Research
U.S. Deep Caving Team
An exploration organisation founded in 1980 by Bill Stone that runs long expeditions to deep caves and develops exploration technology; it led the 1987 Wakulla Springs Project and the 1998 Wakulla 2 mapping expedition.
The U.S. Deep Caving Team says it was founded in 1980 by explorer and engineer Bill Stone to explore and study remote frontiers and to develop the technology needed to reach them. Its early work focused on very deep air-filled caves in southern Mexico, where flooded sections (sumps) forced the team to develop lightweight diving equipment and, from 1987, rebreathers [1].
The team's two Florida projects are landmarks in underwater cave science. The 1987 Wakulla Springs Project, which began on 1987-10-24, used a portable underwater habitat for decompression and surveyed about 3,300 m of tunnels while testing the Cis-Lunar MK1 rebreather [2]. The 1998 Wakulla 2 expedition built a Digital Wall Mapper, a scooter-mounted sonar and inertial device intended to produce three-dimensional maps of the cave walls instead of a simple line survey [3]. The team publishes expedition summaries and maps on its website.
Further reading
A short history of underwater cave exploration: dated milestones
Archaeology and palaeontology in underwater caves
How underwater caves are surveyed and studied
Beyond the Deep: The Deadly Descent into the World's Most Treacherous Cave ↗
The Wakulla Springs Project ↗
U.S. Deep Caving Team ↗
Every fact on this page, with its source (3)
| Fact | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|
| The USDCT was founded in 1980 by Bill Stone.Self-reported. | Verified | [1] |
| The 1987 Wakulla Springs expedition departed on 1987-10-24 and explored and surveyed about 3,300 m of tunnels. | Verified | [2] |
| A Digital Wall Mapper with 32 sonar transducers and an inertial reference unit was developed for the 1998 Wakulla 2 project. | Verified | [3] |
Verified: stated by an official or primary source we opened. Reported: from a secondary source only. Sources conflict: the note gives both versions. May be out of date: the newest source we found is old.
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