2006: Speleoseismology: A critical perspective

Abstract Speleoseismology is the investigation of earthquake records in caves. Traces can be seen in bro-ken speleothems, growth anomalies in speleothems, cave sediment deformation structures, displacements along fractures and bedding plane slip, incasion (rock fall) and co-seismic fault displacements. Where earth-quake origins can be proven, these traces constitute im-portant archives of local and even regional earthquake activity. However, other processes that can generate the same or very similar deformation features have to be excluded before cave damage can be interpreted as earthquake induced. Most sensitive and therefore most valuable for the tracing of strong earthquake shocks i