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Cave Team, Led By Hoffman March 16, 2004 The team, which includes some of the most highly experienced expedition cavers in the United States, will assist karst hydrologists from the Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences and the Xiangxi State (Hunan) Hydrogeology Bureau by mapping several huge caves and underground rivers on western Hunan's Guizhou Plateau. The expedition is in support of a project that will eventually entail building a large in-cave dam along an underground river in an attempt to raise water levels in the cave system almost 600 feet to make water more accessible to tens of thousands of people in several poor and dry communities that lie on a high plateau above the cave system. Kambesis, research associate at WKU's Hoffman Institute, has led cave expeditions throughout the world and has participated in two cave expeditions to China. Along with WKU graduate student Mark Graham, geographic information systems (GIS) specialist for the team, the group will assist the Chinese scientists with expertise in cave exploration and survey methods, cartography and GIS. The most difficult aspect of planning the trip has been supporting two cave divers who will map flooded portions of the cave system, according to Dr. Chris Groves, director of the Hoffman Institute. "This is the first ever American cave diving expedition ever to travel to China," said Dr. Groves, who organized the expedition along with Kambesis. Dr. Groves and his wife, Deana, traveled to the site in remote Western Hunan in January to plan the project. "The diving equipment is so heavy and bulky that some items, including a portable air compressor and diving tanks, are being purchased in Hong Kong because of airline restrictions," he said. Once in Hong Kong, several members of the team will hire a truck and driver to transport the equipment 500 kilometers to Guilin, where they will meet the other members. This work represents an evolving trend for the Hoffman Institute's nine-year China cave research program, Dr. Groves said. While the Institute will maintain an emphasis on basic research into the hydrology and geochemistry of the Chinese karst areas, the researchers' efforts are becoming more applied by helping their Chinese colleagues develop solutions to the often severe water resource problems in southwest China's extensive karst areas, he said. Of 80 million residents of the southwest China karst region, eight million live in conditions of poverty, exacerbated by difficult water resource challenges. For more information about the China project or other international programs in geoscience, contact the Hoffman Environmental Research Institute at (270) 745-4169 or Dr. David Keeling, head of the Department of Geography and Geology, at (270) 745-4555 or by e-mail at david.keeling@wku.edu.
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