9th Faculty of Science PhD Student Symposium
At this year’s Faculty of Science PhD Student Symposium, Petra held an invited lecture entitled: „Speleothems: time capsules of Earth’s climate history“. In her talk, she discussed how speleothems preserve information on past climate changes, with a particular focus on shifts that occurred duirng the Quaternary period. She also presented the recent research from Nova Grgosova Cave, highlighting the exciting new opportunities it offers for advancing our understanding of past climate change in this region and beyond.
EGU 2025
The EGU General Assembly 2025 was held in Vienna from April 27th to May 2nd and welcomed around 20 000 participants from around the globe. This year Iva actively contributed to this great event by representing the work of UNLOCK-CAVE project team members and her PhD research in an oral presentation entitled: „Multi-proxy speleothem record from continetal Croatia as an archive of Late Holocene palaeoclimate variability“ (https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu25-15801).
4th International Radiocarbon in the Environment Conference
Our team member, Andreja Sironić, took part in the 4th International Radiocarbon in the Environment Conference, held in Lecce from September 22nd to September 27th. She presented a poster titled: „Assessing the potential of dead carbon fraction as a palaeoclimate proxy in a speleothem from Nova Grgosova cave (Croatia)“.
Scientific School on the Environment at the Ruđer Bošković Institute
The 5th Scientific School on the Environment was held at the Ruđer Bošković Institute from November 25th to November 27th 2024. The topic of this year’s school was „From Climate Change to the Application of AI in Environmental Research“. The program featured a series of lectures from various fields of natural sciences, with the majority of active participants being PhD students whose research focuses on environmental issues. The main goal of this event was to highlight the importance of an interdisciplinary approach in environmental research and to encourage collaboration among scientists from various disciplines.
As part of the program, Petra delivered an invited lecture entitled: „Climate in the Geological Past: what was it like and how do we know it?“. In her talk, she emphasized the significance of understanding natural climate variability throughout the geological past as a foundation for comperhending future climate change. Continuing on this topic, Iva held a lecture with the title: „Reconstructing Late Holocene climate using stable isotope records of a stalagmite from Nova Grgosova Cave (central Croatia)“.
7th Regional Scientific Meeting on Quaternary Geology
In November of 2024, the Croatian National INQUA Commitee, in collaboration with Institute for Quaternary Palaeontology and Geology (Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts) and the Slovenian National INQUA Commitee, organized the 7th Regional Scientific Meeting on Quaternary Geology in Zagreb. This year’s conference focused on karst research and marked the 100th anniversary of the birth of Mirko Malez – a renowned Croatian geologist, palaeontologist and speleologist, whose work and achievments have left an indelible impact on both Croatian and international science.
The scientific program featured lectures spanning a range of disciplines related to Quaternary geology, including karst research, paleontology, tectonics, as well as palaeoclimatology. Among the speakers, Iva presented the first results of her ongoing PhD research entitled: „Late Holocene climate recontructions using stable isotope records of a stalagmite from Nova Grgosova Cave (central Croatia)“. On the second day, following the lectures, participants took part in field excursions to Veternica Cave, guided by Andrej Stroj, Damir Lacković and Jandranka Mauch Lenardić, and to the Nova Grgosova Cave, led by Petra Bajo, Iva Palatinuš, Andrej Stroj and Tomislav Kurečić.
This conference brought together a diverse group of experts from various research fields, highlighting the importance of a multidisciplinary approach in understanding the Quaternary period – an essential step in anticipating and responding to future climate change.
31st International Karstological School in Postojna
The 31st International Karstological School in Postojna was held from June 17th to June 21st . We participated with two poster presentations entitled: „Seasonality in cave air and drip water properties – implications for speleothem palaeoclimate studies, Nova Grgosova cave (Croatia)“ and „Chronology building using fluorescence in Late Holocene stalagmite from Nova Grgosova cave, NW Croatia“. The school was a great opportunity to exchange ideas with fellow colleagues from Croatia and abroad.
8th Faculty of Science PhD Student Symposium
The 8th Faculty of Science PhD Student Symposium was held in Zagreb at the Faculty of Science, from April 26th to April 27th. As a 1st year PhD student, Iva held a talk entitled: „Identifying main drivers of oxygen isotope variability in precipitation as a prerequisite for speleothem-based palaeoclimate investigations“. Apart from learning about different research fields, this event was a great opportunity to share PhD journey experiences with other more or less experienced fellow students.
Confocal imaging at University College London
In March 2024 Iva visited University College London to perform confocal imaging of stalagmite thin sections. During her three-day stay in London, she learned about the principles of confocal laser scanning microscopy and its potential in extracting palaeoclimate and palaeoenvironmental data when performed on speleothem samples. She went back home with a large amount of data which will help her to resolve the chronology of the stalagmite NG2 in great detail.
Project team meeting
On the 8th of March, the UNLOCK-CAVE team meeting was held at the Croatian Geological Survey. The team meeting was organised following the recipient of the first-year progress report. The team members went through the activities and results collected throughout the first year and discussed future plans and objectives. Following the formal part of the meeting, the team members visited Nova Grgosova Cave and finished the day with lunch in the town of Samobor.
UNLOCK-CAVE on National Television
We are pleased to have been invited to present the UNLOCK-CAVE project on one of the best-known Croatian Radiotelevision science shows, Prometej!
The episode is available on the following link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AsmrlIIHnVE&list=PLuEWODEWd3kOY-AhAL7LLe3crhWNlj4eS&index=3 (0:47-5:26 min)
Geoscience Hour at the Croatian Geological Survey
In December 2023, Iva presented the topic of her PhD research at the Geoscience Hour organized by the Croatian Geological Survey (HGI-CGS). In her online presentation entitled: „Late Holocene paleoenvironmental investigations using speleothems from Nova Grgosova cave“, she talked about the research questions and aims of her PhD research at the Nova Grgosova cave and showed some preliminary results.
Participation in the Croatian speleologists meeting
The Croatian speleologists meeting was held in Čakovec from November 24-26, 2023. Our team member Iva, also a member of the Speleological Club Ozren Lukić, gave a talk about the advantages and significance of utilizing speleothems in palaeoclimate research, sharing examples of speleothem research practices from Nova Grgosova cave.
Completing the speleothem stable isotope record!
After a busy summer full of conferences and summer school, it was time to shift back to lab work. Again, in Innsbruck, at the Quaternary research group facilities. During her two-week visit, Iva completed microsampling of the NG2 stalagmite started in May. She sampled and analysed a total of 1100 samples! Although it was a lot of hard work, there was still enough time to bond with fellow colleagues at the official Wednesday research group meetings and the not-so-official Friday geology students gatherings.
Participation in the 7th Croatian Geological Congress in Poreč, Istria
We are pleased to have been able to present our work at the 7th Croatian Geological Congress, held in Poreč, Istria, October 2-4. Iva participated with a poster presentation entitled: „Exploring the oxygen isotope variability in precipitation as a precondition for palaeoclimate interpretations“ in which she presented preliminary results of the precipitation monitoring program currently being conducted at the Nova Grgosova cave site.
Summer School on Speleothem Science in Brazil: a unique training experience
for our PhD student Iva
After a longer break due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the speleothem science community members were finally gathered again at the fifth, long awaited, Summer School on Speleothem Science (S4). The event exceeded all our expectations thanks to the amazing organizing committee who managed to host the event in São Paulo, Brazil and despite the challenging location, to bring together students and experts from all around the world. The S4 event was held from the 6th of August to the 13th of August and it took place at two different locations – the city of São Paulo and PETAR state park. For those not familiar with the S4, it is a student-led training school aimed for both PhD students and early career researchers studying in the field of speleothem science…
Plenary lecture at the 36th International Meeting of Sedimentology
The project leader Dr.sc. Petra Bajo gave a plenary lecture at the 36th International Meeting of Sedimentology, held June 12-16 in Dubrovnik. In her presentation entitled Past climate changes- a view from the karst underground, Petra presented some examples of the use of speleothems in palaeoclimate research, including the study conducted as part of the UNLOCK-CAVE project.
Our PhD student Iva Palatinuš visits Innsbruck Quaternary Research Group
In May 2023, our PhD student Iva visited the Institute of Geology at the University of Innsbruck to perform stable isotope analyses on a stalagmite sample from Nova Grgosova cave. Since there is no facility for stable isotope analyses of carbonate samples in Croatia, the analyses were conducted in the premises of the Innsbruck Quaternary Research Group led by professor Christoph Spötl. During her stay, Iva sampled and analysed a total of 400 powder samples. Besides laboratory work, Iva had the opportunity to meet the members of the Quaternary Research Group and join them in their weekly meeting. The acquired knowledge, results and gained experience will certainly be of great help for her further research within the UNLOCK-CAVE project and beyond.
