Karstbase Bibliography Database

Evidences show humans must have entered caves in Romania prior to 65,000 years ago. Their interest in mining activities came, however, much later, with the first documented signs pre-dating the arrival of Romans in Dacia (present-day Romania), in the 2nd century BC. Although writings about minerals in Romanian caves date back to the 18th and 19th century, the first scientific texts on minerals found in caves discovered during mining and quarrying activities only appeared after 1850s. From a mineralogical point of view, two distinct categories are recognizable: 1) caves displaying speleothems of monotonous carbonate mineralogy and 2) caves with unusual mineral paragenesis. The latter group could further be subdivided into: i) cavities located near or within nonmetalliferous or polymetallic ore fields, ii) skarn-hosted caves, and iii) caves in which H2Srich thermo-mineral waters discharge. The study of these caves resulted in the discovery of minerals, either new for science (ardealite) or to the cave environment (anhydrite, burbankite, foggite, ikaite, konyaite, etc.). However, the scientific relevance of mine, quarry, and mined caves is not restricted to mineralogy but also encompasses anthropology, archeology, Quaternary geology, biospeleology, karst science (speleothems, speleogenesis, etc.), and tourism.