Do forest fires do any damage to sandstone cliffs?
This is the topic studied by geologists within the partial project Changes of the Earth surface, which is a part of the research programme Dynamic planet Earth (Strategy AV21). The forest fire in the Bohemian-Saxonian Switzerland (northern Bohemia) of summer 2022 was the most extensive one in the modern history of the Czech Republic. What was the impact of this event on sandstone cliffs? This is being studied by scientists of the Institute of Geology of the Czech Academy of Sciences. To date, photographic documentation was taken and a few tens of rock samples were acquired. Other works will be dome in the coming weeks, after the temperatures rise permanently above the freezing point. The study, involving both instrumental analytical and microscopic methods, will assess the effect of the fire itself but also the subsequent effects of the winter season when water freezes in the joints and pores of cliff faces and free-lying blocks. See also information at AV21 website.