On the 20th August this year, we said our last good-bye to Dr. Vojen Ložek – an outstanding Czech naturalist of worldwide reputation, and an emeritus employee of the Institute of Geology. He was a foremost expert in European nature, focusing his effort on the study of the Quaternary and especially molluscan biology. Vojen Ložek was not only an excellent scientist receiving many awards (e.g., the golden Albrecht Penck medal in honour of his advances in Quaternary studies in global scale and the Award of the Minister of the Environment CR) but also an endowed teacher and a highly vital man: he was loving his fieldwork and was always ready to deliver brilliant lectures to the professional audience as well as to the public. His passing is a great loss to many of his students, colleagues and followers. Nevertheless, his work is staying with us. His memory be honoured.

A newly published paper in the Geomorphology journal precisely described the origin of the recently recognized sandstone weathering forms – arcade cavities, but also the closely related hourglass-shaped pillars. It benefits from advanced numerical modeling. In general, this study relates to the application of a completely new approach, which yielded, within a short time, quite surprising results for the understanding of weathering of granular rocks. The research is carried out in close cooperation with the Faculty of Science of Charles University in Prague and the Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology in Moscow. This particular publication was substantially contributed by Michal Filippi of the Institute of Geology of the CAS.

The study of several thousand Ordovician (i.e., early Palaeozoic) fossils, mostly trilobites, bivalves, gastropods and echinoderms, demonstrated that most carcasses have become a subject of systematic and sophisticated feeding since the Mid Ordovician. Feeding traces have been preserved as thin tunnels insubstrate inside shells of dead organisms. For a certain period, the substrate had been enriched by microbial consortia; firm fibrous tissues could function as the source of organic matter. Feeding patterns tend to recur for each fossil group; thereby, the positions and shapes of certain non-preserved tissues can be estimated. The above mentioned complex feeding strategies appeared around the GOBE (i.e., Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event) which occurred mainly from 465 to 460 Ma. Paper.

The 35th IAS (International Association of Sedimentologists) annual meeting will be held in the Czech republic for the first time in entire IAS history. The Institute of Geology of the CAS participates in its organization. The meeting will be held in the Vienna House Diplomat Prague hotel on June 22–24, 2021.  The total number of participants is expected between 700–1000 including leading scientists in the field of sedimentology.  
Key themes and special sessions cover different processes leading to the origin of sedimentary rocks. Modern approaches and methods will be discussed which study sedimentary rocks as archives recording environmental changes in geological past, however, with implications for the present. All information is available at the Meeting website.