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,
Exploration of the Pacific Cook set a high standard of scientific exploration, showed that there was no large land mass in the southern ocean, mapped the two largest island groups in the Pacific and by following the east coast of Australia and the west coast of North America closed the last gaps in European knowledge of the Pacific coasts. After Cook everything was detail. Cook's rivals and successors: Several governments sponsored Pacific expeditions, often in rivalry or emulation of Captain Cook. At the time of Cook's first voyage, in 1766-69 Louis Antoine de Bougainville crossed the Pacific and publicized Tahiti and in 1767 Samuel