|
Charterhouse Cave
Charterhouse Cave, on the Mendip Hills in Somerset, is the deepest cave in southern England. History Charterhouse Cave was first excavated in 1972. By 1977 the Sidcot School Speleological Society had reached Bat Chamber, although the first main breakthrough into the system was made in 1982. Active exploration continues and breakthroughs were made in April 2008 when of passage big enough to walk through was discovered, and again when the Portal Pool Sump was passed in May 2009 revealing another of passage. Continued exploration in 2010 and 2011 brought the cave to its current length and depth Access The cave is situated on land owned by Somerset Wildlife Trust. Because of the various well-preserved formations in the cave, the entrance blockhouse is kept locked and access is restricted to those with permits issued by member clubs of the Charterhouse Caving Company. For the same reason, no novices or cavers aged under 16 are allowed to enter. Description The cave has t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Charterhouse, Somerset
Charterhouse, also known as Charterhouse-on-Mendip, is a hamlet in the Mendip Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) in the English county of Somerset. The area between Charterhouse and Cheddar Gorge including Velvet Bottom and Ubley Warren is covered by the Cheddar Complex Site of Special Scientific Interest. Name The name is believed to come from the Carthusian order of Chartreuse in France, which was established in Witham (near Frome) in 1181 and formed a cell at Charterhouse in 1283 with a grant to mine lead ore. History There is evidence, in the form of burials in local caves, of human occupation since the late Neolithic/Early Bronze Age. The lead and silver mines at Charterhouse, were first operated on a large scale by the Romans, from at least AD 49. At first the lead/silver industries were tightly controlled by the Roman military, but within a short time the extraction of these metals was contracted out to civilian companies, probably because the sil ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gough's Cave
Gough's Cave ( ) is located in Cheddar Gorge on the Mendip Hills, in Cheddar, Somerset, England. The cave is deep and is long, and contains a variety of large chambers and rock formations. It contains the Cheddar Yeo, the largest underground river system in Britain. History The initial sections of the cave, previously known as Sand Hole, were accessible prior to the 19th century. Between 1892 and 1898 a retired sea captain, Richard Cox Gough, who lived in Lion House in Cheddar, found, excavated and opened to the public further areas of the cave, up to Diamond Chamber, which is the end of the show cave today. Electric lighting was installed in the show caves in 1899. – which also contains a detailed description of the cave. The cave is susceptible to flooding often lasting for up to 48 hours, however in the Great Flood of 1968 the flooding lasted for three days. The extensive flooded parts of the cave system were found and explored between 1985 and 1990. Human remains ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Caves Of The Mendip Hills
The caves of the Mendip Hills are formed by the particular geology of the Mendip Hills: large areas of limestone worn away by water makes it a national centre for caving. The hills conceal the largest underground river system in Britain. Geology The hills consist of anticlines of Carboniferous Limestone lying over Devonian Old Red Sandstone, with the sandstone exposed on the summits. When a surface stream running off the sandstone reaches the limestone it sinks below ground through a " swallet", (also known locally as a "slocker"), continuing on its way down towards sea level by enlarging existing cracks in the rock to form caves, and reappearing at the base of the limestone outcrop. As the water changes route within the hill some caves (or parts of caves) are left dry. There is a characteristic type of Mendip cave, in which there is an initially steep descent, and then a more level stretch ending in a "sump" as the cave reaches and descends below the prevailing water table. T ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Springtail
Springtails (Collembola) form the largest of the three lineages of modern hexapods that are no longer considered insects (the other two are the Protura and Diplura). Although the three orders are sometimes grouped together in a class called Entognatha because they have internal mouthparts, they do not appear to be any more closely related to one another than they are to all insects, which have external mouthparts. Collembolans are omnivorous, free-living organisms that prefer moist conditions. They do not directly engage in the decomposition of organic matter, but contribute to it indirectly through the fragmentation of organic matter and the control of soil microbial communities. The word ''Collembola'' is from the ancient Greek "glue" and "peg"; this name was given due to the existence of the collophore, which was previously thought to stick to surfaces to stabilize the creature. Some DNA sequence studies suggest that Collembola represent a separate evolutionary line fro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Caridea
The Caridea, commonly known as caridean shrimp or true shrimp, are an infraorder of shrimp within the order Decapoda. This infraorder contains all species of true shrimp. They are found widely around the world in both fresh and salt water. Many other animals with similar names – such as the mud shrimp of Axiidea and the boxer shrimp of Stenopodidea – are not true shrimp, but many have evolved features similar to true shrimp. Biology Carideans are found in every kind of aquatic habitat, with the majority of species being marine. Around a quarter of the described species are found in fresh water, however, including almost all the members of the species-rich family Atyidae and the Palaemonidae subfamily Palaemoninae. They include several commercially important species, such as ''Macrobrachium rosenbergii'', and are found on every continent except Antarctica. The marine species are found at depths to , and from the tropics to the polar regions. In addition to the great variety in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Troglobite
A troglobite (or, formally, troglobiont) is an animal species, or population of a species, strictly bound to underground habitats, such as caves. These are separate from species that mainly live in above-ground habitats but are also able to live underground (eutroglophiles), and species that are only cave visitors ( subtroglophiles and trogloxenes). Land-dwelling troglobites may be referred to as troglofauna, while aquatic species may be called stygofauna, although for these animals the term ''stygobite'' is preferable. Troglobites typically have evolutionary adaptations to cave life. Examples of such adaptations include slow metabolism, reduced energy consumption, better food usage efficiency, decrease or loss of eyesight (anophthalmia), and depigmentation (absence of pigment in the integument). Conversely, as opposed to lost or reduced functions, many species have evolved elongated antenna and locomotory appendages, in order to better move around and respond to environmental s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Troglophile
Troglofauna are small cave-dwelling animals that have adapted to their dark surroundings. Troglofauna and stygofauna are the two types of subterranean fauna (based on life-history). Both are associated with subterranean environments – troglofauna are associated with caves and spaces above the water table and stygofauna with water. Troglofaunal species include spiders, insects, myriapods and others. Some troglofauna live permanently underground and cannot survive outside the cave environment. Troglofauna adaptations and characteristics include a heightened sense of hearing, touch and smell. Loss of under-used senses is apparent in the lack of pigmentation as well as eyesight in most troglofauna. Troglofauna insects may exhibit a lack of wings and longer appendages. Ecological categories Troglofauna are divided into three main categories based on their ecology: * Troglobionts (or troglobites): species, or populations of species, strictly bound to subterranean habitats. * Trogloph ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cheddar Gorge
Cheddar Gorge is a limestone gorge in the Mendip Hills, near the village of Cheddar, Somerset, England. The gorge is the site of the Cheddar show caves, where Britain's oldest complete human skeleton, Cheddar Man, estimated to be 9,000 years old, was found in 1903. Older remains from the Upper Late Palaeolithic era (12,000–13,000 years ago) have been found. The caves, produced by the activity of an underground river, contain stalactites and stalagmites. The gorge is part of a Site of Special Scientific Interest called Cheddar Complex. Cheddar Gorge, including the caves and other attractions, has become a tourist destination. In a 2005 poll of ''Radio Times'' readers, following its appearance on the television programme ''Seven Natural Wonders'' (2005), Cheddar Gorge was named as the second greatest natural wonder in Britain, surpassed only by Dan yr Ogof caves. The gorge attracts about 500,000 visitors per year. Geology Cheddar is a gorge lying on the southern edge of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lamb Leer
Lamb Leer () is a 14.59 hectare (36.04 acre) geological Site of Special Scientific Interest between East Harptree and Priddy in the Mendip Hills, Somerset, notified in 1983. The cavern is a fragment of a very ancient major cave system which now contains one of the largest chambers in the Mendip Hills. History Several explanations have been suggested for the origin of the name. One links to an old name for the area which was "Lambden". An alternative suggestion is that in the 1670s miners spoke of ''"leirey places, that is cavernous"'' which links to the German word "leer" which means void and may have been introduced by German miners. A more likely explanation is from the Anglo-Saxon word "lear" meaning empty or void. Lamb Leer Cavern was first found by miners looking for lead around 1676, and in 1681, the geologist John Beaumont, the pioneer of pit caving, gave an account of his descent into the cave to the Royal Society. It was rediscovered in 1880, when a new shaft was ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mendip Hills
The Mendip Hills (commonly called the Mendips) is a range of limestone hills to the south of Bristol and Bath in Somerset, England. Running from Weston-super-Mare and the Bristol Channel in the west to the Frome valley in the east, the hills overlook the Somerset Levels to the south and the Chew Valley and other tributaries of the Avon to the north. The hills give their name to the local government district of Mendip, which administers most of the area. The higher, western part of the hills, covering has been designated an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB), which gives it a level of protection comparable to a national park. The hills are largely formed from Carboniferous Limestone, which is quarried at several sites. Ash–maple woodland, calcareous grassland and mesotrophic grassland which can be found across the Mendip Hills provide nationally important semi-natural habitats. With their temperate climate these support a range of flora and fauna including birds, but ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
GB Cave
GB Cave is a cave between Charterhouse and Shipham in the limestone of the Mendip Hills, in Somerset, England. The cave was first entered on 19 November 1939, after ten months of digging, by the University of Bristol Spelæological Society, and was named in recognition of the two members, F. J. Goddard and C. C. Barker, who had done most of the work involved in its discovery. The cave is located within the Cheddar Complex and the 17-acre GB Gruffy nature reserve and is close to Charterhouse Cave, the deepest cave in the region. Ladder Dig broke through in 1966 to gain access to the extremely well-decorated Bat Passage. The entrance to the cave is kept locked, and access is controlled by the Charterhouse Caving Company. Description GB Cave is remarkable for the Gorge, a river-passage up to wide, high and long, which opens into the even larger Main Chamber ( wide, high, long). Together these two form what was thought to be largest known space under the Mendip Hills, â ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Somerset Wildlife Trust
Somerset Wildlife Trust is a wildlife trust covering the county of Somerset, England. The trust, which was established in 1964, aims to safeguard the county's wildlife and wild places for this and future generations and manages almost 80 nature reserves. Examples include Westhay Moor, Long Wood and Langford Heathfield. It has over 20,500 members and 500 volunteers. The Somerset Wildlife Trust is part of the Wildlife Trusts partnership of 46 wildlife trusts in the United Kingdom. In 2010 the organisation won a Biffa Award for their "Restoring Habitat for Dormice in Somerset" scheme. In 2011 the Trust appealed for £100,000 from local residents and businesses to restore former peat diggings on the Somerset Levels. Nature reserves The Nature reserves include: (* = Reserves designated as Sites of Scientific Interest) See also *List of Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Somerset __NOTOC__ This is a list of the Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs) in Somerset, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
