August 19, 2025 The Polish Geological Institute – National Research Institute (PGI-NRI) concluded an Agreement with the Main Board of the Polish Society of Friends of Earth Sciences in Warsaw (PTPNoZ) on the transfer of original source materials for cave documentation to the Institute and continuation of cooperation in updating and expanding the resources of the Central Geological Database Caves Subsystem.

Over the several decades, PTPNoZ has conducted an inventory of caves in various regions of Poland and entered about 5,400 documents into the CBDG Caves Subsystem. We hope for the resumption of these activities and for the Central Geological Archives to seeing the original inventory descriptions of caves, as well as their plans and cross-sections. These are priceless originals of documentation, which are presented in a standardized version on the Jaskinie Polski website (https://jaskiniepolski.pgi.gov.pl/).

Signing of the Agreement, from the left: Director of PGI-NRI Prof. Krzysztof Szamałek and President of ZG PTPNoZ Dr. Jerzy Giżejewski

On September 10, 2025, we also concluded an Agreement with the Polish Copernicus Society of Naturalists in Krakow, represented by the President of the Society, Professor Elżbieta Pyza, on scientific support for the Institute in its work on the development of a cave documentation database.

The interdisciplinary Cave Documentation Team, established in 2022 at the Speleological Section of the Polish Copernicus Society of Naturalists, brings together renowned Polish speleological experts conducting research in such disciplines as karst geology, carbonate rock sedimentology, structural geomorphology, tectonics, paleontology, underground cartography, and environmental protection, as well as experts in natural and archaeological inventory. Currently, the Team provides substantive support to the Institute in reorganizing the structure of the CBDG Caves Subsystem and now has an important role in rebuilding the thematic dictionaries of this database.

The aim of the Agreement is to work with speleologists to develop modern, nationwide standards for cave documentation and to adapt the currently operating Caves of Poland website to the expectations of its users.

The cave documentation database was created to disseminate knowledge about the specific qualities of the inanimate and animate nature of this environment, and in particular to provide geological data on places inaccessible to most researchers. Work on the CBDG Caves Subsystem was carried out as part of the tasks of the Polish Geological Survey (PSG). Currently, activities have been resumed as part of the PSG task entitled “Protection of geodiversity, geoeducation, and geotourism”. Their continuation is also planned for the coming years.

Text and translation: Ewa Machalska