Speleology Speleology Speleology is the scientific study of caves and other karst features, their make-up, structure, physical properties, history, life forms, and the processes by which they form (speleogenesis) and change over time (speleomorphology). The term "speleology" is also sometimes applied to the recreational activity of exploring caves, but this is more properly known as "caving" or "potholing", or (not usually by participants) by the uncommon American term "spelunking". Speleology and caving are often connected, as the physical skills required for "in situ" study are the same. Speleology is a cross-disciplinary field that combines the knowledge of chemistry, biology, geology, physics,
European and American voyages of scientific exploration exploration. belonged to the Committee on Fisheries of the United States and it carried out numerous scientific expeditions under the direction of Alexander Emanuel Agassiz (1835–1910). The primary goal was an inventory of the Pacific fishery reserves but many other observations are carried out by Townsend and other scientists. Zoologist Walter Rothschild commissioned the Webster-Harris Expedition to the Galápagos Islands from June 1897 to February 1898. This expedition on the schooner "Lila & Mattie" is well-described in the 1983 book titled "Dear Lord Rothschild" by Miriam Rothschild. In the 1936 book "Oceanic Birds of South America" by Robert Cushman Murphy,