Imagine if we could bring the deep past to light, so every visitor could see how the land around them came to be?
With support from Capes Foundation, a division of the Margaret River Busselton Tourism Association (MRBTA), Dr Aleksey Sadekov and his research team at The University of Western Australia will be able to reveal a remarkable window into the ancient past through the careful preparation and analysis of a three-metre speleothem for research and future interpretation.
It is a gift that goes far beyond funding equipment. It represents an investment in curiosity and community, a commitment to better understanding the formation and evolution of caves and preserving the incredible natural heritage of the Margaret River region.
Capes Foundation manages eight significant natural and heritage sites across the Margaret River region including Ngilgi, Lake, Mammoth and Jewel Caves, the Cape Naturaliste and Cape Leeuwin Lighthouses, Capes Raptor Centre and Forest Adventures.
As managers of these spectacular and significant sites, Capes Foundation holds a vision deeply aligned with UWA’s own: to protect, celebrate and share the stories held within Western Australia’s remarkable landscapes.
The contribution has assisted in acquiring a Precision Wiresaw System (DWS-250E) and is already enabling those stories to be told with exceptional scientific clarity.
The wiresaw, equipped with a diamond-tipped cutter capable of slicing rock with extraordinary precision, is now central to Dr Sadekov’s work in isotope and analytical geochemistry.
Over the years, Dr Sadekov has devoted his career to uncovering environmental histories locked within minerals – some as old as 3.8 billion years. With his background in geology, geochemistry and earth sciences, Dr Sadekov’s expertise is in uncovering and reconstructing the hidden wonders of our prehistoric past, to analyse and better understand evolution and environmental changes.
The three-metre speleothem from Ngilgi Cave, prepared from broken cave material may hold approximately 150,000 years of environmental information in its growth layers, similar to the rings of an ancient tree.
Since speleothems can take up to 1000 years to grow just a centimetre, this project potentially offers vital clues to a better understanding of our geological history in the region.
By analysing these layers using advanced, world-class geochemical and geochronological techniques located in UWA’s Core Research Infrastructure laboratories, Dr Sadekov, along with his team and students, are reconstructing the region’s past climate, moisture patterns and geological evolution.
Image: Dr Sadekov and his team preparing and extracting the fallen speleothem
This knowledge not only enriches our understanding of how the Margaret River landscape has changed over time; it also deepens the experience for visitors to the caves.
Capes Foundation's contribution means that visitors to the Ngilgi Cave Ancient Lands Experience will be able to view a longitudinally prepared speleothem that reveals a delicate, time-layered structure through an interpretive display.
Capes Foundation’s support strengthens UWA’s research capabilities, enhances sample preparation methods, and facilitates new pathways for collaborations and novel opportunities for researchers in WA and beyond. It empowers scientists to address climate questions with nuance and rigour, at a time when evidence-based insights matter more than ever.
Thank you to Capes Foundation for believing in the power of research and for sharing the region’s heritage with the world. Your support ensures that knowledge, community, and discovery continue to thrive at UWA, making a difference locally and globally for generations to come.
Top image of Ngilgi Caves courtesy of Capes Foundation