Hoffman Institute Team Documents Longest Cave In Haiti

January 08, 2009

Bowling Green, Ky. - In December, the Haitian Ministry of Tourism invited a team from Western Kentucky University’s Hoffman Environmental Research Institute to continue an ongoing cave research project started in 2007 in Port-a-Piment on the southern peninsula of Haiti. 

The project involves assessing and documenting one of Haiti’s most significant cave and karst areas, and providing management recommendations for resource protection, scientific research and touristic development.

The Hoffman Environmental Research Institute (http://hoffman.wku.edu/) is part of WKU’s Applied Research and Technology Program within Ogden College of Science and Engineering.

Hoffman Institute assistant director Pat Kambesis, adjunct associate Mike Lace and WKU geoscience graduate students Ben Miller and Dan Nolfi continued work started in 2007 by the department. The team worked with local officials and representatives from the Haitian Ministry of Tourism to determine the extent and scientific significance of the cave system. 

During the survey of the cave, Grotte Marie-Jeanne was established as the longest cave in Haiti at 2 km, with more passages as yet undocumented.  The team discovered a previously unknown lower level of the cave, which accesses the local groundwater table.  This was an important find in a karst area that typically has very little surface drainage. 

A cursory biologic inventory revealed a number of troblobitic organisms including millipedes, snails and pseudo-scorpions that have not yet been identified.  A large bat colony was also found in the lower reaches of the cave.  

Additional caves were also located and documented in the Marie-Jeanne karst that are indicators of ancient sea levels and elevations of a paleo freshwater lens,  both important indicators about the  development of the coastal hydrology of the southern peninsula of Haiti.

The base map, karst feature inventory and management plans that were developed in 2007 are being updated and compiled into a research/management plan for the cave and surrounding area.  The results of the team’s work have already aided in the establishment of development partnerships between Haitian and Irish investors who are interested in the touristic potential of the southern peninsula.

“The Hoffman Institute’s research in Haiti, which is by far the most impoverished society in the Western hemisphere, is part of the department’s global outreach strategy and aims to help Haitians develop a natural resource for sustainable economic benefit,” said Geography and Geology Department Head Dr. David Keeling.

“With ongoing research projects in North and South America, Asia, Africa and Europe, the department’s international reach continues to grow, with substantial applied learning benefits for students.”
               
More WKU news is available at www.wku.edu and at http://wkunews.wordpress.com/. If you’d like to receive WKU news via e-mail, send a message to WKUNews@wku.edu.

For information, contact Pat Kambesis at (270) 745-3961.