The goal of speleology is to explore caves, gulfs and underground cavities, both natural and manmade, by making an active contribution to the study, knowledge and preservation of the underground world and related areas. In practice, speleology includes various different disciplinary fields, such as science, environmental and athletic, or teaching and educating as a nature sport.

In Europe, it was in the late 19th century, under the encouragement of Édouard-Alfred Martel, that speleology was structured as a specific discipline in the exploration and study of the underground world and karst. Speleologists currently pursue both exploration and documentation; in 2014, just over 200 new caves were included on the inventory and over 100km of galleries were explored and mapped by the French Association of Speleology. In order to do this, speleologists developed specific techniques for travelling in underground networks and describing natural and cultural landscapes and heritage discovered in caves, gulfs and the surroundings.

Research in caves involves a wide range of scientific disciplines arising mainly from karstology (geology, geomorphology, hydrogeology), biology, climatology, ecology and archaeology.