Summary

18 Under “no man’s land” Michele Potleca, Paolo Rucavina Mount Pal Piccolo overlooks the pass of Monte Croce Carnico (Friuli Venezia Giulia - Udine) and is located in an interesting and troubled area of the Carnic Alps on the border between Italy and Austria. During World War One (1915–1918) this place witnessed bitter fightings, but nowadays this place is peaceful and the only witness of the past tragedies is an outdoor museum. A place where, walking along the trail of the Alta via Carnica, one remains fascinated by the variety and beauty of the surrounding landscapes. Geologically speaking, it is a complex area made of limestone rocks. It is within this microcosm that we discovered and mapped a kilometer of new galleries belonging to an old shaft “Voragine del Piano Macchi”, which for decades was thought to have vanished. This old pit opens in the middle of what in 1915-1918 was the “no man’s land” between the barbed wired Italian and Austro-Hungarian front lines…

26 Ice Caving Project Andrea Ferrario, Mauro Inglese, Paolo Testa, Paola Tognini After an advance in the early 80’s, during the last 30 years all alpine glaciers are reacting to the recent rising of mean summer temperature and to poor snow falls with huge ice mass losses, with conspicuous reduction in volume and retreating of the glacier snout. Ice volume reduction goes together with changes in morphology, strain distribution and subsequent jointing. Constant monitoring and observations through time of the glacial caves point out that recent glacier changes are affecting also the evolution of englacial cave systems and the formation of contact caves. It is in fact well demonstrated that glacial caves strictly depend on the distribution of strain through the ice mass and on the water flow entering the caves: every change in one of these factors causes a change in the morphology of caves. On the other hand, the existence of glacial caves has a control on the evolution of the glaciers themselves. Expeditions on the largest glaciers all over the world allowed researchers to have an idea about the often spectacular morphologies glacial caves may display, but the smaller and relatively modest alpine glaciers offer us the opportunity to study continuously and systematically, over many years, the evolution of these caves and to relate it with the evolution of the glaciers. Some examples of what is happening on Forni Glacier (Valfurva, Northern Italy) and on Morteratsch Glacier (Southern Switzerland) show the contribution cavers and speleologists can give thanks to simple and cheap methods of surface and cave surveying, and photographic documentation they generally use in karst caves, without any expensive or complicate scientific instruments. Glacial caves are continuously changing their form, dimensions and position through time, so that, in order to achieve a simple and effective method for recording, a possible model for a register of glacial caves is proposed, which could be useful to represent this variability.

35 The Vallone Ponte-Grotte D’Acqua karst system (Sant’Angelo Muxaro, Agrigento) Giovanni Buscaglia, Marco Interlandi, Giuliana Madonia, Marco Vattano The gypsum karst system Vallone Ponte-Grotte D’Acqua consists of a succession of eight caves developing along a narrow and deep gorge cut by the Vallone Ponte at the SW of Sant’Angelo Muxaro village. Sink caves, spring caves, active and relict hydrogeological through caves, and active caves with streams flowing underground but with no explored connections to either sink or spring systems, are alternated with stretches of gorge with surface drainage, blind valleys, dry and in some place hanging valleys, and natural bridges. The system developed overall for 1.5 km along the main tectonic lineaments of the area. The system is part of a larger gypsum karst area characterized by several surface karst forms and caves, including the Inghiottitoio di Sant’Angelo Muxaro, which since 2000 is a nature reserve.

42 Bosnia 2012: marvellous Govještica! Edited by Speleo Dodo Sarajevo, GSB-USB Bologna, GGN Novara, GSAA Massa, GSPGC Reggio Emilia, CVSC Bologna In August 2012 during an Italian - Bosnian expedition to the Govještica Pećina, the access to the Romanja plateau, an important karstic area of central Bosnia, has been discovered. Located 40 km East of Sarajevo, Govještica Pećina is a spring cave of the Prača canyon. This cave and the nearby Mračna Pećina were known since the early XX th

century, but only since 2010 these caves have been explored seriously bringing Govještica Pećina to become the longest cave of Bosnia Herzegovina with almost 8000 meters of lenght. Furthermore the morphologies of the passages of the Govještica Pećina, like the active and fossil branches enriched by beautiful formations, and also many bones of Ursus Spelaeus, presently under study, make this cave extremely interesting.

50 Looking for caves in the shadow of Nunusaku. Caving expedition on Seram Island Andrea Benassi, Guido Baroncini Turricchia Seram is an Indonesian island in the Moluccas province. Despite the large extension of karst areas and the presence of the deepest Indonesian cave, only two speleological expeditions were carried ouyt on the Island up to know. A third expedition with the aim of reaching and prospecting the top of the central range (Binaya, 3047 m) and the West Seram area was organized during May/June 2012. The expedition has localised 17 new caves and explored 1400 meters of new passages. The Sapalewa Underground River (50 m 3

/s) was reached and partially explored. Eleven new underground rivers were identified. A new expedition in collaboration with local institutions and caver clubs is planned for the next year.

56 Speleology, a University Course Jo De Waele In May 2012 the University of Bologna has brought 15 geology students to discover the underground world in CentralEast Sardinia. This “Speleology” course is an optional in the Bachelor of Science program in Earth Sciences. Students are taught to observe, describe and discuss the morphologies and sediments in surface and underground karst in order to try and understand the processes that lead to the formation of surface karst morphologies, speleothems, sedimentary successions and underground voids. Thanks to the efforts of the local communities and cavers the Course has been a great success.

SPELEOLOGIA Semestrale della Società Speleologica Italiana Redazione: Centro Italiano di Documentazione Speleologica “F. Anelli” via Zamboni 67 - 40126 Bologna Tel. e fax 051250049 speleologia@socissi.it

OPERA IPOGEA Journal of Speleology in Artificial Cavities Semestrale della Società Speleologica Italiana www.operaipogea.it Redazione rivista c/o Sossio Del Prete Via Ferrarecce, 7 - 81100 Caserta Redazione web c/o Carla Galeazzi carla.galeazzi3@alice.it

Quaderni Didattici S.S.I. 1) Geomorfologia e speleogenesi carsica 2) Tecnica speleologica 3) Il rilievo delle grotte 4) Speleologia in cavità artificiali 5) L’impatto dell’uomo sull’ambiente di grotta 6) Geologia per speleologi 7) I depositi chimici delle grotte 8) Il clima delle grotte 9) L’utilizzo del GPS in speleologia 10) Vita nelle grotte 11) Storia della speleologia 12) Gli acquiferi carsici 13) Fotografare il buio 14) SOS in grotta

MEMORIE DELL’ISTITUTO ITALIANO DI SPELEOLOGIA Rivista aperiodica Redazione: Paolo Forti, Università di Bologna, Dip. di Scienze Geologico-Ambientali, via Zamboni 67 - 40126 Bologna Tel. 0512094547 paolo.forti@unibo.it

BULLETIN BIBLIOGRAPHIQUE SPÉLÉOLOGIQUE Union Internationale de Spéléologie Redazione per l’Italia: Centro Italiano di Documentazione Speleologica “F. Anelli” via Zamboni 67 - 40126 Bologna Tel. e fax 051250049 biblioteca.speleologia@unibo.it

COLLANA NARRATIVA E POESIA

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