John Alan Glennon (born September 24, 1970) is an American

geographer A geographer is a physical scientist, social scientist or humanist whose area of study is geography, the study of Earth's natural environment and human society, including how society and nature interacts. The Greek prefix "geo" means "earth" a ...

and

explorer Exploration is the process of exploring, an activity which has some Expectation (epistemic), expectation of Discovery (observation), discovery. Organised exploration is largely a human activity, but exploratory activity is common to most organis ...

. His work has been mapping and describing

caves Caves or caverns are natural voids under the Earth's surface. Caves often form by the weathering of rock and often extend deep underground. Exogene caves are smaller openings that extend a relatively short distance underground (such as rock ...

and

geysers A geyser (, ) is a spring with an intermittent water discharge ejected turbulently and accompanied by steam. The formation of geysers is fairly rare and is caused by particular hydrogeological conditions that exist only in a few places on Ea ...

Discoveries and research

Caves

In 1996, Glennon and Jon Jasper discovered an entrance to the Martin Ridge Cave System,

Kentucky Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...

, and explored connections to nearby Jackpot and Whigpistle Caves (Groves, C.G. 1998). The combined

cave Caves or caverns are natural voids under the Earth's Planetary surface, surface. Caves often form by the weathering of rock and often extend deep underground. Exogene caves are smaller openings that extend a relatively short distance undergrou ...

system is long (Gulden, B. 2005). The

is hydrologically connected to

Mammoth Cave Mammoth Cave National Park is a List of national parks of the United States, national park of the United States in south-central Kentucky. It encompasses portions of Mammoth Cave, the List of longest caves, longest known cave system in the worl ...

---the world's longest

(Quinlan J.F. and Ray, J. 1989). Glennon also was involved in the discovery of one of the largest

chambers in

(Yonker, R. 2003).

Geysers

In 2002, Glennon led an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

expedition to

El Tatio El Tatio is a geothermal field with many geysers located in the Andes Mountains of northern Chile at above mean sea level. It is the third-largest geyser field in the world and the largest in the Southern Hemisphere. Various meanings have bee ...

Geyser A geyser (, ) is a spring with an intermittent water discharge ejected turbulently and accompanied by steam. The formation of geysers is fairly rare and is caused by particular hydrogeological conditions that exist only in a few places on Ea ...

Field,

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

. The team produced the first comprehensive inventory and description of the geysers' behaviors. The resulting report concluded that the site was the world's third largest

geyser A geyser (, ) is a spring with an intermittent water discharge ejected turbulently and accompanied by steam. The formation of geysers is fairly rare and is caused by particular hydrogeological conditions that exist only in a few places on Ea ...

field (Glennon, J.A. and Pfaff, R.M. 2003).

Hoffman Environmental Research Institute (HERI)

With Dr. Chris Groves, president of the

Cave Research Foundation (2004-2006) The Cave Research Foundation (CRF) is an American private, non-profit group dedicated to the exploration, research, and conservation of caves. The group arose in the early 1950s from the exploration efforts at Floyd Collins Crystal Cave, now within ...

, Glennon cofounded HERI in 1999. The institute's mission is to study the

environmental Environment most often refers to: __NOTOC__ * Natural environment, referring respectively to all living and non-living things occurring naturally and the physical and biological factors along with their chemical interactions that affect an organism ...

and

geologic Geology (). is a branch of natural science concerned with the Earth and other astronomical objects, the rocks of which they are composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Earth s ...

aspects of

and

karst Karst () is a topography formed from the dissolution of soluble carbonate rocks such as limestone and Dolomite (rock), dolomite. It is characterized by features like poljes above and drainage systems with sinkholes and caves underground. Ther ...

landscapes. Headquartered at

Western Kentucky University Western Kentucky University (WKU) is a public university in Bowling Green, Kentucky, United States. It was founded by the Commonwealth of Kentucky in 1906, though its roots reach back a few decades earlier. It operates regional campuses in Glas ...

, HERI's major scientific focus has been on the

issues of

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

Background

Glennon was a

geography Geography (from Ancient Greek ; combining 'Earth' and 'write', literally 'Earth writing') is the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of Earth. Geography is an all-encompassing discipline that seeks an understanding o ...

Ph.D.

student A student is a person enrolled in a school or other educational institution, or more generally, a person who takes a special interest in a subject. In the United Kingdom and most The Commonwealth, commonwealth countries, a "student" attends ...

of Dr.

Michael Frank Goodchild Michael Frank Goodchild (born February 24, 1944) is a British-American geographer. He is an Emeritus Professor of Geography at the University of California, Santa Barbara. After nineteen years at the University of Western Ontario, including th ...

at the

University of California, Santa Barbara The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Santa Barbara County, California, United States. Tracing its roots back to 1891 as an ...

and received his PhD in 2013. Goodchild is a pioneer in

Geographic Information Science Geographic information science (GIScience, GISc) or geoinformation science is a scientific discipline at the crossroads of computational science, social science, and natural science that studies geographic information, including how it represe ...

and discoverer of Castleguard Cave, Canada's longest

. Glennon received a

Master of Science A Master of Science (; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree. In contrast to the Master of Arts degree, the Master of Science degree is typically granted for studies in sciences, engineering and medici ...

Geoscience Earth science or geoscience includes all fields of natural science related to the planet Earth. This is a branch of science dealing with the physical, chemical, and biological complex constitutions and synergistic linkages of Earth's four spheres ...

from

, 2001, and

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, B.S., B.Sc., SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree that is awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Scienc ...

in Park Administration from

Texas A&M University Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, TA&M, or TAMU) is a public university, public, Land-grant university, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas, United States. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of ...

, 1994. For his cave discoveries in Kentucky, Alan has been commissioned in the

Honorable Order of Kentucky Colonels The Honorable Order of Kentucky Colonels also known as "Kentucky Colonels" or "HOKC" is a charitable, non-profit 501(c)(3) organization engaged in collective philanthropy for Kentuckians on the behalf of thousands of who have received a Kent ...

Works authored

*Glennon, J.A., Pfaff, R.M. (2005). ''The operation and geography of carbon-dioxide-driven, cold-water geysers'', GOSA Transactions, vol. 9, pp. 184–192. *Glennon, J.A., Pfaff, R.M. (2003). ''The extraordinary thermal activity of El Tatio Geyser Field, Antofagasta Region, Chile'', GOSA Transactions, vol 8. pp. 31–78. *Glennon, J.A. (2001). Application of Morphometric Relationships to Active Flow Networks within the Mammoth Cave Watershed, M.Sc. Thesis, Bowling Green: Western Kentucky University, 87 p (''includes a description of the discovery of Martin Ridge Cave''). *Gulden, B. (2005). ''USA longest caves''. National Speleological Society GEO2 Committee.
web
. *Groves C.G. (1998). ''The Martin Ridge Cave System'', Cave Research Foundation Newsletter. *Quinlan, J. F. and Ray, J. (1989). ''Map of groundwater basins, surface drainage, major caves, flow routes, the potentiometric surface, and an index to the topographic maps in the Mammoth Cave Region south of the Green River'', 2nd edition. Friends of the Karst, Mammoth Cave, KY.

Articles

Kentucky Living Magazine: Underground Rock StarsWestern Scholar Magazine: Underworld Explorer

External links

Geyser Observation and Study Association

Hoffman Environmental Research InstituteAlan Glennon's personal website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Glennon, John Alan 1970 births Living people 21st-century American explorers 21st-century American geographers American cavers American speleologists Western Kentucky University alumni