Cluj-Napoca Branch Institute of Speleology "Emil Racoviță"
Karst and speleological research in north-western Romania, in collaboration with Babeș-Bolyai University and the Romanian Academy
Since its creation in 1920 as the world's first institution dedicated to cave research, ISER has been a leading international centre for karst research. Its mission is to initiate, conduct and disseminate the latest discoveries in the field worldwide.
Mission, research and education
ISER conducts the highest-quality theoretical and applied research on most topics related to the karst and cave domain, combining a local and regional perspective with global application. ISER maintains the inventory of Romanian caves.
In collaboration with Babeș-Bolyai University in Cluj-Napoca and other Romanian Academy bodies, ISER offers Masters and Doctoral educational programmes in karst geology, biospeleology, environmental conservation and protection. It organises conferences, workshops and field studies.
ISER provides environmental consultancy by implementing its research findings, aimed at improving the management of karst and cave natural resources.
Aims and objectives
Production and publication of detailed works on mineralogy, speleogenesis and Quaternary climate, based on the interdisciplinary study of karst deposits and caves in north-western Romania.
Following the model of Emil Racoviță's publication series "Enumération des grottes visitées", we aim to organise and synthesise all existing information on the caves of the Someș Plateau and the Rodna and Apuseni Mountains.
The ultimate aim is a monographic study of climate and environmental changes over the last 200,000 years in north-western Romania, through interdisciplinary research on minerals, sediments, speleothems and subterranean fauna.
Representative works
Research team
Leadership of the Cluj-Napoca Institute of Speleology
Executive Director (1928–1947)
From left to right: Mihai Șerban, Maria Alb, Teo Rusu, Dan Coman, Corneliu Pleșa, Livia Neagu, Valentin Crăciun, Iosif (Pepi) Viehmann. Photograph taken on the occasion of the semicentenary of the Cluj-Napoca Institute of Speleology.
From left to right: Claude Delamare-Deboutteville, Dan Coman, Christian Juberthie, Corneliu Pleșa.
Rationale
The karst areas of north-western Romania (the Someș Plateau and the Rodna Mountains), as well as the Trascău Mountains, have a high speleological potential whose scientific value has only been marginally exploited.
We aim, over the next five years, to obtain detailed information on the mineralogy, sedimentology and palaeoclimate of the caves and karst deposits in the aforementioned geographical units.
- 2015 — Palaeoclimate and palaeoenvironment reconstructions based on karst deposits from north-western Romania
- 2014 — Karst monograph of the Someș Plateau
- 2013 — Trascău Mountains and the Someș Plateau
- 2012 — Someș Plateau and the Rodna Mountains
- 2011 — Bihor and Rodna Mountains
Activities
„Emil Racoviță" Institute of Speleology
The Institute of Speleology was founded in Cluj by Emil Racoviță in 1920, as the first research institute of its kind in the world. Emil Racoviță created the institute with the aim of studying the natural history of the subterranean domain.
Lily
Here to help! 🦇