Highlights from speleology – University of Innsbruck
One year after the first very successful symposium on the occasion of the International Year for Caves and Karst, numerous experts from the field of caving research came together again on November 11th and 12th, 2022 in the ballroom of the Austrian Academy of Sciences. 80 experts from 26 nations took part in the event organized by Christoph Spötl, Yuri Dublyansky and Gabriella Koltai (Institute for Geology) with Lukas Plan (Vienna Natural History Museum).
The 2-day symposium entitled “Highlights of geoscientific cave research” included 14 lectures by international experts on a wide range of topics: The spectrum ranges from groundwater resources in the karst based on the reconstruction of climate change from cave deposits to earthquakes and prehistoric cave art. The second day of the conference was dedicated to a topic that has become increasingly important in caving in recent years, namely caves formed by rising groundwater. The symposium concludes the International Year of Caves and Karst in Austria.
Caves and their deposits, for example in the form of stalactites, are of great importance for climate research: an archive is formed layer by layer, which allows a glimpse into the climatic conditions far into the past. Deciphering their geochemical composition allows conclusions to be drawn about the conditions that used to prevail above the caves. This makes them a secure climate archive.
The event was organized by the Commission for Geosciences of the Academy of Sciences, the University of Innsbruck, the Austrian Cave Research Association and the Natural History Museum in Vienna.