INSTITUTUL DE SPEOLOGIE "EMIL RACOVIȚĂ"

Presentation

Since its establishment in 1920 as the world's first cave research entity, the "Emil Racovita" Institute of Speleology (ERIS) has been a leading international center for karst and cave research. The mission of ERIS is to design, conduct, educate, and disseminate research findings worldwide.

ERIS's mission and vision for the future is to continue its dynamic national, regional, and international leadership in cave and karst research so that helps policymakers, educators, and the general public toward addressing the immediate problems of managing karst waters, karst landscapes, and their biological and physical resources.

Research: "Emil Racovita" Institute of Speleology conducts high-quality theoretical and applied research on most karst and cave issues. Its research activities combine a local to regional perspective with a global application. The ERIS develops and manages the Romanian cave inventory.

Education: ERIS offers in collaboration with Babes-Bolyai University in Cluj and other structures within the Romanian Academy, a range of undergraduate and graduate (Master and Doctoral) education programs in karst geology, biospeleology, and karst environmental conservation and protection. ERIS organizes conferences, workshops, and field trips to accommodate any international and national undergraduate and graduate programs.

Consulting: ERIS provides environmental consulting assistance in implementing its own research findings so as to improve natural cave and karst resource management.

Here, you can view the law of the founding of the Cluj Speleology Institute. Read more

Team

Biospeleology

• Ph.D. Ruxandra NĂSTASE-BUCUR
• Ph.D. Oana MOLDOVAN
• Ph.D. Daniela BORDA
• Ph.D. Traian BRAD - șef compartiment
• Ph.D. Sanda IEPURE

Karstology

• Ph.D. Daniel VEREȘ
• Ph.D. Marius KENESZ
• Ph.D. Aurel PERŞOIU

Research Associate

• Ph.D. Christos PENNOS
• Ph.D. Ioana PERȘOIU
• Ph.D. Sanda IEPURE
• Ph.D. Angelica FEURDEAN
• Ph.D. Nenad BUZJAK
• Ph.D. Tiziana di LORENZO

Researchers Ph.D.

• Ph.D. Dragoș MANTOIU

Research

Scope

Generation and publication of detailed work on mineralogy, speleogenesis, and Quaternary climate based on interdisciplinary study of karst and cave deposits in northwestern Romania. Taking as a model the series of publications "Ennumeration the grotte visitée" produced by Emil Racovita we want to organize and synthesize all available information existing on the Somes Plateau, Rodnei and Apuseni mountains caves so far. The ultimate goal of the research team is to produce a monographic study on climate and environmental changes over the past 200,000 years in NW Romania by integrating interdisciplinary research carried out on minerals, sediments, speleothems, and groundwater fauna.

Motivation

Karst of northwestern Romania (Somes Plateau and mainly Rodna Mountains) and Trascau Mountains shows a high speleological potential, whose value has not been explored scientifically than peripheral. Somes Plateau is an ideal example of human impact on karst environment, a phenomenon that we want to investigate on the basis of integrated studies. We propose that in the next five years to obtain detailed information on mineralogy, sedimentology and paleoclimatic information existing in the caves and karst deposits of the above mentioned geographical units, based on which, through an interdisciplinary approach to complete a monographic climatic study that characterize the Upper Quaternary in NW Romania.

Areas

• 2015: Paleoclimate and paleoenvironmental reconstructions based on karst and cave deposits from NW Romania
• 2014: Somes Plateau karst monography
• 2013: Trascau Mountains and Somes Plateau
• 2012: Somes Plateau and Rodnei Mountains
• 2011: Bihor and Rodnei Mountains

Activities

• exploration and mapping activities in the karst Rodna, Trascau and Somes Plateau;
• sedimentological and mineralogical studies on exo- and endokarst of Rodna, Trascau, and Somes Plateau;
• paleoclimatic reconstructions based on karst and cave deposits in the Bihor, Trascau, and Rodnei mountains;
• studies (hydrogeology, hydrobiology, etc.) on anthropogenic changes in the Somes Plateau and karst of the Rodna Mountains;
• generate the inventory of caves in the Somesul Cald River basin and Somes Plateau;
• publication of two bundles of inventory caves in the Apuseni Mountains and the Somes Plateau
• integration of interdisciplinary studies conducted by the research team in 2011-2015 in a monograph on Climate and environmental changes in NW Romania over the last 200,000 years.