this the second year in a row

that Tom has hosted the convention at his AMAZING

cave, but he has also improved the grounds, which

makes them an even better place to host a convention!

—Ray

The pavilion that was newly constructed in time

for last year's convention now has a concrete floor

that extends beyond the perimeter of the pavilion

to provide additional space. Permanent electricity

is now present at the pavilion and Tom has a

sophisticated LED lighting system that can be

used both in the cave and at the pavilion. CWAN

also now owns a Bose sound system with "cave-

adapted" echo-suppressing speakers. —Roger

Convention Highlights

Friday, May 2:

Slide Show by Peter Sprouse!

Saturday, May 3:

Photo and Map Salon

Vertical Gear — Adjustment and

Safety Workshop

Music by the band RTFM

Sunday, May 4:

TCMA Breakfast

TCMA meeting

Above: Convention Photo by Bennett Lee


http://www.cavetexas.org/PDF/TSASC_2014_Schedule.pdf

Click below to see Mallory’s speaker schedule:

Evolution of Disease and WNSRay Hertel, 6/16/14

Contemplating this year’s TAG Trip, I find myself considering White Nose Syndrome (WNS).

What can one expect from such a disease? While I am no expert on WNS, I do, having a B.S. in

biology, and know a thing or two about the genetic and evolutionary mechanisms.

When a new parasite evolves from some previous organism, it can be rather virulent (i.e.

deadly). The hosts of such a disease may have no prior experience with something like this. In

other words, the host’s immune system may not be prepared to deal with the onslaught that the

disease brings. So many individuals of the host species may die.

If a disease-causing organism is particularly virulent, it may kill off an entire species. Is

this good for the parasitic organism? Will such virulence benefit it? Probably not. If all the

members of the host species die off, the disease-causing organism will die off too. Unless it has a

host in which to live and reproduce, it will go extinct too.

In fact, both the disease-causing organism and the host organism will survive better if the

above scenario is not all there is to the disease history. Any population, whether it is the host

species or the parasite species, will have genetic variation in its genome. Some individuals in the

host species will probably hold more immunity for the disease than some others. Those that have

better immunity will be more likely to survive—survival of the fittest. And some individuals of the

disease-causing organism will more-than-likely be less virulent than some of their comrades.

Those that are less virulent will be less likely to kill off the host before the parasite can reproduce.

Those that are less virulent will be more likely to survive—again, survival of the fittest. The two

species, then, will mutually drive each other, step-by-step, in an evolutionary dance that results in a

host species with a better immune system (regarding the disease) and a parasite that is less virulent.

Protocols: https://www.whitenosesyndrome.org/sites/default/files/resource/national_wns_revise_final_6.25.12.pdf

What does this mean for the decontamination protocols that we see for WNS? It sounds

like either the disease will decimate the host population, driving it to extinction, or that the two

species will mutually adapt until they can live together. Does that mean that we are wasting our

time with the protocols? No. Assuming that people can transmit the disease between caves, our

decontamination protocols do two things. First, they give the bats and the WNS fungus more

time to evolve together, more time to experiment with different genetic variations. Evolution is

not an event but a process. It takes time. If we give the bats more time, they stand a better

chance of adapting. Second, this added time that the protocols provide also allows people the

opportunity to find some sort of treatment. Letting nature take its course is generally a more

ecologically friendly policy, right? If, however, human beings brought the disease to this

continent, then we might also take some responsibility for the spread of the disease. And the

protocols give us more time to work on a treatment.

So hope is not lost for our bats. Rather, we just need to be patient. If bats are going to be

driven to extinction by WNS, we cannot stop that. But if the bats and the disease are to adapt to

each other, allowing for mutual survival, that will take time, and maybe we can give them that

time with our decontamination protocols.



Caves form by a series of natural chemical interactions. The process often begins with

atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) gas dissolving in liquid water (H

2O). When water and carbon

dioxide interact, they intermittently produce carbonic acid (which is dissolved in water).

+

That is to say, bonds form between the constituents of the water and the carbon dioxide, so that

they become essentially one molecule. (Note: - represents a single bond (made of two electrons),

= represents a double bond (made of four electrons), and : represents two non-bonding electrons.)

Because the hydrogen ions (H+) can dissociate from the rest of the carbonic acid molecule

(when dissolved in water), the hydrogen ions can switch places with other hydrogen ions on other

carbonic acid molecules (or on water molecules). …or they can change places with calcium ions in

limestone. (Note: Ions are charged atoms or molecules; e.g., the + in “H+” indicates the charge.)

So for instance:

+ + + +

Notice that the chemical composition has not changed—in the end, all of the molecules have the

same number of atoms and electrons—but not all of the atoms are with their original molecules.

Below, a limestone molecule (CaCO3) near the surface of the stone is anchored into other

limestone molecules, which are represented by the dark area around it.

2

2 + + + 2 + +

When the calcium ion (Ca+2) dissociates from the carbonate ion (CO3-2)—when it is replaced by

hydrogen ions—the water-insoluble calcium carbonate becomes water-soluble and the carbonate ion

often leaves the rest of the limestone in which it was formerly stuck. Those of you who know chemistry

know that the above chemical equation is a bit simplistic, but it provides a general idea what is happens.

In summary, water is not a strong enough acid to dissolve limestone (that is, it’s hydrogen

ions do not, on their own, dissociate easily enough from the rest of the water molecule to replace the

calcium in limestone). Carbonic acid, on the other hand, is acidic enough and dissolves limestone

easily (that is, it does dissociate its hydrogen ions such that it can replace the calcium in limestone).

As acidic water (acidic, due to carbonic acid) runs through tiny fissures in limestone, the limestone

dissolves, increasing the size of these fissures and, in some cases, eventually produces vast caverns.

Dissolution in CavesRay Hertel, 6/16/14



H2O

Carbon Dioxide

Water

H2O H

2O

H2O H

2O

This is the third article

in a series.

See Q3 2012, page 7,

and Q4 2012, pages 6-8.

Previous issues of Speleospace are

posted on the GHG Meetup site.

Rest the pointer on “More” on the

menu bar and click “Files.”

C = Carbon, H = Hydrogen, O = Oxygen, Ca = Calcium

Carbonic Acid

Look for more Dissolution in Caves to come: we will

reverse the process to make formations; we will also

look at dissolution in hypogenic caves. And, still

coming, Categorizing Caves: Access Methods.

This means “Yields.” Since

the arrow points in both directions, it

indicates that the reaction is reversible.

Limestone

Greater Houston Grotto Officers and Other Basics

Chairman: Mallory Mayeux – [email protected]

Vice-Chairman: Wes Rosenstein – [email protected]

Secretary: Evan Strickland – [email protected]

Treasurer: Lyndon Tiu – [email protected]

Equipment: Wayne Hutchinson – [email protected]

Newsletter Editor: Ray Hertel – [email protected]

Listserve Moderator: Emily McGowan — [email protected]

Facebook Page Organizer: TJ Tidwell – [email protected]

Our meetings are held the third Tuesday of every month at:

Texas Rock Gym: 1526 Campbell Rd., Houston, TX

http://www.texasrockgym.com/

To learn more, check out:

http://greaterhoustongrotto.org/ and http://www.meetup.com/caving-24/about/


Texas Cavers Reunion 2014Guadalupe River Campgrounds

TSA MAP to GRC: http://www.cavetexas.org/maps/tcr2014.php

October. 9-12, 2014

For More Information, See:


Parade Theme

Supper

Villainshttp://www.cavetexas.org/events/TCR/index.html

https://www.facebook.com/events/52977746714371

8/?ref_newsfeed_story_type=regular

speleospace q2 2014 q2 2014.pdftsa spring convention may 3, 4, 2014 headshot of bennett from carl...

Documents