Conveners: Kathleen Johnson (University of California, Irvine, USA)

Description: Climate change is already leading to disproportionate impacts on historically marginalized communities, and to address these issues it is imperative that we engage and train diverse experts in geoscience and climate research. Unfortunately, despite decades of effort, the geosciences remain one of the least diverse of all STEM fields. This workshop will feature brief talks and a panel discussion with a diverse group of international cave and speleothem researchers who are deeply engaged in efforts to increase diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility in our field. These experts, spanning a range of career stages, will discuss the current state of diversity in our field and share strategies for dismantling systemic barriers, mentoring diverse early career researchers, and fostering a greater sense of belonging for everyone in our field. Furthermore, we will discuss related issues, such as ethical community engagement and inclusive fieldwork practices and how these are essential components of a diverse and inclusive scientific community.

 Costs: R450 

Conveners: Agathe Lise-Pronovost (University of Melbourne, Australia) and Ricardo Trindade (University of Sao Paulo, Brasil)

Description: Speleothem magnetism stands as a captivating frontier within the realms of paleoclimate and paleomagnetism. In recent years, the magnetic properties of speleothems have emerged as invaluable tools for reconstructing past hydroclimate and discerning significant paleo-events such as floods, bushfires, and volcanic eruptions. Notably, speleothems often offer superior chronologies and finer resolutions compared to other geo-materials capable of capturing Earth's magnetic field history, thus sparking great interest within the paleomagnetism community to better understand one of the fundamental properties of our planet.  

Join us in this exciting workshop designed to address significant challenges and chart new research horizons in speleothem magnetism. We invite researchers from diverse disciplines to collaborate, recognizing that multi-disciplinarity is essential for unraveling the intricacies of these fascinating records. No prior experience with magnetism is needed. Engage in dynamic discussions and problem-solving sessions encompassing the interplay between geochemical, geochronological, biogenic, magnetic and isotopic proxies. Topics include unraveling the mechanisms and rates of speleothem growth, exploring the content and composition of the detrital fraction, the mechanism of remanence acquisition in a crystallizing matrix, the challenges of measuring weak magnetic signals, and practical strategies for selecting suitable speleothem samples for multi-disciplinary investigations. By fostering interdisciplinary dialogue and collaboration, we aim to pave the way for transformative advancements in speleothem magnetism research. 

Costs: R450 

Participation limit: 30 

Conveners: Laura Endres (ETH, Switzerland), Nikita Kaushal (American Museum of Natural History, USA) and Jack Williams (University of Wisconsin–Madison, USA)

Description: Over the past few years, SISAL* has released several versions of a global speleothem database as a community effort. The latest version, SISALv3 (Kaushal et al., 2023), features 800+ records from both hemispheres, multiple proxies (stable isotopes (18O,13C) and trace elements (Mg/Ca, Sr/Ca, Ba/Ca, U/Ca, P/Ca, and Sr isotopes)), and extensive metadata about cave sites and specimens. A major strength of the SISAL database is that it is a high-quality dataset with multiple manual and auto quality control checks performed by members and experts of the speleothem community. To increase the visibility and ease of access to this data, accelerate database updates, and ensure long-term data stewardship in a community of similar paleo datasets, SISAL has recently decided to join Neotoma as a constituent database. Neotoma (Williams et al., 2018), the “database of databases” within palaeoecological sciences, provides a robust backend for SISAL data through standardisation of data entry, quality check workflows, and connects speleothem data more directly to data of other proxy communities, such as pollen or biomarkers, which can lead to further synergies.
The workshop here at KR10 will give insights into the new SISAL data submission and access workflows developed in collaboration with Neotoma.
After this workshop, you will understand the structure of the SISAL database and be able to submit and access SISAL data both with browser-based tools and the available R package. The workshop will provide you, as a producer of speleothem data, information about i) how the SISAL-Neotoma collaboration boosts visibility and accessibility for your data, ii) how to add the data to the platform, and iii) how to engage further as a SISAL-Neotoma data steward. The workshop will take about 3.5 hours, and you will need a laptop, but no prior experience with SISAL or coding is required.

*About SISAL:
Speleothem Isotope Synthesis and AnaLysis (SISAL) is an international working group under the umbrella of the PAGES network. The group brings together speleothem scientists, speleothem-process and climate modelers to develop global synthesis of speleothem isotope and other proxies to explore past climate changes and for model evaluation.
SISAL is open to anyone who is interested, and early-career researchers are encouraged to get involved. We will be present at KR10, please reach out to us, if interested to talk about SISAL further!  
More infos: https://pastglobalchanges.org/science/wg/former/sisal/intro  

References:
Kaushal, N. et al., 2023. SISALv3: A global speleothem stable isotope and trace element database. Earth System Science Data Discussions 2023, 1–33. https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2023-364
J. W. Williams et al., 2018. The Neotoma Paleoecology Database, a multiproxy, international, community-curated data resource. Quat. res., vol. 89, no. 1, 156–177, https://doi: 10.1017/qua.2017.105

 Costs: R450 

Participation limit: 20 

Conveners: Silvia Frisia (University of Newcastle, Australia) and Andrea Borsato (University of Newcastle, Australia) 

Description: Speleothem fabrics are the result of complex crystallization pathways, which include monomer-by-monomer growths, as well as non-classical particle attachment. Thus, speleothem carbonate crystals may give rise to very compact fabrics, or very porous ones, where pores range from the micro to the nano-scale. When carbonate crystals form through the attachment of amorphous particles and/or nanocrystals, organic macromolecules may be trapped between the particles either within the nanopores or at crystal defects along precise crystallographic orientations. What is interesting for palaeoclimate research is that fabrics, as a result of crystallization pathways, seem to record local (stalactite) hydrology (drip-rate).  To date, we know that porous columnar fabrics reflect higher or more-variable drips, whilst compact columnar develop under relatively slow and constant drips. These findings allow reconstructing the local hydrology and subsequently, infiltration (Faraji et al., 2022).  Another important component in the development of fabrics is a role of organic matter, in particular the OM related to microbes that may dwell in the soil or in the cave. Some fabrics, such as “denritic-like” may be the product of bio-influenced crystallization, which has consequences on the capture of trace elements. A brief overview of bio-mediated fabrics in sedimentary carbonates will be given. 

The workshop will focus on: i) using fabrics as tools to identify hydrological variability in stalagmites; ii) identify potential bio-mediation (and/or bio-mineralization). The workshop consists of ca. 1 hour of theoretical background, focused on optical and electron microscopy investigations and illustration of the most typical fabrics described thus far for both calcite and aragonite in speleothems. 

Date: 28 March 2025 

Time: 9:00-10:00 (SAST) introductory lecture; 10:00-12:00 and 14:00-16:00 (SAST) individual sessions (20-min each)

 Costs: R450 

Participation limit: 24 (preference given to students and PhD researchers)