Recent and Fossil Submarine Caves
A special issue of Geosciences (ISSN 2076-3263). This special issue belongs to the section "Sedimentology, Stratigraphy and Palaeontology".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 June 2022) | Viewed by 12558
Special Issue Editor
Interests: polychaete serpulids: systematics, tube structure and (palaeo)ecology; marine invertebrates (gastropods, bivalves, sabellariids, bryozoans); palaeoecology of benthic associations; recent and fossil bioconstructions; marine cave (paleo)environments; palaeoenvironmental and palaeoclimatic reconstructions; taphonomy
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
This Special Issue aims to gather new contributions on recent and fossil caves from all over the world and their inhabiting biota, and to focus on several aspects such as (palaeo)biodiversity, (palaeo)ecology, taphonomy and evolutionary history.
Submarine caves represent complex dark and oligotrophic ecosystems with strong environmental gradients, supporting a variety of sciaphilic communities. They are conservative environments representing archives of exquisitely preserved remains of the original inhabitants. Cave habitats are evolutionary laboratories hosting highly specialized, fragile species and relict faunas that survived palaeogeographic, geological and climatic events.
Owing to high values of endemicity and biodiversity, submerged caves have attracted increasing scientific interest. However, hampered by difficulties in finding and sampling, they are still little known and deserve to be more deeply investigated. Even less is known in the fossil record, where cave communities are rarely preserved owing to diagenetic destructive processes or the action of vadose and/or marine waters that can periodically flow in after tectonics or sea level changes, thus commonly eroding the biogenic crusts from the walls.
The main goal is to increase knowledge on these peculiar habitats and their dwellers, providing a basis for further research and conservation initiatives for these bio-geological natural laboratories.
Therefore, I would like to invite you to submit articles about your recent research or case studies, with respect to the above and/or the following topics:
- Benthic associations of worldwide recent and fossil submarine caves;
- (Palaeo)biodiversity of marine cave environments;
- Endemics or cave species adaptations;
- Confinement gradient and pattern of spatial settlement of cave-dwellers;
- Assessment of natural or human-induced threats to cave environment conservation;
- Evolutionary history of recent and fossil caves;
- Tafonomic processes in marine fossil caves.
I also encourage you to send me a short abstract outlining the purpose of the research and the principal results obtained, in order to verify at an early stage if the contribution you intend to submit fits with the objectives of the Special Issue.
Sincerely yours,
Prof. Dr. Rossana Sanfilippo
Guest Editor
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Geosciences is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- marine caves
- (palaeo)biodiversity
- (palaeo)ecology
- taphonomy
Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue
- Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
- Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
- Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
- External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
- e-Book format: Special Issues with more than 10 articles can be published as dedicated e-books, ensuring wide and rapid dissemination.
Further information on MDPI's Special Issue polices can be found here.
