ANR – Project DECACLIM

Decorated caves have preserved traces of prehistoric human occupation thanks to fragile thermal, hydrological, and aerological balances. Often already damaged by being open to the public, these vestiges of the past are now also being weakened by climate change on the surface: temperature differences between the surface and the bottom of caves are changing, disrupting the aerology of the caves. The increase in CO2 concentration in the air also plays a harmful role and contributes to more solid deposits and corrosion on the surface. In this context, the DECACLIM project [DEcorated CAves under CLIMate changes: Redefining an effective conservation strategy] aims to understand these changes in order to define preservation strategies.

The research project is led by Bruno Lartiges of the Géosciences Environnement Toulouse (GET) laboratory and brings together eight laboratories (EPOC in Bordeaux; IPGP in Paris; LRMH; LSCE in Gif sur Yvette; CPN PACEA in Paris; LEMTA and GeoRessources in Nancy).

The work carried out by GeoRessources in this project focuses on:
♦ the use of 3D LIDAR data from the cave to propose tools for reconstructing 2D profiles and 3D volumes, which will then be used as a basis for aerological modeling;
♦ the simulation of karst drainage networks between the ground and the roof of the cave, which will then be used as a basis for thermal and hydrodynamic simulations.