Caves are easily forgotten when fire rips through the bush, but despite their robustness the long-term impact of frequent, unprecedented fire seasons presents a new challenge for subsurface geology.
Famous caves at tourist hotspots survived the brunt of the Australian bushfire crisis this summer, but the unprecedented nature of the fires presents a new uncertainty for these unique underground ecosystems, according to a UNSW Sydney geologist.
The bushfires affected many rare karst landforms in south-eastern Australia, including popular tourist attractions such as the Jenolan, Wombeyan and Buchan caves.
UNSW Professor Andy Baker, part of a team which was the first to research the effect of fire on caves and karst, said this was a crucial area to study because of the landforms’ unique geodiversity and values. The fires impacted several research sites where Prof Baker and his collaborators are studying the effects of fire on caves.
“Think of the Marble Arch at Jenolan, Victoria Arch at Wombeyan or Mount Sebastopol in the Macleay Karst Arc. Sebastopol, for example, is a distinctive mountain with significant indigenous values,” Prof Baker said.
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Image via University of New South Wales Sydney
