BCRA NEWSLETTER MARCH 2025
Our Social media news outlets...
• Facebook: http://facebook.com/groups/britishcaver
• BCRA News forum: http://bcra.org.uk/forum
• The Darkness Below https://darknessbelow.co.uk
• UK Caving http://ukcaving.com/board/?board=86.0
In this newsletter
• BCRA online seminars
• CREG field meeting and latest journal
• Cave and Karst Science
• Hidden Earth 2025 Update
• BCRA Science Symposium 2025
• Bid for 2029 UIS Congress
• BCRA Membership
• Next Council Meeting
• Supporting BCRA
• Derbyshire Explorers Forum Update
Monday 10th March , 19:30 to 21:00 BCRA Cave Science Seminar: The Underground Mistakes of My Career. Lessons Learned from Maaras Cave, Greece
With: Christos Pennos, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, School of Geology, Thessaloniki, Greece.
Time: Mon 10-Mar 2025, 19:30 to 21:00 GMT.
To Watch: see Joining via Zoom.
In this talk, I will present data collected from Maaras Cave over the past seven years, focusing primarily on hydrogeology and geomorphology. The Maaras Cave system is located along the northwestern margin of the Aggitis River basin. It contains an active fluvial system fed by a closed karstic basin, the Kato Nevrokopi polje, to the northwest. The cave is formed within the marbles of the Rhodope Massif and exhibits a distinct morphological pattern. It lacks closed loops and follows a hierarchical structure, where lower-order tributaries merge into higher-order passages. The system consists of two main tributaries, an eastern and a western branch—that converge into a single conduit flowing toward the spring a typical branch work cave following Palmer's classification.
CREG (Cave and Radio Electronics Group)
CREG are planning a field Meeting 17th-18th May 2025 Further details to be announced later. They have also just published their latest Journal 129 which is available on line and as a paper copy .
Cave and Karst Science.
This the BCRA’s flagship publication and over the past decade the Editors have produced three issues a year containing a variety of material from Britain and overseas. After Decembers bumper edition the flow of material has suddenly dried up and as of end February there was insufficient for us to publish an edition in April. Whilst we would very much welcome more submissions of papers by UK academics, the Editors encourage all BCRA members to consider whether they could write a 500 – 3000 word Report, perhaps on a recent discovery or expedition, or contribute a discussion for our Forum. The Editors would also like to receive more Photo Features and can assist those who have a scientifically interesting phot or set of photos but do not feel confident to write the words to go with them
2025 Hidden Earth
The dates for Hidden Earth have been announced as 26th-28th September 2025. Please check with the Hidden Earth media outlets and website [ https://hidden.earth/# ] for further information . If you wish to submit a lecture/presentation / workshop ,you can now do this on the Hidden earth website . Details of the various competitions are also available on the website.
2025 BCRA Science Symposium and AGM Please keep the weekend of 11/12 October free so you can attend the 2025 science symposium and AGM. This will be held in the School of Geographical Sciences at Bristol University, hosted by Linda Wilson and Dave Richardson. The BCRA AGM will be held at lunchtime on the 11th of October and there will be several field trips on the 12th.
UIS (Union Internationale de Speleology) Congress Bid for 2029 Update the BCRA in conjunction with the BCA are putting in a bid in to host the 2029 International Congress of Speleology. The UIS hosts an International Congress of Speleology every four years which is the world’s most significant gathering of cave and karst scientists, educators ,managers and explorers. Anyone wishing to assist with the bid should contact the BCRA Chairman and further information will follow if we are successful in our bid to host this prestigious event.
BCRA membership If you have not paid for the coming year, it is not to late to pay through Just Go system
The next council meeting will be held on the 9th of April 2025 via zoom 20.00 to 21.30 Further information is available on the BCRA website
Supporting BCRA.
Members will note that there has been a lack of field meetings since the end of Covid restrictions and we encourage anyone willing to organise a meeting to contact the secretary.
IT Support
Following our appeal in the last Newsletter we now have two volunteers who are doing great work on data from the British Cave Science Centre at Poole’s Cavern. An even bigger task is an overhaul / redesign on the BCRA website . If you feel that you can assist, please contact the secretary: bcra-secretary@bcra.org.uk
Derbyshire Explorers Forum was extremely well attended with some well documented explorations across Derbyshire and much of interest to cave scientists
The next newsletter will be at the end of March 2025