Institute of Earth and Environmental Sciences

Head of the department

prof. dr hab. Wojciech Zgłobicki

Staff

• dr Piotr Bartmiński
• dr hab. Jacek Chodorowski, prof. UMCS
• prof. dr hab. Ryszard Dębicki, prof. em.
• dr Grzegorz Gajek
• dr hab. Leszek Gawrysiak, prof. UMCS
• dr inż. Miłosz Huber
• prof. dr hab. Waldemar Kociuba
• dr hab. Renata Kołodyńska-Gawrysiak, prof. UMCS
• prof. dr hab. Jerzy Nawrocki
• dr hab. Andrzej Plak, prof. UMCS
• prof. dr Jean Poesen
• dr Marcin Siłuch
• dr Małgorzata Telecka

Current research topics

• Assessment of anthropogenic transformation and pollution of the upper lithospheric layers (soils, sediments)
• Application of remote sensing techniques in environmental studies
• Climatic and environmental changes recorded in the palaeomagnetic record
• Assessment of the abiotic environmental potential of the area for geotourism development
• Changes in geomorphological systems and their relationships with other environmental components in loess areas

History

The Department of Geology, Soil Science and Geoinformation was established on 1 October 2019 as a result of structural changes at Maria Curie-Skłodowska University (UMCS). It was formed through the merger of the Department of Geology and Soil Science with the Geoinformation Laboratory. The department itself was created in 2018 by combining the Department of Geology and Lithosphere Protection with the Department of Soil Science and Soil Protection. The first head of the Department was prof. dr hab. Ryszard Dębicki. Since 1 October 2020, it has been headed by dr hab. Wojciech Zgłobicki, prof. UMCS.

The Department of Geology was originally established within the Faculty of Natural Sciences at UMCS on 11 January 1946. Its founder and first head was Dr Konrad Konior. In the 1951/1952 academic year, the University underwent reorganisation, and a Unit of Departments of Geography and Geology was formed. Its head – and simultaneously the curator of the Department of Geology – was Professor Adam Malicki. From 1 January 1954, the Department was led by Associate Professor Czesław Pachucki. Following Professor Pachucki’s death in 1966, the head of the Department – reorganised in 1970 into the Department of Geology within the new structure of the Institute of Earth Sciences at UMCS – became Associate Professor Jan Morawski. In 1991, Professor Marian Harasimiuk was appointed head of the Department, and at the same time, the Geological Map Laboratory was incorporated into the unit. In 2005, the Department was renamed the Department of Geology and Lithosphere Protection. From 2011, the Department was headed by Professor Wojciech Zgłobicki.

The Geographic Information Systems Laboratory was established on 1 September 2005 as part of the Institute of Earth Sciences. It operated under this name until September 2011. In October 2011, under the name Geoinformation Laboratory, it became part of the newly created Faculty of Earth Sciences and Spatial Management. In September 2019, the Laboratory was dissolved, and its staff were transferred to three units within the Faculty: the Department of Geology, Soil Science and Geoinformation, the Department of Hydrology and Meteorology, and the Department of Geomatics and Cartography. The Laboratory was led throughout its existence by Dr Leszek Gawrysiak.

The Department of Soil Science was established (initially as a Chair) on 1 September 1955, thanks to the initiative and efforts of Professor Bohdan Dobrzański, who served as its first head from 1955 to 1964. It was the first Chair of Soil Science in Poland created specifically to support the education of geography students. The next head of the Department (from 1970, functioning as a Unit) was Professor Stanisław Uziak, who held the position from 1965 to 1996. From 1996 to 2018, the Department of Soil Science (renamed in 2011 as the Department of Soil Science and Soil Protection) was headed by Professor Ryszard Dębicki, a former researcher at the Institute of Agrophysics of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Lublin, named after B. Dobrzański. In 2018–2019, Professor Dębicki also headed the Department of Geology and Soil Science, created through the merger of the Department of Geology and Lithosphere Protection and the Department of Soil Science and Soil Protection.