Person | FoS CU

Institute of Geology and Paleontology

+420 221 95 1475

jiri.zak@natur.cuni.cz

Albertov 6, 1NP, room P16D

Continental Tectonics Group

Scientific Council of the Geology Section

jiri.zak@natur.cuni.cz

Scientific Council

jiri.zak@natur.cuni.cz

CV & Professional Career

1976 Born in Plzeň (Pilsen), the Capital of Beer

1997 Bc. in Geological Sciences, Charles University

1998/1999 Undergraduate fellowship (Erasmus), Royal School of Mines, Imperial College, London, UK

2000 Graduated from Charles University in Petrology and Structural Geology

Since 2002 Appointed at the Institute of Geology and Paleontology, Charles University

2004 Ph.D. in Geological Sciences, Charles University

2004/2011 Research Geologist (part time), Czech Geological Survey

2010 Associate Professor of Geology, Charles University

2010/2018 Leader of the Laboratory of Rock Magnetism, Charles University

Since 2014 Leader of the Continental Tectonics Group, Charles University

Since 2015 Full Professor of Geology, Charles University

2016/2020 Chair of the Institute of Geology and Paleontology, Charles University

2020/2024 Vice Dean for Geology, Charles University

2025 Currently Fulbright Visiting Scholar at the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Minnesota Twin Cities, USA

Awards

2006 Faculty of Science Dean Award for research and teaching excellence

2010 Radek Melka Prize for the best paper, Central European Tectonic Studies Group

2010 Giant Salamander Outstanding Teacher Award

2021, 2023 Radim Kettner Award for the best paper

Research Interests

(1) Physical geology, plate tectonics, Precambrian Earth

(2) Tectonics of active continental margins and collisional orogens

(3) Detrital zircon geochronology and terrane provenance

(4) Magmatic processes, volcano-plutonic link, interactions between magmatism and tectonic deformation

(5) Rock magnetism and its tectonic applications

Field Projects

Since 1998 Various research projects in the Bohemian Massif, Alps, Carpathians, Balkan Peninsula, Patagonia, Antarctica, North American Cordillera (California, Oregon), and Canada (Québec, Manitoba)

Publications

GoogleScholar | ORCID | ResearcherID | ScopusID | ResearchGate

Major Grants

2025/2027 Archean supercontinents: myth or reality? (co-Principal Investigator, Czech Science Foundation, No. 25-16420S)

2023/2025 Detrital zircon geochronology as a tool for interpreting terrane provenance (Principal Investigator, Czech Science Foundation, No. 23-06708S)

2020/2023 Cherts and carbonates as geochemical proxies of paleoenvironmental conditions and Ocean Plate Stratigraphy (co-Principal Investigator, Czech Science Foundation, No. 20-13644S)

2019/2021 Late Archean granites: markers of modern-style plate tectonics? (Principal Investigator, Czech Science Foundation, No. 19-08066S)

2017/2019 Black shale formations as geochemical markers of paleoenvironmental changes and tectonic setting along active continental margins (co-Principal Investigator, Czech Science Foundation, No. 17-15700S)

2016/2018 Sedimentary record and mechanics of collapse of orogenic belts (Principal Investigator, Czech Science Foundation, No. 16-11500S)

2012/2014 Calderas as indicators of thermal-mechanical evolution of subvolcanic magma chambers (Principal Investigator, Czech Science Foundation, No. P210/12/1385)

2011/2013 The origin of compositional and textural zoning in shallow-level granitoid plutons: a quantitative approach (Principal Investigator, Czech Science Foundation, No. P210/11/1168)

2007/2009 Relationship between faults and plutons: implications for interactions between tectonic and magmatic processes in magmatic arcs and orogenic belts (Postdoctoral Project, Czech Science Foundation, No. 205/07/P226)

2004/2006 Processes along internal boundaries in magma chambers and their significance for interpreting rheology, fabric formation and emplacement mechanisms (Junior Project, Grant Agency of the Czech Academy of Sciences, No. KJB3111403)