The Carpathian-Balkan Geological Association (CBGA) is a non-governmental, international scientific, non-political and non-profit-making union of geoscientists working in the Carpathian-Balkan mountains’ region and the surrounding areas.

The aim of CBGA is to promote and encourage collaborative cross-border fundamental and applied geological research, as well as training and specialization in the Carpathian-Balkan realm. This concerns virtually all fields of geosciences (including geophysics), their environmental implications and other related disciplines. In order to accomplish that aim, CBGA organizes congresses (one every four years run by one or several country members), establish Working Groups working on joint projects of specific scientific interest, stimulate and run discussions on crucial geological issues (geological processes, nomenclature, terminology, methodology etc.), and publishes various scientific materials (congress proceedings, maps, monographs etc.).

The official CBGA journals are Geologica Carpathica and Geologica Balcanica.

The Association was initially founded as "Carpathian Geological Association (CGA)" in 1922 at the XIII Session of the IGC in Brussels. The establishment of this association was the result of the personal initiatives and efforts of R. Kettner (Czechoslovakia), J. Nowak (Poland). G. Munteanu Murgoci (Romania) and V. Petkovic (Yugoslavia). The main purpose of CGA was to bring closer geologists working in the Carpathian area.

The first Congress of the Association was held in Poland in 1925 and the second and third ones in Romania and Czechoslovakia, respectively. The successful work of the Association had been interrupted a few years before the Second World War and an extended period of inactivity started. The Congresses series restarted in 1958 and since then the organization of them is uninterrupted.

After WW II, the Association, following the suggestions of Czechoslovak and Romanian geologists expressed during the XX IGC in Mexico (1956), extended its activities and new country members were involved. Bulgaria. Hungary and USSR (Ukraine) joined the "Carpathian-Balkan Geological Association" (CBGA), followed by Albania, Austria, Greece and Yugoslavia.

Congresses taken place, since CBGA establishment, are:

• I Congress (Lvov, then Poland, 1925).
• II Congress (Bucharest, Romania, 1927).
• III Congress (Prague, then Czechoslovakia, 1931).
• IV Congress (Kiev, then U.S.S.R., 1958).
• V Congress (Bucharest, Romania, 1961).
• VI Congress (Warsaw and Krakow, Poland, 1963).
• VII Congress (Sofia, Bulgaria, 1965).
• VIII Congress (Belgrade, then Yugoslavia, 1967).
• IX Congress (Budapest, Hungary, 1969).
• X Congress (Bratislava, then Czechoslovakia, 1973).
• XI Congress (Kiev, then U.S.S.R., 1977).
• XII Congress (Bucharest, Romania, 1981).
• XIII Congress (Krakow, Poland, 1985).
• XIV Congress (Sofia, Bulgaria, 1989).
• XV Congress (Athens, Greece, 1995).
• XVI Congress (Vienna, Austria, 1998).
• XVII Congress (Bratislava, Slovakia, 2002).
• XVIII Congress (Belgrade, Serbia, 2006).
• XIX Congress (Thessaloniki, Greece, 2010). Abstract book
• XX Congress (Tirana, Albania, 2014). Volume 1, Volume 2
• XXI Congress (Salzburg, Austria, 2018). Abstract book

The directing bodies of CBGA are the Board and the Council. The Board consists of the President, the Vice President, the Secretary General and the Previous President of the CBGA. The Board is the governing body of the Association between two congresses.

The Council consists of one National Representative of each member country of CBGA who elect the President and the Secretary General. The National Representatives are elected by the collective members of each member country. "The Council has to supervise all activities of CBGA, accept, postpone or reject proposals and to adopt resolutions ... The Council meets at least once in two years ... The Council meetings are charged by the CBGA President or the National Representative of the host country".

CBGA National Committees are elected by the collective members of each member country and are responsible to keep the geoscientists of the member country informed on CBGA activities.

Working Groups are an important element of CBGA. They are consisted of scientists from two or more member countries who are working in common projects of special scientific interest. The Working Groups organize their activities and elect their respective co-ordinators by themselves. Working groups present the result of their work during the congresses and submit an activity report, at least once.

Turning back and reviewing all previous congresses, one can see that the geological science in the Carpathian-Balkan region has had much to gain. New ideas and methods, modern trends and techniques involved, along with a new generation of well-educated geoscientists, have resulted in its explosive development. The XIX Congress of CBGA (CBGA 2010), held in Thessaloniki (Greece), marked a real peak, as shown by the number of participants (800) and the high level of scientific contributions. The advances continued during the successive XX Congress of CBGA held in 2014 in Tirana, and first one in Albania. More than 550 participants coming from 42 countries presented 470 contributions, which were published in two volumes. The tradition of high scientific value and interest in the event was kept also during the XXI CBGA Congress held in the beautiful city of Salzburg, Austria, with more than 330 participants and contributions organized in 19 scientific sessions. Three plenary speakers gave reports on recent advances in major fields and important input on future research directions. It is expected that these promising advances will continue in the next future CBGA activities, thus solidifying the long-term tradition of CBGA congresses as one of the best geoscience events in Europe.

Beqiraj, A. and Uta, A., 2014. GEOLOGICA CARPATHICA, DECEMBER 2014, 65, 6, 432
http://www.geologicacarpathica.com/data/files/files/misc/GC_65_6_p432-Tirana.pdf

Neubauer, F., 2018.
https://www.geologica-balcanica.eu/sites/default/files/articles/02_Neubauer_Geol_Balc_48-1_2019.pdf

Peytcheva, I., Ivanova, R. 2022
https://doi.org/10.52321/GeolBalc.51.3.43

The two official journals of CBGA, Geologica Carpathica and Geologica Balcanica, are gaining increasing interest from the geological society in the region and beyond.

Two additional groups of publications are published by CBGA and the national organizing committees or partners of the member countries: (a) congress and symposium proceedings, including field trip guides; and (b) results of the collective work of Standing Commissions substituted by the Working Groups. Digital editions are also produced. As a result, in the past years geological maps, explanation books, monographs, tables with comparative nomenclature, etc. were published. For example, the Commissions on Tectonics, Petrography, Metamorphism, Sedimentology, Geochronology, Hydrogeology and Engineering Geology compiled and printed important generalized maps (in scale 1:1,000,000) of the region. The Geophysical Commission has also largely contributed to the knowledge of the Earth crust and upper mantle of the region.

The 135 full peer-reviewed papers of CBGA 2010 were published in two volumes (at the Scientific Annals of the School of Geology of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki), while all abstracts were published in a special volume of Geologica Balcanica. Over 470 short and extended abstracts were published in the two special issues of the Albanian journal Buletini i Shkencave Gjeologjike for CBGA2014 (link above). In addition, five field trip guide books was published and distributed to about 150 participants for the XX CBGA Congress in Tirana, Albania. The abstract e-book of CBGA 2018 can be downloaded from Geologica Balcanica (link above), whereas the field guides of most excursions of the XXI CBGA Congress are published in Berichte der Geologischen Bundesanstalt and are also available for interested people.

The Carpathian-Balkan Geological Association is affiliated to the IUGS as a regional organization. An annually report of the CBGA activities was sent to IUGS Secretariat at the end of each year. The webpage of the CBGA is reciprocally linked with that of the IUGS.

Today the CBGA is governed from Sofia (Bulgaria) by the Board with the following members:

• Prof. Dr. Irena Peytcheva, President of the CBGA and ex officio President of the CBGA 2022 Organizing Committee.
• Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nikola Botoucharov, Secretary of the CBGA and ex officio Secretary General of the CBGA 2022 Organizing Committee
• Assoc. Prof. Dr. Stefka Pristavova, Vice-President of the CBGA and member of the CBGA 2022 Organizing Committee
• Prof. Dr. Franz Neubauer, Past President of the CBGA
• Assoc. Prof. Dr. Calin TAMAS , New President of the CBGA

The information includes data from Grubić (2006) and Christofides (2010).