The International Journal of Speleology is the official journal of the Union Internationale de Spéléologie since 1978 and was founded in 1964. It is a double-blind, peer-reviewed, international scientific journal that publishes research and review articles concerning all sciences involved in karst and caves, such as geology, geomorphology, hydrology, archeology, paleontology, (paleo)climatology, cave meteorology, (geo)microbiology, environmental sciences, physics, chemistry, mineralogy, etc. IJS is published three times per year.

Articles are open access at http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/ijs. The journal is abstracted and indexed in the following services: Directory of Open Access Journals, ISI Thomson Services (Science Citation Index-Expanded including the Web of Science, ISI Alerting Service, Current Contents/Physical, Chemical and Earth Sciences), Bibliography & Index of Geology (GeoRef, Cambridge Scientific Abstracts, EarthScienceWISE (Oxmill Publishing), EBSCO publishing, Geobase, Speleological Abstracts (UIS), Ulrich’s Periodical Directory ™, BIOSIS Zoological record, SCOPUS (Elsevier), and SCImago Journal and Country Rank.

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Current Issue: Volume 55, Issue 3 (2026)

Articles

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The fossil pearls of the Million-Pearls Flowstone, Fairgrounds Room, Fort Stanton Cave, New Mexico USA
Victor J. Polyak, Paula P. Provencio, and Yemane Asmerom

Two cave pearl layers are preserved in a thin flowstone on an extinct stream bed
The pearls are referred to as ‘fossil pearls’ due to their unusual occurrence
The pearls consist of calcite and exhibit layers of white amorphous-like silicate material
Their nuclei are composed of aggregates of calcite crystals or clay balls
Timing of the pearl layers are coeval with two Last Glacial stadials

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Visitor perceptions of lampenflora and implications for adaptive show cave management: A case study from Ryusen-do Cave, Japan
Kanato Ando, Kazuhide Nakajima, Shuji Watanabe, Masuo Komukai, and Hidesato Kuwahara

Visitors initially perceived lampenflora positively
Ecological information shifted visitors’ perceptions toward conservation
Cave value and conservation awareness were associated with tourism evaluations
Environmental education may support socially acceptable lampenflora management
A social–ecological approach may support adaptive show cave management

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Did seismic events trigger the growth of aragonitic speleothems in Mawmluh Cave, north-east India?
Dildi Dildi, Dana Riechelmann Dr., Michael Weber Dr., Anne Jantschke Dr., Regina Mertz-Kraus Dr., and Denis Scholz Dr.

Seismic events trigger aragonite growth in speleothems from Mawmluh Cave
²³⁰Th/U dating identifies a recent calcite-to-aragonite shift between 1859 and 1950 CE
Earthquakes reactivate fractures, increasing dripwater Mg/Ca ratios through dissolution of dolomite host rock
Recent aragonite "caps" are widespread across stalagmites in Mawmluh Cave
Anthropogenic activity may sustain conditions favorablefor aragonite precipitation

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Bioactive potential of microbial isolates from Yoluja cave and Jepirramüin rock shelter, Cabo de la Vela (Colombia)
Juan Sebastián López Caro, Virginia Patricia Roa Angulo, and Alex Alberto González Vargas