Special presentations

Participation in the Project AV 21. The Institute is involved in the academic project “Strategy AV21”, which started in 2016. This project is defined as "top research focused on problems and challenges of contemporary society" or, more simply, “Top research in the public interest”, as expressed in its motto. In the course of five years, more than 10 employees were, or still are, involved in a close cooperation with other institutes of the Academy of Sciences in two programmes of the Strategy AV21: Natural hazards and Diversity of life and health of ecosystems. These collaborations resulted in scientific and popular publications, lectures of professionals for the public and local governments, and presentation of the results in both local and national audio-visual media. Specifically, the Institute staff addressed the following topics (only a selection: see the list below with short annotations):
Long-term projects:
Atmospheric dust (long-term project). Atmospheric transport of dust particles is an important factor in the environment, bringing about a number of health and environmental risks. According to studies conducted by the team of our researchers, this represents a deposition of 8 g/m2/year of solids on average (maximum up to kg/m2/year), a half of which eventually remains permanently. Our researcher (T. Hrstka with co-workers) is involved in the development of software for an automated quantitative analysis using electron microscopy. Using this analysis, T. Hrstka is creating a database – the atlas of dust particles, that would facilitate the identification and assessment of the hazards of this type of pollution.
Registry and classification of rockfall phenomena in sandstone areas of the Czech Republic (long-term project; In Czech only). Climate warming is connected with an increased incidence of events such as droughts alternating with torrential rains. Sandstones, whose pore spaces represent up to 28–32% of the rock volume, are characterized by considerable sensitivity to these climatic influences. The effects of climate fluctuations are reflected in the sandstone landscapes by a higher intensity of rock wall destruction. The aim of this topic led by J. Adamovič is to collect data on cases of rockfalls in the most important sandstone areas of the Czech Republic and to create their web database with detailed characteristics that will allow a prediction of these destructive phenomena.
Study of the magnetic polarity reversal of the Earth. This topic seems to be rather from the realm of science fiction and concerns mainly basic research. Anyway, it will become essential for life on Earth one day. The Earth's field reversed its polarity many times in the past. The today's field is in a state where a needle showing the north magnetic pole is heading north. When the field reverses polarity after geomagnetic inversion, the needle of our compass will point south. The reasons for the reversal of polarity of the Earth's field are not entirely clear and are related to the movement of liquid currents in the Earth's core. During the process of polarity reversal of the magnetic field, our Earth loses its protective magnetic shield for up to several thousand years. The project under leaderhip of G. Kletetschka studied the record of the Matuyama-Brunhes inversion in the sediments of the Za Hájovnou Cave in the Czech Republic. The results achieved using the characteristic remanent magnetization method revealed the behaviour of the polarity transition in more detail from this central European locality.
Evaluation of environmental load in the Litavka River sediments – the most polluted river in the Czech Republic. The Příbram district is one of the European regions significantly affected by historical mining and ore processing. Litavka is the most polluted heavy metal river system in the Czech Republic (in the case of Pb at about a thousand times the natural background and about ten times the official limits). In this sense, the Litavka River is the most important source of permanent secondary pollution of river systems in our country (Pb, Zn, Cd, Hg, etc.). Cadmium and mercury (its alkylated forms) are very toxic, at the same time mobile in soils and sediments. The aim of the project led by T. Nováková was to determine the spatial distribution of risk elements in the sediments and to estimate the risks associated with bank erosion and migration of these elements in the river and related environment.
Identification and interpretation of river flood sediments. The effects of river floods in the landscape can be roughly divided into aggradational and erosive events. In order to be able to study in detail the real risks arising from the redistribution of sediments during floods, it is necessary to get orientated in the different types of these sediments. The project led by R. Mikuláš was focused on the understanding and classification of flood sediments of selected rivers in the Czech Republic from the period of 1996–2016. Knowledge from sedimentology and paleontology (ichnology) was applied and "type localities" of recent flood sediments were documented and characterized.
Potential sources of mercury contamination in the ecosystems of the Czech Republic. In the Czech Republic, there are three important deposits of mercury that were mined in the past and where host rocks and remnants of mining and processing activities represent a potential source of contamination. The purpose of this research led by M. Roll  was the study of mercury concentrations in the vicinity of these deposits (i.e., in rocks, spoil tips, soils and stream sediments). The project also focused on the migration and bioaccumulation of "free" mercury in a given ecosystem based on mercury concentrations in forest crops such as mushrooms, blueberries, blackberries, etc.
Innovative monitoring and modelling techniques for the analysis of hydroecological processes. In order to create mathematical models for the description of climatic-hydrological processes and their application for various scenarios of climate development and land use, it is necessary to study hydrological processes in small and well-defined river catchments for a long time. The main goal of the topic led by T. Navrátil is to refine the description of difficult-to-quantify processes affecting the components of the water balance of forest catchments of the temperate zone spring areas. An important aspect is also the quantification and modelling of various effects on the mass balance of ecologically important elements in river basins. The acquired knowledge and measured data will be used in the simulation of hydrological processes by methods of mathematical modelling.

IGCP - Czech National Committee - The International Geological Correlation Programme (IGCP) was launched in 1972 to facilitate geological cooperation across state boundaries and cultural zones of the world. The evolution of science about Earth System requires the data and contributions from all parts of our planet.

Lesní potok catchment - Web pages focused in research of the Lesní potok small catchment.

Project NAMAK - Institute of Geology ASCR, v.v.i. cooperates with the Faculty of Sciences, Charles University in Prague and the Shiraz University on a research of the salt karst and salt diapirs in Iran.