News
A new journey from macro- to micro-world completed
In October 2024, the second event promoting microscopic techniques was held under the guidance of Eva Pecková of the Institute of Geology. The project was coordinated with the Dolákova Basic School in Prague 8. Various biological and mineral samples were presented at this school using their equipment, and complemented with a display of images taken by the Institute of Geology staff within their research. The second part of the event took place at the Institute facility in November, where selected senior students got acquainted with the operation of the Tescan Vega 3XMU electron microscope. They were also presented with the Mohs scale of mineral hardness (Z. Korbelová) and real-time crystallization (J. Rohovec). The project was supported by the Czechoslovak Microscopy Society and the Tescan Company.
An Open Day at the Institute of Geology
An Open Day was held at the Institute of Geology as an event within the Week of the Academy of Sciences on November 6 and 8, 2024. The visitors had the opportunity to visit the mineral separation laboratories, the chemical laboratory and the optical laboratory. The presented geoscientific disciplines included paleonotology and geoarchaeology.
Highlights in international cooperation in Cretaceous studies
Fossils from the chalk cliffs of Stevns Klint in Denmark were described by an international team from the Czech Republic, Denmark, Slovenia and Germany. The cliffs, listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, are famous for the presence of the youngest Cretaceous and oldest Paleocene strata including the boundary between these two stratigraphic units. Martina Kočová Veselská of the Institute of Geology AS CR and Tomáš Kočí of the Slovenian Institute for Palaeobiology and Evolution presented the project results at the international conference at Maastricht, the Netherlands, which was held to commemorate the 175th anniversary of the erection of the Maastrichtian stage (the youngest stage of the Cretaceous). The study of the Stevns Klint fossils, which document thriving marine life at the end of the Cretaceous, falls within the research project run by the Geomuseum Faxe and the Strategy AV21 project. The event and the results of the current research attracted the attention of the Danish newspaper Sjællandske Nyheder. Link here
A new Member of the Czech UNESCO Commission
Radek Mikuláš, a researcher of the Institute of Geology, was appointed a Member of the Czech UNESCO Commission by the Minister of Foreign Affairs Jan Lipavský. This Commission (nominated for the 2024–2027 period) functions as an advisory body for the Government, focusing on mutual communication between the Czech institutions and experts and UNESCO. The Commission is also committed to study UNESCO documents, to disseminate UNESCO ideas in the Czech Republic and to submit proposals for further activities to the UNESCO Headquarters in Paris. The Commission also accepts moral aegis for projects directly related to the UNESCO programme. The Commission has established professional sections: (1) for culture and communication, (2) for education, science and informatics, and (3) for the environment. Radek Mikuláš is active in Sections 2 and 3.
Photo by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic.
Award for the best student presentation in the Open Science Project
Ema Danielová and Zuzana Hájková received an award for the best student presentation during their scientific internship in the Open Science project of the Czech Academy of Sciences. Under the supervision of Filip Tomek of the Institute of Geology of the Czech Academy of Sciences, they studied mythical significance of volcanoes and their reflection in historical myths and legends. Their research highlighted the everlasting fascination of humans by natural phenomena and their cultural interpretations that have lasted for centuries. Their presentation at the student conference within the Week of the Czech Academy of Sciences was recognized as the best in the field of solid Earth sciences. Congratulations to Ema and Zuzka on their outstanding achievement!
Paleontological Conference and the Award for the best student presentation
The traditional annual meeting of enthusiasts in paleontology was held in Banská Bystrica within the 23rd Czech–Slovak–Polish Paleontological Conference. It was organized by the staff of the Earth Science Institute of the Slovak Academy of Sciences. Scientific results were also presented by ten paleontologists of the Institute of Geology of the Czech Academy of Sciences (download the Book of Abstracts here). The Award for the best student presentation was granted to Monika Uhlířová of the Department of Paleobiology and Paleontology.
Ladislav Slavík is the newly elected Chairman of the International Subcommission on Devonian Stratigraphy
Ladislav Slavík was re-elected the Chairman of the Subcommission on Devonian Stratigraphy (SDS/International Commission on Stratigraphy of the IUGS) https://devonian.stratigraphy.org/ and his new term in office began at the 37th International Geological Congress in Busan, South Korea in August 2024. The Devonian Subcommission includes over 150 members from five continents who contribute biostratigraphic, sedimentological and chemophysical proxy studies to refine Devonian stratigraphy and define new international chronostratigraphic standards (GSSP).
A new look on Neoproterozoic evolution of rocks in central and western Bohemia
Owing to a series of interconnected scientific projects, researchers of the Department of Geological Processes of the Institute managed to decipher – together with their colleagues from the Faculty of Science, Charles University – the formation of rocks in central and western Bohemia during the Neoproterozoic. Sedimentary, volcanic and deformational processes in this region could be characterized, and the results were published in prestigious scientific journals (e.g., here and here). This research also showed a public outreach, materialized in an article for the Vesmír journal and an educational panel at the foot of a rock section at the Štěchovice Dam.
An interview on the effects of a lightning
Researchers of the Department of Paleomagnetism of the Institute of Geology gave a short interview related to the study of soil samples taken from the immediate vicinity of a tree struck by a lightning at Vratislavice, where eighteen people were injured in June this year. A report with this interview (starts at approximately 17:58) was broadcast by Czech Radio on Tuesday, September 10, 2024. The research is carried out within a subproject of the Strategy AV21 programme, the general goal of which is to investigate changes in magnetic properties of igneous and sedimentary rocks, soils or even wood after lightning strikes.
Completion of a long-lasting collaboration on a Slovenian cave
The 37th International Geological Congress in Busan (Korean Republic) announced the decision of the Executive Committee of the International Union of Geological Sciences (under UNESCO; IUGS) of 21 February 2024. This decision included the Račiška pečina Cave (Matarsko podolje, SW Slovenia) in the IUGS Geoheritage Sites list. Its justification stated: multidisciplinary record of landscape and palaeoenvironmental change within the last 3.4 million years, including geomagnetic field variations in the Pliocene and Pleistocene including the Matuyama/Brunhes transition. The cave features a unique flowstone section with clays containing abundant fauna of small and large vertebrates and gastropods. The long-lasting research, conducted from 2004, employed a combination of geomorphological methods with numerical radiometric dating (U-Th, U-Pb, 14C), correlative stratigraphy based on fossil remains, and stable isotope (O, C) study which contributed to palaeoenvironmental interpretations. This result is credited to an international team of scientists from Slovenia (ZRC SAZU Karst Research Institute, Postojna), Czechia (Institute of Geology of the Czech Academy of Sciences, v. v. i., Department of Zoology of the Faculty of Science of Charles University, Prague, National Museum in Prague) and Poland (Institute of Geological Sciences of the Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań). For references to some papers resulting from this research click here and here.
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