New Mexico Geological Society Annual Spring Meeting — Abstracts

The University of New Mexico, the National Cave and Karst Research Institute, and the University of South Florida are developing the Karst Information Portal (KIP) to promote open access to karst, cave, and aquifer information and linkages among karst scientists. The resulting connectivity and collaboration will drive innovative solutions to the critical human and environmental challenges of karst. Our purpose is to advance karst knowledge by: (1) facilitating access to and preservation of karst information both published and unpublished, (2) developing linkages and communication amongst the karst community, (3) promoting knowledge-discovery to help develop solutions to problems in karst, (4) developing interactive databases of information of ongoing karst research in different disciplines, (5) enriching fundamental multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary science, and (6) facilitating collection of new data about karst. The KIP project is currently (1) transforming A Guide to Speleological Literature of the English Language 1794-1996 into the portal’s first searchable on-line product and (2) creating an institutional repository of scanning electron micrographs from research in caves that includes social software to promote linkages among karst scientists. In the future, thematic areas, such as cave sediments, conduit flow models, sinkholes, geo-engineering, and speleothem records of climate change, are among the many topics to be included in the portal. A key project focus is the gathering of lesser-known materials, such as masters’ theses, technical reports, agency file reports, maps, images, and newsletters. Thus, this project responds to disciplinary needs by integrating individual scientists into a global network through the karst information portal.