The Mineralogy CollectionInstitute of Speleology "Emil Racoviță"
Explore the digital collection of speleological minerals, karst formations and speleothems through interactive 3D models. Each piece is an archive of the geological history of Romania's caves.
Digitised Mineralogical Heritage
The clastic sedimentary deposits infilling endokarst structures are important from a multidisciplinary point of view: they constitute the habitat of important species within underground ecosystems, but also represent major palaeohydrological and palaeoclimatic archives.
By dating the palaeofloods, certain cyclicities can be identified, which increase the predictability of extreme phenomena and facilitate correlating them with natural causes or anthropogenic impacts.
Through 3D digitisation projects, these unique pieces become accessible to researchers and the general public. A variety of crystalline forms can be observed — calcite, aragonite, gypsum, dahllite — samples taken from speleothems, as well as samples of limestone with karren, cave pool balls and syngenetic concretions.
Interactive 3D Viewer
Select a model from the gallery · Drag = rotate · Shift+Drag = pan · Scroll = zoom · You can also drag an .OBJ or .GLB file directly onto the canvas
Select a model from the gallery above
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Study fields of the collection
Stalagmites contain isotopic archives of climate variations from the last tens of thousands of years, analysed by mass spectrometry.
Speleothem mineralogy reflects the chemistry of infiltration water and the hydrological dynamics of limestone massifs.
Photogrammetric scanning and structured-light scanning allow faithful digital conservation of rare heritage pieces.
Some mineral formations are produced or influenced by endemic microbial communities, a subject of intensive research.
Digital documentation methods contribute to conservation strategies for Romania's protected caves.
The collection is part of European speleological research networks and is accessible to the international scientific community.
Main documented speleological formations
Stalagmites and stalactites
Calcitic concretions formed through slow precipitation from infiltration water, some exceeding a few hundred thousand years.
Cave pearls
Rare spherical concretions formed in basins with dripping water, characteristic of a few caves in the Apuseni Mountains.
Speleological moonmilk
A pasty, white deposit of finely crystalline calcium carbonate, sometimes associated with bacterial activity.
Acicular aragonite
Fine needles precipitated in areas with intense ventilation, rarer than calcite and thermodynamically less stable.
Gypsum crystals
Calcium sulphate crystals formed in caves with a sulphidic environment or through the alteration of other minerals.
Hematite deposits
Films and crusts of iron oxides that colour cave walls and provide data on the palaeoenvironment.
Collaborate with ISER
Do you have speleological material for digitisation, or would you like access to the collection for research purposes?
Contact the institute
Lily
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