Italian sPeleologist set to eXPlore meghalaya’s caves

LINDAU: Noted Italian geologist and cave explorer Francesco Sauro, who has led successful expeditions to one of the world’s oldest cave systems in Venezuela’s Tepui mountains, is gearing up to explore the “lost world” in India’s Meghalaya, which harbours some of the longest and deepest cave systems in the world. Sauro, a speleologist, who has close to 20 years of caving experience, has participated in studying these hidden environments around the world, of which six expeditions have been to the Tepuis, the table top mountains of South America. Speleology is the scientific study of caves.The 2014 Rolex Young Laureate recipient in exploration for his “exploration of ancient quartzite caves in the table-top mountains of South America”, now hopes to delve into the magnificent cave systems of Meghalaya, home to Krem Liat Prah, the longest natural cave in India. Most of them are limestone and sandstone caves.“There were recent discoveries of cave systems in mid-Meghalaya. I will be going there in February to join the expedition team. This is part of the multinational ‘Caving in the Abode of the Clouds’ project to systematically explore the caves of Meghalaya. By studying them we can shed light on the evolution of life and the paleoclimate,” Sauro, one of the most well-known explorers of his generation, told IANS in an interview. He said these caves or “dark continents” form in Karstic regions and they are one of the most ancient and common features.The 33-year-old cave explorer’s hallmark is multi-disciplinary research where chemists, microbiologists, biologists and other experts contribute to dissecting the samples and findings in Karst caves.From 1992 till March 2015, more than 400 km of cave passages have been surveyed in Meghalaya. IANS - Sahana Ghosh