From 23 to 26 April 2025, the 21st edition of the regular Meeting of the Central European Tectonic Studies Groups (CETEG) conference was held in Nové Hamry, in the Czech part of Ore Mountains (in Czech: Krušné Hory).

The origins of this tectonic conference date back to the 1980s, and since 2003 it has been held annually under its current name, alternating between the Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia and Hungary.

This year, the event was organised by scientists from the Institute of Petrology and Structural Geology of Charles University in Prague (IPSG) and the Czech Geological Survey (CGS) in cooperation with the Institute of Rock Structure and Mechanics of the Czech Academy of Sciences (USMH CAS). The event was attended by 96 participants representing research centres from the Czech Republic, Hungary, France, Poland, Germany, Slovakia, Sweden, Croatia, Austria, Taiwan and Oman.

This year's edition of the event was attended by representatives of the Polish Geological Institute – National Research Institute: Prof. Paweł Aleksandrowski and Aleksander Kowalski (PhD) from the Lower Silesian Branch, and Rafał Sikora (PhD) from the Department of Regional and Deposit Geology.

During the Structural Geology and Resources session, Aleksander Kowalski delivered a paper entitled ‘What to do when you “see nothing” in the field? Case of the Glinno Graben on top of the Góry Sowie Massif (the Sudetes, NE Bohemian Massif, SW Poland)’ (co-author: Grzegorz Pacanowski). The paper discussed the results of the latest cartographic work in the Sudetes (Góry Sowie Massif), carried out as part of the Detailed Geological Map of the Sudetes at a scale of 1:25,000, using geophysical methods (electrical resistivity tomography, ERT), numerical terrain model analyses and earthworks in poorly exposed mountain areas.

Aleksander Kowalski (PhD) during delivery of the paper entitled ‘What to do when you “see nothing” in the field? Case of the Glinno Graben on top of the Góry Sowie Massif (the Sudetes, NE Bohemian Massif, SW Poland)’ (Photo: R. Sikora)

Prof. Paweł Aleksandrowski, together with a large team of researchers from the geophysics institutes of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine and the Polish Academy of Sciences, presented the results of a tectonic analysis of a deep seismic profile carried out in the year preceding the Russian aggression and crossing almost the entire width of Ukraine. The presentation took the form of a poster entitled ‘Upper lithosphere structure of the East European Craton based on 660 km-long, SW-NE-directed seismic profile SHIELD’21 across Ukraine from the Carpathians to the Dnieper-Donets Basin’.

In turn, Rafał Sikora (PhD), together with a team of geologists and archaeologists from PGI-NRI, the Mineral and Energy Economy Research Institute of the Polish Academy of Sciences (IGSMiE PAN), Jagiellonian University, Wrocław University and the Mongolian Academy of Sciences, presented a poster titled ‘The tectonic and geomorphological conditions of small lakes development at the Arts Bogd massif (Govi Altai Range, Mongolia). ‘Tectonic and geomorphological conditions of small lakes development at the southern margin of the Arts Bogd massif (Govi Altai Range, Mongolia)’.

At the Háje outcrop, the geological framework of the region was presented by Ondrej Lexa from IPSG (photo by R. Sikora)

In Okunov, mylonites of the Eger crystalline complex were presented by Prokop Zavada from the Institute of Geophysics, CAS (photo by R. Sikora)

Conference materials including abstracts of speeches and poster presentations can be found on the event website: https://echelon.natur.cuni.cz/ceteg/conference-proceedings

Participants of the post-conference field trip at the Komorní Hůrka site (photo by A. Kowalski)

SOOS National Nature Reserve with mofettes related to neotectonic activity (photo by A. Kowalski)

Text: Aleksander Kowalski, Rafał Sikora