Karst Waters Institute

Karst Waters Institute - William L. Wilson Memorial Scholarship Awardees

"The goal of the scholarship is to attract and support new young karst scientists to continue the karst research Bill so deeply loved."

Jason Siemion, William L. Wilson Memorial Scholarship Awardee for 2004

After completing graduate studies under Dr. Arthur N. Palmer at the State University of New York at Oneonta, in the spring of 2006, Jason resumed full time work with the Watershed Research Section of the US Geological Survey at the New York Water Science Center. His responsibilities include installation and running of water quality sampling/data logging equipment in the Catskill Mountains of New York and along the Upper Delaware Scenic and Recreational River as well as data analysis and report writing for a variety of USGS projects in these areas. Jason currently resides in Schoharie County, New York, in the heart of northeastern cave country where he works on cave digs/surveys during the warm weather and ice climbs during the colder months, with occasional mountaineering trips to the Cascade Range.

Jason Siemion (and friend) in Cueva Charco Cave, Mexico

Thesis Title: Siemion, Jason, 2006, Use of Isotopes, Tracer Tests, and Dissolved Solids to Characterize a Karst Aquifer, M.A. thesis, State University of New York, Oneonta New York.

Thesis Abstract: This study demonstrated new methods of dye tracing and isotopic analysis of karst aquifers. These tools allowed predictions of underground flowpath geometry, timing of recharge, and relative contributions to flow by sinking streams and diffuse recharge.When the log of discharge was plotted against the log of breakthrough time, the linear regression lines representing the known canyon passages of McFail's and Schoharie Caverns were found to have slopes of -0.56 and -0.67 respectively, while a water-filled conduit was found to have a slope of -1.0. The slopes of the regression lines representing passages of unknown geometries were found to be -0.62 for the Nature’s Way system and -0.86 for the Hillbilly Hole - Uhll Be Cold Cave system. Stable-isotope mixing diagrams were used to determine that 83% of the water entering Schoharie Caverns was of diffuse origin in April 2004, while 67% was of diffuse origin in August 2004. Tritium data showed that the samples were of modern water. The travel time of diffuse flow into McFail’s cave was found to be approximately 6 months on the basis of stable isotope data. Tritium data showed that samples were of modern water. The stable-isotope and geochemical analysis of water samples from the Nature’s Way and Uhll be Cold systems indicate that they are both fed primarily by sinking streams with rapid flow through the systems. High ²²⁸Ra/²²⁶Ra activity ratios were found in water resurging from the Schoharie and Nature’s Way systems. Typical marine limestones have a ²²⁸Ra/²²⁶Ra activity ratio of 0.5. The water resurging from the Schoharie and Nature’s Way systems had ²²⁸Ra/²²⁶Ra activity ratios of approximately 0.8, indicating that the limestones the water had passed through may be “dirty” limestones with clastic grains mixed into the matrix. Another possible explanation is that the shaly layers of the Kalkberg Limestone could be influencing the radium activity ratios.

Lindsay McCollough Walker, William L. Wilson Memorial Scholarship Awardee for 2005

Lindsay completed her Bachelor of Science in Geology at Wittenberg University in 2003. After taking time off to travel, she returned to school and finished her Master of Science in Geosciences at Mississippi State University in 2006. Lindsay currently resides in Canmore, Alberta in the Canadian Rockies where she runs a successful business with her husband. She serves on the Board of Directors of the Canmore Museum and Geoscience Centre as Vice President of Geoscience and works part-time as a cave guide for Canmore Caverns, leading wild cave tours into nearby Rat's Nest Cave. In her spare time she enjoys hiking, climbing, caving, cross-country skiing, biking, and snowshoeing. Lindsay's present research involves mapping and documenting the karst of the Burstall Pass area of Alberta. Lindsay McCollough Walker, Big Sister Summit overlooking Canmore, Alberta, Canada

Thesis Title: Walker, L.N., 2006, The caves, karst, and geology of Abaco Island, Bahamas [Master's Thesis]: Mississippi State University, 241 p. (Link to MSU thesis)

Thesis Abstract: Abaco Island is located on Little Bahama Bank at the northwestern extent of the Bahamian Archipelago. Karst features on Abaco include: flank margin caves, karren, blue holes, pit caves, banana holes, and cone karst. As part of this study all known flank margin caves on Abaco were GPS located and surveyed. The presence and locations of the other karst features were recorded as part of the karst inventory of Abaco. The cone karst is of particular interest because cone karst has not been documented on other Bahamian islands. These cones form from the dissection of an eolianite ridge due to karst, fire, and vegetative processes. Tafoni-like recesses, originally believed to be high flank margin caves, were formed during cliffing of an eolianite ridge during the OIS 5e highstand. The geologic evolution of representative depositional sequences on Abaco fits within the accepted Bahamin stratigraphy.

Melissa Hendrickson, William L. Wilson Memorial Scholarship Awardee for 2006

Melissa Hendrickson graduated with her masters from the Geoscience Department at Western Kentucky University in December of 2006. After spending the spring in Mexico working on a survey and documentation project of cenotes and dry caves on the Yucatan Penninsula, she moved to London, Ontario. Melissa is currently working on her doctorate in the Geography Department at the University of Western Ontario where she is looking at borehole methods for the characterization and modeling of karst aquifers. Her quest for karst located under previously glaciated terrain has finally brought her back north to the till covered carbonate aquifers of Southwest Ontario. An avid caver, she is planning another research and exploration trip back to Southeast Alaska in the near future. Melissa Hendrickson in Attine Azar Cave, Lebenon

Thesis Title: Hendrickson, M.R., 2006. The influence of organic acid on limestone dissolution: Tongass National Forest, Alaska. MS thesis, Western Kentucky University, Bowling Green, Kentucky.

Thesis Abstract:
The dissolution kinetics of limestone have been studied in depth in laboratory settings and under some situations in the field. However, little has been studied about how organic acids affect the dissolution of limestone. In accordance with the Tongass Land Management Plan, one of the research priorities for National Forest is to define a relationship between peatlands and karst development. The Tongass National Forest is underlain by extensive areas of carbonate bedrock, including extensive areas of the northern portion of Prince of Wales Island. The peatlands in the Tongass drain acidic waters into the karst. It was found that the carbonate karst system acts as a buffer for the highly acidic muskeg waters. Over the gradient of the karst system for this study, the pH increases from an average of 3.89 to 7.22 and the predicted dissolution rates drop from the insurgence to the resurgence. These rates were also correlated with a mineral weight loss experiment that was in agreement with these predicted rates. The potential for dissolution from the muskeg waters is the highest recorded for a natural karst system.

Megan Curry, William L. Wilson Memorial Scholarship Awardee for 2007

A geology graduate of the University of Akron in 2004, Megan is currently a masters student at New Mexico Tech, with an expected graduation date of May 2008. Megan began her cave science career working in traditional conduit caves in the eastern US, but has now moved on to the more exotic caves and locales of the American west. She is still undecided on what direction to take after graduation. She would like to take a break from being a graduate student for one or two years. After this break, she hopes to go back to graduate school and obtain a PhD.

Thesis Title: Curray, M., in progress, A Geomicrobiological and Geochemical Approach to the Biogenicity of Moonmilk Formation: Spider Cave and Pahoehoe Cave, New Mexico; Thursday Morning Cave, Colorado; Cataract and Thrush Cave, Alaska. MSc thesis, Cave and Karst Studies, New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, Socorro, NM 87801 USA, mcurry@nmt.edu

Thesis Abstract:
Many secondarily formed deposits within caves are known to be the result of primarily physiochemical processes. However, moonmilk is a unique speleothem that does not appear to be explainable via the same abiotic mechanisms, nor have the same morphologies and textures as traditional speleothems such as stalagmites and stalactites. Moonmilk is unique compared to other speleothems due to its biological content, highly variable mineralogy, and texture. Moonmilk is currently loosely defined as a microcrystalline aggregate cave deposit composed of various mineralogies and a distinguishable texture that is soft, plastic, and pasty when wet and crumbly when dry. Several explanations have been proposed concerning the origin of moonmilk. However, the body of work is sparse and the origin still unclear. A microbial role is suggested by the presence of visible pits in bedrock apparently caused by organism attachment, mineral encrustation around microbial filaments, and significant biofilm content. To explain the observed physical, chemical, and biological properties of moonmilk, we hypothesize that it is the product of a passive, microbially-mediated disaggregation of host rock and reprecipitation of carbonate from bedrock in a groundwater seepage-driven evaporative process. In order to test the relative biogenicity of moonmilk, this study will aim at distinguishing the biotic components and interactions from abiotic. The research presented in this thesis will utilize a pragmatic interdisciplinary approach encompassing geomicrobiology and geochemistry.

Megan Curry in a New Mexico Cave, USA