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Konkurzní řízení na pozici vědeckého pracovníka

Konkurzní řízení na pozici vědeckého pracovníka v Oddělení fyzikálních vlastností hornin GLÚ se zaměřením výzkumu v oborech: seismologie, anizotropie, šíření seismických vln,  akustická emise, zdrojové mechanismy.

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Institute in the Database of Transfer, Knowledge and Technology of the Czech Academy of Sciences

Institute of Geology has been involved (through several topics) in a recently established database, which aims at "connecting science with business". In other words, this database offers useful results, products and procedures, as well as research facilities, methodologies, analyses and other knowledge that people from commerce, research and education, as well as the general public, may wish to use.

Lesní potok catchment – presentation

Short 5 minute presentation including overview of Lesní potok catchment instrumentation and selected scientific achievements was given by Tomáš Navrátil in framework of “2021 Winter Cyberseminar Series: Research and Observatory Catchments: the Legacy and the Future” organized by CUAHSI (The Consortium of Universities for the Advancement of Hydrologic Science, Inc.). Follow this link to watch the Week 5 Section entitled “Low to no Snow Temperate Catchments”. The main purpose of this event was to bring the wide audience of catchment related research scientists familiar with location, instrumentation and/or results of others. The schedule and recordings of all presentations can be found here.

Introduction to the Institute

An informative brochure titled “INTRODUCTION to the Institute of Geology”, which provides comprehensive information about the Institute structure, equipment and activities, was updated and presented on our webpage. It is a good springboard for those who are seriously interested in scientific work in the field of geology and in events at the Institute of Geology. 

Book award

The book “Underground monuments of central Bohemia” by V. Cílek (Institute of Geology), M. Majer, L. Faltejsek and others, published by the Dokořán publisher in 2019, was awarded – after several postponements – the Egon Erwin Kisch Prize for non-fiction literature for the year 2020. The book describes underground spaces of various types in central Bohemia, concentrating on remains after ore, coal and limestone mining. The wide distribution of historical mines documents and explains the rapid, multi-level boom of central Bohemia. Many congratulations to the authors!

Mercury concentrations in the air and in forest crops

The January issue of Vesmír, the Czech popular science journal celebrating its 150 anniversary in 2021, published two papers authored by members of the Department of Environmental Geology and Geochemistry of the Institute of Geology. The first paper by Borovička, Roll and Nováková deals with the safety of collecting edible mushrooms and forest fruits at sites affected by historical mining of mercury-rich ores. The second paper by Navrátil and Rohovec brings news about the possibilities of using passive samplers to monitor mercury concentrations in the air.

Carboniferous eruption covered central and western Bohemia with up to 1 m thick ash layer

The famous Bělka tuff is an areally extensive pyroclastic layer preserved in the central and western Carboniferous late- to post-orogenic basins of central and western Bohemia. This tuff represents a unique stratigraphic marker documented from tens of boreholes and numerous black coal mines within a large area between the southern edge of the Pilsen Basin in western Bohemia and the eastern part of the Kladno-Rakovník Basin over a distance of 100 km. However, its volcanic source has been as yet enigmatic. In a new study by Tomek et al., published in International Geology Review, a multidisciplinary approach using the LA-ICP-MS U/Pb zircon dating, analysis of thickness and grain size distribution, and volume calculation suggested that the source volcano was the Altenberg–Teplice Caldera located at the Czech–German border in NW Bohemian Massif. In detail, this volcano underwent a major caldera-forming ignimbrite eruption with an estimated volcanic explosivity index 7 (out of 8) at 314 Ma. From the northern caldera margin, pyroclastic density currents travelled south over a distance of ca. 40 km towards the area of Oparno valley (Porta Bohemica). From here, northeasterly winds distributed the volcanic ash cloud towards the southwest, where the ash was deposited in the sedimentary basins. As indicated by an isopach reconstruction, the Regensburg area (Germany), for instance, was covered by a 10 cm thick ash layer that originated from the Altenberg–Teplice Caldera nearly 220 km away. For additional information click here.

Lampyrite

The Journal of Petrology, published by Oxford University, has recently published an extensive study by Czech and German researchers summarizing the results of their study of late-Variscan mantle-derived magmatic activity in the Bohemian Massif. Based on a combined research of radiogenic and non-radiogenic isotopes, the development of the composition of the upper mantle beneath the Bohemian Massif was reconstructed for a time span of 65 million years. The study was coordinated by Lukáš Krmíček of the Institute of Geology of the Czech Academy of Sciences and provides a recognition of a specific rock type described under a new term – lampyrite.

Lithium

“Without taking notice, we got accustomed to the use of light laptops, thin mobile phones, and small electronics. We are no longer surprised by the possibility of recharging and discharging the battery repeatedly, and we take it for granted that the energy stored in this ‘can’ is easily available. The word lithium has penetrated the dictionary of the general public.” This is an introduction to a new popular-science article by our colleagues Jan Rohovec and Tomáš Navrátil, recently published in the Vesmír magazine, where you can find more details.

Ancient sea-level fluctuations due to vast glaciations

Black shales provide important clues to paleoenvironmental changes of the Earthʼs oceans and atmosphere throughout the geological history. In the Bohemian Massif, black shales were commonly deposited at, or very close to, the Neoproterozoic/Cambrian boundary, also known as the period of “Life Explosion”. The new study led by Lukáš Ackerman of the Institute of Geology and published in the Marine and Petroleum Geology journal (link here) focused on two black shale successions. It revealed that their deposition was intimately connected with the waning activity of a volcanic arc, changes in anoxic-oxic conditions and a global sea level change in response to large-scale periods of glaciation between 580 and ~550 Ma.

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