Wojciech Maciejowski

Coastal Landscape Dynamics in NE Sørkapp Land (SE Spitsbergen), 1900–2005

Abstract This report presents the current dynamics of the natural environment and landscape in a part of the mountainous southeastern Spitsbergen coast on the Barents Sea in 1900–2005. Its current state substantially varies from what is shown on recently published topographic maps actual for 1936. The physico-geographical mapping and GPS survey were the basic field methods of recognizing the area, supplemented by remote sensing. Each landscape component, except for the Pre-Quaternary bedrock, has been changed primarily as a direct or indirect result of the current warming. The most dramatic landscape transformation has been connected with the formation of a fjord, the abandoning of the lower parts of valleys by tidewater glaciers, and the alteration of the coastline. This transformations pace has been increasing visibly over the last few decades. The landscape became more diversified. There is a positive feedback in the process of life expansion in the study area: the processes of animal colonization and plant succession stimulate each other.

Lichen species from the northeastern shore of Sørkapp Land (Svalbard)

In July and August 2005, the occurrence, distribution, and ecology of lichen species were studied in northeastern Sørkapp Land region (Spitsbergen) in areas undergoing the process of rapid glacier recession over the past century. A total of 48 lichen species were observed and two species (Acarosporaheppii and Pycnotheliapapillaria) are newly reported for the Svalbard archipelago.

Batu Caves (Gua-gua Batu): Hindu Pilgrimage Centre in Malaysia

The article presents the complex of Batu Caves which is on the one hand, one of the most recognizable religious centres of Hinduism in the area of Muslim Malaysia, annually visited by thousands of pilgrims within Holy Thaipusam festival, and, on the other hand, the complex of caves popular with tourist and willingly visited. The author presents both the character and specific custom elements of this popular festival and discusses the advantages of caves as formation of inanimate nature available to tourism.