Key Earth Science Links
Speleology (Caving) Web Site
Living with Karst. American Geological Institute, Environmental Awareness Series. AGI provides a colorful, easy-to-read booklet which defines karst and outlines the environmental issues in karst landscapes. Comes with a poster. Check out the Environmental Awareness Series Page for more details. Powerpoint slide shows and images are available to supplement the booklet. Most information is free or discounted to teachers.
Kentucky is karst country: What you should know about sinkholes and springs. Jim Currens, Kentucky Geological Survey. Colorful, easy-to-read booklet about karst in Kentucky.
American Cave Conservation Association, this site has a lot of information about caves and has a virtual cave tour with lots of images. They have a section on education for teachers.
Blue Grass Grotto, the central Kentucky chapter of the National Speleological Society. Provides information about the organization, caving in Kentucky, calendar of meetings and caving trips in Kentucky, and mailing lists to cavers around the world.
National Speleological Society. Organization founded to promote the study, conservation, exploration, and knowledge about caves. Under the Learn about Caves option are numerous links to selected cave sites categorized by topic and grade level (elementary, etc.). An Audio/visual section shows a list of films and slide shows that are available on loan to members.
Mammoth Cave National Park, Kentucky. Provides information on park tours, park geology, karst topography, cave life, and other subjects, as well as a virtual historic tour of the cave in 1844.The teacher section provides curriculum info on caves and karst, program planning for cave visits, distance learning opportunities, and much more.
Karst Field Studies. Western Kentucky University. Western Kentucky University through its Center for Human GeoEnvironmental Studies (CHNGES) and the Department of Geography and Geology, in cooperation with the Mammoth Cave International Center for Science and Learning and the Cave Research Foundation, offers a series of multi-day field courses focusing on cave and karst science and management.
Europa Communications. Provides a color map of Lechuguilla Cave, near Carlsbad Caverns, New Mexico, and lets you explore different parts of the cave through photos. Also provides three-dimensional animations of several caves, but these are large files to download.
Good Earth Graphics. Provides a list and photos of common cave formations and minerals as a multimedia, virtual cave tour.