University of Silesia in Katowice

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Mysteries of Alpine Caves – Evidence of Tectonic Activity

Instrumental studies indicate that the northern part of the Eastern Alps exhibits minimal tectonic activity today, with deformation rates at the limit of detectability. The geological record also shows little evidence on the surface, as erosion outpaces deformation. However, in caves isolated from erosion, even centimeter-scale deformations can be preserved. The 110 km long Königssee–Lammertal–Traunsee...

Categories: enNews

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Scientific meeting of Institute of Earth Sciences

We cordially invite all staff and students to the scientific meeting featuring a lecture titled “Uplift and Erosion of the High Andes over Multiple Timescales”. The talk will be delivered by Prof. Gregory Hoke from Syracuse University, NY, USA. Date: March 12, 2025, time: 1:00 PM Room: 001

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Research by Dr. Zuzanna Wawrzyniak and Prof. Dr. Hab. Leszek Marynowski revealed how dinosaurs became the dominant animals on Earth

In an article published in the journal “Nature”, a team of scientists from Poland and Sweden analyzed over 500 coprolites and other fossils containing food remnants to reconstruct trophic networks from approximately 200 million years ago. The research focused on the Polish Basin, encompassing areas of Silesia and the Holly Cross Mountains. Among the authors...

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Geochemical markers in the detection and identification of fossil fuels in waste material from an illegal landfill fire

Geochemical markers are a valuable tool in identifying of coal- and oil-derived con-tamination in fires at illegal landfills. They can survive combustion with their distributions mostly unchanged, allowing them to be used to identify the source of pollutants and charac-terize any fossil fuels present in the combusted material. The tested samples of burnt solid waste...

Categories: enNews

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Asteroid strikes and the great extinctions – were dinosaurs just victims of impacts?

Links between asteroid impacts and mass extinctions in the Phanerozoic are the subject of a comprehensive review article by Grzegorz Racki and Christian Koeberl (University of Vienna) that has just been published in the prestigious Elsevier journal “Earth-Science Reviews”. There has been no confirmation of impact as the cause of the Big Five mass extinctions,...

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How does tourist development influence traditional mountain landscapes? A case study from the Western Beskids, Poland

In many mountain regions, the reforestation of mid-forest glades, the development of settlements, and tourism lead to the disappearance of traditional landscapes, which have defined the individual areas for many years. On the other hand, tourism is often seen as a panacea for preserving traditional landscapes. Dr Anna Żemła-Siesicka and Dr Michał Sobala are currently...

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Surges of Hansbreen – a fascinating history of glacier dynamics in Svalbard

Glacier surge is a rapid increase in the glacier velocity by 10 – 1000 times compared to “normal” values. Such an event leads to the displacement of a large volume of ice from the upper to the lower part of the glacier and usually to the advance of the glacier front on a large scale....

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How to obtain free, high-resolution digital elevation models (DEMs)?

To obtain high-resolution digital elevation models, the so-called DEMs, all you need is a camera, simple measurements and free software (fig. 1). Thanks to the use of the Structure from Motion photogrammetric technique, a very accurate model can be obtained with a raster field size of only 5 cm × 5 cm. Dr Joanna Szafraniec...

Categories: enNews