Institute of Geology of the CAS, v. v. i.

The Institute was founded in 1960 by integrating several smaller research units of the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences (Paleontology, Geological Engineering and Geochemistry) with the newly created Department of Geology. In 1979, it merged with the Mining Institute of the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences to form the Institute of Geology and Geotechnics of the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences. In 1990, the Institute was divided, and the Geological Institute of the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences was created. Pursuant to Act No. 341/2005 Coll., the Institute became a public research institution as of 1 January 2007.

The scientific activity of the Institute in the field of endogenic geology is centred on the study of the structure, composition and development of the crystalline units of the Bohemian Massif, especially on the nature of the protolith of metamorphosed rocks, conditions of their formation, the composition of magmatic rocks and the block structure of core units. In the field of paleontology, the Institute focuses on the paleoecology, fauna of the Paleozoic of the Bohemian Massif and selected groups of fauna in younger formations, and the study of palynomorphs over the entire geological past. Paleomagnetic studies are oriented especially toward determining the paleomagnetic characteristics of rocks, study of magnetic mineralogy and magnetostratigraphy. Changes in the environment in the more recent geological past and the causes of these changes, landscape development and a number of current subjects in environmental geochemistry are also studied.