Many members of our team excel in the secret world that exists underground…caves! So, we make every effort to help better understand cave systems through cave mapping and science. For example, CHNGEMakers are part of a team documenting the caves and other natural resources of Isla de Mona, a small island located 48 km west of Puerto Rico. So far 210 caves (70 km mapped) have been documented, as well as at least 30 archeological sites (Taino pictographs) and historic guano mining sites. Most recently we have added biological inventory to the documentation. CHNGEMakers are also involved in an ongoing effort to contribute to advances in cave morphology science. In particular, Pat Kambesis is working on morphometric analysis of lava tubes of the 1880-81 lava flow on the Big Island of Hawaii. Down flow sections of the 1880-81 tubes carry meteoric water during high precipitation events so the project is also documenting the hydrogeology of these particular tubes. She is also working to characterize cave types using fractal indices via image processing and GIS techniques.

Cave Documentation & Classification