Introduction to cave inventory

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Current revision as of 20:48, 2 May 2011

A cave inventory is a description of resources associated with a cave or caves. They are of benefit to the land manager in deciding how best to protect, study and manage the caves.

There are two basic flavors of cave inventories: a general cave inventory and a detailed resource inventory.

General cave inventory

A general cave inventory is usually performed on behalf of a land manager to describe the general features of the caves being managed. There is usually one inventory description for each cave with a list of the specific resources to be found therein.

A general cave inventory would probably list for each cave or karst feature information such as: location including GPS coordinates, step logs or whatever location information is available; the general form of the cave such as solutional, erosional, lava tube, etc.; the significant flora and fauna within the cave such as bat hibernacula or mammal dens, or rare species, etc.; significant speleological resources such as large gypsum formations or long stalactites, boxwork, rimstone, aragonite, etc.; the hydrological nature of the cave; the general pattern and size of the cave such as multilevel maze, angular network, branchwork, etc.; any significant paleontological resources; anthropogenic resources such as skeletons, bones, etc.; historic artifacts and historic graffiti markings such as signatures; any historic uses of the cave and anything that would make the cave significant.

A general cave inventory provides a quick view of the significant nature of a cave and an overview of the significance of an area populated with caves.

A general cave inventory should list the presence or absence of a gate or other protections and what type of lock (if any) is used to secure the gate. It should list the location of any geological markers (sometimes called cave medallions). It should also include a description of the recreational significance and any monitoring programs in effect. If ropes or ladders or other specialized equipment or skills are needed to access the cave, they should be listed.

A general cave inventory should also detail the availability of maps, papers and other documentation related to the cave itself. Also any artifacts which have been removed from the cave should be listed with their current location.

Finally, if applicable, a statement as to whether or not the cave should be deemed "significant" according to the Federal Cave Resources Protection Act should be provided.

This is not a comprehensive list and a general cave inventory should include whatever information the land manager deems as important for the proper protection and management of the cave and karst resources.

Cave resource inventory

A cave resource inventory is a more detailed map of the inventory items within a single cave or a section of a cave. Cave resource inventories are normally done alongside a survey (map) and provide more detailed layers to augment the map.

Cave resource inventories are usually collected in the cave at the same time as survey work to draw the map. For each survey station, the inventory lists the resources (significant or not) associated with that station. From this, the information is normally put into ArcGIS (see ArcGIS on Wikipedia) form to provide layers of information for the map. This information can be of great value for the scientist, researcher or the cave manager.

Most cave resource inventories are collected in a form provided by the land manager and specialized for the information they want. For example, the Carlsbad Cavern National Park Cave Inventory Form is on water proof paper and is sized to fit in a standard survey notebook. It lists such general categories as: formations, geology, biology, cultural and miscellaneous. Under these, specific entries exist for things like: dripping water, floor material, obstacles such as pits and climbs, flowstone, stalagmite, boxwork, rimstone, gypsum flowers or needles, hydromagnesites such as moonmilk or balloons, clays such as endellite, fossils, sulfur, beetles, crickets, bones, artifacts and graffiti.

From this detailed inventory information, map layers can be drawn and coordinated with surface features or other areas of the cave to produce a detailed map of the location of various types of things within the cave.

A good cave resource inventory should also list the degree and form of human impact on or around each station so that an impact map can be produced. To go along with this, the location of any human impacts which might benefit from restoration or protection measures should be noted. Information about the difficulties to be encountered should a rescue need to be performed may also be important.

Producing a good cave resource inventory is painstaking work. It involves a detailed analysis of the floor, walls and ceiling at each station with everything found being recorded in the inventory form. A detailed scan should be done of everything around each station and this takes time. Often the inventory is the slowest portion of a survey with the sketcher not far behind.

The purpose of the resource inventory is to be as accurate and thorough as possible so it helps greatly to have knowledgeable individuals perform the inventory function. Also, photographs of any extremely unusual find or unidentified item can help make for an accurate and thorough inventory.

Further reading

• Matthew, Reese (2001); The Use of Cave Inventory System as a Cave Management Tool from the 15th National Cave and Karst Management Symposium, Tucson, AZ, October 16-19, 2001

External links

• A paper by Johanna Kovarik and Pat Kambesis titled Cave resource inventories: why they are important?
• The Virtual Cave an online reference by Dave Bunnell of cave resources which might be included in an inventory