Institute of Geology of the Czech Academy of Sciences

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Open Days 2017

Open Days 2017 were held on the 3rd, 9th and 10th November 2017 in the Institute of Geology. The visitors, about 80 in number, were dominated by children. Besides experiences, they took away some 150 copies of journals issued for a broad public by the Czech Academy of Sciences. See also Week of Science and Technology.

Čeština

Three-dimensional reconstruction of a unique Devonian amphibian Ichthyostega

Professor Zbyněk Roček of the Institute of Geology CAS takes part in a three-dimensional reconstruction of a unique Devonian amphibian Ichthyostega, which is one of the earliest known terrestrial vertebrates living about 360 million years ago. The model is made by the Danish artist Esben Horn and his team from the 10 Tons Studio in Copenhagen. Under the permission of the 10 Tons Studio we are pleased to publish one of the first photos of the prepared reconstruction (see picture). Ichthyostega represents a key evolutionary stage in a transition of vertebrates between permanent water-dwellers and terrestrial tetrapods. The model will be installed in a permanent public exhibition in the National Museum in Prague after its main building becomes re-opened after its general reconstruction.

Installation of a new Thermal Ionization Mass Spectrometer (TIMS)

The Institute of Geology of the Czech Academy of Sciences was granted financial support from the Czech Academy of Sciences for a Thermal Ionization Mass Spectrometer (TIMS) Thermo Triton Plus. This instrument offers ultra-high precision isotopic measurement of selected elements (e.g., Sr, Nd, Os, U, Pb) providing an outstanding opportunity to several research topics in the field of rock and environmental geochemistry, palaeontology and paleoecology, but also archaeometry and anthropology. It is equipped with nine Faraday detectors, an electron multiplier, five 1013 Ω amplifiers and a RPQ system, and will be used for ultra-high precise U-Pb age determination by CA-ID-TIMS method and several projects dealing with Sr, Nd, Os, U, Pb and Mo isotope geochemistry. Several photographs from the installation procedure of the instrument can be found in the attached gallery.

Čeština

The newly determined Ar/Ar ages for the youngest Czech surface volcano

Assoc. Prof. RNDr. Lukáš Krmíček, Ph.D. of the Institute of Geology of the Czech Academy of Sciences, v. v. i., together with his colleagues of the University of Potsdam (Universität Potsdam) presented new results of radioisotope dating of the Železná hůrka (Eisenbühl) volcano near Cheb at the Basalt 2017 conference. Based on the results of Ar/Ar step-heating of dark mica, the age of this volcano was shown to be "only" 400,000 years. Thus, the Železná hůrka represents the youngest Czech surface volcano. Volcanic activity in the vicinity of the Železná hůrka resulted in the formation of subsurface explosive maar-diatreme volcanic structures about 100 to 200 thousand years later. As yet, the "echoes" of volcanic activity in the Cheb area (similarly to the Yellowstone National Park in the USA) can be registered in the form of CO2 emanations accompanied by frequent earthquake swarms.

Čeština

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