Encyclopedia of Caves, Third Edition, provides detailed background information to anyone with a serious interest in caves. This includes students, both undergraduate and graduate, in the earth, biological and environmental sciences, and consultants, environmental scientists, land managers and government agency staff whose work requires them to know something about caves and the biota that inhabit them. Caves touch on many scientific interests in geology, climate science, biology, hydrology, archaeology, and paleontology, as well as more popular interests in sport caving and cave exploration. Case studies and descriptions of specific caves selected for their special features and public interest are also included. This book will appeal to these audiences by providing in-depth essays written by expert authors chosen for their expertise in their assigned subject. - Features 14 new chapters and 13 completely rewritten chapters - Contains beautifully illustrated content, with more than 500 color images of cave life and features - Provides extensive bibliographies that allow readers to access their subject of interest in greater depth

"This is a family story of America's most famous cave explorer who was trapped and died in Sand Cave in 1925. That story has been told many times, but never before has the complete life of Floyd Collins been presented. Floyd's younger brother Homer tells how Floyd was fascinated with caves from his childhood, of his discovery of the famous Crystal Cave on the home property, and of the rescue attempts from the viewpoint of a brother so devoted that his extraordinary efforts to save Floyd were rewarded by his being removed from the premises while others inexperienced in working in caves carried on the unsuccessful attempt. It is a warm story of a man whose love in life was exploring caves, a man who endured his grim death with dignity and pride in his vocation."--Page 4 of cover

The Encyclopedia of Caves and Karst Science contains 350 alphabetically arranged entries. The topics include cave and karst geoscience, cave archaeology and human use of caves, art in caves, hydrology and groundwater, cave and karst history, and conservation and management. The Encyclopedia is extensively illustrated with photographs, maps, diagrams, and tables, and has thematic content lists and a comprehensive index to facilitate searching and browsing.

This book offers readers a thorough introduction to the Dinaric Karst System in Croatia. As the first comprehensive book on the country’s caves and karst, it presents a wealth of fascinating photographs from its karst underground. To date, ca. 12,000 caves and pits have been confirmed in Croatia, approximately 35% of which contain constant groundwater. Knowing the amount, direction and quality of groundwater that has been discovered in caves of the Croatian karst allows us to predict with greater certainty the hydrogeological situation of some karst areas where no special drilling or borehole measurements were performed. In the process of building highways in the country’s karst regions over the last thirty years, thousands of caverns (speleological features without natural entrances) were discovered and thoroughly explored. All of them were geologically mapped, surveyed, and photographed in detail. Extensive research was systematically carried out in Croatian karst regions on sections of roads, highways, cuttings, slides, tunnels, bridge foundations, viaducts, etc., while creating ca. 800 kilometers of highways (such as the Zagreb-Rijeka highway, Zagreb-Split-Dubrovnik highway, Y-Ipsilon of Istria semi-highway, Rijeka-Rupa highway, Zagreb-Zadar semi-highway, and the Rijeka bypass). Some of these caverns contain major chambers like in the “Sveti Rok” tunnel and in some of them, like in the “Vrata” tunnel, it was even necessary to build a bridge. This bridge is the longest one in the world built in a tunnel over a cavern. The book describes this and many more features of the cave exploration of the Dinaric Karst System of Croatia, making it a valuable resource for researchers, engineers, cavers, and all other readers interested in karst.

This book comprehensively reviews the historical background of speleology and cave research in the contexts of archeology and natural sciences. It also offers a summary of selected topics related to the karstic terrain of Turkey. Covering 40 % of the country's surface area, Turkey's karstic terrain accommodates thousands of caves. However, understanding the geology, geomorphology, hydrology, biology, and ecosystem dynamics of these caves is still limited. Despite numerous explorations and extensive fieldwork, this is the first comprehensive publication on the topic since 1984. The book presents the 45 most significant caves in Turkey, selected according to several criteria, including esthetical uniqueness. It covers caves of global archeological importance, such as Karain, Yarımburgaz and Üçagızlı, and some of the world's deepest caves, such as Peynirlikönü, Kuzgun, Morca, and Çukurpınar. The book includes a survey and a detailed description of the genesis, geology, geomorphology, and exploration history for each cave.