John Alan Glennon facts for kids
John Alan Glennon (born September 24, 1970) is an American geographer and explorer. He is known for mapping and describing amazing caves and geysers.
Contents
Discovering Caves and Geysers
Exploring Caves
In 1996, John Glennon and Jon Jasper found a new entrance to the Martin Ridge Cave System in Kentucky. They explored how it connected to other nearby caves like Jackpot and Whigpistle Caves. This combined cave system is now 51 kilometers (32 mi) long! It's also connected underground to Mammoth Cave, which is the longest cave in the world. Glennon also helped find one of the biggest cave rooms in Kentucky.
Studying Geysers
In 2002, Glennon led a team from the United States to the El Tatio Geyser Field in Chile. A geyser is like a natural hot water fountain that shoots steam and hot water into the air. His team was the first to carefully count and describe how these geysers behaved. Their report showed that El Tatio is the third largest geyser field in the world!
Hoffman Environmental Research Institute
In 1999, Glennon helped start the Hoffman Environmental Research Institute (HERI) with Dr. Chris Groves. Dr. Groves was the president of the Cave Research Foundation from 2004 to 2006. The main goal of HERI is to study the natural environment and geologic features of caves and karst landscapes. Karst is a special type of land where the rock dissolves easily, creating caves and sinkholes. HERI is based at Western Kentucky University and mostly focuses on karst issues in China.
John Alan Glennon's Journey
John Glennon earned his PhD in 2013 from the University of California, Santa Barbara. He studied geography with Dr. Michael Frank Goodchild, who is a leader in Geographic Information Science. Dr. Goodchild also discovered Castleguard Cave, which is Canada's longest cave. Before that, Glennon received a Master of Science degree in Geoscience from Western Kentucky University in 2001. He also earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Park Administration from Texas A&M University in 1994.
Because of his amazing cave discoveries in Kentucky, John Alan Glennon was given a special honor called the Honorable Order of Kentucky Colonels.
Articles About His Work
- Associated Press: Cave Passage Explored
- Kentucky Living Magazine: Underground Rock Stars
- Western Scholar Magazine: Underworld Explorer
