On 9-14 September 2024, the 5th Conference on Slope Tectonics took place in Křtiny near Brno and in the Czech part of the Outer Carpathian Mountains. This cyclical event is dedicated to the study of the relationship between the structure and tectonics of the bedrock and the causes and development of slope deformation.

Dozens of people from the Czech Republic, France, Israel, Japan, Germany, Poland, Scotland, Switzerland, Taiwan, the USA and Italy participated in the conference. The Polish Geological Institute – National Research Institute was represented by Rafal Sikora, PhD, from the Department of Regional and Compositional Geology.

The conference was accompanied by pre- and post-conference field sessions. Rafał Sikora presented a paper 'Influence of lithology and flysch rocks structure on kinematics and landslide geometry, and the problem of initiating factors of mass movements – examples of slope tectonic processes from the Polish part of the Outer Carpathians and Sudetes' and chaired one of the paper sessions.

Rafał Sikora during his lecture (photo: K. Buczek)

The conference dealt with processes related to mass movements in the rock medium in the broadest sense and was held under deteriorating weather conditions. Therefore, the participants closely followed the latest reports on the development of the weather situation, which undoubtedly could not only thwart the plans of the field sessions, but also affect the activity of the presented landslides and safety in the field. It should be mentioned that one of the problems discussed was the issue of the influence of climatic factors on the development of rock slides and slope deformation and their relationship to other factors (including seismic activity of the bedrock).

Participants of the field session had the opportunity to study a cross-section through the front of the landslide, the development of which was associated with Holocene fault activity in the Pulčin stream valley, Carpathian Mountains (photo: R. Sikora)

The visit to Pavlov Archeopark was an opportunity to present the geological structure of southern Moravia and the deformation of the slope near Mikulov (photo: R. Sikora)