Highlights of Romanian Caves and Karst

Highlights of Romanian Caves and Karst

Authors

  • Gheorghe M.L. Ponta Geological Survey of Alabama, 420 Hackberry Lane, Tuscaloosa, Alabama, 35401, U.S.A https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5067-3201
  • Victor Ursu www.speologie.org, 84 Ironwood Ct, Middletown, New Jersey, 07748, U.S.A
  • Romeo A. Perlik Ministry of Justice, Predeal, L. Rebreanu 11, 505300, Romania

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.52340/ggj.2026.06.01.08

Keywords:

karst, caves, catalogue, recreational caving

Abstract

Romania with an area of 238,391 km2, located in Southeastern Europe, has a karstifiable area of about 5,500 km2 (approx. 2.3%). A website, www.speologie.org, was set up to collect and centralize all cave-related data within the Romanian karst. It is an online searchable database of 8,645 identified caves with 1,042 km of surveyed passages. The web page was started by cavers and is open for community contributions. The data structure extends the systematic catalogue started by Cristian Goran in 1981. The diverse spectrum of Romanian caves is briefly presented in this paper.

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Published

2026-08-03

How to Cite

Ponta, G. M., Ursu, V., & Perlik, R. A. (2026). Highlights of Romanian Caves and Karst. Georgian Geographical Journal, 6(1), 59–66. https://doi.org/10.52340/ggj.2026.06.01.08

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