For all fieldtrips, departure on Day 1 is at 8:30am from the Prague Congress Centre. For pre-conference fieldtrips, return on Day 3 is at 3:00pm, ending at the Prague Congress Centre on time for registration and the Ice Breaker. For post-conference fieldtrips, return on Day 3 is at 3:00pm (Fieldtrip B) or 6:00pm (Fieldtrip D), ending at the airport, on time for same-day departures to all major destinations.
The cost includes two nights in 3-star hotels, meals included (except dinner on Day 1). Entrance fees and a guide booklet also included.
In the unlikely event that any fieldtrip attracts exceptionally low numbers then the fieldtrip may be cancelled, and a full refund offered. Unfortunately, we cannot accept cancellations from delegates.
Please see the descriptions below, and the PDF files, for full details of each trip. For further questions please contact the fieldtrip leaders.
You may also be interested in the Prague 3-hour sightseeing tours.
|Pre-conference Field Trips||Dates||Fees||Info|
|Environment West: From UNESCO World Heritage to Communist Legacy (Fieldtrip A) [details]||August 12-14||300€|
|Medieval Mining: The Famous Silver Triangle (Fieldtrip C) [details]||August 12-14||300€|
Post-conference Field Trips
|Environment East: National Parks - Castles - Country Houses (Fieldtrip B) [details]||August 20-22||300€|
|Bohemian Enigmas: Granulites, Ultrapotassic Magmatites and Tectites (Fieldtrip D) [details]||August 20-22||300€|
|The Lysina Catchment Critical Zone Observatory (CZO) and Associated Study Sites (Fieldtrip E) [details]||August 20||75€|
This pre-conference field trip offers a balance between sites of scientific interest and cultural sites west of Prague.
There are five major stops at field study sites: Cervene blato peat bog, geology of the Carlsbad area, hydrogeochemical monitoring in small forested catchments, environmental damage around a Tertiary Coal Basin, and vineyards on landscaped spoil.
Five major heritage sites are also included: Cesky Krumlov castle and city, Prachatice old medieval town, Horsovsky Tyn early Gothic chapel, Kladruby monastery, and church in the city of Most.
This post-conference field trip offers a balance between sites of scientific interest and cultural sites east of Prague.
There are three major stops at field study sites: the Upa peat bogs, the famous castellated rocks of Adrspach, and a stunning ascent into Krkonose (Giant Mts.) National Park.
The major heritage sites included are: Kost castle, Turnov Museum of the Bohemian Paradise Preserve, chateau of Ratiborice, Dobrosov stronghold, Castolovice country house, and Kutna Hora silver mining district.
The famous Silver Triangle is formed by the Medieval mining districts of Kutna Hora, Jihlava and Pribram.
The fieldtrip includes processing plant and mine tailings at the village of Kank, Markovice amphibolite quarry, Kamen ultramafic lenses in Moldanubian gneisses, and the Museum of Mineral and Rocks in Pribram.
The Bohemian Massif is a large relict of the crystalline basement at the eastern extremity of the Variscan orogen in Europe.
During the field trip, we shall see a uniquely preserved sequence of magmatic and metamorphic rocks ranging from Late Devonian/Early Carboniferous subduction-related magmatism to Visean continental collision and metamorphic climax.
The second principal theme will be the petrogenesis of peculiar (ultra-) potassic syenitic to melagranitic rocks (durbachites).
The field trip offers a chance to see the museum of moldavites in Tyn nad Vltavou. To those who like industrial heritage, a visit to a mining museum in the famous base metal and uranium mining district of Pribram, will be certainly of particular appeal. Also the rich cultural heritage of southern–central Bohemia will not be neglected. Starting in Prague, a medieval gem of Central Europe, we visit the historical towns of Cesky Krumlov and Pisek.
The Lysina CZO and nearby sites are some of the most intensively researched crystaline catchments in the world, to study the impact of acid deposition and other airborne pollution on soils and streams.
The site is one of four CZOs as part of the European Commission project Soil Transformations in European Catchments (SoilTrEC, www.soiltrec.eu). Catchment- and soil profile- scale studies at the site aim to provide the essential data to develop integrated mathematical models of the Critical Zone. These models are to describe the linked functions of soil to produce crops (timber in this case), attenuate pollution loads to aquifers and streams, store carbon, provide habitat and maintain biodiversity.
Three geochemically contrasting small catchments in the Slavkov Forest (Slavkovsky les) will be visited during the scientific part o the field trip. The catchments are situated 5-7 km apart, with similar forest cover of Norway spruce (Picea abies), but underlain by contrasting silicate bedrocks. They serves as the Czech critical zone observatory. Kynzvart Chateau will also be visited.