ALBERT

Description: The Večerná-Čárka cave system is the longest underground site of the Kuchyňa-Orešany Karst (Malé Karpaty Mountains, western Slovakia). Although its length is only 58 m, it is a site of remarkable interest in terms of speleogenesis that was strongly controlled by tectonic structure of the Middle Triassic limestone (Fatricum Unit). Morphologically, the studied cave system represents a branched cave, formed by linear, and in some places intersecting passages. Their direction is strongly linked with two systems of steep parallel and crossing tectonic failures of S-N and NW-SE direction. Phreatic morphologies of passages show that the cave system originated by dissolution of limestone along these tectonic discontinuities, in several places the cave passages were enlarged by the destruction of parallel rock partitions. Probably, waters of deeper circulation ascended along steep tectonic fractures. Since these waters were relatively saturated, limestone mostly dissolved in the zone of mixing with seeping rainwater. A dense network of steep parallel and intersecting tectonic fractures allowed to diffuse groundwater circulation without much concentration of water flow into one or more main conduits. The absence of water table notches, ceiling cupolas as well as blind oval chimneys indicate that the caves formed below or just below the former piezometric surface of groundwater and without its significant oscillations, e.g. in the shallow phreatic zone. The estimated Pliocene (or late Pliocene?) age of the cave system (lying at an altitude of 413 – 419 m) is determined based on its location above the recent hydrographic network (60 m above the floor of the valley) and by the remains of the Plio-Pleistocene planation surface located at 250 – 350 m a.s.l. in the adjacent part of the Malé Karpaty Mountains.

Description: We would like to announce that the latest issue of the Acta Geologica Slovaca Journal (Volume 12, Issue 1) has already been released at 30th June 2020.

Description: The Plavecký Karst is located in the northern part of the Malé Karpaty Mts. and is exclusively linked to a diverse type of Triassic carbonates of the Hronic Unit, which forms the complex higher nappe system of the Central Western Carpathians. The Plavecký Karst has well-developed underground and surface karstic forms; however, the most typical landforms are dolines. The origin of the dolines in the investigated area is influenced by lithological, tectonic, topographic, and morphostructural predisposition, and they were formed by corrosion, collapses, suffusion, and subsidence processes. In the study area, altogether, 83 dolines and 8 very shallow karstic depressions with muddy bottoms were documented and investigated. Many of them are concentrated in the Biele Hory geomorphological part, as well as the central part of the study area with suitable conditions for doline formation. The dolines are less frequent in the Brezovské Karpaty Mts. and Bukovská Brázda Furrow, where the Plavecký Karst partially extends. Significant dolines were not concentrated directly in the valley bottoms, nor on the karst plateau; however, the dolines follow important lithological boundaries. Most importantly, there are boundaries between predominantly shallow water carbonates of the Middle to Upper Triassic formations and siliciclastic rocks of the Permian to the Lower Triassic in age. In addition to this predisposition, the dolines also follow important lithological boundaries between different types of carbonate rocks, such as boundaries among open marine and shallow water carbonate formations. Furthermore, the dolines have a positive spatial correlation with the faults, having displaced the carbonate formations of the Hronic Unit.

Description: In this study, a new evidence of Neogastropods of the family Costellariidae MacDonald, 1860 from the Miocene of Central Paratethys is presented. The finds of fossil shells of the genus Röding, 1798 derives from the middle Miocene (Serravallian) marine deposits from the eastern margin of the Vienna Basin (Western Carpathians, Slovakia), which belongs to the north-west Central Paratethys realm. The studied gastropods were discovered at the locality Rohožník – Konopiská, in the basinal pelitic facies and organodetritic corallinacean marls of the Studienka Formation of late Badenian age ( Biozone). The material studied here includes two new species: sp. nov. and sp. nov. The affinity and comparison of both species with other similar costellariids from the Neogene of European Eastern Atlantic, Proto-Mediterranean and Paratethyan regions are discussed. From a paleoecological point of view, the results suggest that was adapted to a moderately deep, circalittoral environment with occasional worsening of the paleoecological conditions (low bottom water oxygenation), whereas species preferred a shallow-water infralittoral environment.

Description: Only two small pieces of an ancient adobe from an important archeological site near Lima were available for a laboratory research, making the engineering geological soil classification challenging. An experienced engineering geologist is able to assess the most important physical properties of the soil if it is properly classified according to STN EN 72 1001: 2011. However, less than 100 g of the material are insufficient for standard classification tests common in Slovakia. How to carry out the engineering classification of such a small sample? The answer to this question is the main goal of this study. Searching for an alternative, a SEDIGRAPH was used instead of the Casagrande hydrometer method for the grainsize analysis, and water adsorption by the Enslin - Neff method gave input data for both the liquid limit and plasticity index calculations according to Dieng (2006). This allowed the engineering geological classification of the material as a clayey sand, class S4, symbol SC (STN 72 1001:2011). Additional mineralogical analyses confirmed the low content of clay minerals and explained the low plasticity also due to the low amount of the expandable vermiculite in the bulk sample. Consequently, several conclusions can be made about other physical properties of that adobe based on general experience with the soils from the class S4. To take advantage of the available test results, an approximate sustainability assessment of the adobe became the secondary goal of the case-study. The low content of cohesive particles makes the adobe quite brittle, loadsensitive, but minimizes destructive volume changes when saturated with water. The related higher hydraulic conductivity and erodibility, higher than in a typical adobe with high content of fines, are a matter of concerns due to the specific local climate with occasional heavy rains. The less known laboratory methods applied in this case-study are a good alternative if the size of the soil sample is too small for standard classification tests (objects protected by law etc.). This is the most important outcome, because a proper engineering geological classification can tell a lot about the physical properties of the soil, as illustrated in this case-study.

Description: In this study, a new evidence of Neogastropods of the family Costellariidae MacDonald, 1860 from the Miocene of Central Paratethys is presented. The finds of fossil shells of the genus Röding, 1798 derives from the middle Miocene (Serravallian) marine deposits from the eastern margin of the Vienna Basin (Western Carpathians, Slovakia), which belongs to the north-west Central Paratethys realm. The studied gastropods were discovered at the locality Rohožník – Konopiská, in the basinal pelitic facies and organodetritic corallinacean marls of the Studienka Formation of late Badenian age ( Biozone). The material studied here includes two new species: sp. nov. and sp. nov. The affinity and comparison of both species with other similar costellariids from the Neogene of European Eastern Atlantic, Proto-Mediterranean and Paratethyan regions are discussed. From a paleoecological point of view, the results suggest that was adapted to a moderately deep, circalittoral environment with occasional worsening of the paleoecological conditions (low bottom water oxygenation), whereas species preferred a shallow-water infralittoral environment.

Description: The Quaternary assemblage of small mammals from Ovčiarsko (Northern Slovakia) is documented and described here for the first time and consists of the following faunal elements: , , cf. , , cf. , , , , and . The fossil leftovers of each taxa represent mostly food remains from birds of prey. Based on the faunal characteristics and comparison with other sites from Central Europe, especially from Slovakia, the biostratigraphic age of the fossiliferous horizon represents the Late Vistulian Pleniglacial. Paleoecologically, the fossil small mammal assemblage from Ovčiarsko indicates a steppe environment with occasional forested areas and a water body nearby.

Description: The area of the city of Brno was limited by natural conditions and from the 12th century also by human activity. The main geological structure here is north part of the Nesvačilka Graben in the surface area filled with Neogene clays of the Late Burdigalian and Langhian age. Neogene clays are fine-grained soils whose internal structure fundamentally affects their mechanical properties. These clays are significantly anisotropic, frost sensitive and susceptible to volume changes (shrinkage, swelling). In the surface parts they weather, crush and are prone to sliding. They are risky from the aspect of slope stability problems and when being exposed in construction pits. The surface of the Neogene clays on the raised blocks is located close to the surface and is mainly covered by anthropogenic fillings. Above the tectonically downslipped blocks, the surface of Neogene clays is usually below 10–15 m Quaternary sediments. At the areas of the elevated blocks and along the west edge of the Nesvačilka Graben, the clays crop out directly onto the surface or are covered by a thin layer of aeolian sediments. Human activity was proved mainly by the creation of numerous open pits for building materials, which were subsequently built up by continuous development. Many old built-up quarries are endangered until today by rockfalls. In the historical part of the city, the stability conditions were aggravated by a number of historical cellar systems and deposits up to 10 meters thick, which consist of the anthropogenic dump. The susceptibility to slope instabilities was modelled by a multivariate statistical method on the map sheet 1:25 000 Brno-sever 24-324, with an area of 115.45 km. The method combines input parameters (geology, land use, altitude, slope angle, aspect, relief curvature, presence of tectonic lines) and compares them with the occurrence of slope instabilities in the particular area. In addition, a layer of Neogene clays was used here, since this geological unit plays an important role in the Brno agglomeration.

Description: Nowadays, heat transport in an aquifer is a widely discussed topic. Groundwater temperature rise is the result of a variety of factors and a common phenomenon, especially in larger cities. Heating and cooling in buildings, infrastructure, even paved surfaces can accumulate solar energy and further emit heat into the subsurface, leading to an increase in temperature. The research of the issue of increased groundwater temperature is related to the potential use of heat as an energy source. Numerical modelling, which is based on the solution of partial differential equations, can be used to evaluate the given phenomenon. The Aupark shopping centre in Bratislava was selected for the model area, where the temperature in hydrogeological boreholes is monitored, and at the same time, multilevel monitoring of the rock environment temperature takes place. The evaluation of monitoring data was realised through the Groundwater Vistas 7 programme, where a hydraulic and transport model was compiled using MODFLOW and MT3DMS. The MT3DMS code is intended for the transport of dissolved substances; however, with the appropriate substitution of input parameters, it is also applicable for the transport of heat. The sensitivity of the input data and calibration of the model was evaluated through the PEST programme, where the goal was to achieve the highest possible correlation between the measured and modelled results. By analyzing the data from monitoring, it was possible to quantify the areal and depth impact of the Aupark shopping centre. Last but not least, the energy input from Aupark to the rock environment was determined, and ranges from 0.1 W·m at a distance of 100 m to 12 W·m immediately next to the building.

Description: Accessory monazite-(Ce), -(La), -(Nd), cheralite (monazite-group minerals, MGM) and xenotime-(Y) are rare magmatic accessory minerals in subsolvus A-type granites and related aplite and pegmatite dykes in the Velence Hills, Transdanubian Unit, Hungary. The MGM and xenotime-(Y) form ≤ 200 μm euhedral to subhedral crystals in association with allanite-(Ce), zircon, fluorapatite, and ilmenite. Investigated MGM shows dominant cheralite (Ca + Th ––––〉 2REE) and subordinate huttonite (REE + P5 ––––〉 Th + Si) substitution with greater extent in pegmatite and aplite than in the host granite. Monazite in-situ Th–U–total Pb electron-microprobe dating of the Velence granite determined 289 ± 3 Ma age (MSWD = 3.22, n = 62) and this confirmed post-Variscan, Permian, (Cisuralian) magmatic crystallization. In addition, xenotime-(Y) from the same rock samples gave 266 ± 5.2 Ma age (MSWD = 1.4, n = 44), and this corresponds to Permian (Guadalupian) post-magmatic (subsolidus) recrystallization of xenotime-(Y) during a younger event and subsequent overprint of the parental granitic rocks. Although monazite-(Ce) remains relatively unaffected, fluid-induced breakdown of xenotime-(Y) produced numerous tiny thorite and cheralite inclusions in the altered xenotime-(Y) domains which can be formed by coupled dissolution reprecipitation reactions between orthomagmatic xenotime-(Y) and younger late to post-magmatic granitic fluids.

Description: We would like to announce that the latest issue of the Acta Geologica Slovaca Journal (Volume 12, Issue 1) has already been released at 30th June 2020.

Description: We would like to announce that the latest issue of the Acta Geologica Slovaca Journal (Volume 15, Issue 1) has already been released at 30th June 2023.

Description: The Jaskyňa Dezidera Horváta Cave is located in the inner city of the town of Nitra, south of the Kalvária Hill (227.3 m asl.). The Jaskyňa Dezidera Horváta Cave has thus become the longest cave of the karst areas in the Tribeč Mts. It currently reaches a length of 610 m, with a denivelization of 45 m. Several geological, geomorphological, and geochemical methods have been used to clarify the genesis of the cave. The cave evolved in the Jurassic limestones belonging to the Tatric Unit. NW–SE, W–E, and NNE–SSW discontinuities were significant to the genesis of the cave. The raised air and water temperatures in the cave (12.5–13.5°C) and the occurrence of various, not-so-common speleothem types, such as helictites, corraloids, and calcite crystals make this cave unique within the Western Carpathians. The morphology of the cave spaces, together with the increased temperature of the water and cave air, indicates that it could be a hypogenic cave, and even more specifically, a hypogenic-hybrid in origin. During its speleogenesis, the mixing corrosion by mixing of atmospheric waters and groundwater played an important