One of Hungary's geological and environmental treasures is nestled in the heart of the Great Hungarian Plain. The catchment basin of Lake Kolon was subjected to detailed environmental historical studies starting in 2005. Undisturbed cores taken along transects of the basin were subjected to detailed sedimentological, paleoecological, and geochemical studies. To establish a reliable timeframe of the lacustrine and marshland sedimentary sequence identified, 22 samples were analyzed by accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) in the radiocarbon laboratories of Poznań and Tucson. With the new results in hand, we had the opportunity to elucidate the geological evolution of the area for the past 25,000 yr. This sequence is highly beneficial, as it is probably the most well-dated profile of the Quaternary from the area studied. The new absolute dates enabled the comparison of local geological evolution of the studied area with those of global climatic changes. As seen from our findings, the geological evolution of the catchment basin was congruent with major climatic events during the Pleistocene and the entire Holocene. However, a very peculiar trajectory was identified for the terminal part of the Pleistocene and the opening of the Holocene regarding the evolution of the landscape, the vegetation, and the fauna of this part of the Great Hungarian Plain.

Artificial levees along alluvial rivers are major components of flood-risk mitigation. This is especially true in the case of Hungary, where more than one-third of the country is threatened by floods and protected by an over 4200-km-long levee system. Most of such levees were built in the nineteenth century. Since then, several natural and anthropogenic processes, such as compaction and erosion, might have contributed to these earth structures' slow but steady deformation. Meanwhile, as relevant construction works were scarcely documented, the structure and composition of artificial levees are not well known. Therefore, the present analysis mapped structural differences, possible compositional deficiencies, and sections where elevation decrease is significant along a 40-km section of the Lower Tisza River. Investigations were conducted using real-time kinematic GPS and ground-penetrating radar (GPR). Onsite data acquisition was complemented with an analysis using a Persistent Scatterer Synthetic Aperture Radar to assess general surface deformation. GPR profiles showed several anomalies, including structural and compositional discontinuities and local features. The GPR penetration depth varied between 3 and 4 m. According to height measurements, the mean elevation of the levee crown decreased by 8 cm in 40 years. However, the elevation decrease reached up to 30 cm at some locations. Sections affected by structural anomalies, compositional changes, and increased surface subsidence are especially sensitive to floods when measurement results are compared with flood phenomena archives.

The Ecse-halom is a burial mound (kurgan) in the Hortobágy region of Hungary. Built in the Late Copper Age/Early Bronze Age by nomadic people from the east, it now stands on the border between two modern settlements. A road of medieval origin runs along this border and cuts deeply into the body of the mound. The southern half of the mound was plowed and used as a rice field, and later a military observation tower was built on top of it. Despite this disturbance, the surface of the mound is in decent condition and provides a home for regionally significant, species-rich loess steppe vegetation. The mound comprises two construction layers as indicated by magnetic susceptibility and thin-section micro-morphological analysis. Examination of organic compounds and carbonate content at various levels showed different values, which suggest a variety of natural and anthropogenic stratigraphic layers. Mid-sized siltstone fraction is dominant in the section. The layers originate from the immediate vicinity of the mound, but have different characteristics than present-day soils. These mounds contain a valuable record of cultural and environmental conditions occurring at the time of their construction, and also serve as a refuge for ancient loess vegetation; therefore their conservation is highly recommended.

Levees are earth structures constructed along alluvial rivers and are considered to be one of the essential components of flood risk and natural hazard reduction. The preservation of their condition would require orderly monitoring. In Hungary, an over 4200 km long levee system was constructed from the 19th century on. Since then, many natural and anthropogenic processes, such as compaction, erosion, subsidence etc., could contribute to the slow but steady deformation of these structures. In the meantime , due to the lack of documentation, their structure and internal composition are still unclear in many sections. The present study uses different geophysical techniques to validate their efficiency in detecting the structure, composition and potential defects along a 3.6 km levee section of the Lower Tisza River, affected significantly by seepage and piping phenomena during floods. Measurements were made using Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR), Electrical Resistivity Tomography (ERT) and drillings. Information obtained by the different techniques was cross-checked and combined. This way, the potential of the applied survey strategy could be demonstrated, and the selected levee section could be assessed in terms of its structure and composition. Consequently, the major reasons for frequently occurring adverse flood phenomena at the site could be revealed. The survey approach outlined in the present paper can be applied extensively along lowland levee systems in the region and elsewhere.

The loess/paleosol sequence near the village of Madaras is an outstanding record of Late Quaternary paleoenvironmental and paleoclimatic changes in Hungary and the entire Carpathian Basin. The present study highlights the results of preliminary micromorphological investigations implemented on 24 samples taken from two pre-selected pedogenized horizons of the sequence. Our work yielded interesting results regarding the evolutionary history and modes of pedogenesis in the studied section.