On 8th June 2022, Simona Krmíčková, a PhD student employed with the Department of Geological Processes of the Institute of Geology, received the Dean's Award of the Faculty of Science of Masaryk University in Brno for the best students of doctoral study programmes. The award was given for excellent study results and significant involvement in scientific research. Simona Krmíčková focuses mainly on the radiogenic isotope study of igneous rocks. She regularly publishes the results of her research in impacted journals and presents them at international conferences. For additional information, click here.

After a decennial collaboration, a voluminous monograph was published on the Amber Road, which once connected the Adriatic Sea with the Baltic Sea in a north–south direction. The route starts in the Polish Lowlands of the lower Vistula River, where amber artefacts were produced in vast manufactures. Although the book describes the whole course of the route, it concentrates on the important area between Vienna, the Pavlovské vrchy Mts., the Brno area and central Moravia. This is where the authors (P. Bolina, J. Martínek, V. Cílek and P. Šlézar) mapped the remains of old trails and wagon ruts connecting prehistoric dwellings, medieval castles and monasteries using LIDAR within two extensive research projects. The book, published by Academia, contains over 500 figures, of which around 350 are maps showing the courses of the trails.

Thelephora mushrooms are important mycorrhizal partners of woody plants. An international team led by Jan Borovička of the Institute of Geology investigated trace element concentrations in their fruit bodies. In Thelephora penicillata, extremely high concentrations of toxic elements were found, especially cadmium (Cd) and arsenic (As). Among other analysed species, surprising results were obtained for T. palmata with elevated contents of sulphur and T. vialis with extremely high concentrations of selenium.

A paper by scientists of the Department of Environmental Geology and Geochemistry was published in the prestigious journal Environmental Pollution. The study of tree rings in European Larch determined the evolution of mercury (Hg) emissions from a local source. Larch is a living recorder of Hg concentrations in the air. In this case, the emission source was the oldest chemical plant in the German town of Marktredwitz, which was producing Hg-based fungicides. Its environs were contaminated during the centennial operation of the plant. Mercury then started to spread to the Czech Republic through streams, inducing contamination of sediments in the Skalka Reservoir in the Cheb area. The record in larch rings suggests that the highest Hg emissions occurred in the first decades of the 20th century, when the plant was the World's key producer. The present Hg concentrations in the air are very low due to the extensive remediation of the whole plant area.