How do underground caverns emerge from the relentless action of flowing water?
In short: ESA instructor Jo de Waele explains the geological origins of caves to astronauts preparing for the CAVES training program. This lecture details the fundamental processes of speleogenesis, helping space explorers understand the subterranean environments they must navigate as a team.
The CAVES initiative, an acronym for a training program focused on collaborative human performance in challenging environments, sends astronauts into the Sa Grutta cave system in Sardinia, Italy. During this two-week course, participants like Paolo Nespoli, Jeremy Hansen, Aleksei Ovchinin, Satoshi Furukawa, Mike Barratt, and Jack Fischer learn to operate safely in high-stakes underground settings.
Part three of this lecture series examines the mechanics of cave formation, specifically how water shapes these environments. It covers the three distinct phases of speleogenesis, the prerequisites for cave development, and the distinction between dissolution and erosion. By analyzing cave shapes, astronauts learn to interpret the history of the structures they explore.
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Sources
- Summary by Intellect · source: CAVES 2013: Karst for astronauts 3 (Cave genesis)
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