Ore geology in Hungary as represented by publications in the Földtani Közlöny over the past 150 years

Abstract

This review has been prepared to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the first publication of the Földtani Közlöny (Bulletin of the Hungarian Geological Association) journal. The scope of the review was to review the most important results of ore geological research in the light of the relevant publications of this journal. As the borders of the country have been changed several times during the past 150 years, our areal cover is also variable from the larger historic Hungary (between 1870 and 1919) to the recent one. The timeline has been cut into several periods, in order to follow changes in the mineral policy of Hungary and economic structure: 1870-1919 (until the end of the WW1), 1919-1945 (restructuration), 1945-1993 (state planned economy), and 1993- until today (transition to market economy). Within  these periods, the different geographic locations and occurrences were grouped under the name of the major geographical/geological domains. We used the recent valid names of localities and occurrences to facilitate their location on the modern maps easier. In case of places which are now outside of the border of Hungary, the former Hungarian and the recent local names were both given. Only where it seemed to be inevitable, publications outside of Földtani Közlöny were referred. Due to the great abundance of information and the limits of the length of a journal article, only 1-2 sentences were dedicated to (even very important) published articles. We had to compromise using very restricted number of graphics. It was chosen that the change of knowledge and interpretation will be illustrated by the maps and profiles of important ore deposits from the different periods of time. We also highlighted the names of some of the outstanding professionals who were the main contributors of our science in the given period. All selections are subjective, and reflect the personal view of the authors, who represent three generations of ore geologists working/worked in Hungary.