Ten years in the dark
Appendix 1
Glossary
- Abseil
- To descend a rope using a mechanical device for friction, allowing control over the rate of descent.
- Adit
- A horizontal mine passage usually dug to drain a mine or a mountainside.
- Agoraphobia
- Irrational or abnormal fear of open spaces or large crouds of people.
- Anchor
- A solid metal fixture embedded in the rock, which can be used for attaching ropes or ladders.
- Anthodite
- Calcite deposit looking like long thin crystals splaying outwards from a central point.
- Aragonite
- Calcium Carbonate in eight faced crystalline form.
- Bang
- Colloquial name for gelignite.
- Bedding or Bedding Plane
- A horizontal fracture in the rock, especially in between rock layers.
- A passage formed along such a fracture, usually low and wide.
- Boss
- A large stalagmite that appears very 'fat'.
- Botryoid
- A stal formation with a bulbous shape held by a narrow neck.
- Calcite
- Calcium Carbonate in six faced crystalline form.
- Cave
- A hole in the rock, usually large enough to be entered by a person. Esp. one that is mainly horizontal, requiring very few ladders or ropes to negotiate.
- To take part in caving.
- Caver
- A person who explores caves.
- Cavern
- Synonym for cave, especially one that is very large.
- Caving
- The exploration of a cave.
- Chamber
- A significant enlargement of a passage. Especially formed at passage junctions.
- Chemical persuasion
- Colloquial name for gelignite or the use of gelignite.
- Choke
- A place where the roof of the cave passage has collapsed, blocking the way on.
- Claustrophobia
- Irrational or abnormal fear of enclosed spaces.
- Curtain
- A stalactite that is very thin and wide - just like a curtain ... - formed as the water runs sideways down a sloping roof.
- Descender
- A friction producing metal device, used in abseiling.
- Deviation
- An attachment that pulls a rope away from a wall or waterfall.
- Duck
- A place where the water almost fills the cave passage, leaving very little space between the surface of the water and the passage roof.
- Flowstone
- Stalagmite deposit over a large area of surface, usually quite thin.
- Fluted
- Where the walls (of a pitch) have indents running down them, similar to what you would get if you ran your fingers along mud.
- Freeclimb
- To climb without a ladder or rope.
- A place where a caver would normally freeclimb.
- Gelignite
- An low power dynamite (nitroglycerine soaked into earth or clay) based explosive used to break rock. Unlike many explosives, this does not produce a large outward blast, instead creating a small blast and shockwave which shakes the rock apart.
- Grotts
- Old clothes worn instead of undersuits, oversuits and wetsuits.
- Guano
- Dried excrete.
- Gypsum
- Hydrated Calcium Sulphate. Can form when limestone is attacked by sulphuric acid. The resulting product is larger than its components so can be 'squirted' through pores in the rock under pressure, whilst in crystalline form.
- Hangpoint
- A place where a rope or ladder is attached to the rock, particularly just before a drop.
- Helictite
- An eratic - that's erAtic, it means wiggly - stalactite, formed by capillary action causing the water to flow through tiny pores in the middle of each helictite, allowing them to grow in any direction, irrespective of gravity.
- Hilti-Cap
- Similar to a blank - a charge without a bullet - used in handguns. Used to break rock.
- Karabiner
- A metal loop that can be opened or fastened closed. Used to attach ropes to anchors or cavers to descenders or ropes etc..
- Keyhole
- A passage shaped like a keyhole. Created as a phreatic tube which, after draining, had a vadose trench cut into the floor.
- Maillon
- An oval loop of metal used like a karabiner, except that they are usually stronger and more difficult to open.
- Oversuit
- A body suit made of waterproof material. Worn over an undersuit to provide protection from water and abrasion.
- Phreatic
- Formed under water by chemical solution. Phreatic passages are not controlled by gravity flow and so may rise or fall at will. Most phreatic passages are rounded or elliptical in cross section.
- Pitch
- A vertical section of cave.
- Pothole or Pot hole
- A cave that descends rapidly downwards, usually requiring ladders or ropes to negotiate it.
- Potholer
- A person who explores potholes.
- Potholing
- The exploration of a pothole.
- Prusik
- To ascend a rope using a combination of ratchets and walking or sit-stand body motions.
- Pullthrough or Pull-through
- A cave or caving trip in such a cave that requires only one rope to descend, as the rope can be hung so that it can be pulled through the anchors, and then used on the next pitch. This technique requires there to be an entrance at the end that the cavers can exit through as with pullthroughs, there is no way of going back up the pitches once the rope has been pulled through.
- Rack
- A type of descender where friction is produced by weaving the rope around several metal bars.
- Rebelay
- A place where the rope is attached to the wall part way down a drop, creating a new hangpoint.
- Resurge
- Water: to return to the surface from a cave.
- Resurgence
- A place where water from caves returns to the surface, usually much more substantial than a spring.
- Rift
- A vertical fracture in the rock, created by geological stress.
- A passage formed along such a fracture, usually tall and narrow.
- Selenite
- Synonym for gypsum (when crystallised).
- Selenite flower
- A circle of smooth gypsum crystal a few centimetres in diameter on a cave passage wall.
- Shakehole
- A depression on the surface where a cave passage below has collapsed.
- Sink
- A place where water stops flowing on the surface and instead begins to flow underground.
- Speleology or Spelaeology
- The study of caves.
- Squeeze
- A cave passage so tight that the caver has to force their body through.
- Stal
- A collective term for calcite mineral deposits including stalactites, stalagmites, straws, helictites, anthodites, botryoids, curtains and flowstone.
- Stalactite
- Calcite mineral deposit growing downwards as water containing Calcium Bicarbonate evaporates on it, depositing calcium carbonate.
- Stalagmite
- Calcite mineral deposit growing upwards as water containing Calcium Bicarbonate evaporates on it, depositing calcium carbonate.
- Straw
- Hollow stalactite the same width as a drip of water. Formed as with a stalactite with the water flowing down the central tube.
- SRT
- Single Rope Techniques; a collective term for abseiling and prusiking.
- Sticks
- Colloquial name for a measure of gelignite.
- Streamway
- A passage with a stream flowing along it.
- Sump
- A place where water completely fills the cave passage.
- Survey
- To map a cave system.
- A map of a cave system.
- Traverse
- To move along a cave passage without touching the floor (or floating or flying etc.).
- Undersuit
- A body suit made of fleece or fibre pile very similar to long-johns designed as an insulating layer. Worn under an oversuit.
- Vadose
- Formed above water by erosion from a stream running in the bottom. Vadose passages are gravity controlled and always aim downhill (or uphill, if you face the other way ...). Most vadose passages are not rounded but may meander significantly.
- Wetsuit
- A body suit made of neoprene rubber foam. Water absorbed by the wetsuit is heated by the skin and provides an insulating layer.
- Wetsuit rash
- A sore caused by a wetsuit rubbing against skin, usually when lots of time is spent out of water. Occurs most often in the groin area or under the arms.