2010 Annual Report INTERNATIONAL UNION OF GEOLOGICAL SCIENCES (IUGS)

2010 annual report international union of geological sciences (iugs) reporting form for adhering organizations 2010 1. count

2010 Annual Report
INTERNATIONAL UNION OF GEOLOGICAL SCIENCES (IUGS)
Reporting Form for Adhering Organizations
2010
1. Country/region Czech Republic
2. Name of Adhering Organization (IUGS National Committee if one
exists):
Czech National Geological Committee (CNGC)
3. Name and address of person preparing report
Mgr. Veronika Štědrá, Ph.D.,
Chairman
Czech Geological Survey
Klarov 3, 118 21 Prague 1, CZ
[email protected]
RNDr. Radek Mikuláš, CSc.
Secretary
Geological Institute of Czech Academy of Science
Rozvojová 269, 165 00 Praha 6 - Lysolaje
[email protected]
4. Number of people on Committee (in group dealing with IUGS matters)
10
5. Number of meetings in 2010
1
6. Major accomplishments of group in 2010
IUGS and UNESCO activities
In May 2010, the Chairperson took part in the meeting of IYPE NC´s
during the EGU conference in Vienna and the informal meeting initiated
by IUGS board members.
During the year, we distributed issues of IUGS Newsletter and pieces
of information to be passed to the Czech scientific community. The
Young Earth Scientist (YES) Network was enrolled into preparations of
the Student scientific conference held in Czech Republic in 2011, and
the YES “Future of the geosciences” essay contest was announced to the
academic and geoscientific organizations.
The examples of the IYPE-CZ related activities in 2010
Even after the closure of the IYPE-CZ, the travelling exhibition “The
Planet Earth Powerful and Vulnerable” was invited to České Budějovice,
where it was a part of two geoscientific exhibitions. The most
impressive items of the exhibition were purchased by the CGS for
promoting geosciences in the future. Ten topical IYPE posters serve as
a permanent set of information for schools up to secondary level, and
a set of teaching material was derived from them.
The painting exhibition “Gaia, my piece of land” continued by its
fourth repetition and the final award ceremony became a flag ship of
the Czech Ministry of Environment PR department.
Geopark Concept in the Czech Republic
The geopark concept became widely accepted throughout the Czech
territory. The National Geopark Council was established during the
last three years, and it organized two important meetings. One geopark
in western Bohemia was accepted as the second official national GP,
namely The Egeria GP in the Karlovy Vary region as one of three
components of the cross-border Czech–Bavarian Geopark. Several new
proposals for geoparks were submitted to the council, some of them
with a very good chance for the acceptance to the national GP family
(the third GeoLoci section in the Czech-Bavarian GP and the Štramberk
area). Other regions are also starting to develop their own policy to
meet with general geotouristic and management principles of the
geopark concept (the Vysočina, Krkonoše, Železné Hory and Blaník
regions).
The Czech UNESCO category geopark Czech Paradise has proven its
management and geotouristic quality and achieved the positive
re-evaluation for another three years.
Activities related to geoscientific community, teaching, media
presentation
The CNGC took and active role in a revival of the Czech Commission for
Stratigraphy, functions of which seemed to fade away for several
previous years. In 2010, a working meeting of the Int. Stratigraphic
Commission IUGS was held in Prague.
The two major magazines - the Bulletin of Geosciences and the Journal
of Geosciences substantially improved their quality and in 2010
reached an IF appreciation in the international scientific WOS system.
The step opened a new and long missing platform for scientific result
presentations on the national level. We have to thank both the
editorial teams for their effort lasting several years.
A new geoscientific department with mostly applied geosciences for the
B.Sc. degree was founded at the new private “Karel Engliš University”
at Brno.
In 2010, the Science and Technology Week organized by theAcademy of
Sciences of the Czech Republic, was officially focused on the
“Diversity of the Universe and Life”. This topic gave a plenty of
possibilities to present geosciences. Public lectures with on-line
outside broadcast and subsequent media contributions were gained by
the Institute of Geology, AS CR and the Institute of Geophysics, AS
CR, partly under a direct management of the CNGC members. New,
attractive formats were offered during the “Open Door Days” of the
above-mentioned institutes: field excursions made-to-measure
particular secondary-school collectives, and the interactive game in
the “Geologic Park”.
Several enterprises prepared originally for the IYPE but postponed
(usually by the management of co-operating non-geologic institutions)
came to life. Among them, the geologic pathway in the renowned and
much-frequented Botanic Garden in Praha-Troja is expected to become
popular and attractive for public.
Contacts in TV, radio, magazines and newspapers enabled us to publish
numerous geoscience news and features in the form acknowledges by a
broad public.
Activities related to IGCP
The Czech geoscientists participated in or coordinated 5 IGCP
projects:
IGCP 575 - The Pennsylvanian terrestrial habitats and biotas in
southeastern Europe and northern Asia Minor and their relation to
tectonics and climate
Project Leaders: C. J. Cleal (UK), S. Opluštil (Czech Republic), I.
van Waveren (Netherlands), M. E. Popa (Romania), B. A. Thomas (UK)
Czech representatives: S. Opluštil ([email protected])
IGCP 580 - Application of magnetic susceptibility as a paleoclimatic
proxy on Paleozoic sedimentary rocks and characterization of the
magnetic signal
Project Leaders: A-C. da Silva, M.T. Whalen, J. Hladil (Czech
Republic), D. Chen, S. Spassov, F. Boulvain.
Czech representatives: J. Hladil (starting period [email protected]),
L. Koptíková (continuing period [email protected]).
IGCP 555 – Rapid Environmental/Climate Change in the Cretaceous
Greenhous World: Ocean-Land Interaction
Project Leaders: Chengshan Wang (China), Robert Scott (USA), Hugh
Jenkyns (UK), Michael Wagreich (USA), William Hay (Austria), Zakharov
Y.D. (Russia)
Czech Representative: P. Skupien ([email protected])
IGCP 540 - Gold and flincs
Project leaders: Paolo S. Garofalo (Italy), John R. Ridley (USA),
Vsevolod Prokof'ev (Russia)
Czech representative: J. Zachariáš ([email protected])
IGCP 510 - A-type granites and related rocks through time
Project leaders: Roberto Dall´Agnol (Brazil), Carol D. Frost (USA), O.
Tapani
Rämö (Finland)
Czech representative: M. René ([email protected])
Generous donations, which enabled to offer several grants in the total
amount of 170 000,- CZK was kindly provided by the several sponsors of
the Czech IGCP National Committee (http://www.gli.cas.cz/igcp/) in
2010.
Other international activities
Czech Geological Survey participated in the Antarctic Programme, in
projects of development aid for developing countries like Costa Rica,
Mongolia, Iran, Bourkina Fasso and in Peru.
A new project under the GEOSS framework was started by the CGS,
focused above all on social consequences of mining in African and
Central European countries.
The CGS successfully closed its part in the "One Geology" project of
the BGS in 2010.
There are three important conferences under preparation in the CZ for
2011:
- The 9th International Eclogite Conference to be held at Mariánské
Lázně,
- The Goldschmidt Conference, and
- The International Student Conference.
Comments
It was stressed that CNGC should be more active in self-publicizing by
means of already established information channels like, e.g., the
Newsletter of the Czech Geological Society or Journal of Geosciences.
A positive moment is that the general understanding exists that
geological hazards and global changes are closely related to the
specific geological environment. Geoinformation is slowly becoming a
counterpart of publicly presented information on natural environments,
and the Geopark concept is widely implemented to planning in many
regions of the country.
In the public CNGC policy there are reserves, especially in taking the
advantage of the cooperation with the Czech Commission for UNESCO and
its support.
Prague, CZ
January 10, 2011
http://www.geology.cz/cngk 4