Edouard Alfred Martel

The French Edouard Alfred Martel (born July 1, 1859 in Pontoise , † June 3, 1938 in Montbrison (Loire) ) is considered to be the first systematic, scientific cave explorer .

The lawyer often spent his vacations in the southern French Causses , barren karst plateaus . In the summer of 1888 his career as a cave explorer began with the exploration of the Abîme de Bramabiau and the Grotte de Dargilan near Meyrueis, which he described and mapped in detail.

In the blacksmith Louis Armand from Le Rozier , he found a congenial colleague with whom he developed and manufactured many pieces of equipment. Accompanied by a painter, he was able to document the visits and wrote many books on caving, which soon became bestsellers.

Soon he gave up his unpopular profession and made a living from caving. He bought a cave in the south of France and ran it as a show cave, as well as his books and various expert activities. Once he got very sick from water, which he drank in a cave. When he was well again many weeks later, he explored the cave upstream and found a sinkhole that was used as a covering shop . Thereupon he managed to have karst areas included in French legislation as water protection areas for the first time ( Loi Martel , 1902).

In 1896 he succeeded in thoroughly exploring and mapping the 1300 meter long cave system of the Coves del Drac on the Balearic island of Mallorca . Archduke Ludwig Salvator financed the research . Martel found the huge, crystal clear, constantly 20 ° C warm lake deep inside the cave. This lake was then named Llac Martel after him. It is 177 meters long, 40 meters wide and around 9 meters deep.

Works

• 1890: Les Cevennes. Librairie Charles Delagrave, Paris, 400 pp.
• 1894: Les Abîmes, les eaux souterraines, le cavernes, les sources, la spéléologie. Librairie Charles Delagrave, Paris, 578 p. (Laffitte Reprints, Marseille 1996)
• 1895: Le Massif de la Bernina. In collaboration with A. Lorria, Orell Verlag, Zurich, 200 pp.
• 1897: Irlande et Cavernes anglaises. Librairie Charles Delagrave, Paris, 400 pp.
• 1899: Le Trayas et L'Esterel. Librairie Charles Delagrave, Paris, 80 pp.
• 1900: La Speleologie. Librairie Carre et Naud, Paris, 125 pp.
• 1901: Le Gouffre de Padirac. Librairie Charles Delagrave, Paris, 180 pp.
• 1903: La Photographie Souterraine. Librairie Gauthier-Villars, Paris, 70 pp.
• 1905: La Speleologie aux XXe Siecle. Librairie Hermann, Paris, 810 pp.
• 1906: Le sol et l'eau - Traité d'hygiène. In collaboration with Luis de Launay, Ed. Bonjean, J. Título Ogier, Librairie Baillere Paris, 486 pp.
• 1908: L'Evolution Souterraine. Librairie Flammarion, Paris, 388 pp.
• 1909: La Côte d'Azur Russe. Librairie Charles Delagrave, Paris, 423 pp.
• 1910: Cavernes et Eaux Souterraines de la Belgique. (In collaboration with E. Van den Broeck and E. Rahir), Librairie Lamertin, Bruxelles, 1800 pp.
• 1921: Nouveau Traite des Eaux Souterraines. Librairie Doin, Paris, 840 pp.
• 1926: Causses et Gorges du Tarn. Librairie Artieres et Maury, Millau, 512 pp.
• 1927: L'Aven Armand. Librairie Artieres et Maury, Millau, 48 pp.
• 1928–1930: La France Ignoree. 2 volumes, Librairie Charles Delagrave, Paris, 600 pp.
• 1936: Les Grands Causses. Librairie Artieres et Maury, Millau, 510 pp.

Web links

• Jochen Duckeck: Edouard Alfred Martel, 1859-1938. Biography at Showcaves.com (show caves of the world)
• Bernd Kliebhan: EA Martel, 1859-1938. Biography and merits