Report: International Congress of SpeleologyAuthor(s): Stephen TrudgillSource: Area, Vol. 10, No. 2 (1978), p. 120Published by: The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers)Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20001321 .

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120 Geographical study of crime

Schmid, C. F. (1960a) 'Urban crime areas-pt 1 ', Am. sociol. Rev. 25, 427-52 Schmid, C. F. (1960b) ' Urban crime areas-pt 2 ', Am. sociol. Rev. 25, 655-78 Scott, P. (1972) 'The spatial analysis of crime and delinquency ', Aust. Geogr. Stud. 9, 1, 1-18 Smith, D. M. (1975) 'Crime rates as territorial social indicators', Queen Mary College, Dep.

Geogr. Occ. Pap. I

International congress of speleology

A report on the Seventh International Congress of Speleology held in Sheffield, 12-16 September 1977.

About 500 delegates were present at this congress and nearly 200 papers were presented by speakers from Western and Eastern Europe, North America, Africa, New Zealand, Australia, Asia, Japan and Russia. The topics covered included geology and mineral ogy, karst morphology, speleogenesis, hydrogeology, cave chemistry and physics, speleobiology, archaeology, documentation, techniques and equipment and conserva tion and tourism.

By far the most interesting development in recent years was reported in the papers on radiometric dating of speleothems. Stalagmites have been dated using the Uranium Thorium method at a dating laboratory set up under the auspices of Dr Derek Ford at McMaster University, Canada. Work by M. Gascoyne (McMaster), R. S. Harmon (Michigan State University), T. C. Atkinson (University of East Anglia) and P. Smart (University of Bristol) has provided, for the first time, evidence for the testing of theories of the evolution of caves during the Pleistocene. Evidence was shown for the dating of submerged calcite deposits from the Bahamas at 22,000 years BP (Late

Wisconsin) from 12 m deep and again at 130,000 (?8,000) to 160,000 (?17,000) years BP at 45 m depth. These data provide evidence for low sea levels at the times of deposition. In Yorkshire and Canada, stalagmite dates coincide with warm periods determined from deep sea or polar ice core oxygen isotope work or pollen analysis, though stalagmite deposition need not cease under glacial conditions. Evidence was shown for stalagmite deposits in a cave in the Mendip Hills, Somerset at around 360,000-390,000 years BP (but this is near the limit of the method and the accuracy is limited), and at 63,000 (?19,000), 13,000 (? 3,000), 11,000 (?6,000) and 8,000 (?1,000) years BP. Dating evidence can be combined with stratigraphic evidence to carefully evaluate the stages of the formation of the caves.

Other geomorphological work included reports on tropical, marine and glacial karst as well as studies of cave formation. One of the interesting points was the pro bable influence of lithological factors upon landforms, giving rise to a tropical type of landform in northern latitudes. The climate-landform relationship seems to be receiving a severe undermining and the lithology/structure-landform relationship is receiving far more attention and support.

The conference proceedings are available from the British Cave Research Associa tion, Sales Officer, Bryan Ellis, 30 Main Road, Westonzoyland, Bridgwater, Somerset,

TA7 OEB, England. A bibliography of British karst was also produced for the Congress and is obtainable from Geo Abstracts, University of East Anglia, Norwich, Norfolk,

NR4 7TJ, UK. Stephen Trudgill

University of Sheffield

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