ISSN 0302-069X

GEOLOGICAL CORRELATION

is a series of reports issued by UNESCO for the International Geological Correlation Programme (IGCP), a scientific enterprise carried
out in co-operation with the International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS). The numbers of the series will be issued with indivi-
dual pagination at irregular intervals - there will be no arrangement in volumes. Geological Correlation contains information on
National Committees, reports on sessions, lists of accepted projects, annual reports of the Scientific Committee and the Board, com-
position, work plans and progress reports of project working groups, current bibliographies of IGCP publications, secretariat news,
reports of IGCP meetings held and announcements of forthcoming ones, and summaries of final reports on projects. New material and
announcements will be published under the author’s (submitter’s) responsibility for the scientific contents. Supplementary material
will be published in Episodes (IUGS). All contributions to Geological Correlation should be addressed to:
The IGCP Secretariat, Division of Earth Sciences,
UNESCO, 1, rue Miollis
75732 Paris Cedex 15
Fax: (33.1) 45 68 58 22
e-mail: igcp@unesco.org
Editors: F. Wolfgang Eder, IGCP Secretary
M. Patzak, SC/GEO
Editorial Assistant: D. Armand, SC/GEO

IGCP home page:

http://www.unesco.org/science/earthsciences/igcp/

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

AGI American Geological Institute

CCOP Committee for Co-ordination of Joint Prospecting for Mineral Resources in Asian Offshore Areas
CGMW Commission for the Geological Map of the World
CIFEG Centre International pour la Formation et les Échanges Géologiques
COGEODATA Committee on Storage, Automatic Processing, and Retrieval of Geological Data
EGT European Geotravers
ESCAP Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific
GGT Global Geoscience Transects
IAGOD International Association on the Genesis of Ore Deposits
IAMG International Association for Mathematical Geology
ICL Inter-Union Commission on the Lithosphere
ICS International Commission on Stratigraphy
ICSU International Council of Scientific Unions
IGC International Geological Congress
IGCP International Geological Correlation Programme
ILP International Lithosphere Programme
INQUA International Union for Quaternary Research
IOC Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission
IUGG International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics
IUGS International Union of Geological Sciences
OET IGCP project ‘On Extended Term’
OSNLR Ocean Science in relation to Non-Living Resources
RCMNS Regional Committee on Mediterranean Neogene Stratigraphy
SCOPE Scientific Committee on Problems of the Environment
SEATRAD South-East Asian Tin Research and Development Center
UNEP United Nations Environment Programme
UNESCO United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization

Paris, October 2001

Original: English
 Contents

Page

Report of the twenty-ninth session of the IGCP Scientific Board ............................. 5

1. List of participants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2. Introductory remarks by the Chairperson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
3. Opening address to the Scientific Board on behalf of the Director-General of UNESCO . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
4. Addresses by the President and the Secretary-General of IUGS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
5. Joint communication by the Chairpersons of the Five Scientific Programmes of UNESCO . . . . . . . . . . 8
6. Address by the Director of the Division of Earth Sciences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
7. Reports of National Committees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
8. 32nd International Geological Congress 2004, Florence, Italy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
9. Role of IGCP in the 21st Century . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
10. Promotion of an ‘International Year of the Earth’ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
11. The changing face of IGCP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
12. Joint meeting with co-operating UNESCO programmes and other organizations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
– International Hydrological Programme (IHP) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
– Man and the Biosphere Programme (MAB) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
– Management of Social Transformations (MOST) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
– International Oceanographic Commission (IOC) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
– World Heritage Centre (WHC) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
– Commission of the Geological Map of the World (CGMW) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
13. The World Conference on Science (WCS) follow-up activities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
14. Contribution of IGCP to the International Year of the Mountains . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
15. IGCP and potential co-operation with International Programmes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
16. IGCP and the United Kingdom Environmental Council (NERC) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
17. Topics for general discussion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
– Main strategic axes of IGCP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
– Co-IGCP initiative . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
– IGCP website . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
– Changing the title of the IGCP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
– IGCP Young Scientists Award . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
– Initiatives for IGCP regional meetings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
18. UNESCO Geoparks initiative . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
19. Summary of IGCP National Committee Reports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
20. General matters arising from the assessments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
21. Membership of the IGCP Scientific Board in 2001 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
22. Assessment reviews . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
23. Chairperson’s concluding remarks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
24. Dates of the next Scientific Board Meeting (2002) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
25. Report of the IGCP Secretary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Progress of the IGCP projects in 2000 . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

New IGCP projects accepted and starting in 2001 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
IGCP projects active in 2001 . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
Members of the IGCP Scientific Board in 2001 . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
IGCP National Committees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
IGCP Contact Addresses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
 Report of the twenty-ninth session of the IGCP Scientific Board

The Board assembled at UNESCO Headquarters, 1 rue Miollis, Paris, from 5 to 8 February 2001.

1. List of Participants

Scientific Board Members (*three new Members):

Edward Derbyshire, Chairman (United Kingdom)
Susan Turner, Rapporteur (Australia)
Ian W. Dalziel (United States of America)
Max Deynoux (France)
Maurizio Gaetani (Italy)
Alexander Gliko (Russia)
Petr JakeÎ (Czech Republic)
Isabelle Niang-Diop (Senegal)
Sospeter Muhungo (Tanzania)*
Victor Ramos (Argentina)
Edward Robinson (Jamaica)
Nozar Samani (Iran)
Nobutaka Shimada (Japan)
James teller (Canada)*
Gerhard Wörner (Germany)
Zhenyu Yang (China)*

Ex officio members:
Gisbert Glaser
Andras Szöllösi-Nagy
Eduardo de Mulder
Attilio Boriani
ADG/ SC a. i., representing the Director-General of UNESCO
DADG, DIR/SC/HYD/IHP, UNESCO
President of IUGS (The Netherlands)
Secretary-General of IUGS and President 32nd IGC Committee (Italy)

Observers:
Philippe Bouysse Commission Geological Map of the World (CGMW) (France)
Jean-Paul Cadet CGMW President (France)
Gabriele Castillo Permanent Delegation of Costa Rica to UNESCO
Chen You Fang Ministry of Land and Resources (China)
Umberto Cordani President of IGC Steering Committee (Brazil)
Paul Egerton Natural Environment Research Council (United Kingdom)
Kemalettin Eruygur Permanent Delegation of Turkey to UNESCO
Jorge Fernandez Girnotti IUGS National Committee of Spain
Ariel W. Gonzalez Permanent Delegation of Argentina to UNESCO
Felix Gradstein Chairman, International Commission on Stratigraphy under IUGS (Norway)
Mohammed S. Sheya Delegation of the United Republic of Tanzania to UNESCO
Philippe Rossi CGMW General Secretary (France)

IGCP National Committees:

Prof. Károly Brezsnyánszky IGCP National Committee of Hungary
Prof. William Cavazza IGCP National Committee of Italy/32nd IGC Committee
Prof. Sylvie Crasquin-Soleau IGCP National Committee of France
Prof. Léon Dejonghe IGCP National Committee of Belgium
Prof. Shuwen Dong IGCP National Committee of China

5
Prof. Dushan Hovorka IGCP National Committee of Slovakia
Prof. Werner Janoschek IGCP National Committee of Austria, IUGS Treasurer
Prof. Stevan Karamata IGCP National Committee of Yugoslavia
Prof. Marcos A. Lamolda IGCP National Committee of Spain
Prof. Simon Pirc IGCP National Committee of Slovenia
Prof. Simón E. Rodríguez IGCP National Committee of Venezuela
Prof. Friedrich Steininger IGCP National Committee of Germany
Prof. Ryuichi Tsuchi IGCP National Committee of Japan

Observers from UNESCO:

Brigitte Colin SHS/SRP/MOST
Howard Moore DIR/SC/EO
Pilar Chiang-Joo SC/ADG
Badouhi Rouhban SC/UCE
Thomas Schaaf SC/ENV
Peter Bridgewater DIR/SC/ECO/MAB

Members from UNESCO, Division of Earth Sciences:

Wolfgang Eder, DIR/SC/GEO, IGCP Secretary
Denise Armand
Yolanda Berenguer
Sophia Laryea
Robert Missotten
Hélène Papa
Margarete Patzak

6
2. Introductory Remarks by the Chairperson
The Chairperson, Prof. E. Derbyshire, opened the
29th Session of the IGCP Scientific Board. He espe-
cially welcomed the recently elected senior officers of
the International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS),
its new President Prof. Eduardo de Mulder and its new
Treasurer Dr Werner Janoschek together with Dr Attilio
Boriani, IUGS Secretary-General. He reminded the
meeting that IGCP is a joint undertaking of IUGS and
UNESCO, so that the presence of IUGS representatives
was most appreciated. He also offered a special welcome
to the three new Members of the IGCP Scientific Board:
Prof. James Teller (Canada), Prof. Sospeter Muhongo
(Tanzania) and Prof. Yang Zhenyu (China), recently
appointed and so attending the Board meeting for the
first time. He warmly welcomed the chairpersons of
IGCP National Committees from Belgium, China,
France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Slovakia,
Slovenia, Spain, Venezuela and Yugoslavia, as well as a
number of other observers. He thanked Dr Susan Turner
(Australia) for succeeding Prof. Nat Rutter as rappor-
teur this year. Finally, Prof. Derbyshire invited the
Assistant Director-General for Natural Sciences of
UNESCO, Mr Gisbert Glaser as representative of the
Director-General, Mr Koïchiro Matsuura, to deliver his
opening address to the Board.
3. Opening Address to the Scientific Board on
behalf of the Director-General of UNESCO
Mr Gisbert Glaser, ADG/SC a.i. welcomed the partici-
pants on behalf of the Director-General of UNESCO,
Mr Koïchiro Matsuura, to the 29th session of the IGCP.
He referred to the reform process UNESCO is now
undergoing in terms of structural changes and pro-
gramme management, with a view to serving the com-
munity at large with competence and efficiency. The
changed vision of UNESCO’s future strategies and
programme priorities should focus its effort on ‘human-
ising globalisation’ and contributing to peace and human
development in this era of globalisation through educa-
tion, science, culture and communication. He stressed
that through its science programmes UNESCO seeks to
provide the knowledge needed for effective environ-
mental policy-making, and to promote the pursuit of
sustainable human development.
Mr Glaser made reference to the follow-up to the World
Conference on Science (Budapest 1999), emphasising
the need for a new link between Science and Society
with science responding to human needs for clean water,
fertile soils, building materials, security, and solving
problems of pollution such as radioactive waste, with
the exploration for metals and oil as a secondary concern.
Mr Glaser went on to stress the central importance of
science responding to basic human needs so as to ensure
that research benefits society, since the important
geoscientific challenges of the future are likely to be
found in inner cities, waste dumps, low-cost bulk-
commodity quarries, overexploited farmlands and
polluted rivers, aquifers and coastal swamps. He drew
attention to the necessity for UNESCO’s current
programmes, such as IGCP, to reflect these realities and
be prepared to move well outside the traditional approach
to geological themes, in placing much greater stress on
surface geology, urban geology and hydrogeology. Part
of IGCP’s task should also be to translate and transfer
knowledge about these issues to decision-makers. In
accordance with UNESCO’s request for more inter- and
transdisciplinary activities, the Programme should main-
tain active interfaces with disciplines related to marine,
atmospheric and biological sciences. He recognised that
IGCP is already actively co-operating with the other four
Science Programmes of UNESCO, the International
Hydrological Programme (IHP), Man and the Biosphere
(MAB) Reserves Programme, Intergovernmental Oceano-
graphic Commission (IOC) and Management of Social
Transformations Programme (MOST). At this point, he
expressed his thanks to Prof. Derbyshire for his role in
the Joint Meetings of the Chairpersons of the Five
Science Programmes of UNESCO.
Mr Glaser considered remarkable the way in which the
IGCP Programme had enhanced the number of its appli-
cation-oriented projects over the past decade, in accor-
dance with the theme ‘Geoscience in the Service of
Society’. However, he strongly encouraged participants
to go further by orienting and re-shaping the Pro-
gramme’s focus towards critical topics and principal
priorities of society. In order to stimulate the geoscience
community further along these lines, IGCP might
consider promoting activities that concentrate, for
example, on palaeoecosystem analysis, fossil ground-
water studies, or hydrological issues in arid and semi-
arid zones. One of these critical topics is the global
water crisis looming ahead. Water resources and their
supporting ecosystems have been chosen as the prin-
cipal priority themes of the Natural Sciences Sector for
the next biennium 2002-2003. In concluding, Mr Glaser
expressed the hope that, while he recognised fact that
IGCP is concerned about these priority themes, the Pro-
gramme might well consider launching new initiatives
and projects dealing with these and related priorities.
4. Addresses by the President and the Secretary-
General of IUGS
Prof. Eduardo de Mulder, President of the International
Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS), expressed his
pleasure on being given the opportunity to attend the
IGCP Scientific Board meeting for the first time in his
new capacity as IUGS President. He went on to explain
that the new IUGS team is building upon the results
achieved by the previous Executive Committees, and
promised to engage the new energy needed to expand
the Union’s visibility and network. In the short term,
7
this should result in a significantly higher involvement
in international scientific programmes. In the long term,
IUGS will work hard to enhance the public perception
of the societal benefits offered by the geosciences.
He emphasised the fact that IUGS and UNESCO have
long-established and strong ties. IGCP has been a core
programme for co-operation with UNESCO. He noted
that IGCP projects provide the foundations on which
significant co-operation between scientists from different
disciplines and different geographical regions is gener-
ated, particularly between North and South. High levels
of co-operation between individuals also generally result
in excellent project results. He recalled having been
recently to an IGCP meeting in Japan, which resulted
in a recommendation to create an International Consor-
tium on Landslides. This is just the sort of geoscientific
research needed to stimulate applications of geoscience
focused on solving societal problems. This example also
demonstrates that, more than ever, the sub-title of IGCP
‘Geoscience in the Service of Society’ is valid.
Prof. de Mulder further stated that IUGS participation
in UNESCO programmes is presently confined to
the Division of Earth Sciences. In broad terms both enti-
ties have the same Agenda concerning the stimulation
of geoscientific research and the application of such
knowledge to and for society. This explains the close
and greatly valued co-operation between both bodies.
In its drive to expand its networks, IUGS would be very
interested in exploring additional linkages within
UNESCO. During a meeting last year with Directors
of other UNESCO divisions; links were established
with the International Hydrological Programme (IHP),
and potential co-operation might arise through inter-
national conventions such as the ones on Combating
Desertification and Biological Diversity. IUGS would
welcome the opportunity to contribute to other UNESCO
Programmes, particularly in the Sector for Natural
Sciences, while maintaining the current and fine liaison
with the Division of Earth Sciences. He confirmed that
many UNESCO or UNESCO-supported scientific
programmes also implicitly have a geo-dimension, such
as knowledge of past biodiversity, and he expressed
his desire to make the geological component more
explicit and increase this exciting dimension in
such programmes. IUGS would relish the chance of
co-operating in meetings of such divisions.
Returning to IGCP, he stressed the point that the
Programme could run well, provided proper funding is
guaranteed. For its part, IUGS promised to keep stable
its share in IGCP funding during the tenure of office
of the present Executive Committee, and expected the
same commitment on the part of UNESCO. Finally he
thanked the IGCP Chairperson, Prof. Derbyshire, for
steering IGCP into the avenues of a promising future
and UNESCO for its continuous support, and more
particularly Dr Eder and his team for their steadfast
co-operation, which IUGS greatly appreciates.
8
Dr Attilio Boriani, Secretary-General of IUGS,
expressed his pleasure and the honour he felt on being
again among his friends at UNESCO for the annual
meeting of the IGCP Scientific Board. He stressed that
IGCP is thriving and in good shape despite the changes
that have swept the World, altering in part the role
of Scientific Unions, UNESCO and the Geological
Sciences. The IGCP survives because it is flexible and
is based on short-term projects: this is the secret of its
success. The formula is increasingly being adopted by
the Unions themselves. Although funds for running
IGCP come mostly from UNESCO and the United States
National Academy of Sciences through ICSU, IUGS
plays a key role in running the Programme. Through the
Office of the Permanent Secretariat in Norway, the
Treasurer and the Secretary-General, IUGS makes most
of the payments to Project Leaders once the contracts
are signed with UNESCO. It then collects the financial
statements from the Project Leaders, and the scientific
reports in collaboration with UNESCO. IUGS then
reports to ICSU on the projects supported by American
funds, which amounted to US$75,000 last year. IUGS
uses every method available to attract and maintain
money for the Programme. He also noted that one of
the important activities of IUGS is the selection of the
Members of the Scientific Board, a duty undertaken
together with the Director of the Division of Earth
Sciences of UNESCO. Despite its commitment, the role
of IUGS has not always been recognised, whether by
acknowledgement in publications or by national commit-
tees. Probably the most important contribution of IUGS
to the Programme is the constant support given to the
Division of Earth Sciences in defending IGCP. He recog-
nised the possibility that IGCP will come under
increasing pressure from outside bodies to change its
name, while still preserving its acronym. He stressed the
point that nobody outside the scientific community
understood the significance of the term ‘correlation’ and
that a name made more understandable would probably
‘sell’ the Programme better, although he confessed his
personal unhappiness about this proposal. He stated
clearly his view that correlation, not just stratigraphic
correlation, is a key operation in geological sciences and
is the core quality of IGCP: by means of correlation
important global scientific and educational goals have
been achieved for the benefit of Society. Finally, he
expressed a hope that any future change would not
make the Programme become just one of the many
anonymous programmes of generic international
‘co-operation’.
5. Joint Communication by the Chairpersons
of the Five Scientific Programmes of UNESCO
(IOC, MAB, IHP, IGCP and MOST)
This item was introduced at a later stage by Andras
Szöllösi-Nagy, Deputy Director-General for Natural
Sciences of UNESCO. He began by expounding the
overall policy of UNESCO for the Science Sector.
He went on to stress the crucial importance of water
and related ecosystems for society. He then emphasised
the status of the budget as being of zero nominal growth
(actually a decline in the real budget). He then asked
IGCP’s advice on a new programme that was being
planned for seismic risk reduction (for the coming bien-
nium). He further stated that it is planned to continue
the joint meetings of the steering group.
He then explained that the Steering Group of the Five
Chairpersons was formed a year ago to further strengthen
the links among UNESCO’s five programmes, reflecting
unity of purpose and the conviction of more efficiency
through combined effort and reinforced synergies,
against the backdrop of ongoing work. Clear progress
has already been made in reinforcing co-operation. As
a first task the group set out to contribute to the prepa-
ration of the new Medium-Term Strategy of UNESCO,
and the first biennial programme and budget. In so
doing, it wished to translate this strategic direction into
action. A number of observations and recommendations
concerning the formulation of the new Medium-Term
Strategy and Programme and Budget for 2002-2003
emerged from the discussions.
The Group strongly recommended that sustainable
development should become a transverse theme in both
the 31 C/4 and 31 C/5. This would provide a unify-
ing concept and common framework, not only for the
five scientific programmes but also for the whole of
UNESCO. It further recommended that specific inter-
sectoral and interdisciplinary initiatives be foreseen so
as to address education and science for sustainability.
Further, the Group expressed its general disappointment
that the preliminary proposals do not reflect adequately
their Joint Statement made to the 30th session of the
General Conference. The Group was also disappointed
that the preliminary proposals did not reflect adequately
the results of the World Conference on Science
(Budapest, 1999). Given the intergovernmental nature of
the Steering Group of the Five Chairpersons and
their desire to contribute constructively to UNESCO’s
strategic and programme planning process, they recom-
mended that the Steering Group become a high-level
advisory body to the Director-General, and that an
appropriate status be given to the group to allow it to
fulfil that function to best effect.
6. Address by the Director
of the Division of Earth Sciences
Mr Wolfgang Eder addressed the meeting in his dual
capacity as Director of the Division of Earth Sciences
and Secretary of the IGCP. First, he gave a special
welcome to the new elected Members of the Scientific
Board as well as the new representatives of the IUGS,
Prof. Ed de Mulder (President) and Dr Werner Janoschek
(Treasurer), and the various observers. He thanked
last year’s outgoing Members for their valuable
contributions to the running of the Programme. He also
greeted the representatives of the IGCP National
Committees present for the fist time in such an impres-
sive number. Mr Eder stressed again that IGCP is the
backbone of the Division of Earth Sciences, and that in
the year 2000, following the financial cuts of 1999, its
budget had been restored to previous levels. He thanked
again Sally Cochrane (who left IGCP on retirement in
November 2000) for her 12 years of work within the
IGCP Secretariat.
Mr Eder recalled that in this new century and millen-
nium, natural sciences, including Earth sciences, are set
to play a prominent role in a joint and global effort to
maintain the earth surface as a place worth living on,
reduce human suffering or limit damage to the natural
and built environments. The course taken by humanity
in the years to come will depend to a very large extent
upon whether the crucial environmental goals are
reached. From mountain tops to megacities, from rain-
forests to small ocean islands, he went on, there is an
increasing state of geoenvironmental pollution, natural
and man-made disasters, depletion of natural resources,
loss of biological and geological diversity, and degra-
dation of both natural and cultural landscapes, all of
which represent our common heritage.
Mr Eder reminded the Board that IGCP must act. This
action will have to be backed up by sound environmental
policies and an alert and well-informed public opinion.
He explained that, through its Earth Sciences pro-
grammes including IGCP, UNESCO aims to provide the
knowledge needed for effective environmental policy-
making by means of its geo-environmental education
initiatives in the area of promoting the understanding of
the importance of sustainable human development.
Referring to the United Nations Conference on
Environment and Development (UNCED), held in 1992
in Rio de Janeiro (where Earth Sciences or Geology
were almost neglected), Mr Eder stated that the recom-
mendations of the Earth Summit are still valid. Recently
the United Nations Millennium Summit recalled in its
‘Millennium Declaration’ ‘Respect for Nature’ as one of
the global fundamental values, and highlighted several
key objectives, inter alia, ‘protecting the vulnerable and
common environments’. He also referred to the fact that,
as confirmed in 1999 at the World Conference on Science
in Budapest, a world-wide effort to increase investment
in scientific research and build up the scientific capacity
of developing countries is also needed and that this is
well reflected within the IGCP strategy. He pointed out
that special attention should be also given to activities
devoted to ‘science education’ and ‘popularisation of
sciences’ within the realm of sustainable development
and environment. Geological organizations, govern-
mental (such as national geological surveys), non-
governmental (like the International Union of Geological
Sciences (IUGS)) or intergovernmental (like the Division
of Earth Sciences of UNESCO) are encouraged to
9
contribute to this endeavour through appropriate
agencies such as the IGCP.
In partnership with other UNESCO intergovernmental
or international scientific programmes on water (IHP),
oceans (IOC), biodiversity and ecosystems (MAB),
coastal zones (CSI) and urbanisation problems (MOST),
IGCP is also asked to provide the type of policy-
relevant knowledge required to solve priority problems
within issues like urban geology, pollution of ground-
water, water and land management in mining areas,
karst-ecosystems, floods and landslides, etc. Mr Eder
expected to hear during the debate the different points
of view of Board Members and Observers on these
matters and to participate in this exchange.
Announcement
At this point the Chairperson announced the untimely
death last year of Professor Raphael Unrug from the
United States of America (project co-leader of IGCP
440 and formerly co-leader of 288). Members stood in
silence in memory of their distinguished colleague.
7. Reports of National Committees
The representatives of the National IGCP Committees
reported on the activities undertaken by their countries.
Representatives from Austria, Belgium, China, France,
Germany, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Slovakia, Slovenia,
Spain, Venezuela and Yugoslavia took the floor.
The Austrian representative Dr Werner Janoschek under-
lined the support given to IGCP activities through the
amount of US$50,000, and referred to archaeology and
mining project ideas.
The German Chairperson Prof. Friedrich Steininger
reported on the website and planned production of
posters designed to disseminate key ideas of IGCP and
illustrate ongoing projects. His committee supports the
Geoparks initiative as an educational tool to trigger
interest in geoscience on the part of the public. It is also
in favour of keeping the acronym ‘IGCP’. He reminded
the meeting that geoscience is also part of the memory
of the Earth and should therefore also be part of the
‘Memory of the World Programme’ of UNESCO.
The Hungarian representative Prof. Károly Brezsnyánszky
spoke about the mission of IGCP, involving visibility
focused on the scientific community and popularisation
and acceptance of science. He also stressed that he
hoped the Geoparks initiative would play a part in this
process.
Prof. Dusan Hovorka, representative of the National
Committee of Slovakia proposed a change of rules in
the utilisation of IGCP project funds. He suggested that
25 to 30 percent of the previous year’s funding be usable
for the purpose of preparing the final report.
10
The Spanish representative, Prof. Marcos Lamolda, drew
attention to the 25th anniversary of the Spanish National
IGCP Committee, celebrated in 1999, and to a website
created a year later.
The Japanese Committee, represented by Prof. Ryuichi
Tsuchi, is actively encouraging Japanese participation in
IGCP. He underlined the work that had been accom-
plished including, among others, the holding of three
meetings and a symposium in the past year.
Prof. Shuwen Dong from the Chinese IGCP Committee
reported that three IGCP projects with Chinese partici-
pation were now supported, each with an additional
US$25,000 provided by the Ministry of Sciences.
Concerning the name of the Programme, he would vote
in favour of a change to ‘International Co-operation
Programme’.
The National Committee of the United Kingdom was
represented by Prof. Edward Derbyshire who reported a
small decline in IGCP activities and visibility, and
announced the creation of a website accessible via the
GSL. He further stated that, although the name of the
Programme might well be modified, IGCP’s acronym
should be retained.
8. 32nd International Geological Congress 2004,
Florence, Italy
Prof. Cavazza, Chairperson of the Italian IGCP
National Committee, reported on the preparations for
the 32rd International Geological Congress, to take place
in August 2004 in Florence, Italy. The slogan of the
Congress is to be ‘From the Mediterranean Area Towards
a Global Geological Renaissance’. IGCP will be repre-
sented. He then gave a detailed explanation on the
holding of the meeting, facilities made available to
participants, etc. (He further explained that meeting
rooms would be free of charge and that support through
the Geohost Programme will be available to participants
from developing countries get. Some 20% will be
exempted from registration fees, 5% will have no accom-
modation costs, and 50% of convenors and co-convenors
will qualify for a reduction in costs.
The advantage of Italy and more specifically Florence
as a location for the IGC is the availability of a great
variety of scientific and applied geological processes for
research and development at both the domestic and inter-
national levels. Florence and its surroundings are situ-
ated in the centre of the Mediterranean, a key area for
the understanding of global processes and for improving
co-operation between developing and developed coun-
tries. The IGC offering a great number of one-day trips
available by bus on classic, historical, and landscape
localities in the surroundings of Florence.
Hotels are all located in the city centre, within walking
distance of the hotels. Hotels in Florence contain a total
of about 11,000 rooms, rated between 5 to 2 stars, equiv-
alent to 21,000 places. Options on approximately 10,000
places have already been secured for the 32nd IGC 2004.
An additional 1000 beds have also been guaranteed in
youth hostels, monasteries and university residences at
prices ranging from 15 to 25 USD.
Mr Cavazza further explained in detail the appropriate-
ness of the building that would host the Congress,
as being the largest and best situated Centre for the
occasion. Finally, he then presented a website address
from which further particulars may be obtained: http://
www.32igc.org
9. Role of IGCP in the 21st Century: IGCP’s
response to the United Nations Millennium
Declaration
Mr Eder raised the matter of the role of IGCP in the
21st century and how IGCP could contribute to key
objectives of the ‘Millennium Declaration’, adopted by
the 8th plenary meeting of the United Nations General
Assembly, in September 2000. Issues like sustainable
development and poverty eradication, protecting common
environments, protecting the vulnerable, or meeting the
specific needs of Africa are in line with UNESCO’s
Medium-Term Strategy Plan for 2002-2007. Mr Eder
stressed that IGCP should contribute to the overall
objective of UNESCO (‘Peace and Human Development
in an Era of Globalisation’), respecting in its projects
thematic issues like ‘principles and ethical norms’, better
management of environment by improving science, envi-
ronment and human capacities, and (notably as a priority)
water resources and ecosystems.
10. Promotion of an ‘International
Year of the Earth’
Prof. de Mulder made a case for a United Nations-
supported International Year of Planet Earth. He stated
that while the twentieth century may be characterised as
one in which the atmosphere and outer space were
increasingly explored, this new century might very well
be regarded as the one in which humanity intensively
explored the Earth’s interior and invested substantially
in its home planet. This paradox is based on the assump-
tion that, despite an adventurous drive to explore further
earth’s wide surroundings, human beings deeply value
their roots in Planet Earth, the place in which they live.
He went on to explain that, in past centuries, man has
explored intensively almost the entire surface of the
Earth either by physically encroaching untouched land
and sea areas, or by remote sensing techniques. As far
as the Earth’s interior is concerned, mankind has pene-
trated the ground below by means of millions of bore-
holes and has explored the subsurface structures using
many different geophysical techniques. The discovery of
the plates in the Earth’s crust and the directions in which
they move is regarded by Dr Robin Brett, Past President
of IUGS, as the most important geological concept of
the 20th century. The International Geophysical Year in
1957 yielded much information on the Planet’s contours
and provided a boost to scientific expeditions into the
Solar System. Many other discoveries were made with
respect to the physics, chemistry and biology of the
Earth. The question is to know whether these provide
an adequate basis for future sustainable use of the Earth.
Of course, it is a safe challenge to predict what Planet
Earth will look like at the end of this new century,
because of the evident fact that the people doing so will
all be dead and gone by then. Based on observations of
the past, it may safely be assumed that several pressing
societal problems should be addressed in the decades to
come, such as population growth and poverty; insuffi-
cient space in cities; shortage of potable water; contam-
inated ground; safe storage of waste; public health;
sustainable management of depleting natural resources;
and increased impact of natural hazards on lives and
property.
Prof. de Mulder further said that some of these issues
relate to the Earth directly, and others more indirectly.
It is evident, and the IGCP projects conducted so far
also demonstrate the fact, that all these urgent problems
have a distinct geo-dimension. On the positive side, the
geosciences are generally well-acknowledged for solving
natural resource problems. When it comes to permanent
storage of radioactive waste, for instance, society knows
how to find experts from the profession. In general, the
solutions to such problems are not just technical but are
based on a proper understanding of the composition, the
properties and the processes of the Earth, just as major
advances now at stake in biology are being based on the
results of the Human Genome Project. Therefore, smart
solutions to societal problems should and will be based
on a better understanding of the processes that act in
and on this Planet. He further stated that some of these
processes are being studied at present, but such knowl-
edge is still in its infancy. It is possible to fight the
contaminated subsurface partly by utilising and stimu-
lating the natural biogeochemical processes in the Earth
itself, but we need to learn more about these processes
for profitable application to societal needs.
He went on to say that enthusiastic and interdisciplinary
research teams are needed to reach the ‘break-through’
stage in solving such problems. Knowledge of the mete-
orite impact at the K/T boundary that supposedly termi-
nated the dinosaurs, materially advanced by such teams,
has received much pubic attention. There are several
more such events in Earth history, most being poorly
understood. This is just one example of safeguarding
the ‘Memory of the Earth’, as the representative of the
German IGCP national committee so clearly stated.
Unfortunately, the Earth Sciences have received rela-
tively little funding in past decades, and this has resulted
in a decline in the number of students studying Geology,
11
as well as rather low levels of media attention [except
when dinosaurs are involved!].
The world community now pays 3 billion French Francs
a day for the impacts of geo-risks. At least half that
amount can be saved if the way the earth works is better
known. Humanity should be profiting from these
punishing threats. To that end much more geo-research
must be undertaken. Such research will be stimulated
by increased public attention. A UN-supported Inter-
national Year of Planet Earth could fuel such attention
and could well serve many of UNESCO’s priorities for
years to come. Such an International Year of Planet Earth
may facilitate the necessary breakthrough in the knowl-
edge of the Earth’s processes and so lead to the gener-
ation of solutions for so many problems on Planet Earth.
11. The changing face of IGCP:
a note from the Chair
Prof. E. Derbyshire reviewed the establishment of the
International Geological Correlation Programme. In all
public announcements, during the past decade at least,
it has been stated that the IGCP was launched as a joint
UNESCO-IUGS programme, at the 24th International
Geological Congress (IGC) in Montreal, Canada, in
1972. Its primary aim was, and remains, to encourage
and facilitate world-wide collaboration between scien-
tists working on the solid earth and its resources.
In fact, the roots of IGCP go back further, as some
archival records in UNESCO and some publications
show. These documents make it clear that, in order to
understand the formative stage of this Programme,
account must be taken of geopolitical conditions during
the ‘Cold War’. Indeed, there is a view that IGCP’s birth
was induced by events which took place in1968 when
Soviet tanks invaded Prague on the first evening of the
23rd International Geological Congress.
However, the proposal to establish an international
geological correlation programme had been discussed
earlier. UNESCO had floated the idea in 1967, and had
prepared a proposal for discussion at the 23rd IGC in
Prague, at a time when a successor project to the Upper
Mantle Project was due for consideration, and following
the International Geophysical Year from which geolo-
gists felt largely excluded. After the events in Prague,
an international panel was set up that laid down the
foundations and structure of the IGCP, with its charac-
teristic discrete projects, ‘seed corn’ financing, and an
insistence on projects involving international co-opera-
tion between at least three countries. The programme
was launched soon afterwards, with a number of pro-
jects. It is only in a document of 1970, however, that
formal UNESCO records of the IGCP initiative appear
to begin. This document, named SC/MD/16, records the
minutes of a ‘Preparatory meeting of experts for an
International Geological Correlation Programme (IGCP)
12
organized in collaboration with the International Union
of Geological Sciences’ held in Budapest in 1969. The
essentials of the programme’s structure are clearly
evident in this document, which contained three alter-
native means of organization. In the event, the third
alternative (a joint UNESCO-IUGS programme) was
chosen. Details of the means of execution of the
programme conformed to the proposed means in the
prepared paper known as SC/IGCP/4.
Yet the roots of IGCP can be traced even further back
in time. The stimuli for the IGCP lay in continental drift
and the nature of the International Geophysical Year. In
the early 1960s, embracing the concept of continental
drift was a professionally dangerous occupation, yet
there were stirrings, and one or two brave publications,
pointing to certain evidence that was difficult to explain
in other terms. The concept of continental drift was, to
a large extent, seen to depend upon the concept of a
former Gondwanaland continent in the Southern
Hemisphere.
Towards the end of 1964, H. J. Harrington, an Australian
geologist, proposed to IUGS and 50 geologists around
the world an International Gondwana Project as a means
of testing correlations between the southern continents
(Harrington, in: Branagan and McNally, 1994). This
proposal was enthusiastically received by most recipi-
ents of Harrington’s letter, including the IUGS at the
hand of the then Secretary-General, W.P. van Leckwijk,
as well as by J.Tuzo Wilson and H. H. Hess in North
America. A year later, the IUGS invited Harrington to
set up an Australian committee in order to prepare a
more formal submission. This was done in Canberra,
Australia, in 1966. It was the IUGS that made the final
name change to IGCP in order to meet the wishes of
the countries of the Eastern Block in Europe, as well as
to enlarge the concept to embrace a broader range of
geological correlation problems. All this was done in
time for the 23rd IGC in Prague, where approval and
implementation were confidently expected. Tragically,
that was not to be, for reasons mentioned above.
It is something of a peculiarity that, when the IGCP
was finally approved by the IUGS in Montreal in 1972,
it came stripped of all evidence of its Australian ‘pre-
history’. No record of this crucial stage has been found
in the UNESCO files. It is a fact worthy of note that,
in an accomplished piece of writing in 1992 (that is a
eulogy on the IGCP: “I have nothing but admiration for
the successes of the IGCP…”), B.J. Skinner appeared
unaware of the important preparatory years (1964-66)
underlying IGCP’s successful emergence. Nevertheless,
his paper in Episodes remains an excellent record of
the changing face of the IGCP. Skinner rightly empha-
sised the effect of the broadening of IGCP’s inter-
national base, from appearing to be quite Eurocentric
in 1972 to the truly global programme it had become
20 years later. He also reminded readers that the 1972
instigators of the IGCP had been particular in stressing
the need for flexibility in the years ahead as the
Programme evolved.
The 29 years since its ‘official’ birth have been a period
of momentous change – political, economic and social.
The Programme has responded to these forces, some-
times rapidly, sometimes more slowly and with more
subtlety. Inexorably, and despite (and sometimes in
cognisance of) changing priorities within UNESCO,
IGCP has moved increasingly towards emphasising
multidisciplinary initiatives and global approaches to
major environmental problems. The 1995 independent
review and resultant proposals for revision of the IGCP
constituted a formal part of this process. In harmony
with its newly adopted sub-title ‘Geoscience in the
Service of Society’, IGCP introduced revised guidelines
at this time. These were designed to encourage project
leaders to consider the societal relevance of their work,
address the challenge of capacity-building in developing
countries, organize their projects so as to include means
of transferring training and information to young geo-
scientists and to those in the developing world, and
consider the advantages of certain other practices,
including co-leadership, for example.
More recently, the IGCP has responded vigorously
to some UNESCO imperatives. These have included
formal inter-project collaboration (notably, but by no
means solely, in the recent co-IGCP initiative called
CHANGES), intersectoral co-operation within UNESCO
(e.g. IGCP 425 involving both the Earth Science and
the Heritage Divisions), and regular and formal dialogue
between UNESCO’s five intergovernmental scientific
programmes by means of the meetings of the Five
Chairpersons.
Prof. Derbyshire went on to say that, in his experience
of chairing the Board and looking towards the future,
it is undeniable that IGCP must continue to adapt itself
to changing conditions and scientific and social forces,
if it is to retain its unique vigour and effectiveness. In
fact, such adjustments occur at each and every annual
meeting. This year has been no exception. One major
concern is that cumulative experience and expertise of
Board Members should be utilised throughout the year,
and should not be limited to the four yearly days of
deliberations in Paris. Over the past five years, this
level of activity has most probably been true of the
Chairperson (doubtless for very obviously practical
reasons). However, calling upon Board Members to
comment on specialist questions and challenges from
project leaders and members around the world, and
from certain other quarters, has been a rare event. He
stressed the need to change this situation, as well as
strengthening the opportunity for dialogue between
Board Members, project leaders, and National
Committees.
Recalling his last eleven months as chairman of the
Board, he urged its Members to operate in a proactive
way both concentrically towards the Chairperson and the
Secretariat, and in their external relationships with
project leaders, project members and national commit-
tees. He underlined the fact that IGCP remains a unique
scientific programme. Keeping it that way will demand
constant awareness of the changing needs of colleagues,
national groups, the science itself, and society as a
whole, as well as a willingness to enhance levels of
communication at all levels and to nurture the public
face of this programme.
Prof. Derbyshire further recalled Mr Glaser’s earlier
explanation of current changes in UNESCO’s structure
and programmes, which make it clear that IGCP will
have to respond to the scientific, educational and social
priorities of UNESCO while, at the same time, sustaining
its innovative and wide-ranging contribution to geo-
scientific knowledge. This will be a severe test of the
IGCP’s adaptability and ingenuity. He wondered in
what way IGCP could guarantee to do this while, at the
same time, retaining its ‘grass roots’ mode of operation,
and concluded that this would indeed prove to be a
challenge.
References cited
HARRINGTON, H. J. 1994. The International Geological
Correlations Project – how it started, what happened
to it and why. In: D. F Branagan. and G. H. McNally
Useful and curious geological enquiries beyond the
world: Pacific-Asia historical themes. (19th International
INHIGEO Symposium, Sydney, Australia, 4-8 July
1994). INHIGEO, Sydney, Australia, pp. 59-62.
SKINNER, B. J. 1992. Scientific highlights of two decades
of international co-operation at the grass roots level.
Episodes, 15 (3), pp. 200-3.
12. Joint meeting with co-operating UNESCO
programmes and other organizations
(1) International Hydrological Programme (IHP)
Mr Andras Szöllösy-Nagy, Secretary of the International
Hydrological Programme of UNESCO, addressed the
Board and mentioned possible future co-operation
activity between IGCP and IHP themes, such as data-
bases on fossil groundwater, arid/semi arid zones and
water resources, hydro-geological maps, aquifer resource
management and applications of remote sensing in arid
regions.
He set out the general aims of IHP. These include fresh-
water and supporting systems, a new priority programme
(water supply) on a global and local level, and water and
society education that include core activities such as:
1. global change and water resources
2. integrated management of basins and aquifers
3. land habitat water.
13
Additionally, he announced the establishment of an
International Groundwater Assessment Centre, a New
Institute on Water Education IHE, in Delft, and a New
UN Water Assessment Programme.
(2) Man and the Biosphere Programme (MAB)
Mr Peter Bridgewater, Director of the Division of
Ecology and Secretary of the MAB Programme
reported on the MAB Reserves. Some 391 reserves are
now established world-wide. They are based on science
and are part of a network, which is a global platform
for research and monitoring. National structures are in
place to support Biosphere Reserves. MAB national
structures need to link with other national structures
for environmental agreements. He stressed that conser-
vation of biodiversity must be linked with sustain-
able human development. As such, Biosphere Reserves
are as strongly centred on economics as on ecology.
Review processes are essential to maintain a healthy
network.
Local people are the key to success (or failure) in any
Biosphere Reserve. These can help to develop Bio-
regional plans. The Programme needs to use more
modern tools, but should not neglect tried and true tech-
niques for management or communication. The success
must be communicated at all levels and in many
languages. Mr Bridgewater further explained that
Biosphere Reserves need better visibility, support and
outreach, and should be used as outdoor laboratories.
They also need to be integrated into regional planning
and local economies. Finally, they should be used as
classrooms and methods of evaluation and links with
each other.
He then reported on the decision of the MAB
International Co-ordination Council, held last November,
on the question as to whether to include the Geoparks
initiative under the MAB umbrella. In this respect, a
number of different concerns had been expressed: Some
Council members feared that this additional administra-
tive and financial task imposed on the Secretariat would
burden the management of MAB. Other members
pointed out that in individual countries the programmes
came under different administrations, and that MAB
National Committees lacked expertise in geology. More
significantly, the question of possible confusion as a
result of the overlapping of labels and the inherent diffi-
culties of explaining this new issue was also raised.
Some delegations also noted the need to avoid down-
grading the biosphere reserve label, which had gained
wide recognition. Although it was considered that
geological sites within Biosphere Reserves might
increase the value of such reserves, the MAB Secretariat,
in consultation with the members of the Council, recom-
mended that Geoparks, as such, should not be included
within the MAB.
During the discussion following the presentation, it
was commented that MAB should also consider the
14
geological component, e.g. re-design nomination forms
and review of sites to include geology, and that oceanic
sites should also be considered as potential Biosphere
Reserves.
(3) Management of Social Transformations (MOST)
Mrs Brigitte Colin from the MOST Programme
presented a statement on current activities. She stated
that during this millennium the MOST Programme is
consolidating a solid basis for the development of inter-
national, comparative and interdisciplinary social science
research, on a broad range of topics in the three areas
covered by MOST. These are management of multicul-
tural and multi-ethnic societies; governance of cities;
and coping with global and local linkages.
In accordance with the recommendations of the mid-
term evaluation, the second phase of implementation of
the MOST Programme aims at consolidating a limited
number of networks and encouraging their interactions
and, on the other hand, extracting from the work of these
networks a well structured set of conclusions which
may be of assistance in formulating social development
strategies and increasing the participation of local
communities and disadvantaged groups (women, youth,
indigenous populations, and more generally impover-
ished populations) in the decision-making process. In
addition, the Programme focuses on poverty alleviation
strategies and on encouraging pilot projects that seek to
integrate the efforts against eviction and marginalisation
of the poorest, which is often a by-product of develop-
ment itself.
For the preparation of the next millennium, the main
priority of the Social and Human Sciences Sector
concerns the ‘Ethic of Sciences’, while one of the trans-
versal UNESCO priorities is ‘UNESCO’s strategy on
development and poverty eradication’ placed under the
umbrella of the strategy document 160 EX/13, prepared
by SHS.
The MOST programme for 2002/2003 will focus on the
improvement of policies related to social transforma-
tions, particularly by improving human security through
better management of social transformations included in
four main lines of action: global and local governance;
opportunities and challenges of the emerging knowledge
societies; and human security; and steering and devel-
opment of MOST.
Mrs Colin concluded that within these lines an enriched
co-operation will be maintained with the other five
scientific intergovernmental and international pro-
grammes, particularly with IGCP in actions concerning
risk management, ensuring human security in the urban
environment, the introduction of the knowledge society,
and improved use of MOST research in policy devel-
opment. The MOST Programme is also participating in
the elaboration of a crosscutting project on national
disaster reduction in Asia and the Caribbean.
(4) International Oceanographic Commission (IOC)
Mr Eder recalled the co-operation between the Division
of Earth Sciences and IOC in the field of Natural
Disaster Reduction, notably work on tsunamis. Future
regional joint activities might include the Caribbean
aiming at raising awareness of tsunamis, sea level
change, floods and volcanoes. Mr Eder invited IGCP
National Committees to establish and enhance contacts
with IOC National Committees.
(5) World Heritage Centre (WHC)
W. Eder presented matters of joint interest between
IGCP and the World Heritage Centre. He noted the well-
established co-operation between IGCP and the WHC
within IGCP project 425, dealing with the protection of
cultural world heritage sites against landslides.
(6) Commission of the
Geological Map of the World (CGMW)
Dr Philippe Buysse, Chairperson of the CGMW,
gave an account of the current activities of this non-
governmental organization, which is divided in geo-
graphical and thematical subcommissions. The CGMW
co-publishes a number of maps with UNESCO such as
the Geological World Atlas, Geological Map of the
World (2nd edition), Geological Map of Africa, mineral
deposits of Africa (sheet 1), Metallogenic maps of
South Africa and South-East Asia, and many more.
One Board Member commented that the making of the
African Map took a long time and suggested that
contributors and African Geological Surveys should
receive free copies.
13. World Conference on Science (WCS)
and follow-up activities
Mr Howard Moore (Director of Executive Office,
Science Sector and Co-ordinator for WCS follow up)
described the two-fold follow-up responsibilities of
UNESCO with respect to the World Conference on
Science. First, UNESCO has reoriented its own
programmes to respond to WCS recommendations
concerning issues such as science education, science
policies, the ethical dimension of scientific activity
and science popularisation, to name but a few. Already
the intergovernmental and international programmes,
for example, are responding to the call for greater
interdisciplinarity and joint activity, a response that
can be fully expressed during the forthcoming
biennium.
The Organization is also playing a clearing-house role,
encouraging and fostering WCS follow-up on the part
of all other stakeholders in science. As part of this
activity it has launched an on-line WCS Newsletter
whose purpose is to share information and initiatives
in favour of greater partnership in the pursuit of the
Conference’s aims and objectives. Contributions are
strongly encouraged on IGCP projects that respond to
the recommendations of Budapest on the various
science–society issues.
The URL of the Newsletter is http://www.unesco.org/
science/wcs/
14. Contribution of IGCP to the International Year
of the Mountains
Mr Thomas Schaaf from the Division of Ecological
Sciences made a statement on UNESCO’s activities with
regard to the International Year of the Mountains (IYM)
which has been proclaimed by the UN General Assembly
for the year 2002. He referred in particular to activities
that are also of interest to the IGCP, such as the prepa-
ration of a ‘UNESCO Mountain CD-ROM’ that includes
information on all UNESCO mountain biosphere
reserves and world heritage sites as well as on IGCP
and IHP projects related to mountains. The CD-ROM is
based on a global mountain map produced by the World
Conservation Monitoring Centre (WCMC) depicting in
digital form all mountain areas of the world: these sites
can be enlarged (‘zoomed’) to a maximum resolution of
1 square km. The CD-ROM will also be accessible via
Internet and will be available by the end of 2001 for
distribution and diffusion during the IYM. Mr Schaaf
also mentioned a proposed international expedition
to a peak above 8,000 m (possibly Mount Everest/
Qomolangma) which could benefit from inputs provided
by IGCP scientists.
15. IGCP and potential co-operation
with International Programmes
W. Eder reported on the International Scientific
Continental Drilling Programme (ICDP) and the
Integrated Ocean Drilling Programme (IODP) inviting
IGCP projects to co-operate.
The ICDP was inaugurated by Germany, China and the
United States in 1996 as a complementary undertaking
to the global ‘Ocean Drilling Programme’ (ICDP), and
has since enlarged its membership to include Japan,
Mexico and Poland, while Austria, Canada, Italy and the
Nordic countries are ready to join in 2001. Member-
ship is being considered by the Netherlands, Belgium,
Czech Republic, Greece, Ireland and Spain. UNESCO’s
involvement in the ICDP is manifested through a
Memorandum of Understanding between UNESCO and
the GeoForschungsZentrum (GFZ) Potsdam, Germany,
in the field of co-operation in Earth Sciences. This was
signed in 1996 and will be renewed shortly.
UNESCO, as a Liaison member, is providing intellec-
tual and (a little) financial input in order to guarantee
the representation and involvement in the ICDP of
geoscientists from Developing Countries.
15
The overall scientific mission of the ICDP is to provide
‘through the unique capacities of scientific drilling, exact
fundamental and globally significant knowledge of the
composition, structure and processes of the Earth’s
crust’ with particular focus on research themes such as:
- the physical and chemical processes responsible for
earthquakes and volcanic eruptions;
- the manner in which the Earth’s climate has changed
in the recent past and the reasons for such changes;
- the effects of major impacts on climate and mass
extinctions;
- the nature of the deep biosphere and its relation to
geological processes such as hydrocarbon matura-
tion, ore deposition and evolution of life on earth;
- how to safely dispose radioactive and other toxic
waste;
- how sedimentary basins and hydrocarbon resources
originate and evolve;
- how ore deposits are formed in diverse geological
settings; and
- the fundamental physics of plate tectonics and heat,
mass and fluid transfer through the Earth’s crust.
16. IGCP and the United Kingdom Environmental
Council (NERC)
Dr Paul Egerton from the Natural Environment Research
Council (NERC) announced the ‘Earth System Pro-
cesses’, a global meeting to be held at the Edinburgh
International Conference Centre (24th-28th June
2001), under the auspices of the Geological Society of
America and the Geological Society of London. A
special session will be organized in co-operation with
IGCP with the title ‘Tectonic and sedimentary process
interaction at global ocean margins: holistic strategies
for earth system modelling’ (convenors: Dr Paul Egerton,
Prof. Edward Derbyshire, and Dr Garry Karner Chair,
United States Margins Programme, Lamont Doherty,
Earth Observatory).
He said that the session will aim to place studies
of global Ocean Margins into an integrated frame in
order to understand the cross-linkages between the
Atmosphere, Hydrosphere, Cryosphere and Biosphere.
The organizers hope to encourage and develop new
co-operation between American and European
researchers. The involvement of UNESCO-IGCP will
facilitate closer links between international researchers
and enable multidisciplinary approaches. Opportunities
for a panel discussion between British Margins,
American Margins, European OMARC and IGCP will
facilitate the establish-ment of cross linkages.
He went on to explain that Global Ocean Margins are
the focus of tectono-sedimentary process interaction at
a variety of dimensions and time scales. It is of critical
importance to enhance the understanding of the link-
ages between (1) active faulting/structural architecture,
(2) sediment supply from continental sources (3) transfer
16
into the deep ocean, (4) migration of fluids at or near
the seabed, and (5) continental slope/margin stability.
The session will aim to place studies of Global Ocean
Margins into an integrated frame in order to facilitate
holistic forward and reverse modelling. Major global
research programmes such as the NERC British Ocean
Margins LINK, American Margins and the UNESCO/
IUGS-IGCP Programme are currently undertaking
fundamental research into these fields. It will therefore
be an opportunity to bring together the portfolio of
research themes from Europe and the United States into
a coherent strategy for the future. A detailed Under-
standing of the Crosslinkages with the Atmosphere,
Hydrosphere, Cryosphere and Biosphere are of prime
importance in formulating future science policies at
Ocean Margins. The keynote speakers are to be senior
science administrators who will highlight important
aspects of global research being carried out on process
interaction at Ocean Margins. Researchers with broad
technical interests in tectonics, sedimentation and
stability at Ocean Margins using multi-disciplinary
datasets from industry and academia will be encouraged
to make scientific oral presentations and display posters.
The development of a holistic understanding of geo-
logical processes/linkages from Continental to Ocean
Margins is of prime importance.
• The conference will follow the two linked themes of
Earth System Processes and Earth System Evolution
through its four days. The conference venue is
designed to have large integrated spaces, which make
possible the display of a large number of poster
presentations adjacent to large auditoria.
• The venue, the Edinburgh International Conference
Centre (EICC) takes great pride in being regarded
as Scotland’s foremost conference venue. Since
opening its doors in 1995, the EICC has established
a reputation for professionalism, excellence and
quality on a global scale. Positioned in the very heart
of a city rich with history, culture and heritage, the
purpose-built spectacular structure is designed to
give maximum flexibility for all occasions.
17. Topics for general discussion
(1) Main strategic axes of IGCP
The IGCP Secretary Mr Eder recalled the main deci-
sion and principal priorities of UNESCO for the years
to come that should be reflected also within the IGCP.
He presented potential project issues that could enhance
the co-operation with other divisions of UNESCO such
as Hydrology, Ecology or the Social and Human Sciences
Sector, so as to trigger projects on global assessment
of fossil groundwater, fossil landslides (geophysical
methodologies), karst ecosystems, land use in mining
areas, or ‘Hydrogeology of Sedimentary Aquifers’.
The Board commented that it is not clear how this
co-operation with other UNESCO programmes should
be triggered, how to use projects for educational purposes
or if the IGCP should request proposals in these areas.
It was also suggested that the IGCP website might well
be used to spell out priorities.
Mr Eder stated again that IGCP is a grass roots-oriented
programme but must, at the same time, follow
UNESCO’s priorities. He suggested that IGCP’s criteria
for assessment should take into account these priority
areas and that it must be prepared to be pro-active on
this matter.
(2) Co-IGCP initiative
The Chairman E. Derbyshire drew attention to the
co-operative initiative involving IGCP projects 413, 448,
404 (and its successor) and 396 (and its successor).
Under the initial heading of ‘Future human environ-
ments from past records’, an outline proposal had been
placed before IUGS – for consideration also by ICSU
– in 1998, putting forward conjoint action by the four
projects focused upon the carbon cycle in drylands, on
the continental shelves, and in karst lands. IUGS granted
US$10,000 in support of a feasibility study. This entailed
the production of a proposal document that formed the
basis of a successful application for ICSU support in
2000. An open meeting was then held at the Rio
International Geological Congress in 2000, followed
by a strategy meeting of the four leaders and the Chair-
man in Paris in 2001. A clear set of goals, methods and
products was agreed upon in Paris, alongside a timetable
for a three-year joint programme. Expressions of interest
in this initiative have now been received from, amongst
others, Commissions of the International Union of
Soil Sciences (IUSS), the International Geographical
Union (IGU), INQUA, and the IAS. The programme, to
be known as Carbon, Hydrology ANd Global Environ-
mental Systems (CHANGES), sub-titled ‘a UNESCO-
IUGS-ICSU Initiative’ currently has a working bud-
get of ca. US$35,000. It will concentrate on building
common databases and producing time-slice maps of
conditions in drylands, shelves and karst regions in the
context of the cycles of carbon dioxide, methane and
other gases. The specific regional focus should ensure
no clash with other environmental programmes such as
PAGES. Results will be presented at selected inter-
national meetings in 2002 and 2003, with completion of
the work in time for presentation at the International
Geological Congress in Florence, Italy, in 2004.
(3) IGCP website
Mrs Yolanda Berenguer, Webmaster of the Division of
Earth Sciences, presented an updated version of the
IGCP website, assisted by Mrs Pilar Chiang-Joo,
Informatics Officer of UNESCO’s Science Sector.
The website contains basic information on the
programme (including guidelines for submission of a
project and a proposal form), list of projects, names and
addresses of Project Leaders, names and addresses of
Board Members, a brief description of newly-accepted
projects, a list of events, a news bulletin, an ideas corner
and a search engine. IGCP annual reports and publica-
tions will soon be online. Through UNESCO’s Science
Server, a forum will be made available to improve
communication and flow of information among IGCP
Board Members.
IGCP has been on the world wide web since 1997.
The address of the site is: http://www.unesco.org/science/
earthsciences/igcp.
(4) Changing the title of the International
Geological Correlation Programme (IGCP)
The Board’s Chairperson introduced this item by
stressing the necessity to change the title of IGCP. This
need had become increasingly evident in the past 2 or
3 years, and it was believed that the change could be
achieved without losing the identity of the IGCP. A
motion proposing a change of title was put before the
Board and was adopted by 9 votes for, with 4 against
and with 3 abstentions. After a lively discussion, involv-
ing both Board Members and observers, the following
draft motion was agreed.
“WHEREAS
The established name ‘International Geological
Correlation Programme’ has historical significance and
is meaningful to geologists, but
MINDFUL
Of the fact that the term ‘correlation’ is confusing even
to scientists in other fields, especially at a time when
much of the programme no longer involves such activity,
The Scientific Board
CONSIDERS
That the name of the programme should be changed to
better reflect and convey its true nature and purpose at
the start of the 21st Century. Accordingly,
RECOGNISING
The desirability of retaining the historic, widely recog-
nised and respected acronym, the breadth of the modern
programme, and the scientific, educational and societal
priorities of its parent organizations UNESCO and
IUGS,
The Scientific Board
RECOMMENDS
To those bodies that its name be changed to the ‘Inter-
national Geoscience Programme’, the acronym IGCP be
retained, and the mission be expressed in the amended
subtitle ‘Earth Science in the Service of Society’.”
(5) IGCP Young Scientists Award
Mr Eder presented the novel idea of a Young Scientists
Award, as an encouragement to younger workers as well
as helping to increase the visibility of the IGCP. The
17
prize would be funded by US$5,000 from UNESCO and
US$5,000 from IUGS. Young researchers involved in co-
operative work in the framework of IGCP would be
eligible. The IUGS part of the budget would be taken
from IGCP’s budget. For this purpose guidelines and
criteria would have to be developed. The Board proposed
to support young scientists in raising ‘mini’ IGCP pro-
jects, ‘Young Scientists projects’ (triggering interna-
tional co-operation between young scientists), and that
the funds should be used to contribute to travel or labo-
ratory costs. Provision would have to be made to ensure
that applications do not come only from developed
countries. The definition of ‘young’, which could mean
‘scientific age’, remains to be determined. IGCP leaders
could be asked to make proposals The IUGS Treasurer
reaffirmed that the IUGS part for this Award would come
from the budget foreseen for the IGCP.
(6) Initiatives for IGCP regional meetings
Mr Eder announced that the United Kingdom has
expressed its willingness to host a regional meeting in
2002.
The following Board Members agreed to continue to
contribute in their personal capacity to the geological
heritage activities: P. Jakes̆ (Czech Republic), A.
Kampunzu (Botswana), V. Ramos (Argentina) and
X. Zhao (China).
IUGS agreed on this and expressed its sympathy with
the Geoparks initiative, support for the idea and offers
of assistance (e.g. through its National Committees).
However, it pointed out that this should not take place
at the expense of IGCP. The IUGS working group on
global geosites is about to be revised by the new IUGS
Committee.
Certain Board Members reported that the Geological
Survey organizations in Australia generally support the
idea, although there are already enough parks in
Australia. In Africa the Geological Surveys also took up
this theme and are going ahead in this direction (regard-
less of its approval by UNESCO as a programme)
because it is of considerable educational interest.

The XIIth Geological Congress of Latin America will 19. Summary of IGCP National Committee
be held from 12 to 16 November 2001 in Montevideo, Reports
Uruguay.
As of 4 February 2001, 32 National Committees sent in
It was reported that IGCP is progressing only very a report. Board Members reviewed 2 reports each. The
slowly in Africa. The Geological Society of Africa will Chairperson asked Professor J. Teller to take on the task
take up this topic and intends – in close co-operation of collating the reports.
with the IGCP Secretariat – to increase African pro-
jects. Special favours (to be less strict, with somewhat Austria France Russia
higher funding) were also requested for the assessment Argentina Germany Slovak Republic
of projects proposed by under-represented countries. Australia Hungary Slovenia
Azerbaijan India South Africa
Belarus Iran Spain
18. UNESCO’s Geoparks initiative Brazil Israel Sweden
Canada Italy United
Mr Eder recalled the basic objectives of this initiative Croatia Japan Kingdom
which aims to provide education on Earth Sciences at Cyprus Korea Ukraine
large, by preserving and developing selected areas of Czech Republic New Zealand Venezuela
local or regional geological value and, through net- Finland Poland Viet Nam
working, improving the international recognition of
geological heritage (public information, sustainable These 32 reports described activities in 2000. Of these,
tourism). This idea has been discussed and developed 11 countries currently have representatives on the
for more than two years. Mr Eder asked the Board for Scientific Board. Most of these National Committee
support of the initiative and for co-operation. Reports describe major participation in IGCP activities.
Some countries describe a strong financial commitment
Mr Eder continued reporting on the presentation of a to their IGCP members, including Australia, Austria,
Feasibility Study last Autumn presented to UNESCO’s Canada, China, Czech Republic, Finland, Germany,
Executive Board, which decided to ask the International India, Japan, and the United Kingdom. Brazil strongly
Co-ordination Council of MAB to deal with the matter, supported IGCP for the 31st International Geological
during its session in November 2000. The decision of Congress in Rio. China has provided increasing finan-
that meeting has already been reported by the Director cial support for the IGCP and expects to expand this
of the Division of Ecology P. Bridgewater above (see support in the future. Financial support for IGCP pro-
item 11. (2)). jects was provided also by Germany, Japan and the
United Kingdom.
The Division of Earth Sciences will include geological
heritage in its next work plan and will co-operate bilat- According to the 32 National Committee Reports,
erally with Member States who express concrete interest. most countries are involved in between 5 to 27 IGCP

18
projects, although some reports do not specify which
projects. Notable participation statistics are: United
Kingdom (32 projects, 4 leaders), Canada (27 pro-
jects, 8 leaders), France (27 projects, 6 leaders), Russia
(27 projects, 4 leaders), Germany (22 projects), Israel
(18 projects), China (17 projects, 5 leaders), Australia
(16 projects, 6 leaders), Sweden (11 projects, 7 leaders),
Japan (11 projects, 4 leaders), Brazil (11 projects,
3 leaders), India (10 projects, 2 leaders), and Spain
(10 projects, 1 leader). Countries with participation
or leadership in 5 to 9 projects include: Argentina,
Austria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Slovak
Republic, Slovenia, Venezuela, and Viet Nam. Other
countries reporting participation include Belarus,
Croatia, Finland, Korea, New Zealand, and South Africa.
Other countries submitting reports include Azerbaijan,
Costa Rica, Cyprus, and Ukraine.
The nature of the National Committee Reports varied
enormously. Some were very informative in helping the
Board to understand the activities of both the Committee
and specific IGCP group activities and accomplish-
ments, with some listing publications resulting from
their country’s activities. The reports of Argentina,
Australia, Austria, Brazil, Canada, China, Czech Republic,
France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Slovak Republic,
Slovenia, Spain, and Venezuela were very thorough and
informative. Some reports provided funding support
information, while others did not. It is clear that IGCP
activities are strongly supported by some countries, but
marginally supported if at all by other countries, even
though they are IGCP member countries.
In 2000, the Japanese National Committee organized a
special symposium on ‘Earth’s environment and IGCP
activities in the 21st century’. Brazil hosted the 31st Inter-
national Geological Congress in Rio in 2000, and many
IGCP symposia and meetings were part of that meet-
ing. Italy will host the 2004 International Geological
Congress in Florence and expects a large IGCP pro-
gramme. Some countries and IGCP National Com-
mittees appear to encourage IGCP meetings in their
countries, although those meetings may largely be attrib-
utable to individual IGCP members promoting those
meetings.
India issues a regular IGCP Newsletter, with No. 20
appearing last year, and considers that Internet commu-
nication of national IGCP activities should be promoted.
Russia said they would like to see IGCP project results
included in ‘Geological Correlation’. Perhaps there
could be a more timely appearance of annual project
reports. The Slovak Republic would like to have some
of the funding of the fifth year of the project set aside
for publication of results.
The Board stated that all IGCP member countries should
be encouraged to (1) promote and publicise IGCP
activities, (2) encourage proposals from its country,
(3) provide financial support to IGCP activities, and
(4) submit an annual report (or, in some cases, provide
more elaboration in the one submitted). Relatively few
developing countries submitted a National Committee
report. To encourage participation in IGCP by devel-
oping countries, the Board of IGCP should continue to
promote IGCP and the potential of project leadership
from these countries, and assist researchers located in
developing countries in preparing IGCP proposals and
in becoming part of existing IGCP projects. The Board
should consider contacting the appropriate officials in
developing countries in order to foster IGCP activities
and establish official recognition for IGCP in the form
of a National Committee. In addition, officials in all
countries should be persuaded to provide financial
support for participation of their geoscientists in IGCP
projects. Venezuela stressed the need for increasing
IGCP visibility.
20. General matters arising from the assessments
In response to repeated requests, the Secretariat prom-
ised to distribute financial statements showing the way
funds were spent in order to help the work of Members
at forthcoming Scientific Board meetings. It was recalled
that allocation of funds should be speeded up in order
to avoid financial difficulties with participants from
developing countries. The Secretariat was also invited to
assist projects in case of problems in obtaining visas.
21. Membership of the Scientific Board in 2001
Mr Eder thanked the retiring Board Members for their
devoted service. These include:
Dr E. Robinson (WG 1), Prof. E. Derbyshire (WG 2),
Dr I. Niang-Diop (WG 2), Prof. N. Samani (WG 2) and
Dr P. Jakes (WG 3).
The Board approved unanimously the nomination of
Prof. Ian Dalziel as new Chairperson of the IGCP for
2002-2003.
22. Assessment reviews
The Board commented on individual projects as follows:
Ongoing projects (total 45)
347 Correlation of Ganges-Brahmaputra Sediments
348 Economic Superaccumulations of Metals in
Lithosphere
349 Proterozoic Events in East Gondwana Deposits
373 Correlation, Anatomy and Magmatic-
Hydrothermal Evolution of Ore-Bearing Felsic
Igneous Systems in Eurasia
380 Biosedimentology of Microbial Buildups
381 South Atlantic Mesozoic Correlation
19
382 Seismotectonics and Seismic Hazard Assessment 393 Neritic Middle-Upper Eocene
of the Mediterranean Basin 405 Anthropogenic Impact on Weathering Processes
383 Palaeostress, Neotectonics, Geodynamics 406 Circum-Arctic Palaeozoic Vertebrates
and Natural Hazards in West Pacific/Asia
386 Response to the Ocean/Atmosphere System New and resubmitted proposals accepted (total 6)
to Past Global Changes 447 Proterozoic Molar-tooth Carbonates
393 Neritic Middle-Upper Eocene 455 Basement Volcanoes Interplay and Human
394 Continental Shelves in the Quaternary Activities
395 Geodynamics of Continental Rifting 457 Seismic Hazard and Risk Assessment in North
396 Terrestrial Carbon in the Past 125 Ka Africa
397 Anthropogenic Impact on Weathering Processes 458 Triassic/Jurassic Boundary Events
398 Circum-Arctic Palaeozoic Vertebrates 459 Terrestrial Carbon Cycle
399 Rocks and Minerals at Great Depth 464 Continental Shelves During the Last Glacial
and on the Surface Cycle: Knowledge and Applications
400 The Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event
401 Geodynamics of Gondwanaland-derived Terranes
in East and South Asia Review of IGCP projects and new project proposals
402 Understanding Future Dryland Changes
from Past Dynamics Proposed status of IGCP Projects in 2001
403 Seismic Ground Motion in Large Urban Areas
Ongoing Projects
404 Glaciation and Re-organization of Asia’s Completed
Funded Projects
Drainage
Completed Terminated OET Low Medium High
405 Kibraran Events in South-western Africa Low High
406 Foreland Basins of the Neoproterozoic Belts in 354 383 386 425 414 433 408 373
Central-to-Southern Africa and South America 368 393 434 426 443 411 410
380 405 430 448 418 413
420 Phanerozoic Crustal Growth 381 406 437 449 420 415
421 North Gondwanan Mid-Palaeozoic Biodynamics 382 442 450 428 419
396 453 436 421
425 Landslide Hazard Assessment and Cultural 400 454 427
Heritage 404 429
431
426 Granite Systems and Proterozoic Lithospheric 432
Processes 440
427 Ore-Forming Processes in Dynamic Magmatic Totals:
8 1 4 2 5 7 6 11
Systems
428 Climate and Boreholes
429 Organics in Major Environmental Issues
430 Mantle Dynamics and Natural Hazards Proposed status of IGCP project proposals in 2001
431 African Pollen Database
Refused Accepted
432 Contourites, Bottom Currents
Rejected Re-submission Medium Funding
and Palaeocirculation
433 Caribbean Plate Tectonics 423 460 447
456 461 455
434 Land-Ocean Interactions During the Cretaceous 462 457
in Asia 463 458
465 459
435 Pacific Gondwana Margin 464
437 Coastal Environmental Change During Sea-Level Totals:
2 5 6
High Stands
Total of project proposals listed: 13 Accepted: 6
440 Rodinia Assembly and Breakup
442 Raw Materials of Neolithic Artefacts
443 Magnesite and Talc-Geological
and Environmental Correlations
448 World Correlation on Karst Ecosystem 23. Chairperson’s concluding remarks
449 Global Correlation of Late Cenozoic Fluvial
Deposits The Chairman expressed his pleasure, and that of the
450 Proterozoic Sediment-Hosted Base Metal Board as a whole, on seeing so many representatives
Deposits of Western Gondwana from National IGCP Committees at this year’s Board
453 Modern and Ancient Orogens meeting. He also recorded the gratitude of the Board to
454 Medical Geology Dr William Cavazza for his most informative account
of plans for the 32nd IGC to be held in Firenze, Italy,
The following projects are O.E.T. in 2001 (total 4) in August 2004. The Board was also given food for
386 Response of the Ocean/Atmosphere System thought by the IUGS President’s proposal that the IGCP
to Past Global Changes help launch an International Year of the Earth.

20
An important element of this year’s meeting of the
Scientific Board was the presentation and discussion
of certain changes in direction on the part of UNESCO,
some of which are deep-seated and to which IGCP will
have to adapt. The meeting has been graced by the
presence of ADG/SC a.i., Mr Gisbert Glaser, who drew
attention to these changes while also assuring the
Board of the continuing high regard for the IGCP’s
aims and achievements within the science programmes
of UNESCO. Mr Glaser drew particular attention to
the enhanced role of the Working Group of the Five
Chairpersons, and the opportunities this affords all
programmes including the IGCP. At the same time,
optimisation of these opportunities will demand that
new initiatives and priorities will have to be consid-
ered by the IGCP. This point was made more specifi-
cally by the newly appointed Deputy Assistant
Director-General for Science, Mr Szöllösy-Nagy, who
pointed out that the priority to be given by UNESCO
to hydrology over the next few years should be seen
as an opportunity, and he warmly invited the IGCP to
join with IHP in a series of new ventures. The state-
ments made on behalf of the other UNESCO pro-
grammes served to emphasise the importance of the
IGCP response to these changes. The Board was assured
by the President of the IUGS, Prof. Eduardo de Mulder,
that the IGCP remains a core programme of the IUGS
input into UNESCO’s Science Sector. His confirmation
that, by way of the IGCP, the IUGS stands ready to
co-operate in the trans-diciplinary plans outlined by the
Five Chairpersons is appreciated. Dr Atilio Boriani,
Secretary General of the IUGS, endorsed these views
and referred to the strong mutual support given by the
IUGS and the Earth Sciences Division in sustaining
the IGCP. Such convergence of support for the IGCP
is greatly valued.
After discussion of the subject for several years, the
Board this year finally resolved to request its parent
organizations to approve a small, but important change
in its name without, at the same time altering either its
well-known acronym or its readily-recognised logo.
The Chairman continued as follows:
“I am bound to record my thanks for the way the Board
has conducted the important business of evaluating
new project proposals and assessing the annual reports
of current projects. Members’ professionalism and care
in undertaking this task within the relatively short time
available to them has again eased my work as Chair-
person. The conclusions reached appear to me to be
clear, fair and equitable.
Special thanks are due to Dr Susan Turner for taking on
the onerous task of rapporteur. We also thank
Dr James Teller for acting as editor for the composite
document on National IGCP Committee reports. I should
also like to congratulate the Board on approving the
appointment of Dr Ian Dalziel as its new Chairperson.
It has chosen well. I congratulate Dr Dalziel on his
appointment and wish him every success throughout his
term of office.
In chairing this, my last Scientific Board meeting,
I should like to record my particular gratitude to the late
Sir Malcolm Brown, Dr Brian Skinner and Dr Robin
Brett for the confidence they showed in inviting me to
take up the Chair of this Board. The task has proved
to be variously challenging, inspiring, frustrating and
gratifying. It has never been dull.
Throughout the five years I have held this office, I have
been aided enormously by the help, support and friend-
ship of the ADG/SC a.i., Mr Gisbert Glaser, former
IGCP Scientific Secretary Dr Vladislav Babus̆ka, and
Dr Wolfgang Eder (both as the present IGCP Scientific
Secretary and Director of the Earth Sciences Division).
I am also most grateful to Dr Margarete Patzak, together
with the staff on the sixth floor, for help throughout my
time as Chairman.
I should like to record my gratitude for sustained sup-
port and wise counsels afforded to the IGCP, and to me
personally, by all members of the United Kingdom
Permanent Delegation to UNESCO, starting with the
re-entry into UNESCO of the United Kingdom with
effect from the General Conference of October-
November 1999.
My task as Chairperson has also been aided by the
support of the Geological Society of London and, in
particular, Professor Chris Wilson as Chairman of the
GSL’s External Relations Committee. The support and
material assistance of the Royal Society (through its
Earth Resources Committee as the National Committee
for the IGCP) is also gratefully acknowledged.
Three decades of development, adaptation and evolution
by the IGCP has now been provided by the always
changing, but remarkably consistent, Scientific Board.
Despite periodic threats and challenges, I remain confi-
dent that IGCP’s course will continue. The Programme
remains unique in nature, scope, mode of operation and
responsiveness. Long may it prosper!”
24. Dates of the next Scientific Board Meeting (2002)
UNESCO Headquarters: 4 to 7 February 2002.
25. Report of the IGCP Secretary
2000 was the second year within the history of IGCP
in which I served in a double capacity, as IGCP Secretary
and Director of the Division of Earth Sciences. The
integration of the tasks of IGCP Secretary with the
responsibilities of the Directorship has functioned very
well. The IGCP has been and will also in future be the
21
backbone of the Earth Science Division’s activities,
which will to some extent complement the challenges
of the ‘grass rooted’ IGCP.
The year 2000 was characterized by some financial
compensation action related to budgetary shortcoming
in the year 1999 (see chapter 10. Finances). At the end
of the year 2000 one of the key persons within the IGCP
Secretariat retired, Ms Sally Cochrane. I should like to
take this opportunity to thank Sally for dedication to
the IGCP over more than 12 years. The secretarial work
of IGCP will be concentrated in the next year around
Ms Sophie Laryea; but additional support to the
Programme will be also provided by Ms Denise Armand,
and Ms Denise Jean. At this stage, I should like to
mention that my task as IGCP Secretary has again
been facilitated by the excellent assistance of
Ms Margarete Patzak.
Last but not least, one word as regards the renewed idea
about cutting the number of IGCP Board Members in
half (i.e. from 16 to 8). The motive appears to be strictly
financial! I am against this move! A strong programme
in Earth Sciences within the area of the other UNESCO
Intergovernmental Programmes requires a degree of
diplomacy at several levels within UNESCO. The range
of expertise and national viewpoints provided by just
16 Board Members (out of a total involvement in IGCP
of 140 nations) is vital to maintaining the representa-
tion of eminent geoscientists (including Developing
World geoscientists) within the IGCP.
(1) Thanks to the outgoing members
of the Scientific Board
In 2000 three members of the Scientific Board retired:
WG 2: Quarternary, Environmental and Engineering
Geosciences
Prof. Nat W. Rutter (Canada)
WG 3: Mineral Deposits, Petrology, Volcanology,
Geochemistry
Prof. Zhao Xun (China)
WG 4: Geophysics, Tectonics, Structural Geology
Prof. Henri A.B. Kampunzu (Botswana)
In 2001 five members will complete their four-year
service:
WG 1: Stratigraphy, Palaeontology, Sedimentology,
Fossil Fuels
Dr Edward Robinson (Jamaica)
WG 2: Quaternary, Environmental and Engineering
Geosciences
Prof. Edward Derbyshire (United Kingdom), the Board’s
Chairperson
Dr Isabelle Niang-Diop (Senegal)
Prof. Nozar Samani (Iran)
WG 3: Mineral Deposits, Petrology, Volcanology,
Geochemistry
Dr Petr JakeÎ (Czech Republic)
22
(2) New members of the Scientific Board
Three new members to the IGCP Scientific Board have
been appointed out of about 100 nominees for the term
2001-2004, by a joint decision of the Director-General
of UNESCO, Koïchiro Matsuura and the President of
the International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS),
Prof. Ed de Mulder.
WG 2: Quarternary, Environmental and Engineering
Geosciences
Prof. James Tobias Teller (Canada)
Department of Geological Sciences, University of
Manitoba
WG 3: Mineral Deposits, Petrology, Volcanology,
Geochemistry
Prof. Sospeter M. Muhongo (Tanzania)
Department of Geology, University of Dar es Salaam
WG 4: Geophysics, Tectonics, Structural Geology
Prof. Yang Zhenyu (China)
Institute of Geomechanics, Chinese Academy of
Geological Sciences
(3) IGCP projects terminated in 1999 (recapitulation)
(O.E.T. – on extended term)
369 Peritethyan Rift Basins (1994-1998, O.E.T. in
1999)
371 North Atlantic Precambrian – COPENA (1994-
1998, O.E.T. in 1999)
376 Laurentian-Gondwanan Connections (1994-1998,
O.E.T. in 1999)
379 Karst Process and Carbon Cycle (1995-1999)
391 Sand Accumulations and Groundwater in the
Sahara (1995-1999)
(4) Project proposals received in 1999 (recapitulation)
(a) Out of 13 project proposals received and assessed
by the IGCP Scientific Board, the seven following were
accepted:
433 Caribbean Plate Tectonics, Origin and Evolution
of the Region (2000-2004, resubmitted)
443 Magnesite and Talc (2000-2004, resubmitted)
448 World Correlation on Karst Ecosystem (2000-
2004)
449 Global Correlation in Late Cenozoic Fluvial
Deposits (2000-2004)
450 Proterozoic Sediment-Hosted Base Metal Deposits
of Western Gondwana (2000-2004)
453 Modern and Ancient Orogenes (2000-2004)
454 Medical Geology (2000-2004)
(b) Three proposals were recommended for resubmission:
447 Significance of Molar-Tooth Carbonate in Mid-
Late Proterozoic
451 Geodynamics of the Kamtchatka-Kurile-Sakhalin
Region
452 Arsenic in Groundwater
(5) Ongoing projects in 2000 400 Geodynamics of Continental Rifting
The list of ongoing projects comprises 40 active pro- D. Delvaux (Belgium), A. Khan (United
jects and five O.E.T. (distribution of projects according Kingdom)
to the year of termination). 1996-2000
404 Terrestrial Carbon in the Past 125 Ka
2000: 347, 354, 368, 380, 381, 382, 383, 386, 393, 396, H. Faure (France), A. Velichko (Russia)
400, 404, 405, 406 (14) 1996-2000
2001: 373, 410, 414, 415, 418, 421, 432 (seven) 405 Anthropogenic Impact on Weathering Processes
2002: 408, 411, 413, 419, 420, 425, 426, 427, 428, 429, P. Sulovský, J. Zeman (Czech Republic)
431, 442 (12) 1996-2000
2003: 434, 436, 437, 440 (four) 406 Circum-Arctic Palaeozoic Vertebrates
2004: 430, 433, 443, 448, 449, 450, 453, 454 (eight) M.V.H. Wilson (Canada), T. Märss (Estonia)
1996-2000
347 Correlation of Ganges-Brahmaputra Sediments 408 Rocks and Minerals at Great Depth
Md. Hussain Monsur (Bangladesh) and on the Surface
1995-1999, O.E.T. in 2000 F.P. Mitrofanov, D.M. Guberman (Russia),
354 Economic Superaccumulations of Metals H.-J. Kümpel (Germany)
in Lithosphere 1998-2002
Pei Rongfu (China), P. Laznicka (Canada), 410 The Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event
J. Kutina (United States), D.V. Rundquist B.D. Webby (Australia), M.L. Droser (United
(Russia), I. Plimer (Australia), T. Nakajima States), F. Paris (France)
(Japan) 1997-2001
1995-1999, O.E.T. in 2000 411 Geodynamics of Gondwanaland-derived Terranes
368 Proterozoic Events in East Gondwana Deposits in E & S. Asia
M. Yoshida (Japan), M. Santosh (India), S. Hada (Japan)
C.R. Dissnayake (Sri Lanka) 1998-2002
1995-1999, O.E.T. in 2000 413 Understanding Future Dryland Changes from
373 Correlation, Anatomy and Magmatic- Past Dynamics
Hydrothermal Evolution of Ore-Bearing Felsic D. Thomas (United Kingdom), A.K. Singhvi
Igneous Systems in Eurasia (India)
R. Seltmann (Germany), R. Grauch (United 1998-2002
States), A.A. Kremenetsky (Russia) 414 Seismic Ground Motion in Large Urban Areas
1997-2001 G.F. Panza (Italy)
380 Biosedimentology of Microbial Buildups 1997-2001
J. Reitner (Germany) 415 Glaciation and Reorganization
1995-1999, O.E.T. in 2000 of Asia’s Drainage
381 South Atlantic Mesozoic Correlation J.T. Teller (Canada), R. Vaikmae (Estonia)
E.A.M. Koutsoukos (Brazil), 1997-2001
P. Bengtson (Germany) 418 Kibraran Events in Southwestern Africa
1995-1999, O.E.T. in 2000 and 2001 R.M. Key (Botswana)
382 Seismotectonics and Seismic Hazard Assessment 1997-2001
of the Mediterranean Basin 419 Foreland Basins of the Neoproterozoic Belts
D. Giardini (Italy), K. Makropoulos (Greece), in Central-to-Southern Africa and South America
J. Mezcua (Spain) and S. Riad (Egypt) M. Wendorff (Botswana), P.L. Binda (Canada)
1996-2000 1998-2002
383 Palaeostress, Neotectonics, Geodynamics 420 Phanerozoic Crustal Growth
and Natural Hazards in West Pacific/Asia Bor-ming Jahn (France)
R.H. Findlay (Papua New Guinea) 1998-2002
1996-2000 421 North Gondwanan Mid-Palaeozoic Biodynamics
386 Response of the Ocean/Atmosphere System R. Feist (France), J.A. Talent (Australia)
to Past Global Changes 1997-2001
D.M. Banerjee (India), L.A. Derry (United 425 Landslide Hazard Assessment and Cultural
States), Z. Sawlowicz (Poland) Heritage
1996-2000 K. Sassa (Japan)
393 Neritic Middle-Upper Eocene 1998-2002
E. Caus (Spain) 426 Granite Systems and Proterozoic Lithospheric
1996-2000 Processes
396 Continental Shelves in the Quaternary J. S. Bettencourt (Brazil) O. T. Rämö (Finland),
W. W.-S. Yim (Hong Kong), P.J. Davies (Australia) W. R. Van Schmus (United States)
1996-2000 1998-2002

23
427 Ore-Forming Processes in Dynamic Magmatic
Systems
C.M. Lesher, S.-J. Barnes (Canada),
H.M. Prichard (United Kingdom)
1998-2002
428 Climate and Boreholes
V. Čermák (Czech Republic), H. N. Pollack
(United States), C. Clauser (Germany)
1998-2002
429 Organics in Major Environmental Issues
Jan Pašava (Czech Republic)
1998-2002
430 Mantle Dynamics and Natural Hazards
M. F.J. Flower (United States), V. I. Mocanu
(Romania), R. M. Russo (United States),
Nguyen Trong Yem (Viet Nam)
2000-2004
431 African Pollen Database
A.M. Lezine (France), A. Sowunmi (Nigeria)
1998-2002
432 Contourites, Bottom Currents and
Palaeocirculation
D.A.V. Stow (United Kingdom)
1998-2001
433 Caribbean Plate Tectonics
Manuel A. Iturralde-Vinent (Cuba),
Edward G. Lidiak (United States)
2000-2004
434 Land-Ocean Interactions during the Cretaceous
in Asia
H. Hirano (Japan)
1999-2003
436 Pacific Gondwana Margin
R.J. Pankhurst, (United Kingdom),
J.D. Bradshaw (New Zealand), L. Spalletti
(Argentina)
1999-2003
437 Coastal Environmental Change during Sea-Level
Highstands
C.V. Murray-Wallace (Australia)
1999-2003
440 Rodinia Assembly and Breakup
R. Unrug (United States), C. McA. Powell
(Australia)
1999-2003
442 Raw Materials of Neolithic Artefacts
D. Hovorka (Slovak Republic)
1999-2002
443 Magnesite and Talc-Geological
and Environmental Correlations
M. Radvanec (Slovak Republic), W. Prochaska
(Austria), A. C. Gondim (Brazil), B. Chistaras
(Greece)
2000-2004
448 World Correlation on Karst Ecosystem
Yuan Daoxian (China)
2000-2004
449 Global Correlation of late Cenozoic fluvial deposits
D. Bridgland (United Kingdom)
2000-2004
24
450 Proterozoic Sediment-Hosted Base Metal
Deposits of Western Gondwana
S. S. Iyer (Canada), A. Misi (Brazil),
A. F. Kamona (Namibia), J. Cailteux
(Democratic Republic of Congo)
2000-2004
453 Modern and ancient orogens
J. B. Murphy (Canada), J. D. Keppie (Mexico)
2000-2004
454 Medical Geology
O. Selinus (Sweden), P. Bobrowsky (Canada)
2000-2004
(6) Extension requests by projects
O.E.T. (on extended term) status, extension of the dura-
tion of projects without funding for one year, has been
requested by the leaders of IGCP projects 393, and 405.
As the final meeting of IGCP project 386 was postponed
from 2000 to 2001, the IGCP Secretariat suggests to
attribute O.E.T. also to this project.
(7) Publications
The English version of the IGCP annual report
‘Geological Correlation No. 27’ was published in
Summer 2000 and distributed to IGCP National
Committees, IGCP project leaders, various geoscience
institutions worldwide as well as interested individuals.
The French version is just being translated.
(8) Websites and home pages
The IGCP website (http://www.unesco.org/science/
earthsciences/projectsl) is now updated regularly with
information and latest news on field trips, meetings and
a link to the latest issue of ‘Episodes’.
National Committees and national agencies are also
slowly starting to use the internet as a mean of quick
and world wide publicity. Some examples are:
Austrian Academy of Sciences
http://www.oeaw.ac.at/mathnat/foprog/#International
Geological Correlation Programme
Spanish National IGCP Committee
http://www.ehu.es/~gpplapam/PICG/introduccion.html
Links are established with all IGCP projects having their
home pages available on the world wide web:
IGCP 367
http://www.carleton.ca/~tpatters/IGCP367.html
IGCP 368
http://www.homestead.com/grg/IGCP368home.html
IGCP 369
http://www.geomin.unibo.it/orgv/igcp/igcp.htm
IGCP 373 IGCP 425
http://www.nhm.ac.uk/mineralogy/seltmann/IGCP/index.html http://landslide.dpri.kyoto-u.ac.jp/igcp/

IGCP 379 IGCP 427

http://www.gxnu.edu.cn/KDL/ http://www.laurentian.ca/www/geology/IGCP/IGCP.htm

IGCP 380 IGCP 429

http://www.gwdg.de/~fneuwei/380-1.htm http://www.min.tu-clausthal.de/www/sga/news6/art6.html

IGCP 381 IGCP 430

http://www.rzuser.uni-heidelberg.de/~dc8/samc/index.html http://ns.gg.unibuc.ro/igcp430/

IGCP 382 IGCP 431

http://seismo.ethz.ch/gshap/sesame/ http://medias.meteo.fr/apd/

IGCP 383 IGCP 432

http://seismology.sm.rmit.ed.au and http://.seis.comm.au
IGCP 391
http://crsa.bu.edu/Research/UNESCO/UNESCO2.html
IGCP 396
http://www2.env.uea.ac.uk/gmmc
IGCP 400
http://www.le.ac.uk/gl/pkm/Current/Rifts.html
IGCP 404
http://www.esd.ornl.gov/ern/qen/
http://inqua.nlh.no/comm/carbon.html
http://www.soc.soton.ac.uk/LIB/socpubs/wwwnonref99.html
http://www.soc.soton.ac.uk/LIB/socpubs/wwwlect99.html
IGCP 440
http://www.tsrc.uwa.edu.au/rodinia/index.htm
IGCP 442
http://www.ace.hu/ace-home/igcp442/igcp442.html
IGCP 443
http://www.gssr.sk/igcp443 (does not work)
IGCP 448
http://www.glnet.edu.cn/KDL/

IGCP 405 IGCP 450

http://www.sci.muni.cz/~sulovsky/igcp405.html http://www.elsevier.com/homepage/sad/aes/gsa/gsa.htm
#IGCP450
IGCP 406
http://www.biology.ualberta.ca/wilson.hp/Paleozoic.html
(9) Finances
IGCP 410 The statistics of IGCP project’s financial situation from
http://www.es.mq.edu.au/MUCEP/igcp410/index.htm 1988 to 2000 is listed in Table 1. In 1999, the financial
http://www.hku.hk/earthsci/41199pubs.htm situation was more difficult compared to the previous
year due to an overall reduction of funds available for
IGCP 411 UNESCO’s Programmes.
http://plaza.snu.ac.kr/~geol/IGCP411/index2.html
Table 1
IGCP 413
http://www.shef.ac.uk/~igcp413/ No. of projects Average
Year UNESCO IUGS Total O.E.T. per
Overall Funded project
+ nil
IGCP 414
All sums in US $1.000 units
http://www.ictp.trieste.it/www_users/sand/projects.html
http://www.ictp.trieste.it/www_users/sand/unesco-414.html 1988 173.3 104.0 277.5 53 50 3 5.5
1989 143.1 109.9 253.0 55 50 2+3 5.0
1990 185.0 121.0 306.0 61 54 6+1 5.6
IGCP 415 1991 185.0 137.0 322.0 59 55 3+1 5.8
http://mercury.eas.ualberta.ca/igcp/IGCP415.html 1992 170.0 137.0 307.0 56 50 5+1 6.1
http://lakeview.ucr.edu/2.html 1993 173.0 147.2 320.2 60 56 4 5.7
1994 190.3 137.0 327.3 54 50 4 6.5
1995 197.7 143.5 341.2 53 51 2 6.6
IGCP 420 1996 199.8 130.0 329.8 56 49 7 6.7
http://www.geosciences.univ-rennes1.fr/igcp420/ 1997 204.0 55.0 259.0 53 45 8 5.8
1998 205.0 90.0 295.0 49 40 9 7.4
IGCP 421 1999 219.0 (190.0) 90.0 309.0 43 40 3 7.7
2000 158.7 (187.7) 95.0 253.7 45 40 5 6.3
http://www.es.mq.edu.au/MUCEP/

25
Table 2 463 Upper Cretaceous marine Red beds
C. Wang (China), M. Sarti (Italy),
Category Funds No. of projects R.W. Scott (United States)
US $ 2001-2005
High funding 9,000 11 464 Continental Shelves during the last Glacial
Medium funding 7,250 4 Cycle: Knowledge and Applications
6,000 11 F.L. Chiocci (Italy), A.R. Chivas (Australia)
5,100 7
3,500 6 2001-2005
Low funding 3,000 1
O.E.T. – 5
(11) IGCP Secretary’s missions in 2000
F.W. Eder participated in conferences and/or interna-
Since 1994, over 30% of the IGCP budget has been tional meetings and promoted the IGCP on missions to:
decentralized. In 2000, 13 projects have been decen-
tralized to the UNESCO Offices in the following cities: • Cairo (IUGS Executive Committee Meeting, January
Jakarta (4 projects), Montevideo (2 projects), Cairo 2000)
(3 projects) and Nairobi (4 projects).
• Merida, Mexico (International Continental Drilling
Programme, April 2000)
(10) 12 project proposals received in 2000 • Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (International Geological
423 Cenozoic Palaeoenvironmental Effects Congress, August 2000).
in the Pacific Ocean
K. Ogasawara (Japan) At the GEOEXPO 2000 during the 30th IGC in Rio de
2001-2005 (resubmitted) Janeiro, UNESCO was given the opportunity to present
447 Proterozoic Molar-tooth carbonates at an exhibit booth general information material on
X. Meng (China), D.G.F. Long (Canada), UNESCO’s Natural Sciences Sector and, in particular,
R. Bourrouilh (France) the IGCP Programme. A number of IGCP projects had
2002-2005 (resubmitted) prepared their results in form of posters which were
455 Basement Volcanoes interplay and human activities exhibited.
A. Tibaldi (Italy)
2001-2005 • Cuenca, Madrid, Spain (Nat. Com. IGCP, European
456 Deep Structure-Concentration of Metals Geological Surveys, September/October 2000)
R. Pei (China), J. Kutina (Czech Republic),
D.V. Rundqvist (Russia), P. Laznicka (Australia) Margarete Patzak presented IGCP at a regional IGCP
2001-2005 workshop (April 2000) organized by and held under the
457 Seismic Hazard and Risk Assessment kind auspices of UNESCO Cairo Office with the purpose
in North Africa to increase the contribution and participation of geo-
D. Benouar (Algeria) et al. scientists from the Arab region in IGCP projects. The
2001-2005 Workshop was attended by 12 participants from Algeria
458 Triassic/Jurassic Boundary Events (2), Egypt (7), Saudi Arabia (1) and Syria (2). During
J. Pálfy (Hungary), S.P. Hesselbo (United the meeting, the Chairperson of the Egyptian National
Kingdom), C. McRoberts (United States) IGCP Committee informed about recent activities of the
2001-2005 Committee and the Egyptian co-leader of IGCP project
459 Quaternary, Environmental and Engineering 382 gave a presentation on the results of his project.
Geosciences
J.-L. Probst (France), L. François (Belgium), The following four pre-proposals were discussed:
P.J. Depetris (Argentina), J. Mortatti (Brazil)
2001-2004 (four years) 1. Seismic Hazard Mapping and Risk Analysis in the
460 Fluid Geochemistry in active and quiescent North African Region (proposed by D. Benouar,
Volcanoes Algeria and S. Riad, Egypt) – a possible follow-up to
O. Vaselli (Italy) IGCP project 382; (submitted as IGCP proposal 457).
2001-2005 2. Volcanic-Associated Massive Sulfide Deposits
461 Alpine Continental Collision in the Carpatho- in the Arabo-Nubian Shield – Correlation with
Balkan Area Canadian Deposits (proposed by H. Helmy, Egypt,
B. Henry (France), D. Jordanova (Bulgaria) A.R. El Sharhan, Saudi Arabia).
2001-2004 (four years) 3. Stratigraphic Correlation of Palaeokarst in the
462 Correlation of Pathways of Cenozoic Biodiversity Region of the Tethys (proposed by El-Aref and
F.F. Steininger (Germany), S.v. Popov Russia), A. Gad, Egypt).
W.E. Piller (Austria) 4. Geoenvironmental Hazard, Risk Assessment and
2001-2005 Cultural Heritage (proposed by N. Jabbour, Syria).

26
Other potential project ideas mentioned during the Austria France Slovak
meeting were related to Geological-Geophysical Argentina Germany Republic
Traverses between Egypt and Libya and Geo- Australia Hungary Slovenia
Archaeology. Azerbaijan India South Africa
Belarus Israel Spain
Brazil Italy Sweden
(12) Annual Reports from IGCP Canada Japan United
National Committees Croatia Korea Kingdom
Out of 102 listed IGCP National Committees the Cyprus New Zealand Ukraine
following 31 countries have reported as of 1 February Czech Republic Poland Venezuela
2001: Finland Russia Viet Nam

27
 Progress of IGCP projects in 2000
354, 368, 373, 380, 381, 382, 386, 393, 396, 400, 404,
405, 406, 408, 410, 411, 413, 414, 415, 418, 419, 420,
421, 425, 426, 427, 428, 429, 430, 431, 434, 436, 437,
440, 442, 448, 449, 450, 454
No. 354 – Economic Super Accumulations
of Metals in the Lithosphere (1995-99,
OET in 2000)
Pei Rongfu, Institute of Mineral Deposits CAGS,
Baiwanzhuang Road 26, Beijing 100037, People’s
Republic of China, e-mail: imdcags@public3.bta.net.cn
J. Kutina, Laboratory of Global Tectonics and Metal-
logeny, c/o Department of Chemistry, The American
University, Washington D. C. 20016, United States,
e-mail: jkutina@usgs.gov
P. Laznicka, Australian Mineral Foundation, 63 Conyngham
Street, Glenside, South Australia 5065, Australia
D. V. Rundqvist, Vernadsky State Geological Museum,
Russian Academy of Sciences, Mohovaya Str. 11,
Bldg. 2, 103009 Moscow, Russia, e-mail: nata@sgm.ru
Description: Metals in the lithosphere are unequally
distributed. Localised anomalous concentrations and
accumulations of various metals that could be profitably
exploited by past or present technological means have
developed into a ‘classical’ category of ore deposits. The
aim of this project was to provide the scientific basis
for explaining the processes and conditions of the
formation of existing giant ore deposits and hence
predict undiscovered equivalents. The current access to
improved databases and an enhanced degree of interna-
tional collaboration provides real advances leading to
the publication of a significant final volume and a global
metallogenic map. The main methodology was infor-
mation processing and statistical analysis, coupled with
field meetings and workshops based on critical super-
giant deposit localities.
Participating countries
Australia, Canada, People’s Republic of China, Czech
Republic, India, Poland, Russia, South Africa, Ukraine,
United States, Uzbekistan and Venezuela.
28
Achievements of the project in 2000
Scientific achievements
New information has been revealed from a study on
global magnetic anomaly maps based on satellite magne-
tometry. It was found that the interruptions of these
belts, or the areas where abrupt changes in magnetic
values occur, are related to tectonic processes often
accompanied by magmatism and concentration of
metals. The age of the intrusions which penetrate the
belts of magnetic highs or lows reveals the time when
these belts have already existed – an observation very
important for deciphering the evolution of the litho-
spheric plates. In addition, interruptions of these belts,
often associated with concentration of metals, can be
detected in areas covered by young sediments or even
in desert regions. The NASA Goddard Center has
approved funding of a small project investigation of
these features in Western Brazil, where a major con-
centration of tin deposits, associated with Proterozoic
granites, occurs at the intersection of an east-west belt
of magnetic anomalies.
Meetings
IGCP Project 354 and IAGOD/CTOD workshop on
'Deep Structure of the Earth and Concentration of Metals
in the Lithosphere: A Geodynamic', on 14 August 2000,
jointly with the 31st International Geological Congress
in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Publications
Papers of the fourth workshop of IGCP-354 held at
the University of Ballarat, Australia, in August 1998:
The Role of Mantle-rooted Structural Discontinuities
in the Concentration of Metals. A 3-dimensional
Approach, Part 1, Global Tectonics and Metallogeny,
Vol. 7, Nos. 3 and 4, December 2000, Stuttgart. In
press.
Papers of the fifth workshop of IGCP-354 held at the
Joint SGA-IAGOD International Meeting, Imperial
College, London, August 1999. 'The Role of Deep
Lithospheric Structure in the Origin of Large and
Superlarge Ore Deposits', Part 2 (23 manuscripts, under
preparation for press).
No. 368 – Proterozoic Events in East Gondwana
(1995-99, OET in 2000)
Yoshida Masaru, Department of Geosciences, Faculty
of Science, Osaka City University, Sugimoto,
Sumiyoshi-ku, Osaka 558-8585, Japan, e-mail: myoshida
@sci.osaka-cu.ac.jp
M. Santosh, Centre for Earth Science Studies, 7250
Akkuram, Thuruvikkal P.O. Trivandrum 695 031, India,
e-mail: msantosh@md3.vsnl.net.in
C. B. Dissanayake, Department of Geology, Peradeniya
University, Kandy, Sri Lanka, e-mail: cdissa@geol.pdn.ac.lk
Website of the project
http://www.homestead.com/grg/IGCP368home.html
Participating countries
Australia, Austria, Bangladesh, Belgium, Botswana,
Brazil, Cameroon, Canada, China, DR Congo, Czech
Republic, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Finland, France, Germany,
India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Korea (Rep. of),
Kuwait, Madagascar, Malaysia, Malawi, Mozambique,
Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Pakistan,
Papua New Guinea, Russia, South Africa, Sri Lanka,
Sweden, Switzerland, Tanzania, Thailand, Turkey, United
Kingdom, United States, Viet Nam, Zambia, Zimbabwe.
Summary of major past achievements of the project
During the five and half past years since the beginning
of the project in February 1995, important contributions
were made towards the understanding of Proterozoic
tectonothermal events and tectonics in East Gondwana,
especially in the India-Antarctic sector. Exchange of
ideas and information among the members of the project
were made through two kinds of newsletters (IGCP-368
News Letter and Gondwana News Letter) and several
international as well as regional meetings. Through
these activities, international collaboration began, espe-
cially in the form of research in the Precambrian Indian
Peninsula, Antarctica, and South Africa. As a result of
these scientific activities, eleven volumes of memoirs or
similar kinds of publications, three symposium proceed-
ings, ten field guidebooks, and three special issues of
international journals were published. One volume
edited by the project is in progress. Thanks to the above
activities, participation in the project increased so as to
reach 43 countries and 383 scientists.
Achievements of the project in 2000
Scientific achievements
1. History of Supercontinents
Rodinia and Gondwanaland tectonics
The episodic distribution of isotopic ages in the conti-
nental crust at 2.7, 1.9 and 1.2 Ga were interpreted to
reflect superevent cycles which lasted 600-800 Ma. In
a recent assumption, Supercontinental break-ups during
the earth's history at 2.3-2.1 Ga, 700-600 Ma and 160
Ma are proposed to have triggered a mantle avalanche
resulting in enhanced production of juvenile crust. The
post-Rodinia break up of the Proto-Gondwanaland and
its interactions with Baltica and Proto-European terranes
was brought out. Attempts were also made to define the
geological characteristics of the suture zone between
West and East Gondwana. The Neoproterozoic high
P-T regional granulite terranes which form the most
significant part of this megasuture are considered as
products of crustal thickening that occurred when the
Mozambique Ocean closed up during the Neoproterozoic
continent-continent collision of the Proto-Gondwana
fragments. The reconstruction of Rodinia was re-evalu-
ated in the light of the SWEAT hypothesis, and the
geological connections between South-Western United
States and East Antarctica were held as one of the
strongest lines of evidence linking Laurentia to the
present continents in a supercontinent which assembled
at the close of the Mesoproterozoic. However, severe
criticism of this model also exists. A detailed analysis
of the Early Palaeozoic evolution of North-West
Gondwanaland was recently presented with data from
Southern Turkey and the surrounding regions. The study
traced the closure of a Palaeotethyan oceanic basin to
the north of the Peri-Gondwana terranes. The global
crustal tectonics during ca. 800 to 500 Ma and their
relationship to global environmental changes have
recently been brought into focus. Although the existence
of a Neoproterozoic supercontinent Rodinia is still hypo-
thetical, the existence of a ca. 550 Ma Pannotia super-
continent is the major question. A critical review of
recent works shows that there are only a few definite
constraints on the existence of Pannotia.
The Pan-African events and Gondwana tectonics
The Pan-African events in East Gondwana have gener-
ally been regarded as the rejuvenation of parts of the
already formed East Gondwana mega-continent. It was
pointed out that the late Pan-African events within East
Gondwana were principally a rejuvenation along the
boundary zone of continental blocks within East
Gondwana. It was envisaged that the Pan-African
tectonothermal events in East Gondwana could be
explained by the ‘intracratonic polygonal shear model’
proposed.
It was stressed that palaeomagnetic data pointed to the
Coats Land and Dronning Maud Land as a part of West
Gondwana rather than that of East Gondwana at ca. 1100
Ma, although other scientists do not support this view-
point from Pb and Nd isotope studies of granitoid rocks
from Haag Nunatak, Natal and Maudheim terrains. In a
Madagascar, Sri Lanka and Lutzow Holm Bay area in
East Antarctica, intense tectonothermal events of ca. 550
Ma including the granulite metamorphism were detected.
This metamorphism shows a clockwise P-T-t path char-
acteristic that is often met within a collision zone. For
29
that reason, the above zonal areas, traced further
west up to the Shackleton Range, have begun to be
regarded as the suture between East and West Gondwana
during the Pan-African period. Some authors further
consider that East Gondwana itself formed at that time,
assembling several small crustal blocks. A mildly meta-
morphosed ophiolitic complex with a ca. 1000 Ma Nd
model age occurring between high-grade gneisses in the
Shackleton Range was also reported, which indicated
that it shows evidence of the Pan-African suture.
Other scientists showed that there is no Pan-African
suture in outcrop areas of Dronning Maud Land, and
that the Pan-African events in the outcrop areas belong
principally to the rejuvenation that took place in the
Grenvillian mobile belt from the Natal-Namaqua-Coats
Land to Southern Mozambique. Others recently stated
that palaeomagnetic constraints show that the Karahari
was better attached to the Western Dronning Maud Land
of East Antarctica as previously shown. This problem
regarding the Pan-African events is especially noticed
by Antarctic researchers and is going to be extensively
studied.
To the present knowledge, there is no evidence so far
to show the Pan-African suture running in the Dronning
Maud Land, and there is no definite data to support that
the suture crosses north-west/south-east in the Lutzow
Holm Bay area. Neither geochronological nor detailed
petrochemical constraints have been given to support
ophiolitic rocks in the Luzon Holm Bay area. The ophi-
olitic rocks of the Shackleton Range reported are very
interesting and appear to be decisive evidence for the
Pan-African suture there. Detailed data on these rocks
are awaited. A critical review was given to the problem
of the Pan-African suture summarising new data from
Madagascar, Southern India, Sri Lanka and East
Antarctica. The location and role of the Pan-African
suture within East Gondwana continues to be debated.
Although recent works are attempting to locate the
suture in the inland of Dronning Maud Land, data are
still insufficient to solve the problem.
2. Tectonics and accretional history of North
and South China blocks
Significant results were synthesised under the project on
the tectonics and accretional history of North and South
China blocks, and their implications in the history and
tectonics of the Proterozoic crustal evolution of Rodinia
and Gondwana Supercontinents. The synthesis of
tectonic and geochronological data from the Archaean
Craton of North China indicates that its Proterozoic
evolution could be divided into three stages: Palaeo-
proterozoic accretion along the cratonic margin and rift
within the craton, Early Mesoproterozoic extension, and
Late Mesoproterozoic collision between the North China
Craton and other blocks. A widespread mafic to felsic
igneous activity at around 825-835 Ma was identified in
30
the Yangtze craton of the South China block, and was
correlated to the break-up of Rodinia. The ages of these
intrusions are identical to the ages reported from
Australian dyke swarms, and correlate the South China
dykes with a ca. 825 Ma giant plume-related radiating
dyke swarm activity that manifested itself just before
the Rodinia break-up. Basic dyke swarm activity at
around 800 Ma has also been traced from the Wudang
Block, indicating a large and rigid continental block
which underwent extensional faulting and rifting. An
evaluation of the Precambrian crustal evolution of the
Yangtze Block in South China indicates that the assembly
and subsequent break-up between the Yangtze Block and
the North China Block can be correlated in time with
the Rodinia supercontinental formation and break-up.
The accretional history of North and South China blocks,
and the microcontinents in-between, with their implica-
tions of the dispersion of Gondwanaland, was further
brought out using geochronological information. U-Pb
zircon ages from granites of the southern margin of the
Yangtze Block range from 819 to 826 Ma and define
the timing of Neoproterozoic Jinning orogeny in South-
East China. The Neoproterozoic Jinning orogeny is
considered to mark the disruption of the Rodinia
assembly.
Two major hot-spot events were identified from South
China, one at ca. 1900-2300 Ma, and the other at ca.
1000-900 Ma. The former was associated with the erup-
tion of komatiitic and basaltic lavas, whereas the latter
was characterised by the formation of ophiolites. It was
postulated that a Neoproterozoic mantle plume lay
beneath South China in Central Rodinia through
evidence from the Central and Western Yangtze Craton.
The role of the India-Asia collision in the amalgama-
tion of the Gondwana-derived blocks and deep-seated
magmatism during the Palaeogene at the Himalayan
foreland basin around the Gongha syntaxis in the South
China block was also brought out in detail.
3. India and Sri Lanka within East Gondwana
The Archaean cratons
The project generated important new results from various
terrains in Indian Gondwana fragments during the period
under report, leading to a better understanding of the
history of Proterozoic crustal evolution and superconti-
nent tectonics. The thermal structure beneath the cratonic
regions of the Indian shield indicates varying lithos-
pheric thickness from 65 km in the Singhbhum craton
to 48 km in the Archaean Dharwar craton. A large-scale
deformation of the cratonic mantle lithosphere beneath
the Indian shield since the Mesoproterozoic has been
inferred. In another study, an accretionary origin of the
Eastern Dharwar Craton during the Late Archaean has
been inferred from U-Pb ages of zircon and titanite. The
growth of the Dharwar continental crust could have been
accomplished by both the accretion of a series of arcs
onto and the collision of a large, 2530 Ma continent
with an older one (ca. 3000 Ma) at around 2500 Ma.
Crustal magnetic studies on the Krishna-Godavari basin
identified a rifting of the Dharwar and Bastar cratons
within the Indian plate, prior to the rifting of India from
Gondwanaland. Superposed horst and graben structures
were identified, and are correlated to the formation of
the Krishna-Godavari basin as a result of the rifting and
drifting of India from Gondwanaland.
Central Indian Tectonic zone (CITZ)
The Central Indian Tectonic Zone (CITZ) which runs
between the northern and southern Indian shields has
been pointed out to form a suture between the above
two Indian shields. Review of recent studies of this area
was given to examine the comparison with adjacent
Gondwana terrains. On the northern margin of the
central domain of the CITZ occurs the Palaeoproterozoic
Mahakoshal Group, mainly composed of shelf to slope
facies marine assemblage with subordinate meta-
volcanic rocks of basaltic composition. This group shows
vertical structures reflecting horizontal compressional
stress normal for the major trend of the Mahakoshal
Basin and CITZ. The possible Palaeoproterozoic Sausar
Group composed of metasupracrustal package of stable
continental margin sediments with minor acid volcanic
rocks occupies the southern margin of the CITZ.
Isoclinal folds and possible nappe structures develop,
and high-pressure granulite metamorphism preceding
the major tectonothermal events – including the ITD
path of metamorphism – is identified, indicating a conti-
nent-continent collisional event in earlier tectonic
history. The possible Palaeoproterozoic Sakoli Group is
distributed at the northern margin of the southern Indian
shield. This group is composed predominantly of
metapelitic rocks with minor bimodal volcanics showing
a low-K island arc tholeiite to calc alkaline trend. The
metasediment package is characterised by continental
margin conditions. Most of the above Proterozoic units
contain a lower rift-phase assemblage of bimodal
volcanics and epiclastic metasediments, which are over-
lain by turbidite-graywacke and metapelitic rocks. Major
tectonothermal events in the CITZ are considered to have
taken place during the early Mesoproterozoic (1500-
1250 Ma), overprinted by minor ca. 1000 Ma events.
The Singhbhum Fold Belt and the Chotanagpur Gneiss
Complex occurring to the east of the central domain of
the CITZ also show the principal signature of Palaeo-
proterozoic to early Mesoproterozoic tectonothermal
events and geotectonic settings which are comparable
with the central domain of the CITZ. Mafic enclaves in
basement gneisses indicate oceanic to island arc condi-
tions during the latest Archaean to earliest Proterozoic
period. The above features of the CITZ do not favour
the comparison with the Albany-Flaser Belt of South-
Western Australia for the time earlier than Late
Mesoproterozoic. The Late Mesoproterozoic Pinjarra
Orogen in Western Australia is considered to have taken
an important role for the assemblage of the Indian and
Western Australian blocks to the Gondwanaland
ensemble.
Eastern India
Investigations on the tectonothermal events in the
Eastern Ghats Belt brought out new evidence of very
high pressure (over 14 kbar) and ultrahigh temperature
metamorphism associated with the amalgamation of
Rodinia-East Gondwana at 1.1 Ga. They also postulated
recurrent convergent and extensional tectonics ranging
from 2.0 Ga to 0.5 Ga from geochronological signatures
of igneous rock suites. The ultrahigh temperature decom-
pression event is correlated to the tectonics associated
with the amalgamation of Rodinia-East Gondwana. The
1.1-1.0 Ga events include charnockite magmatism, and
the 0.6-0.5 Ga events are characterised by strong thermal
rejuvenations. The ultrahigh temperatures have also been
confirmed from other studies involving Mg-Al granulites
with a clock-wise P-T-t path and substantial decom-
pression of the order of ca.. 4 kbar. A-type magmatism
was identified at the peripheral zone of the Eastern Ghats
Mobile Belt and correlated to an extensional setting.
Several sheath folds were described from the
Visakapatnam area for the first time and correlated to
intense shear deformation on a regional scale. Massif-
type anorthositic rocks emplaced around 1.3 Ga in the
Eastern Ghats Belt were identified as syn- to late-
tectonic intrusions. Mafic and ultramafic complexes
were reported from Orissa with considerable economic
mineralisation, including their potential as source for
platinum group elements (PGE). These rocks were
interpreted as tectonites, layered and differentiated
bodies developed in an extensional environment, or
within a rift in a continental cratonic margin setting.
Neoproterozoic deformational history was traced from
the boundary zone between the Nellore-Khammam schist
belt and Pakhal basin in South-East India from strain
analysis of deformed pebbles. New U-Pb zircon ages
were reported from the Eastern Ghats Granulite Belt
ranging from 2200 Ma to 520 Ma. These ages were
correlated to those from the Rayner Complex and
Northern Prince Charles Mountains of East Antarctica,
and Wanni and Vijayan Complexes of Sri Lanka,
confirming their juxtaposition in Rodinia and Gondwana
supercontinents. From the Southern Tamil Nadu region
in the South Indian granulite belt, new data were gener-
ated on Nd and Sr isotopes of Yelagiri and Sevattur
alkaline complexes, indicating magmatism relating to
extensional tectonics at ca. 750 Ma. Several A-type
granites with Pan-African affinities emplaced at around
837 Ma were also reported.
Southern India
Detailed P-T-t studies on granulite facies assemblages
from various critical localities in the southern granulite
terrain of South India have brought out new informa-
tion on multistage metamorphic evolution of some of
the Gondwana fragments. Sapphirine granulites from
Kodaikkanal in South India provide information on
ultrahigh temperature metamorphic history. A number
of aluminous A-type granitoids have been mapped from
South-West India, and geochemically characterised.
These alkaline, aluminous, A-type granitoids have been
31
inferred to have generated from a dehydrated,
charnockitic, mafic to intermediate lower crust. The
presence of isotopic and geochemical characteristics
of Yelagiri and Sevattur alkaline plutons was reported
in Tamil Nadu. The ages range from 7550-800 Ma. A
correlation was established between Precambrian mafic
dyke in Central and Eastern India, and those in East
Antarctica, supporting the juxtaposition of the two conti-
nents. New data were presented on Precambrian acid
volcanism in Central India, from the Early Proterozoic
Biju rhyolites. The presence of ultapotassic rocks was
reported along late ductile shear zones in the Eastern
Ghats Belt.
Sri Lanka
A new model of the Precambrian tectonic history of
Sri Lanka was presented which involves the spreading,
collision, subduction, shearing and in situ jostling. This
model considers Sri Lanka to have been an independent
crustal block within the larger Indo-Australian plate. The
separation of Sri Lanka may have been in part controlled
by Precambrian structures and a history of transitional,
rotational and vertical adjustments leading to the opening
of the Indian Ocean. Several new data were assembled
on individual terrains from Sri Lanka, including petro-
logic evidences for the formation of shear-zone
controlled arrested charnockites from the Kurunegala
district and Digana region of Sri Lanka.
4. Imprints of Rodinia and Gondwana history
from Africa, including the Arabian-Nubian Shield
and Madagascar
The Arabian-Nubian Shield
A recent structural and petrologic study reveals Late
Proterozoic extensional collapse in the Arabian-Nubian
Shied. Widespread north-west/south-east extension has
been imaged from this region during the culmination of
Late Proterozoic. From the similarity of the tectonic
evolution of the Arabian Nubian Shield with the
Mesozoic and Early Cenozoic evolution of Western
North America, it has been proposed that gravitational
instability at the final stages of the arc-accretion phase
caused the collapse and resulted in extension at the latest
stages of the Pan-African orogeny in the Arabian-Nubian
Shied. The Late Proterozoic terrane of the Arabian Shied
exposes records of magmatic processes which have been
recently used in defining the mid-crustal dynamics and
island arc accretion of the shield. Lithospheric structure
of the eastern region of the Arabian Peninsula has been
derived in another study using spectral analysis of inter-
mediate period P-wave amplitude ratios. The Late
Precambrian metamorphism and cooling in the Arabian-
Nubian Shield was studied using petrology and Ar-Ar
geochronology of metamorphic rocks from Southern
Israel. The data indicate a single metamorphic event at
620 Ma, followed by a large-scale extension and tectonic
escape in the Northern Arabian-Nubian Shield during
the late stages of the Pan-African orogenic cycle. Some
scientists presented geochemical and geotectonic data
32
from the Neoproterozoic rocks of Northern Ethiopia in
the Arabian-Nubian Shield and defined a calc-alkaline
suite developed in a volcanic-arc setting. The geo-
chemical characters are consistent with an arc accretion
model, similar to that postulated in Sudan, Egypt and
Saudi Arabia.
Central and Western Africa
New ion microprobe and U-Pb zircon data were
presented from the Kibaran Belt in South-West Africa,
aiding in the definition of the Kibaran Ngami Belt in
Botswana, Namibia and Angola. Geochemical data on
the igneous mafic units within the Pan-African belt
which divides the African and South American conti-
nents provided new constraints on the break-up of
Rodinia in Central and South-Western Africa and the
evolution of West Gondwana. Scientists radiating 1.0 Ga
mafic dyke swarms from Eastern Brazil and Western
Africa provided evidence for post-assembly extension in
the Rodinia supercontinent.
Eastern and Southern Africa
Nd and Sr isotopic data were presented from the
Archaean-Proterozoic boundary in North and East
Tanzania to constrain the nature of Neoproterozoic
tectonism in the Mozambique belt. The data indicate that
the belt is mostly composed of reworked Archaean crust
with TDM ages of ca. 2.5 Ga. Evidence for post-
Archaean crust is limited to the eastern granulites with
TDM ages of 1.0-1.1 Ga. The metamorphism and defor-
mation in the belt are correlated to continent-continent
collision between West and East Gondwana prior to ca.
650 Ma. Studies by a group of Japanese and South
African scientists brought out interesting results from
the Natal Belt of Southern Africa. Scientists showed that
the Tugela Belt is made up of successively amalgamated
oceanic island and island arc, but not of ophiolite of
oceanic crust origin as has been reported earlier. Rb-Sr
whole rock dating gave 1178+-112 Ma with TDM ages
of 2.4-1.7 Ga; all are conformable with the range of
ages previously reported.
5. Evidence for Rodinia amalgamation from Australia
Structural, petrographic and geochronological studies on
the Mesoproterozoic Albany-Fraser Orogeny allow its
division into two discrete thermo-tectonic stages,
between ca. 1345-1260 Ma and ca. 1214-1140 Ma. This
two-stage history correlates well with the adjacent
Grenville-age orogenic belts in Australia and East
Antarctica, implying that Mesoproterozoic Australia
assembled in two stages subsequent to the amalgama-
tion of the North Australian and West Australian cratons.
Initial collision between the combined West Australia/
North Australia craton and the South Australia/East
Antarctica continent at ca. 1300 Ma was followed by
intracratonic reactivation affecting basement and cover
at ca. 1200 Ma. Two comparable and contemporaneous
compressional orogenies controlled the formation of the
Kibaran Belt in Africa and the Grenville Belt in Canada,
suggesting that the tectonic events in Mesoproterozoic
Australia follow a similar pattern to that recognised for
Rodinia amalgamation world-wide. Recent studies in the
New England Fold Belt of Eastern Australia revealed
new evidence for the tectonic evolution of the eastern
margin of Gondwana. In another study, the occurrence
of eclogite was reported from the Attunga region of the
Eastern Australian margin and its presence has been
correlated to late Neoproterozoic subduction zone along
the eastern Gondwana margin.
Meetings
– International symposium: Assembly and Dispersion
of Rodinia and Gondwana Supercontinents in
Western Pacific (T31B), 27-30 June. 2000 Western
Pacific Geophysics Meeting of the American
Geophysical Union (AGU), Tokyo, in collaboration
with IGCP 411 and 440. About 50 scientists from
several countries attended.
– Special session 'Proterozoic Events in East Gond-
wana' of the 31st International Geological Congress
in Brazil in August 2000. About 50 scientists from
several countries attended. An IGCP 368 business
meeting was held on 9 August attended by about
20 scientists from several countries.
No. 373 – Correlation, Anatomy and Magmatic-
hydrothermal Evolution of Ore-bearing
Felsic Igneous Systems in Eurasia
(1997-2001)
R. Seltmann, Natural History Museum, Department
Mineralogy, Cromwell Road, London SW7 5BD, United
Kingdom, e-mail: rs@nhm.ac.uk
R. I. Grauch, United States Geological Survey (USGS),
MS 973 Denver Federal Center, Box 25046, Denver,
Colorado 80225, United States, e-mail: rgrauch@usgs.gov
A. A. Kremenetsky, Institute of Mineralogy, Geo-
chemistry and Crystal Chemistry of Rare Elements,
15 Veresaeva Str., 121 357 Moscow, Russia, e-mail:
krem@imgre.iitp.ru
Website of the project
http://www.nhm.ac.uk/mineralogy/seltmann/IGCP/373re
p2000.rtf
Participating countries
(*indicates the countries active 2000)
About 300 scientists within 65 teams from 45 countries
currently participate in IGCP 373.
*Albania, *Australia, Austria, *Brazil, Bulgaria,
*Cameroon, *Canada, *China, *Czech Republic,
*Finland, *France, Georgia, *Germany, Hungary, India,
Iran, *Italy, *Japan, *Kazakhstan, Kenya, *Kyrgyzstan,
Korea (Rep. of), Morocco, Macedonia, Mexico, *Mongolia,
New Zealand, *Poland, *Portugal, Romania, *Russia,
*Slovak Republic, *Slovenia, *South Africa, *Spain,
*Switzerland, *Tajikistan, *Thailand, *Turkey, *United
Kingdom, Ukraine, *United States, *Uzbekistan, Viet
Nam, Yugoslavia.
Summary of major past achievements of the project
Case studies on the anatomy, textures and magmatic-
hydrothermal evolution of ore-bearing granitic systems
in rare-metal provinces of Eurasia that are related to
collisional orogens have been continued towards their
completion. The relations between crustal structure,
geodynamic position in the orogenic cycle, and role of
fluids during granite fractionation have been revealed as
the fundamental parameters to form orogenic, granite-
related ore deposits. A complex of correlation criteria
has been further developed to compare the geotectonic,
petrogenetic and metallogenic characteristics of rare-
metal granite provinces. Some of the scientific results
achieved in the framework of the project contribute
to the discussion on the generation of dry versus wet
silicic magma and rare-metal mineralisation related to
granitoids in contrasting crustal settings.
Achievements of the project in 2000
General scientific achievements
During its fourth year of comparative collaborative
research, the project entered the final compilation stage
as reflected in the publication activity. It continued
research according to the work programme, and success-
fully published achieved results in about 60 original
research papers, mostly in peer-reviewed journals. Two
special reference guidebooks (Rapakivi, Urals) and a
new monograph on ‘Ore-bearing granites of Russia’
have been published.
For the first time, GIS databases and metallogeny maps
from the Uralides and Altaides were produced by IGCP
373 project teams from institutions in six countries and
attracted the interest of mining companies and geolog-
ical surveys. The project contributed materially to basic
geosciences but also developed towards an increasing
application component as shown by the involvement of
Russian and Central Asian institutions (VSEGEI Saint
Petersburg, YUGGEO Almaty) in the production of GIS-
based metallogenic maps and databases.
A major societal benefit is the transfer of interdiscipli-
nary know-how. This enables researchers from the East
and West to exchange knowledge and expertise in ore
deposit research, especially in the prospection and explo-
ration of granite-related mineral deposits, and to jointly
33
undertake research in less studied areas of common
interest, and enable especially young researchers to
participate in field meetings, which are for most
graduates and postgraduates from the Community of
Independent States (CIS) the first contact with western
science. It is worth mentioning that at the annual field
meetings of the project in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan
(1997), Primorje (1998), Uzbekistan (1999) and Urals
(2000), a total of seven former meeting participants from
CIS countries who are under 35 years of age received
fellowships for or invitations to short-term visits to carry
out collaborative research in the laboratories of western
participants, and the results achieved were or will be
jointly published. Since its beginning, the project
contributed research towards the sustainable use of
natural resources and considers the environmental impact
of mining activities with a view to protecting nature.
Meetings
1. IGCP 373 Field Workshop ‘Rapakivi granites and
associated mineralisation in Southern Finland’,
Helsinki, Finland, 3-7 July 2000. The workshop was
organized by Ilmari Haapala, Sari Lukkari and
Reimar Seltmann. An up-to-date reference field
guidebook was published. 20 participants from
11 countries discussed the metallogenic potential of
rapakivi granites and examined in situ their textural
variability and formation characteristics (Wiborg
batholith). Topaz-bearing granites of the Eurjoki
stock and associated greisen type mineralisation
were studied in detail. In the surroundings of
the Kutema-Kutemajaervi telluride-gold deposit, a
porphyry outcrop with well-developed UST's was
detected; it supports the magmatic-hydrothermal
origin of ore deposition situated in the Tampere
schist belt. A special IGCP monograph (Bull. Geol.
Soc., Finland) is under preparation.
2. 4th IGGP 373 Annual Field Conference,
Ekaterinburg Centraland Southern Urals, Russia,
18-30 July 2000. ‘The Eroded Urals Palaeozoic
Ocean to Continent Transition Zone: Granitoids and
Related Ore Deposits’. A reference excursion guide
was published in the IAGOD Guidebook Series. The
trip, co-sponsored by GEODE, SEG, SGA and
IAGOD, was attended by 21 specialists from 7 coun-
tries. Major granitic plutons (Shartash, Adui, Ilmeny
alkaline rocks/miaskites and carbonatite complex,
Magnitogorsk gabbro-granite series) were visited
and associated mineralisation could be sampled
(Berezovsky gold deposit, Izumrudny Kopi emerald
mines, Shameika Mo deposit, Ilmeny pegmatites,
Magnitogorsk and Kuibas skarn deposits, Alexan-
drinka and Safyanovka VHMS deposits). In the spec-
tacular field outcrops, their geodynamic, tectonic,
petrogenetic and metallogenetic features were exam-
ined and discussed. Ongoing research in ESF-
GEODE, European Union and other joint projects
benefited from this field campaign. It is planned to
34
invite the granitologists among the Urals specialists
to contribute to a special IAGOD monograph on
‘Granitoid Magmatism of the Urals and Related
Mineralisation’. Meeting report, General Informa-
tion: http://www.gl.rhbnc.ac.uk/geode/
3. 31st International Geological Congress: Special
Symposium G-6 (co-sponsored by IGCP 373 and
IAGOD-WGTT) on ‘Ore-bearing granitic systems in
nature and experiment’, Rio de Janeiro, 6-17
August 2000. Abstracts and extended papers by 7
invited keynote speakers were prepared, reviewed
and edited for the IGC Proceedings and presented as
talks along with additional posters. The symposium
was well attended by approximately 50 scientists, and
interesting discussions highlighted the progress in
ore deposit research related to mineralised granitic
systems.
A business meeting of IGCP 373 was held on the
occasion of the 31st IGC in Rio de Janeiro, and the
following future activities were discussed:
• 5th Annual IGCP 373 Field Conference ‘Palaeozoic
geodynamics and intrusion-related Au deposits in the
Altaids (Kyrgyzstan)’ in Bishkek and the Tien Shan,
18-25 August 2001;
• papers were called for a special monograph in
the Spec. Pub. Geol. Soc. series (final publication of
IGCP 373 research for 1997-2001);
• the completion of the World Distribution of
Sn-W Deposits Database organized by W. D. Sinclair
(GSC Ottawa, sinclair@NRCan.gc.ca) as a major
research topic to which all project participants
members should actively contribute.
Most important publications
– Armstrong, R.; Seltmann, R. (eds.): The Eroded
Uralian Palaeozoic Ocean to Continent Transition
Zone: Granitoids and Related Ore Deposits.
Extended Abstracts, International Field Conference
in the Urals, Russia, 18-30 July 2000. IGG RAS
Ekaterinburg 2000, 48 pp.
– Balashov, V.; Zaraisky, G.; Seltmann, R. Fluid-
magmatic Interaction and Oscillation Phenomena at
Melt Crystallisation. Cambridge Publ., J. Conf. Abs.
5 2000, p. 9 (EMPG VIII Symp. Vol., Bergamo, Italy,
16-19 April 2000).
– Cole, A.; Seltmann, R. The Role of Granitoids During
Variscan Orogenic Gold Mineralisation in the Tien
Shan and Ural Mountain Belts of Central Eurasia.
Doc. BRGM 297,2000, pp. 110-111.
– Cole, A.; Wilkinson, J. J.; Halls, C.; Serenko, T. J.
Geological Characteristics, Tectonic Setting and
Preliminary Interpretations of the Jilau Gold-Quartz
Vein Deposit, Tajikistan. Miner. Deposita, 35, 2000,
7 pp. 600-618.
– Fedkin, A.; Seltmann, R.; Zaraisky, G.; Bezmen, N.
Experimental Study of the Effect of Fluorine and
Phosphorus on Layering in Li-F Granites. Cambridge
 Publ., J. Conf. Abs., 5 2000, p. 33. (EMPG VIII Symp.
Vol., Bergamo, Italy, 16-19 April 2000).
– Gonevchuk, V. G.; Gonevchuk, G. A.; Sayadyan, G.
R.; Seltmann, R. Rare-earth Elements in the Sikhote-
Alin Tin-bearing and Gold-bearing Granitoids as
Indicators of their Genesis. In: Geodynamics and
Ore Genesis of a Continent – Ocean Transition Zone.
Dalnauka Publ., Far East Geological Institute,
Vladivostok, 1999, pp. 109-119 (In Russian.).
– Kremenetsky, A.; Lehmann, B.; Seltmann, R. (eds.)
Ore-bearing Granites of Russia and Adjacent
Countries. IAGOD Monograph Series (ISBN 58198-
0002-8), IMGRE Moscow 2000, 371 pp. (Publication
No. 5 in the framework of IGCP 373).
– Lukkari, S.; Haapala, I.: Rapakivi Granites and
Associated Mineralization. Excursion guide and 16
abstracts of the IGCP 373 Field Conference in
Southern Finland, 3-7 July 2000. IGCP 373 Publ.
No. 16, IAGOD Guidebook Series, Helsinki 2000,
53 pp. (ISBN 951-45-9441-X).
– Mao Jingwen; Zhang Zuoheng; Bernd Lehmann;
Zhang Zhaochong; Yang Jianmin; Wang Zhiliang.
The Yeniutan Granodiorite in Sunan County, Gansu
Province, China: Petrological Features, Geological
Setting and Relationship to Tungsten Mineralization.
EPISODES, 23 (3), September 2000, pp. 163-171.
– Müller, A.; Seltmann, R.; Behr, H.-J. Application of
Cathodo-luminescence to agmatic Quartz in a Tin
Granite. – A Case Study from the Schellerhau Granite
Complex, Eastern Erzgebirge, Germany. Mineralium
Deposita, Vol. 35, 2-3 2000, pp 169-189.
– Reyf, F. G.; Seltmann, R.; Zaraisky, G. P. The Role
of Magmatic Processes in the Formation of Banded
Li, F-enriched Granites from the Orlovka Tantalum
Deposit, Transbaikalia, Russia: Microthermometric
Evidence. Canadian Mineralogist, Vol. 38 2000,
pp. 915-936.
– Seltmann, R.; Koroteev, V.; Fershtater, G.; Smirnov,
V. (eds.) The Eroded Uralian Palaeozoic Ocean to
Continent Transition Zone: Granitoids and Related
Ore Deposits. IAGOD Guidebook Series, Interna-
tional Field Conference in the Urals, Russia, 18-30
July 2000, 102 pp. (Publication No. 14 in the frame
of IGCP 373).
– Shatov, V. V.; Plyushchev, E. V.; Belova, V. N.;
Russkikh, S. S.; Seltmann, R. Alteration Controls on
Localization of Scheelite Stockwork Mineralization
in the Verkhnee Qairaqty Deposit Area, Central
Kazakhstan. In: N. V. Mezhelovsky, A. F. Morozov,
G. S. Gusev, and V. S. Popov (eds.), Geodynamics
and Metallogeny: Theory and Implications for
Applied Geology, pp. 373-387, Moscow 2000, ISBN
5–93761–012–1.
– Stemprok, M. Geochemical Data from Deep Drill
Holes into Ore-bearing Granites. Münchener Geol.
Hefte A 28 2000, pp. 225-243.
– Williamson, B. J.; Spratt, J.; Adams, J. T.; Tindle, A.
G.; Stanley, C. J. Geochemical Constraints from
Zoned Hydrothermal Tourmalines on Fluid Evolution
and Sn Mineralization: An Example from Fault
Breccias at Roche, South-West England. – J. Petrol.,
41 (9) 2000, pp. 1439-1453.
Activities planned
General goals
The major goal remains to contribute to a better under-
standing of the relationship of crustal structure and
granite fractionation, on the one hand, and the role of
crustal fluids and ore-forming processes, on the other.
The planned and expected results shall be compared
using the correlation scheme given in the developed
criteria collection, and be published during the final
project stage in a special monograph (Spec. Pub. Geol.
Soc., London, United Kingdom). In addition to the
completed correlation scheme, explanatory notes for
each region, such as geological, chemical, textural and
structural data and diagrams as well GIS based metal-
logeny maps are under preparation to support evolu-
tionary models. One annual field conference, one field
workshop and a final congress symposium will be held
in order to favour the transfer of international knowl-
edge and scientific discussions, and to examine in special
field studies the validity of the developed correlation
criteria.
A follow-up IGCP project on the Au metallogeny of the
Uralides-Altaides belt is under preparation and finds
strong interest among European, Russian and Central
Asian specialists. It shall be merged with a new INTAS
project proposal to give the approach a more serious
financial basis.
Meetings
The following activities of IGCP-373 are scheduled and
already under preparation for the final project year 2001
to complete major research activities (meetings, related
publications):
1. Field Workshop ‘Tectonics and Magma’ in Bautzen,
Germany, 22-24 June 2001;
http://www.geo.uni-leipzig.de/~ggw/tagungen.html
Participants from Russia and Ukraine were invited
(specialists in fractographic interpretation and
magma-tectonics). A special conference volume is
scheduled for Zs. Geol. Wiss., Berlin.
2. Annual Field Conference of IGCP 373 ‘Palaeozoic
Geodynamics and Intrusion-related Au Deposits in
the Altaids (Kyrgyzstan)’ in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan,
18-25 August 2001;
http://www.nhm.ac.uk/mineralogy/seltmann/IGCP/in
dex.html#kyrg
Scientists from Least Developed Countries (LDC)
and the Community of Independent States (CIS),
who contributed most actively to IGCP 373 research
35
 in the four previous years originate from Kyrgyzstan,
Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Mongolia and
Russia and will be invited under the prerequisite of
being able to subsidise their registration fees. The
field conference allows participation of 35 scientists.
A reference guidebook is in preparation and a metal-
logenic map will be published by the Kyrgyz IGCP
373 team.
3. Final Symposium of IGCP 373 ‘S5. Mineralising
Systems Associated with Acid Magmas’, at the Joint
6th Biennial SGA-SEG Meeting ‘Mineral Deposits
at the Beginning of the 21st century’ in Kraków,
Poland, 26-29 August 2001;
http://galaxy.uci.agh.edu.pl/~sga/
About 50-70 extended papers are expected for
submission to reflect the basic and applied research
on ore deposits in various granite provinces under
study. Reviewed and accepted papers will be
published by BALKEMA Publ. Rotterdam in the
Proceedings of the Krakow meeting.
No. 380 – Biosedimentology of Microbial
Build-ups (1995-99, OET in 2000)
F. Neuweiler, Faculté des Sciences, Laboratoires
associés Géologie-Pétrologie-, Bât. 20, Université de
Liège, Sart Tilman, 4000 Liège, Belgium, e-mail:
fneuwei@gwdg.de
J. Reitner, IMGP, University of Göttingen, 37077
Göttingen, Germany, e-mail: jreitne@gwdg.de
Description: Research within IGCP project 380 was
concerned with the roles of living microbial communi-
ties and non-living organic substrates to control, mediate
and/or influence mineralisation patterns in stromatolites,
mud mounds and other related microbial carbonate
build-ups. New aspects covered the influence of seepage
on mound accretion, the morphology and sedimentology
of Neoproterozoic stromatolites, progress in the micro-
biology and organic geochemistry of modern stromato-
lites, studies of modern, organically influenced
cryptocrystalline carbonates of Heron Island, and pecu-
liar Jurassic mud mounds of Morocco.
With the final workshop of IGCP 380, the project
achieved its aims and made a big step forward with
respect to a final report. The structure of the book was
widely accepted. Subgroup leaders are free to contact
additional contributors. A web page for a glossary of
terms used in the book will be created by 31 July 2001.
Considering the manuscripts of the first part of the book,
it will be possible to set up the second part and the
photographic atlas.
Website of the project
http://www.gwdg.de/~fneuwei/380-1.htm
36
Participating countries (all active)
Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany,
India, Mauritania, Mexico, Morocco, Poland,
Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States.
Activities of the project in 2000
Meetings
– International Workshop on Biosedimentology of
Microbial Build-ups: Palaeo-Oceanography of
Carbonate Mud Mounds, Université de Liège,
Belgium, 2-7 September 2000. The Workshop was
attended by 21 participants from 9 different coun-
tries. It aimed to bring together scientists in order to
work on thin sections and polished slabs representing
case studies of mud mounds from various geological
ages around the globe.
Scientific achievements
1. Cenozoic Subgroup
This subgroup provides essential information on phys-
ical oceanographic processes and their interaction with
deeper water mounds/reefs based on well-documented
studies from the Porcupine Seabight and the Norwegian
Shelf. Pleistocene examples round up the picture with
studies from the Blake Plateau area and Rhodes Island,
Aegean Sea. The subgroup concluded that all examples
submitted are worth being considered for presentation
in the SEPM Special Volume.
The Cenozoic subgroup offered a comprehensive
model that fosters understanding of (a) the ocean-wide
distribution of deep-water mounds and coral reefs, and
(b) their transfer to fossil analogues by linking physical
oceanography with shelf and slope configuration
patterns. In order to elucidate the physical oceanography
link, attention focused on:
• The complexity of continental margins with a special
emphasis on engulfed topographic settings.
• Temperature, salinity and dissolved oxygen spread
in the water column in relation to water mass distri-
bution and OMZ-occurrence; and
• The influence of shelf edge fronts (SEF) on oceanic
ecosystems in both benthic and pelagic realms and
their relation to sea level and shelf width.
How Cenozoic deep-water coral reefs and mound
structures are related
The examples selected for the SEPM Special Volume
consist of the Early Holocene to modern Lophelia reef
on the Sula Ridge, the Plio-Pleistocene to modern coral-
bearing mound provinces in the Porcupine Seabight, the
Lithoherms of the Blake Plateau area and deep-water
coral limestones from the Mid-Pleistocene of Rhodes
Island. The relationships are as follows:
• All locations lie in the aphotic zone within a widely
engulfed continental margin or deep-shelf settings.
• The framework-supported deep-water coral reef on
the Sula Ridge will be compared to the surface build
ups on the large flanks and tops of the mounds in
the Porcupine Seabight in terms of faunal commu-
nities, taphonomy of corals and sponges and the
nature of trapped muddy sediment which contribute
to the formation of a high topographic relief on the
seafloor.
• The unlithified modern and Late Pleistocene deposits
resemble in part those of the Late Pleistocene litho-
herms. What fosters the lithification and cementation
in the North-West Atlantic but so far not in the
North-East Atlantic will become an important matter
of discussion.
• The polymuds and cavity infills of both the litho-
herms and the Mid-Pleistocene limestone from
Rhodes Island will be comparatively investigated
to elucidate a common pattern of aphotic zone diage-
nesis.
Research for an underlying pattern in the occurrence of
deep-water coral reefs or mounds
The question needs a further desktop study on conti-
nental margins around the world. However, the
Pleistocene to modern localities investigated have in
common the fact that they do not occur at open and
exposed margin settings. Instead, a large gulf (strait),
trough, canyon system or a great seabight is always
present in our key working targets. Such a configuration
always enhances large-scale hydrography and delivers
energy to obstacles on the seafloor when flowing over
them, thus creating a broad set of current-related
bedforms from drift bodies, contourites to the formation
of sand waves far beneath the storm-wave base. The
creation of sedimentary patterns which are commonly
regarded to characterise the facies above the storm-wave
base may be an important clue for geological outcrop
interpretations.
Physical oceanography: temperature, salinity and
dissolved oxygen spread in the water column
Desktop studies reviewing the mean annual temperature,
salinity and dissolved oxygen spread from the sea level
down to 2,000 m water depth along the North-West
European continental margin at various latitudes (from
Gibraltar to the Norwegian Shelf at 64° N) are compared
to verified records of living Lophelia and Madrepora
occurrences and locations of mounds (only in the
Porcupine Seabight and the Rockall Trough). The coral
assemblages (and mounds) thrive in water temperatures
ranging from 5° to 12°C. This temperature range is in
accordance with the already known tolerance for the
deep-water coral genera treated in this study. It should
be kept in mind, however, that at a given location the
temperature range generally is less than 2°C. There
exists an apparent match of living deep-water corals and
mounds with the flow path of highest salinity water at
a given location. South of the Iceland-Faroer-Ridge, the
corals show the highest reef-forming potential in the
Mediterranean Outflow Water (MOW), an intermediate
water mass from 1,200 m up to 700 m water depth
(35-38‰). North of that ridge, in the Norwegian Sea,
the highest salinities around 35‰ are provided by the
North Atlantic Current (NAC) at water depths rarely
exceeding 500 m. The same bathymetric intervals can
be characterised by the spread of the oxygen-minimum-
zone (OMZ) with 4.15 to 6 ml/l oxygen. Of course these
are mean annuals and taken from a large-scale catch-
ment area; in fact local values may show different values
during the seasons. However, the general trend becomes
clear and underlines the coincidence of the OMZ and
the pycnocline separating two widely different water
masses (in terms of their physical properties) in relation
to mound and deep-water reef formation. Moreover such
sharp gradients between two water masses give way to
the creation of internal waves as the expression of the
hydrodynamic impact on bedforms and mounds which
thrive far below the storm-wave base.
About shelf edge fronts (SEF)
Oceanic fronts occur at a wide range of geographic
scales: interplanetary fronts such as the Polar Front have
a transocean distribution while tidal fronts occur in
shallow water (generally less than 100 m water deep) in
inland seas. A mesoscale front system is the shelf edge
front system that separates completely mixed coastal
waters (or currents) from stratified oceanic waters (or
currents) if the shelf is broad enough. For thermody-
namic reasons there is no strong mixing at the front,
instead meandering occurs which forces both waters (or
currents) to flow in most cases in the same direction.
Such fronts are often stable all the year round and can
easily be detected by remote-sensing techniques as
pelagic nannoplankton and zooplankton stocks concen-
trate at the frontal location. This is largely the reason
why there are no great quantities of pelagic components
found on the present North-East Atlantic shelves.
Physical oceanographers have calculated that the effec-
tive depth of the shelf edge should not be deeper than
250 m water depth for the establishment of such a SEF.
Deeper shelf edges will lose the SEF and the low salinity
coastal water simply forms a lens of alongshore water.
Also narrow shelves, such as many Mediterranean
shelves, do not provide the development of a SEF.
Along narrow or deep-seated shelf edges, the absence
of SEF prevents the oceanic communities, both the
benthic and pelagic realm to enter the shelf itself. Such
a case exists at the Norwegian Shelf, whose shelf edge
is still at 400 m water depth because of former isostatic
iceloading. Non-glaciated mid-latitude shelves, however,
have a SEF when there is a broad shelf. Under such
conditions, the mounds and deep-water coral reefs as
well as the pelagic sedimentation stay at the slope and
are fenced off from the shelf setting (see the Cenomanian
to Eocene high sea level window and the chalk sedi-
mentation on shelf positions in huge palaeostraits, partly
with deep-water mounds preserved (Danian Faxe Mounds,
37
Denmark). This SEF topic has to be carefully reviewed
but may represent a further important environmental
control for the elucidation of locations of mounds and
deep-water coral reefs at least in the Cenozoic.
2. Mesozoic Subgroup Report
The Mesozoic subgroup provided information from the
Triassic, Jurassic and Lower Cretaceous with special
emphasis on (1) mound biota and trophic structure,
(2) spar cementation versus automicrite precipitation,
(3) mound rheology, (4) sequential parameters, and
(5) palaeoenvironmental constraints, with additional
geochemical data on stable isotopes, organic carbon, and
(some from) fluorescence spectroscopy. Case studies
revolved around:
• Marmolada Buildup (Triassic, Anisian, Dolomites,
Italy): marine-cemented platform margins and slopes.
• Cipit boulders: significance for Triassic mud mound
type platform margins (Triassic, Ladinian,
Dolomites, Italy).
• Liassic sponge mud mounds of the Central High
Atlas (Morocco): typology and relationships to Upper
Jurassic sponge mud mounds.
• Upper Jurassic mounds: growth dynamics and
ecology.
• Lower Cretaceous (Lower Albian) sponge mounds
from Northern Spain, and
• Fluorescent mound rock (Upper Albian): significance
of humic compounds.
Mound biota and trophic structure:
a need for deep-water nutrient supply
Mesozoic mounds and assumed blocks derived from
mounds (e.g. Cipit boulders) display a consortium of
metazoans in association with automicritic crusts, coat-
ings and infills, most probably derived from biotic
precursors of heterotrophic micro-organisms. Metazoans
are dominated by active-filter feeding organisms
(siliceous sponges, calcareous sponges) and suspension
feeders such as polychaetes, brachiopods, and occasional
bryozoans. Encrusting foraminifera have acted as micro-
carnivores. The typical fabric is that of a carbonate
polymud. There might be vertical interfingering with
a coral (tentacle feeders) facies, but clear vertical zona-
tion like those found in many Palaeozoic mounds is
absent. Liassic and Upper Jurassic sponge mounds
may exhibit analogous thrombolitic-dendrolitic textures
presumably related to fluctuating oxygen levels
(glauconite, adapted bivalves, TOC values from 0.2 to
0.7 weight-%). Mesozoic sponge mounds are essentially
devoid of any important photosynthetic or chemosyn-
thetic activity. Bioerosion by excavating sponges and
microendoliths can be important, but its concise quali-
fication and semi-quantification are still to be defined.
The project team discussed the role of cryptobionts
(sponge, foraminifera, and others) in the light of stable
substrate conditions, i.e. as an indicator of the amount
of sediment in suspension. This would give a negative
correlation between sediment reworking, respectively
bioerosion at the surface (creating internal sediment) and
38
the degree of cryptobiontic recruitment and residual
growth cavities. It was concluded that biotic and trophic
structures of Mesozoic mounds indicate an active supply
of nutrients and biotically essential elements (N, P, Fe)
to the benthic community. This benthic community may
stand fluctuating oxygen levels, benefit largely from
related OMZ edge effects and represent a heterotrophic
food web from active filter feeders and suspension
feeders down to sediment feeders, microcarnivores, and
heterotrophic micro-organisms which thrive re-mineral-
isation of organic compounds.
Spar cementation versus automicrite precipitation
The Marmolada Buildup (Triassic, Anisan) shows perva-
sive marine cementation at marginal and upper slope
environments. These are the environments which bear
sponge mounds, e.g., in Lower Cretaceous marginal
platform settings, and therefore the Marmolada Buildup
could be used as an example of 'right place–wrong
oceanography' for the further understanding of mud
mound environmental constraints. Marine cements here
consist of multiple rims of radiaxial fibrous cement
revealing numerous inclusions of organic matter.
Sedimentological and biotic considerations demonstrate
a photosynthetically active platform top with bacterial
and cyanobacterial pelmicrites and related shallow water
fenestral limestones. At the margin these deposits merge
into the active phreatic diagenetic zone, become cemented
and may supply the upper slope with blocks and debris.
At the slope, automicrite precipitation is absent and
there is a general lack of a filter feeding community.
Controversial discussions took place on the polygenetic
origin of pelmicrites and the significance of organic
matter within radiaxial cements, i.e. whether these repre-
sent 'passive inclusions' because mineral growth was so
rapid, or they had a functional role for spar precipitation
itself. Because of biotic considerations, it was concluded
that the Marmolada buildup represents sedimentary-
diagenetic features of an oligothrophic system contrasting
with the eutrophic system with sponges and automicrites
of the Ladinian (Cipit boulders).
Mound rheology:
effective early induration during the Mesozoic
Mesozoic mounds show synsedimentary export of
angular lithoclasts, borings by sponges and lithophagous
bivalves, in situ collapse of polymud fabric due to
differential sediment load, and lack of major soft sedi-
ment deformation structures such as slumping or convo-
lution. From all thiscan be concluded that Mesozoic
mounds tend to lithify much more effectively than
many Palaeozoic counterparts, and that in this respect
Mesozoic mounds indeed do best compared to
Pleistocene lithoherms. There are some data indicating
that humic compounds from colloidal organic matter are
involved in automicrite formation, inducing induration
and synsedimentary lithification.
Sequential parameters: transgressive episodes are essential
Mesozoic mounds are typically confined to transgressive
and early highstand system tracts. In addition to the
formation of mounds, there are some examples which
demonstrate that sponge-polymud facies may also
occupy the interstitial space and growth cavities of
mature or drowned shallow-water coral assemblages
and reefs. In some cases the base of mound sequences
is formed by a condensed section, which illustrates
the establishment of new oceanographic conditions
(currents and reworking). Many examples show rock
textures, e.g. coquina intermound beds that most sedi-
mentologists would refer as evidence for storm wave
base. But the concept of storm wave base in sedimen-
tary geology could be enlarged by the effects of internal
waves located at the boundary between different water
masses.
Palaeoenvironmental constraints, bounded by pelagic
and euphotic conditions
Mesozoic mounds are limited in space by an euphotic
biocalcifying carbonate factory (shallow carbonate plat-
form deposits) and open-water, pelagic to hemipelagic
conditions. It appears that the limits of mound accre-
tion are defined seawards by the degree of dysoxity, and
shorewards by the influence of near-surface currents.
Mounds occur within structured shelf areas, engulfment
or narrow straits. They show evidence of deeper-water
current systems and are occasionally subdivided into
subcommunities. Some data indicate that an enrichment
of refractory organic compounds (humic substances in
colloids) represents a characteristic organochemical
facies of mounds. Interestingly these compounds can
only be effectively degraded by photochemical reac-
tions, a point which is in good agreement with the
shallow water (photic) limit of mud mound accretion.
Connection to the Cenozoic and Palaeozoic subgroups
A connective string to Cenozoic examples is shown by
(a) a trophic structure and processes of taphonomy
(Lophelia mounds), (b) submarine lithification, i.e. the
lithoherms, and (c) palaeogeographic as well as oceano-
graphic constraints. The exploration of the concepts
of internal waves, OMZ edge effects, and shelf edge
fronts is of particular interest. Mesozoic mounds and
Palaeozoic mounds are connected by the formation and
plugging of stromatactis-type cavities, the abundance of
siliceous sponges, and seaward bounding by pelagic
conditions.
3. Palaeozoic Subgroup
The group proposed to distinguish two main types of
Palaeozoic mounds: the Waulsortian stromatactis-
bearing type including the Frasnian mounds of Belgian
Ardennes, and skeletal or algal-microbial mounds or
reefs which were also described in the group, but did
not fit into its working definition of mud mound. It
must be noticed that both the Waulsortian and the
Belgian Frasnian mounds may evolve upwards to
skeletal/algal/microbial mounds. Six major topics were
discussed.
Mound geometry
It not only depends on the development history of the
mounds themselves, but also on the nature, sedimenta-
tion rate, and compaction rate of the surrounding sedi-
ments (Belgian Frasnian Petit-Mont Member mounds).
Various mound facies with variable compaction rates
may result in a number of different post-depositional
geometries. The influence of mounds on the surrounding
facies is directly related to depositional relief. The size
of Palaeozoic mounds is highly variable and can reach
a kilometric lateral extension that is closely related to
the accommodation rate. Mounds can be isolated, chain-
like or coalescent (Waulsortian mounds of Algeria).
Typical reef geometries like barriers or fringing reefs
are not observed.
Dynamics
Catch-up, keep-up and give-up sequences are common
and depend on the interplay of accommodation and
accretion rate. Mounds commonly show a vertical facies
succession. Shallowing upwards results in the evolution
from mud mound to reef. Mud mounds seem to be
limited upwards by the wave base (Waulsortian mounds
of Algeria) or by the pycnocline (Waulsortian mounds
of New-Mexico).
Facies setting
Mud mounds are generally observed in external plat-
form or ramp setting. They can grow in turbid environ-
ments with high clay input (Frasnian mounds of
Belgium, Silurian mounds of Gaspé) or in purely
carbonate environment (Waulsortian mounds of
Belgium, Algeria, New-Mexico). Mound substrate is
variable: hardgrounds, skeletal beds, or mud. The base
of the mounds is commonly flat, indicating a rapid
colonisation of the substrate by mound communities (but
it could be a consequence of a very low sedimentation
rate in the surrounding environment). Capping facies are
variable: they can be deep (Belgian Frasnian mounds),
or shallow (Givetian mounds of Minervois), siliciclas-
tics or carbonates. Transition to reef is common.
Erosional unconformity could be observed.
Mound sediments, rheology
Field observation presents, at least apparently, contra-
dictions about the inferred mechanical state of the
mound carbonate mud. On the one hand, the common
observation of palaeoslopes as steep as 40° on the flanks
of some mounds, the presence of synsedimentary breccia
(Waulsortian mounds of Belgium), and the sharp edges
of fracture walls indicate early lithification. On the other
hand, the plastic deformation of the sediment, together
with the brecciation of synsedimentary cements
(Givetian mounds of Minervois), presence of overturned
coral colonies (Frasnian mounds of Belgium), formation
of zebra structures by lateral compression, scarcity of
hard grounds and of borings, and wall smoothness of
synsedimentary fractures point to absence or at least
weakness of early lithification. It appears that the
sediment was initially sufficiently ductile to permit
39
synsedimentary deformation, yet sufficiently coherent
to have maintained open cavities and significant relief.
It is likely that the sediment had a gel-like consistency,
probably related to the presence of significant volume
of organic matter. The matrix consists generally of
microspar, and frequently exhibits a polymud texture.
Mound biota
The prominent observation is the low diversity of the
mud mound communities. Sponges, bryozoans, brachio-
pods and microbial communities are the main organ-
isms. Algae are uncommon. Pelagic fossils are rare.
Bioturbation is generally very low, suggesting low
oxygen levels, toxicity of sediment or scarcity of organic
matter. Trophic structure is based upon recycling of
organic matter. Water depth variations induce changes
in the vertical community succession.
Cavities and cements
In the Belgian Frasnian-type mounds, fibrous spar
precipitates only in dm-scale cavities to form stromat-
actis, indicating circulation of large volumes of water in
a connected cavity network. Growth cavities are
uncommon. In the Waulsortian-type mounds, shelter
cavities cemented by fibrous spar are more abundant
than stromatactis. Small fenestrae are cemented by gran-
ular spar in both types. The cement/matrix ratio is higher
in the Belgian Frasnian mounds than in the Waulsortian
mounds. This ratio could be in part influenced by the
amount of internal sediment. The diagenetic sequence
is similar. Both Belgian Frasnian and Waulsortian
mounds exhibit the same cement succession, beginning
with a patchy luminescent/non-luminescent marine
HMC (radiaxial calcite) in the 'large' cavities, followed
by an automorphic non-luminescent calcite, a bright
orange luminescent fringe, and finally a dull orange
luminescent granular xenomorphic calcite obstructing
the remaining porosity.
Activities planned
Publications
Project participants agreed to stay in contact with SEPM
for the publication of the final report. SEPM is very
interested in this publication and agrees to expand the
volume by an appendix with a photographic atlas.
Responsible editorial handling will be done by P. A.
Bourque (Quebec), F. Neuweiler (Göttingen), and
Frédéric Boulvain (Liège).
No. 381 – South Atlantic Mesozoic Correlations
(1995-99, OET in 2000)
E. A. M. Koutsoukos, PETROBRAS-CENPES/DIVEX/
SEBIPE, Cidade Universitária, Quadra 7, 21949-900 Rio
de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil, e-mail: koutsoukos@cenpes.
petrobras.com.br
40
P. Bengtson, Geologisch-Paläeontologisches Institut der
Universität Heidelberg, Im Neuenheimer Feld 234,
69120 Heidelberg, Germany, e-mail: Peter.Bengtson@
urz.uni-heidelberg.de
Description: IGCP project 381 ‘South Atlantic Mesozoic
Correlations (SAMC)’ aimed at promoting interdiscipli-
nary and integrated geological correlative studies, in
order to establish a well-defined standard stratigraphical
scale for the Mesozoic sedimentary basins of and around
the South Atlantic. (The area concerned extends from
Antarctica in the south to the Caribbean and North-West
Africa in the north). The main objectives further included
investigation into the nature and sequence of major
geological events during the formation of the South
Atlantic and the global impact of these events in order
to contribute to the understanding of the Cretaceous
‘greenhouse’ conditions and also to the exploration of
hydrocarbon and mineral resources in the sedimentary
basins bordering the South Atlantic. Project participa-
tion increased from 119 scientists (as of the time of
submission of the project proposal in 1994) to 480 (as
of October 1998), representing 48 countries.
Website of the project
http://www.rzuser.uni-heidelberg.de/~dc8/samc/index.html
SAMC Net
An electronic mailing list ‘SAMC-Net’ is available for
on-line discussions among project participants through
listserv@vm.urz.uni-heidelberg.de.
Participating countries
(* indicates countries active in 2000)
Angola*, Argentina*, Australia, Belgium, Brazil*,
Cameroon, Central African Republic, Congo (Rep. of),
Colombia*, Cuba*, Czech Republic, Denmark, Egypt*,
France*, Gabon, Germany*, Ghana, Hungary, India,
Italy, Côte d'Ivoire, Japan, Libya, Malaysia, Mexico*,
Morocco*, Netherlands, Niger, Nigeria, North Ireland,
Norway, Portugal, Russia, Senegal, Slovakia, South
Africa*, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Tanzania, Togo,
Trinidad-and-Tobago, Turkey, United Kingdom*, United
States of America*, Uruguay*, Venezuela*.
Summary of major past achievements
Achievements of the project this year
The volume South Atlantic Cretaceous Correlations
and Biogeographic Patterns, by E. A. M. Koutsoukos,
P. Bengtson, I. de Klasz and D. Batten, was published
as a special issue of the journal Cretaceous Research,
Vol. 21, Nos. 2 and 3, 2000, with 12 papers. This
special issue was designed as a thematic contribution
to IGCP Project 381. It presents a collection of papers
addressing the main biogeographic patterns and
constraints in space-time distribution of diverse fossil
groups of Western Gondwana and the South Atlantic
during the Mesozoic. The approach taken in the volume
is analytical rather than taxonomic. The papers criti-
cally review the large-scale biogeographic patterns,
offering insights into the main driving mechanisms and
constraints for species dispersal and colonisation in
terrestrial and marine ecosystems. Moreover, the issue
aims at an improved understanding of the palaeoenvi-
ronmental, palaeoceanographic and palaeoclimatic
conditions of the region. Case histories focus on bio-
geographic relationships, stratigraphic significance,
and palaeoenvironmental signals of important micro-
and macro-fossil assemblages in the Mesozoic Western
Gondwana and South Atlantic. They are presented in
two main thematic sections, namely: (a) Continental
ecosystems: biogeography and palaeoclimatology,
and (b) Marine ecosystems: biogeography and palae-
oceanography.
Working groups established
• Aptian/Albian and Albian/Cenomanian Stage
Boundaries
• Cenomanian/Turonian and Turonian/Coniacian Stage
Boundaries
• Coniacian/Santonian, Santonian/Campanian and
Campanian/Maastrichtian Stage Boundaries
• Atlas of Cretaceous Carbonate Microfacies
• Chemostratigraphic Correlations
• Cretaceous Continental Ecosystems
• Dating of the First Marine Transgression
• K/T Boundary
• Biochronostratigraphy and Biogeography of Non-
marine Microfossil Assemblages
• Palaeogeography
• South Atlantic Evaporites
• Regional Tectonics
Provisions have been made to stimulate active key
working-groups to follow up their research projects after
the conclusion of the project in February 2001. Among
these, there are:
Cretaceous continental ecosystems working group
Stratigraphic correlations, palaeogeographic and palaeo-
climatic reconstructions of Cretaceous continental
ecosystems, and establishment of the relationship (depo-
sitional and time-equivalence of events) with marginal
marine basins on both sides of the South Atlantic.
Working group
on palaeogeographic and palaeoclimatic maps
This working group plans to edit a thematic volume enti-
tled ‘Palaeogeographic and Palaeoclimatic Evolution of
the Mesozoic South Atlantic’, which will comprise a
collection of contributions from its participants reporting
on palaeogeographic reconstructions for selected time
intervals, which are of key importance to the evolu-
tionary history of the Mesozoic Gondwana break up and
the subsequent South Atlantic development: Ladinian,
Carnian, Norian, Rhaetian, Toarcian, Kimmeridgian,
Tithonian, Valaginian, Barremian, Aptian, Albian,
Cenomanian-Turonian, Coniacian-Santonian, Campanian-
Maastrichtian.
South Atlantic Index Fossil Species:
Systematics, Biostratigraphy and Palaeoecology
Publishing of iconographic atlases of index fossils for
the various basins of the South Atlantic.
South Atlantic index microfossil species:
systematics, biostratigraphy and palaeoecology
This is a long-term research programme initiated by
IGCP Project 381 comprising several research working-
groups on the various types of index fossils on both
sides of the South Atlantic. Each working group has a
co-leader on each side of the ocean, who would, in addi-
tion to contributing, co-ordinate the collecting and
publishing of data. The following working groups have
been set up:
• Mesozoic ostracodes
• Mesozoic [benthic] foraminifers
• Mesozoic [planktic] foraminifers
• Ammonites
• Inoceramids
• Calcareous nannofosils
• Palynomorphs
Regional co-ordinators (as of October 2000)
Responsible for liaison among participants, for dissem-
inating information about the progress of the project and
forthcoming meetings, for stimulating and co-ordinating
research in their fields of expertise, and for reporting
national research activities related to SAMC. In the
following countries: Angola, Argentina, Brazil, Colombia,
Cuba, Egypt, France, Germany, Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire,
Mexico, Niger, Sweden, United Kingdom, United States,
Venezuela.
Meetings
1. Thematic Meeting of the Cretaceous Continental
Ecosystems Working Group, 29 September 1999,
Buenos Aires, Argentina. It was attended by nine
participants from two countries.
2. Regional Meeting on South Atlantic Mesozoic
Correlations IGCP Project 381, SA, held in conjunc-
tion with the 14th African Colloquium of
Micropalaeontology, and the 4th Colloquium on the
Stratigraphy and Palaeogeography of the South
Atlantic; Luanda, Angola, 21-24 May 2000.
GeoLuanda2OOO comprised two international
colloquia and two regional meetings of the
International Geological Correlation Programme
(IGCP 381, 418). Additional round table meetings
followed themes of International Geological Higher
Education, a proposal for the GeoTransect
International Lithosphere Programme along the
Angolan/ Namibian region, and a special meeting
41
 of the Angolan Association of Geologists and
Geological Society of Africa to discuss the devel-
opment of geosciences in Africa. The conference
covered a broad spectrum of themes including
the role of macro- and micro-palaeontology in
correlation; stratigraphic correlation techniques;
sedimentary basins and geodynamics, non-marine
sedimentation, sedimentary processes in relation to
global change; volcanogenic processes, diagenesis
and sedimentary geochemistry; quaternary geology,
hydrogeology; engineering geology; environmental
geology; geological education; history of the geo-
sciences; mathematical geology and geoinformatics;
reservoir modelling; basin modelling; industrial
geology; Precambrian geology and petrology. Both
oral and poster presentations were well attended and
provided for lively debate amongst international
colleagues. The proceedings of the conference are
to be published in a special issue of the Africa
Geoscience Review.
3. Fifth Annual Conference of IGCP Project 381
(SAMC V), held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in
conjunction with the 31st International Geological
Congress 6-17 August 2000. The SAMC V meeting
aimed at interdisciplinary oral and poster presenta-
tions of key topics of research and progress reports
of geological correlations for the South Atlantic
Mesozoic, involving discussions on the South
Atlantic Cretaceous, state-of-the-art of the main
topics in geology, as well as potential research topics
to be developed as successors to IGCP Project 381.
It was attended by 56 participants from seven
countries.
Publications
– Thirteen newsletters have been issued (SAMC News
1-13, ISSN 1413-6813) by September 1999.
– Volume entitled 'The Oil and Gas Habitats of
the South Atlantic', edited by N. R. Cameron, R. H.
Bate and V. S. Clure, Geological Society Special
Publication, No. 153, 1999, 474 pp., London, was
published as a contribution to IGCP Project 381, with
27 papers.
– Currently the total number of project publications
amounts to 608 (99 published articles and extended
abstracts, plus four Ph.D. thesis that have been
concluded in the year 2000; as of October 2000).
Ten theses are still in progress (see enclosed Reports
of Research Activities), and twenty-three articles are
currently in press or have been submitted for publi-
cation (not counted for 2000).
– The volume South Atlantic Cretaceous Correlations
and Biogeographic Patterns, by E. A. M. Koutsoukos,
P. Bengtson, I. de Klasz and D. Batten, was published
as a Special Issue of the journal Cretaceous Research,
Vol. 21, Nos. 2 and 3, 2000, with 12 papers.
– Cretaceous Research, Vol. 21, No. 2/3, April/
June 2000 (ISSN: 0195-6671)
42
Activities planned
General Goals
Provisions have been made to stimulate active key
working-groups and SAMC participants to follow up
their research projects after the conclusion of the project
in February 2001. In addition, the team will continue
to exercise an overall scientific steering and catalyst
function among the most active project participants to
eventually induce the producing of a proposal for one
or more successor IGCP projects.
The project working group also intends to survey,
stimulate and co-ordinate M.Sc. and Ph.D. Doctorate
dissertations and theses which are currently being carried
out within the project framework. It will further edit and
help to co-ordinate the publishing of symposium and
thematic volumes within the framework of the project,
and produce the final issues of the project newsletter
SAMC News. One of its goals is also to stimulate and
co-ordinate the discussion on ongoing and future
research related to IGCP Project 381, in collaboration
with the project working groups, which could be carried
out in continuation to SAMC, and exercise an overall
scientific steering and catalyst function among the
most active project participants to eventually induce
the producing of a proposal for one or more successor
IGCP projects.
Publications
The next thematic volume to be published will be the
proceedings of the joint Regional Meeting of IGCP 381
and the Second European Meeting on the Palaeontology
and Stratigraphy of South America. The volume will
appear in two parts as thematic issues of the Journal of
South American Earth Sciences under the title ‘Mesozoic
Palaeontology and Stratigraphy of South America and
the South Atlantic’, P. Bengtson and E. A. M. Koutsoukos
(eds:). The first part will comprise seven articles and is
scheduled to appear in early 2001.
The Final Report will be submitted in 2001 for
publication by Episodes or the Earth Sciences series
of UNESCO Publishing, it will cover the following
topics:
• state-of-the-art regional studies on stratigraphic
correlations
• integration and intercalibration of biochronostrati-
graphic frameworks for the Mesozoic successions of
continental and marine ecosystems
• palaeogeographic and palaeoceanographic recon-
structions
• major geoevents in the Mesozoic evolution of the
South Atlantic
• recommendations of topics for future research to be
carried out in continuation to SAMC,
and
• list of project publications
No. 382 – Seismotectonics and Seismic Hazard
Assessment of the Mediterranean Basin
(SESAME) (1996-2000)
D. Giardini, Inst. Geophysics, ETH Höggerberg, 8093
Zurich, Switzerland, e-mail: giardini@seismo.ifg.ethz.ch
K. Makroupoulos, Department of Geophysics,
University of Athens, Athens, 15784, Greece, e-mail:
kmakrop@atlas.uoa.ariadne-t.gr
M. García, Inst. Ciencias de la Tierra J. Almera (CSIC)
Barcelona, E-0828, Spain, e-mail: mgarcia@uja.csic.es
S. Riad, Geology Department, Faculty of Science,
Assiut University, Assiut, Egypt, email: samirriad@
hotmail.com
Description: The project aimed to produce a uniform
seismotectonic zonation and seismic hazard assessment
for the Mediterranean region, and increase the use
of geological evidence in seismic hazard assessment,
by adopting a uniform probabilistic seismotectonic
approach to compute seismic hazard, and by incorpo-
rating geological evidence to supplement the historical
record of seismicity in building a statistical model of
seismogenic sources. The SESAME strategy is based
on the integration and co-ordination of national, multi-
national and regional programmes operating in the
Mediterranean.
Website of the project
http://seismo.ethz.ch/gshap/sesame/
Summary
Programmes and test-areas for multinational seismic
hazard assessment have been active in different areas of
the Mediterranean region: Ibero-Maghreb, Central-
Northern Europe, the Pannonian Basin, the Adriatic Sea,
the Middle East, Caucasus, Greece and Turkey. In
co-ordination with the Global Seismic Hazard Assess-
ment Programme (International Lithosphere Programme
– ILP, International Council for Science – ICSU, United
Nations International Decade for Natural Disaster
Reduction – IDNDR) and the European Seismological
Commission, SESAME has set up a schedule for the stan-
dardisation of databases, an assessment methodology and
hazard maps, and for the integration of regional results
into homogeneous source zones and hazard mapping for
the whole of the Mediterranean Basin. The Global Seismic
Hazard Assessment Programme (GSHAP) (1992-98) is
now finished, and the volume of regional reports and the
global map have now been published (list of SESAME
publications enclosed). Meanwhile SESAME and the
Working Group on Seismic Hazard of the European
Seismological Commission (ESC/WG-SHA) will
continue until the year 2000 for the Mediterranean area.
The work was conducted in three phases:
1. 1996-97: the aim and activities of SESAME,
ESC/WG-SHA and GSHAP coincided; regional
mapping of source zones and hazard were conducted
in the different test-areas. In 1997 the regional results
were presented at the 29th IASPEI Assembly
(Thessaloniki, 8/97).
2. 1997-98: the intermediate goal of merging the regional
hazard results into a preliminary regional Peak
Ground Acceleration (PGA) map was reached at the
26th ESC Assembly (Tel Aviv, 8/98), making possible
the identification of regions requiring further work and
the setting-up of a common strategy for Phase III.
3. 1998-2000: the construction of a homogeneous model
of source zones for the whole of the Mediterranean
and the computation, for the first time, of a series
of regional hazard maps in spectral parameters.
SESAME has been completed in the period 1996-2000,
according to the proposed schedule and work-plan.
It has produced: (1) the first homogeneous seismic
source model for the assessment of seismic hazard
following a seismotectonic probabilistic approach and
constructed through the effort of a working group
including representatives from the whole of the
Mediterranean area; (2) probabilistic seismic hazard
maps for the Mediterranean area, expressing expected
ground motions in different parameters PGA, spectral
acceleration at 0.3, 1 and 3 Hz, for different soil types
and different return periods (50, 500, 5000 years).
Progress in regional seismic hazard assessment in the
Mediterranean
Seismic hazard assessment (SHA) in the Mediterranean
area is co-ordinated under a number of regional, multi-
national and national initiatives. Here follows the
description of progress achieved in the different areas,
then a summary of the work done towards achieving
a basic level of unification in the whole of the
Mediterranean.
Central-Northern Europe
Minor changes have been made with respect to the
GSHAP implementation in Central-Northern Europe,
co-ordinated by the GeoForschungsZentrum in Potsdam
(GFZ), Germany, and including the territory north of
46°N. The seismic hazard for France has now been
completed also south of 46°N and a second hazard
zonation is now available for Poland, the Czech Republic
and Slovakia, co-ordinated by Prague University.
Ibero-Maghreb
This project, co-ordinated by CSIC in Barcelona,
includes Spain, Portugal, Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia.
The catalogue, homogeneous zoning and SHA map were
completed in 1997-1998.
Adria
The project includes all the countries bordering on the
Adriatic Sea (Italy, Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia,
43
Croatia, Albania, Greece), it is co-ordinated by OGS of
Trieste. A final iteration of the source zone model and
the seismic hazard was conducted in Pisa (2/98; spon-
sored by SESAME), and the final model hazard results
presented at the 1998 ESC assembly (Tel Aviv, 8/98).
Eastern Mediterranean
SESAME, the United States Geological Survey (USGS),
Reducing Earthquake Losses in the Eastern Mediterranean
Region Programme (RELEMR), are co-ordinating their
activities towards a unified hazard mapping of the
whole area (Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Cyprus, Israel,
Jordan, Egypt, Palestine, Saudi Arabia and the Arabian
Peninsula). Several planning and review meetings have
been held so far in the area. In 1996 and 1997 SESAME
organized two training workshops on seismotectonics
and seismic hazard analysis in the Eastern Mediterranean
countries (Cairo, 12/96, 12/97). RELEMR organized
workshops and special sessions also dedicated to hazard
assessment in Cyprus (12/96), Thessaloniki (8/97) and
Cyprus (10/97). Following this last meeting, joint
SESAME/RELEMR activities were conducted in 1998
with the aim at producing a preliminary regional map
of SHA, starting from existing regional PGA maps, and
verifying the feasibility of a common strategy for future
regional zoning. In the winter of 1998, all existing
hazard maps for the area were transferred to ETH Zurich,
digitised and joined into a common geographic grid.
This first product was then critically analysed by all
contributing countries in Amman (5/98; sponsored by
SESAME), with the aim to homogenise the maps and
smooth border discontinuities. After a second mapping
iteration, the final preliminary map for the Near East
was presented and discussed in Tel Aviv (8/98; spon-
sored by SESAME). A third workshop was organized
by RELEMR in Istanbul (10/98), where a new strategy
to build a common earthquake catalogue, source zones
and common hazard was established for the whole
region. In 1999, regional integration in hazard assess-
ment was the main goal of meetings in Tehran (5/99)
and Cyprus (10/99). Finally, a complete revision of the
regional model was performed in Tel Aviv with SESAME
representatives in the summer of and December 2000,
and will be integrated in the SESAME model in the
winter of 2001.
Caucasus
The project includes the Caucasian Republics (Armenia,
Ukraine, Georgia, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan), Russia,
Iran and Turkey. The co-ordinated catalogue, homo-
geneous zoning and SHA map were completed in
1997.
Northern Eurasia
The Joint Institute of Physics of the Earth (JIPE) in
Moscow is co-ordinating the seismic hazard mapping
for the whole of the former FSU (Federal Soviet Union)
territory. This five-year programme, initiated before the
FSU break-up and interrupted during the period of more
intense political turmoil, has been restarted, leading to
44
the compilation of a seismic catalogue and SHA, using
for the first time a probabilistic approach. Technical
workshops were held routinely in Moscow. The whole
area was subdivided in five blocks, and the final cata-
logue, the model of source zones and lineaments and
the hazard maps were released in early 1998.
Circum-Pannonian
The European Union (EU-QSEZ-CIPAR) project
includes the countries of the Circum-Pannonian basin,
i.e. Hungary, Romania, Slovenia, Croatia, Albania in
addition to Italy and the United Kingdom. While the
aim of this independent project was to produce a deter-
ministic hazard assessment of the region, a specific
source zoning (1997) and probabilistic hazard assess-
ment (1998) were produced by the British Geological
Survey (BGS), Edinburgh, for comparison with the
deterministic results and for inclusion in SESAME and
GSHAP.
Greece
The official national hazard map of Greece was
contributed to the SESAME Mediterranean map (see
below), while a new schedule to produce a national
source zone model (not yet existing) and a new hazard
map adjusted to critical border areas has now been estab-
lished for 1999 by the groups in Thessaloniki and
Athens. This new zoning was integrated in the SESAME
model in the summer of 2000.
Turkey
The Kandilli Observatory of Istanbul has represented
Turkey in the activities of the Caucasus and Eastern
Mediterranean projects. Following the evaluation of the
preliminary Mediterranean map (see below), a revised
zoning and hazard maps were produced to correct dis-
crepancies in the Aegean and Eastern Anatolia border
areas. A revised zoning was contributed and integrated
to the Greek model in the SESAME model in the
summer of 2000.
SESAME events 2000
SESAME hazard maps
During 1997-98 the GFZ, Potsdam, lead the effort to
collect and fit together the SHA maps derived in the
individual regional projects described above. The prelim-
inary PGA map includes the contributions of Ibero-
Maghreb, Adria, Central-Northern Europe, Northern
Eurasia, Caucasus, Greece, Turkey and Circum
Pannonian and is accompanied by a compilation of the
individual source zones. The draft maps were presented
and discussed at the 1998 ESC assembly (Tel Aviv, 8/98)
during the SESAME special events. The Near-East map
was presented separately. In 1999 the first joint maps
were produced and published.
The first SESAME product was the compilation of a
homogeneous model of seismic sources for the whole
of the Mediterranean obtained by:
• joining the existing zones as derived in the individual
SESAME regions
• designing new zones in the border areas between
different regions on the basis of seismotectonic
homogeneity criteria and computing the seismicity
parameters from one of the two regional catalogues
in the border region (using catalogues as they have
been used in the individual areas), and
• designing source zones and associated parameters in
the areas where these are not available (parts of Near
East, Libya).
Concerns were for uniform criteria to deal with the size
and dimension of source zones, relation to active tectonic
features, characterisation of the seismic statistics in the
zones, background and diffuse seismicity, across-
boundary continuity.
The second SESAME product is hazard mapping. All
source zonings were mounted in a SEISRISK3 com-
patible input mesh, and probabilistic seismic hazard
maps computed for the Mediterranean area, expressing
expected ground motion in different parameters PGA,
spectral acceleration at 0.3, 1 and 3 Hz, for different
soil types and different return periods (50, 500, 5000
years). The hazard models are still being refined, and
publication of the final maps is expected for the spring
of 2001.
Publications
The regional reports are now published in the GSHAP
volume, and were printed in late 1999 by Annali di
Geofisica. All reports, databases, catalogues, procedures,
maps and results are now loaded on the web site at
http://seismo.ethz.ch/GSHAP. The global map was
released with a press conference at the American
Geophysical Union (AGU) (December 1999) and
reviewed very favourably by ABC, CNN, EOS,
Discovery. The GSHAP global hazard map has been
printed in two editions in 16000 copies by the USGS.
The Annali volume was printed in 3000 copies.
All SESAME results and mapping are being assembled
in a comprehensive report which has been proposed
for publication in Surveys in Geophysics, Kluwer
Publication. The final map is being assembled together
with the Northern European segment and will be printed
in the spring of 2001, probably with the technical support
by the Geological Survey of Cataluna.
– Balassanian, S.; Ashirov, T.; Chelidze, T.; Gassanov,
A.; Kondorskaya, N.; Molchan, G.; Pustovitenko, B.;
Trifonov, V.; Ulomov, V.; Giardini, D.; Erdik, M.;
Ghafory-Ashtiany, M.; Grünthal, G.; Mayer-Rosa,
D.; Schenk, V.; Stucchi, M. 1999. Seismic Hazard
Assessment for the Caucasus Test Area, Annali
Geofis., Vol. 42, pp. 1139-51.
– Erdik, M.; Biro, Y.; Onur, T.; Sesetyan, K.; Birgoren,
G. 1999. Assessment of Earthquake Hazard in Turkey
and Neighboring Regions, Annali Geofis., Vol. 42,
pp. 1125-38.
– Giardini, D. (ed.) The Global Seismic Hazard
Assessment Program 1992-99, Special Issue, Annali
Geofis., 42, 248 pp., 1999.
– Giardini, D. The Global Seismic Hazard Assessment
Program (GSHAP): 1992-99, Annali Geofis., 42, pp.
957-74, 1999.
– Grünthal, G.; Bosse, C.; Camelbeeck, T.; De Crook,
T.; Gariel, J.-C.; Gregersen, S.; Guterch, B.;
Halldorsson, P.; Labak, P.; Lindholm, C.; Lenhardt,
W.; Mäntyniemi, P.; Mayer-Rosa, D.; Musson, R.;
Schenk, V.; Schenkova, Z.; Slejko, D.; Verbeiren, R.;
Wahlström, R.; Zabukovec, B.; Ziros, T. 1999a.
Seismic Hazard Assessment for Central, North and
Northwest Europe: GSHAP Region 3, Annali Geofis.,
42, pp. 999-1012.
– Grünthal, G.; Bosse, C.; Sellami, S.; Mayer-Rosa,
D.; Giardini, D. 1999b. Compilation of the GSHAP
Regional Seismic Hazard for Europe, Africa and the
Middle East, Annali Geofis., 42, pp. 1215-23.
– Giardini, D.; Grünthal, G.; Shedlock, K.; Zhang, P.
1999. The GSHAP Global Seismic Hazard Map,
Annali Geofis., 42, pp. 1225-30.
– Jimenez, M. J.; Garcia-Fernandez, M.; Chadi, M.; El
Foul, D.; Izquierdo, A.; Martinez-Solares, J.-M.;
Sousa-Oliveira, C.; Tadili, B.-A. 1999. Seismic
Hazard Assessment in the Ibero-Maghreb Region.
Annali Geofis., 42, pp. 1057-66.
- Musson, R. 1999. Probabilistic Seismic Hazard Maps
for the North Balkan Region. Annali Geofis., 42, pp.
1109-24.
– Slejko, D.; Camassi, R.; Cecic, I.; Herak, D.; Herak,
M.; Kociu, S.; Kouskouna, V.; Lapajne, J.;
Makropoulos, K.; Meletti, C.; Muco, B.; Papaioannou,
C.; Peruzza, L.; Rebez, A.; Scandone, P.; Sulstarova,
E.; Voulgaris, N.; Zivcic, M.; Zupancic, P. 1999.
GSHAP Seismic Hazard Assessment for the Adria
Region, Annali Geofis., 42, pp. 1085-108.
– Ulomov, V.; Shumilina, L.; Trifonov, V.; Kronrod, T.;
Levi, K.; Zhalkovsky, N.; Imaev, V.; Ivatschenko, A.;
Smirnov, V.; Gusev, A.; Balassanian, S.; Gassanov,
A.; Ayzberg, R.; Chelidze, T.; Kurskeev, A.;
Tudukulov, A.; Drumya, A.; Negmatullaev, S.;
Ashirov, T.; Pustovitenko, B.; Abdullabekov, K. 1999.
Seismic Hazard of Northern Eurasia, Annali Geofis.,
42, pp. 1023-38.
No. 386 – Response of the Ocean/Atmosphere
System to Past Global Changes (1996-2000)
H. Strauss, Geologisch-Paläontologisches Institut und
Museum, Westfälische Wilhelms Universität Münster,
Corrensstrasse 24, 48149 Münster, Germany, e-mail:
hstrauss@uni-muenster.de
D. M. Banerjee, Department of Geology, Delhi
University, Delhi 110007, India, email: dhirajanjali@id.
eth.net
45
L. A. Derry, Department of Geological Sciences, Cornell
University, 2122 Snell Hall, Ithaca, NY 14853-1504,
United States, e-mail: derry@geology.cornell.edu
Z. Sawlowicz, Institute of Geological Sciences,
Jagiellonian University, ul. Oleandry 2, 30-063 Krakow,
Poland, e-mail: zbyszek@ing.uj.edu.pl
Helmut H. J. Geldsetzer, Geological Survey of Canada,
3303-33rd St. NW, Calgary, Alberta T2L 2A7, Canada
(deceased in April 1998)
Description: Global geochemical perturbations of vari-
able magnitude and on different time-scales are reflected
in the geological record of marine sedimentary rocks.
In addition, corresponding traces are also present in
terrestrial sediments, all together linking the ocean-
atmosphere system. The aim of the project was to utilize
isotope ratios (carbon, oxygen, sulphur, strontium) and
elemental abundance (notably PGE) as proxies for these
changes in oceanic and/or atmospheric chemistry. Pos-
sible causes for these perturbations include geotectonic
processes, biotic crises, and/or extraterrestrial impacts.
Research focused on four time windows in the
Palaeozoic with known global geochemical changes: the
Lower Cambrian, the Ordovician-Silurian boundary, the
Middle Devonian to Lower Carboniferous time interval,
and the Permian-Triassic boundary.
Participating countries
(* countries active in 2000)
Australia, Austria, Belgium*, Canada, China, Czech
Republic*, Denmark, Estonia*, France, Germany*,
Hungary, India*, Poland*, Russia, Slovenia, Switzerland,
United Kingdom, United States*.
Summary of major past achievements of the Project
The earth system evolution was punctuated by a series
of distinct events, such as major geotectonic processes,
dramatic climatic changes, distinct palaeogeographic
scenarios or extraterrestrial impacts, many of which are
correlated with significant biological changes which in
turn serve as biostratigraphic markers. Such prominent
time-boundaries are frequently also characterized by
major perturbations of the global ocean/atmosphere
system, as recorded through distinct variations of geo-
chemical proxy signals. These variations are of variable
magnitude and duration. Research activities of IGCP
386 are directed towards (1) quantification of changes
in the global chemical fluxes that lead to the observed
changes of seawater chemistry and atmospheric compo-
sition, (2) relating such global geochemical changes to
palaeoecological changes of marine and terrestrial
ecosystems, and (3) investigating feedbacks between
biota and palaeoenvironment including interaction of
biotic crises and geochemical changes.
46
Activities concentrate on four Palaeozoic time windows
with known distinct geochemical and isotopic signals of
global importance, notably the Lower Cambrian (545-
528 Ma), the Ordovician-Silurian boundary (443-437
Ma), the Middle Devonian to Lower Carboniferous (380-
345 Ma), and the Permian-Triassic boundary (260-245
Ma). Geochemical proxies (i.e. the isotopic composi-
tions of carbon, oxygen, sulphur, strontium, abundances
of PGE, REE) from relevant sedimentary sequences are
utilized to trace the geochemical responses to major
processes affecting the earth and its surface environ-
ments. A thorough compilation of these data together
with important stratigraphic and lithologic information
represents one of the key issues of IGCP 386. Data
analysis includes modelling of reservoirs and fluxes, and
time series analyses.
Achievements of the project this year
General scientific achievements
1. Global geochemical perturbations of the ocean/
atmosphere system are reflected in the geological
record of marine and terrestrial sedimentary rocks
by unusual variations of elemental abundances and
isotopic compositions. Research groups affiliated
with IGCP 386 continued their efforts to refine the
available temporal trends for the isotopic composi-
tion of seawater.
2. Litho- and chemostratigraphical correlation, recon-
struction of ancient marine environments and quan-
tification of carbon isotope variations for the Early
Palaeozoic continues to be a central research objec-
tive of colleagues from Tallinn, Estonia.
3. Work on the isotope geochemistry of Permian shales
from India is in progress with some Indian
colleagues.
4. Investigation of Silurian and Devonian palaeoenvi-
ronments and the isotopic composition of respective
seawater as recorded in biogenic carbonate was
progressed by colleagues from Prague.
5. For several German participants, research is
performed within the framework of the German
Science Foundation (DFG) priority programme No.
1054 ‘Evolution des Systems Erde während des
jüngeren Paläozoikums im Spiegel der Sediment-
Geochemie’ [Earth´s System Evolution during Late
Palaeozoic Time as Mirrored by Sediment
Geochemistry]. Projects include the oxygen isotopic
composition of brachiopods and conodonts, the
isotope geochemistry of Devonian seawater as
recorded in biogenic carbonates, the Palaeozoic
sulphur cycle and the late Palaeozoic terrestrial
carbon cycle.
6. Modelling is under way. For example, data analysis
of a newly developed sulphur isotope record for
Palaeozoic seawater sulphate as recorded in struc-
turally substituted sulphate in carbonates displays
fluctuations in the burial flux of reduced sulphur by
 a factor of 2.5. No significant effect could be calcu-
lated for the input of mantle sulphur.
7. Short-term variations of these temporal isotope
trends, sometimes of substantial magnitude, are
frequently placed at prominent boundaries and
occasionally even utilized to define these. Model-
ling efforts have concentrated on the Frasnian-
Fammenian boundary.
Meetings
– No formal meeting of IGCP 386 was held during
this year. An informal get-together of the co-leaders
was arranged at the 31st International Geological
Congress in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. In addition, a
Special Symposium C-6 ‘Evolution of the Atmos-
phere, Hydrosphere and Biosphere’ at the 31st IGC
was co-sponsored by IGCP 386.
– Furthermore, results from this IGCP project were
presented at the international level through several
project participants. Attended meetings include the
Goldschmidt 2000-Conference in Oxford, United
Kingdom; the meeting on Catastrophic Events and
Mass Extinctions in Vienna, Austria; the European
Palaeontological Association Workshop 2,000 in
Frankfurt, Germany; the European Society for
Isotope Research Workshop in Krakow, Poland; etc.
Most important publications
Journal Publications: Publication of the Special Issue
of Chemical Geology entitled ‘Response of the Ocean/
Atmosphere System to Past Global Changes’ by Elsevier
has been delayed and will only appear in 2001. Thus,
manuscripts listed during last years report are still in
press.
Selected other publications:
– Casier, J.-G.; Devleeschouwer, X.; Lethiers, F.; Préat,
A.; Racki, G. 2000. Ostracods and Sedimentology of
the Frasnian-Famennian Boundary of the Kostomloty
Section (Holy Cross Mountains, Poland) in Relation
with the Late Devonian Mass Extinction. Bulletin
de l'Inst. roy., Sci. nat. Belg., Sciences de la Terre,
Vol. 70, pp. 53-74.
– Devleeschouwer, X.; Herbosch, A.; Préat, A.
Microfacies, Sequential Analysis and Clay
Mineralogy of a Condensed Deep-water Section
around the Frasnian-Famennian Boundary
(Steinbruch Schmidt, Germany). Palaeogeogr.
Palaeoclimat. Palaeoecol. (Submitted.)
– Ganqing, J.; Christie-Blick, N.; Kaufman, A. J.;
Banerjee, D. M.; Rai, V. 2000. Sequence Stratigraphy
of the Neoproterozoic Infra Krol Formation and Krol
Group, Lesser Himalaya, India. Journal Sedimentarty
Research. (In review.)
– Ganqing, J.; Christie-Blick, N.; Kaufman, A. J.;
Banerjee, D. M. 2000. Carbonate Platform Growth
and Cyclicity of a Terminal Proterozoic Passive
Margin, Infra Krol Formation and Krol Group,
Lesser Himalaya, India. Sedimentary Geology. (In
review.).
– Hansen, H. J.; Lojen, S.; Toft, P.; Dolenec, T.; Tong,
Jinnan; Michaelsen, P.; Sarkan, A. 2000. Magnetic
Susceptibility and Organic Carbon Isotopes of
Sediments across some Marine and Terrestrial
Permo-Triassic Boundaries. In: Permian-Triassic
Evolution of Tethys and Western Circum-Pacific,
(Developments in palaeontology and stratigraphy,
18). Elsevier, Amsterdam, pp. 271-89.
– Joachimski, M. M.; Pancost, R. D.; Freeman, K. H.;
Ostertag-Henning C.; Buggisch, W. Carbon Isotope
Geochemistry of the Frasnian-Famennian Transition.
Palaeogeogr. Palaeoclimat. Palaeoecol. (Submitted.)
– Kaljo, D.; Martma, T. 2000. Carbon Isotopic
Composition of Llandovery Rocks (East Baltic
Silurian) with Environmental Interpretation. Proc.
Estonian Acad. Sci. Geol., 49 (In press.).
– Kiipli, E.; Kallaste, T.; Kiipli, T. 2000. Early
Diagenetic Chalcopyrite Occurrences in Telychian
Marine Red Beds of West Estonia and West Latvia.
Proc. Est. Acad. Sci. Geology, 49 (In press.).
– Kiipli, E.; Kallaste, T.; Kiipli, T. 2000. Hematite and
Goethite in Telychian Marine Red Beds of the East
Baltic. GFF, 122, pp. 281-6.
– Kiipli, T.; Batchelor, R. A.; Bernal, J. P.; Cowing, C.;
Hagel-Brunnstrom, M.; Ingham, M. N.; Johnson, D.;
Kivisilla, J.; Knaack, Ch.; Kump, P.; Lozano, R.;
Michiels, D.; Orlova, K.; Pirrus, E.; Rousseau, R.
M.; Ruzicka, J.; Sandstrom, H.; Willis, J. P. 2000.
Seven Sedimentary Rock Reference Samples from
Estonia. Oil Shale, 17, pp. 215-23.
– Kiipli, T.; Tsegelnjuk, P. D.; Kallaste, T. 2000.
Volcanic Interbeds in the Silurian of the South-
Western Part of the East European Platform. Proc.
Est. Acad. Sci. Geology, 49, pp. 163-76.
– Shukla, A. D.; Bhandari, N.; Shukla, P. N. Permian-
Triassic Transitional Environment in Spiti Valley,
Himalaya, India. Geol. Soc. Amer. Spec. Paper.
(Submitted.)
– Wenzel, B.; Lecuyer, C.; Joachimski, M. M. 2000.
Comparing the Oxygen Isotope Records of Silurian
Calcite and Phosphate – d18O Compositions of
Brachiopods and Conodonts. Geochim. Cosmochim.
Acta, 64, pp. 1859-72)
Activities planned
General goals
Modelling efforts currently under way, both with
respect to long-term as well as short-term fluctuations
of geochemical proxy signals, will be finalized on the
basis of presently available data sets. A comprehensive
compilation of relevant data sets and modelling results
will be prepared as the final progress from this IGCP
project.
47
No. 393 – Neritic Middle-Upper Eocene
(1996-2000)
E. Caus, Departament de Geología (Paleontología),
Universitat Autònoma di Barcelona, 08193 Bellaterra,
Barcelona, Spain, e-mail: igpa3@cc.uab.es
Description: The Middle to Upper Eocene has tradi-
tionally caused considerable problems in correlating
shallow water benthic sequences with global time-scales.
The project had important goals in connection with the
improvement of biostratigraphic correlation across the
Atlantic Ocean by means of benthic microfossils.
Several, possibly overlapping stages are involved:
Lutetian, Bartonian, Napocian and Priabonian. In the
Tethyan realm, several sedimentary sequences can be
observed during this time interval. Results include: the
transatlantic and transtethyan extension of shallow
benthic zonation; extension of shallow benthic zonation
world-wide; assessment of current correlations with
plankton zones, sequences and magneto-stratigraphy;
and the reconstruction of palaeo-oceanographic and/or
climatic boundary events and faunal provinces. The
project was concerned with providing a time-scale to
understand the evolution of sedimentary basins and the
resources they contain, which will be of benefit to
society.
Participating countries
(* active countries this year)
Albania, Austria*, Armenia*, Croatia*, Cuba*, Egypt,
France*, Germany*, Hungary*, India, Italy*, Jamaica*,
Japan*, Mexico*, Oman*, Pakistan, Poland, Romania,
Russia*, Slovakia*, Slovenia*, Spain*, Sarawak,
Switzerland*, Tunisia, Turkey*, Ukraine, United States*
and Venezuela.
Achievements of the project
During the past years (1996-99), the members of IGCP
393 collected a significant number of representative
samples around the Middle-Upper Eocene boundary
throughout the Eastern-Western European Tethyan realm
comprising Spain, France, Italy, Slovenia, Croatia,
Hungary, Ukraine, Turkey, Pakistan and Borneo, and
Caribbean realm comprising Mexico, the United States,
Jamaica and Cuba. These samples have been prepared
and the fauna and flora were analysed. The work focused
on selected groups of shallow benthic organisms
evolving through time and with transtethyan or trans-
atlantic geographic ranges. In the case of larger
foraminifera the studies have been devoted to num-
mulitid, alveolinid and orthophragminid species, and to
genera such as Pellatispira, Biplanispira, Calcarina,
Silvestriella, etc.; osdtracods and dasyclad algae were
also investigated.
The main task of this year (2000) has been to prepare
a series of summary papers on selected shallow benthic
48
foraminiferal groups spanning the time from Late
Lutetian to Priabonian, i. e. bridging the Middle Eocene-
Upper Eocene boundary, to be presented in the fifth
meeting of this project. The scientific session, organised
by Carmela Loriga Broglio and Davide Bassi (Università
de Ferrara) was held in Ferrara (Italy) on 21-22 July at
the Dipartimento di Scienze Geologiche e Paleonto-
logiche of the University with two days of oral and
poster communications. The data collected from several
key localities during the last four years provided funda-
mental information about the ranges of genera or species
permitting to use the shallow water benthic biostrati-
graphical subdivisions (SBZ) to characterise the
Bartonian-Priabonian boundary.
The main achievements of the project can be summarised
as:
1. Two Shallow Benthic Zones (SBZ-17 and SBZ-18)
have been distinguished in the Bartonian stage corre-
sponding to two successive sedimentary cycles.
2. The SBZ-17 (Early Bartonian; Biarritzian sensu
Hottinger and Schaub, 1960) is defined by
Nummulites (N. brogniarti, N. perforatus, N. hottin-
geri, N. biarritzensis, N. lyelli), Alveolina fragili and
Discocyclina pulcra batonica.
3. The SBZ-18 (Late Bartonian; Napocian sensu
Bombita, 1984) is defined by Nummulites (N. biedai,
N. cyrenaicus, N. vicaryi, N. boulangeri).
4. The large Nummulites disappear completely at the
end of the middle Eocene (SBZ-18).
5. The Nummulites puschi, N. striatus, N. ptukhiani,
Assilina schawageri and Operculina roselli cover
both cycles.
7. In the Tethys, the range of large Nummulites over-
laps the range of the newcomer genera such as
Heterostegina, Pellatispira, Biplanispira, etc.,
considered to be immigrants from the Central Tethys
during the Late Bartonian (SBZ-18). The non-occur-
rence of both in some places is considered to be due
to unfavourable local palaeoenvironmental condi-
tions. Nevertheless, the taxonomy on species level
of these forms needs to be studied in the future in
order to compare them more closely with the Asian
representatives.
7. The SBZ-19 (Early Priabonian sensu Pignatti, 1995)
is defined by N. fabianii, N. garnieri garnieri, N.
cunialensis, Operculina gomezi, Assilina alpina,
Discocyclina pratti minor and Asterocyclina alti-
costata danubica.
Therefore, the boundary between Middle and Upper
Eocene is indicated by the replacement of N. ptukhiani
by N. fabiani, Assilina schwageri by A. alpina,
Operculina roselli by O. gomezi, etc. as indicated in
previous statements.
The comparison of Caribbean with Western European
(Pyrenean) faunas must be focused in the evolution of:
(a) Fabiania s.l., Gyroidinella s.l., Eorepuertia and other
victoriellids; (b) striate Nummulites; (c) ’operculinids’
including the O. gomezi-O. ocalana group and heteroste-
ginids.
IGCP 393 members as a working group of the
Subcommission of the Palaeogene Stratigraphy decided
to propose the Mossano section as standard reference to
the Middle-Upper Eocene Boundary in shallow marine
deposits.
Meetings and field trips
During the year, several field trips were organised. In
January, a workshop followed by a field trip took place
in The Sultanate of Oman (Dhofar and the Oman
Mountains) in order to investigate more closely the
events at the transition Middle-Upper Eocene in the
so-called 'Lockhartia Sea'. The preparation and study of
the collected samples is in progress.
Before and after the fifth annual meeting two field trips
took place in Southern Italy (18-22 July) and Northern
Italy (Venetian area), Slovenia, Croatia and Hungary
(26-31 July). The post-meeting field trip in the Vicenza
province enabled participants to visit and collect mate-
rial from Mossano (the Priabonian parastratotype located
in the Colli Berici), Priabona (the Priabonian stratotype,
located in the Monti Lessini), the Middle-Upper Eocene
outcropping at Pradialdo (Altopiano di Asiago), and Late
Eocene of Possagno (Southern Monte Grappa).
Further, IGCP 393 was represented at:
– Réunion des ostracodologistes de langue française,
held in Lisbon, Portugal, 15-17 May.
– Croatian Geological Congress, held in Cavtat
(Dubrovnik, Croatia), 16-28 May.
– Palaeoecology shallow benthos, held in Modena,
Italy, 13-15 June.
– Second International Conference ‘Application of Micro-
and Meioorganisms to Environmental Problems’,
held in Winnipeg, Canada, 27 August - 1 September.
– IV Congreso del Terciario de España, held in Tremp,
Spain, 19-22 September.
– 25th Anniversary of the Spanish IGCP Meeting, held
in Cuenca, Spain, 28-30 September.
– Réunions du Groupe Français du Paléogène, held in
Paris, France, 2 June and 4 December.
Major publications
– Barattolo, F.; Romano, R.; Vecchio, E. The Spirolina
Facies (Lower-Middle Eocene) in Southern
Appeninnes, Field guide, Università degli Studi di
Napoli Federico II, 39 pp.
– Barbieri, R. Benthic foraminifera Across the Middle-
Late Eocene Boundary in Western Negev (Israel):
Implications for Nature of Tethyan Faunal Events.
Ann. Mus. Civ. St. Nat. Ferrara, 3, pp. 2-8.
– Bartholdy, J. Stratigraphical Extend of Mid-Eocene
Nummulitic Sediments in the Podhale Basin, Western
Carpathians (Poland). Ann. Mus. Civ. St. Nat. Ferrara,
3, pp. 9-11.
– Bassi, D.; Ungaro, S.; Fugganoli, A. A. SEM Analysis
of Upper Eocene Nummulites Species from the
Venetian Area (North-Eastern Italy). Ann. Mus. Civ.
St. Nat. Ferrara, 3, pp. 12-13.
– Bassi, D.; Cosovic, V.; Less, G.; Mietto, P.; Papazzoni,
C. A.; Trevisani, E.; Ungaro, S. Biostratigraphy and
Palaeoecology at the Middle-Upper Eocene
Boundary: the Venetian Area; Annali Università di
Ferrara, Ann. Mus. Civ. St. Nat. Ferrara, 8, pp. 39-
92.
– Caus, E. ‘Biozonación del Paleógeno inferior basada
en foraminíferos (proyectos PICG 286 y 393) ’
Programa Internacional de Correlación Geológica:
Desarrollo y perspectivas en España, 25º Aniversario
del Comité Español, pp. 51-4.
– Cosovic, V.; Drobne, K. Some Remarks on
Nummulites Specimens from Localities in South-
Eastern Slovenia and North-Western Croatia. Ann.
Mus. Civ. St. Nat. Ferrara, 3, pp. 14-5.
– Hauptmann, M.; Bartholdy, J.; Bischoff, R.
Depositional Conditions of Mid-Eocene Nummulite
Accumulations in the Gulf of Gabes (Tunisia). Ann.
Mus. Civ. St. Nat. Ferrara, 3, pp. 16-7.
– Kalac, K. Biostratigraphic Research of the Eocene-
Oligocene Deposits in the Western Part of the Drava
Depression. Ann. Mus. Civ. St. Nat. Ferrara, 3,
pp. 18-9.
– Matumaru, K. Eocene Larger Foraminifera from
Luzon and Haja-Jimas, Ogasawara. Ann. Mus. Civ.
St. Nat. Ferrara, 3, p. 20.
– Nebelsick, J.; Rasser, M.; Bassi, D. Facies
Development of Middle Eocene to Lower Oligocene
Circum-alpine Carbonates. Ann. Mus. Civ. St. Nat.
Ferrara, 3, p. 21.
– Pavsic, J.; Premec Fucek, V. Calcareous
Nanoplankton and Planktonic Foraminiferal Zones
during the Middle and Upper Eocene of the
‘Transitional Beds’ on the Adriatic Platform. Ann.
Mus. Civ. St. Nat. Ferrara, 3, pp. 22-3.
– Robinson, E. Distribution of Larger Foraminifera in
Well Near the Middle-Upper Eocene Boundary,
Nicaragua Rise, Caribbean Region. Ann. Mus. Civ.
St. Nat. Ferrara, 3, p 24.
– Robinson, E. Proposed Generic and Specific
Diagnoses and Stratigraphic Ranges of Some Middle
Eocene Larger Foraminifera Related to Lepido-
cyclina. Ann. Mus. Civ. St. Nat. Ferrara, 3, p. 25.
– Roger, J.; Bourdillon, C.; Platel, J.-P.; Razin, Ph.
Geological Field Survey in the Tertiary of the Oman
Mountains and Dhofar, Field guide, BRGM and
Oman Ministry of Petroleum and Minerals, 81 pp.
– Romero, J.; Caus, E. ‘Eventos Nerírticos en el Límite
Eoceno Medio-Eoceno Superior en el Extremo
Oriental de la Depresión del Ebro (NoresteEN de
España)’, Revista de la Sociedad Geológica de
España, 13/2, pp. 301-21.
- Romero, J.; Caus, E. Neritic Events at the Middle-
upper Eocene Boundary in the South-Eastern End of
49
 the South-Pyrenean Basin, Ann. Mus. Civ. St. Nat.
Ferrara, 3, pp. 26-7.
– Romero, J.; Caus, E.; Rosell, J. Paleoenvironmental
Distribution of arger Foraminifera on Late Middle
Eocene Deposits on the Margin of the South-
Pyrenean Basin (NE Spain), Ann. Mus. Civ. St. Nat.
Ferrara, 3, p. 28.
– Serra-Kiel, J.; Ferrández, C.; Tosquella, J. ‘El Límite
Eoceno Medio-Eoceno Superior en Facies de
Plataforma en las Cuencas Pirenaica y Bética’. Temas
geológico-mineros, 30, pp 175-82.
– Zakrevskaya, E.; Hayrapetyan, F. Benthic Foramini-
fera Biostratigraphy at the Middle-Upper Eocene
Boundary in the Vedi Section (Southern Armenia).
Ann. Mus. Civ. St. Nat. Ferrara, 3, pp. 29-30.
Ongoing activities
The detailed palaeontological analysis of selected index
fossils needed to improve and asses a reliable taxonomy
will need at least another year of intensive work,
including in particular the reference material collected
in Oman and during the excursion of the final IGCP
meeting in the year 2000. Moreover, three Ph.D theses
linked to the aims of IGCP 393 project are under
way: J. Romero (Barcelona), E. Vecchio (Naples) and
J. Bartholdy (Berlin). The results of these works will
be integrated into the general conclusions reached at
the final meeting of the project in Ferrara. This inte-
gration will be presented in the form of extended
results of the project at the International Symposium
on Foraminifera in Perth (Australia), February 2002.
Therefore, the IGCP commission was requested for an
extended term of one year for the project. The working
out and publishing of carefully illustrated and reviewed
monographic papers of key benthic organisms from
Palaeogene shallow marine sediments will go on
beyond this official term for several more years. Most
past IGCP projects including detailed palaeontological
work have shown the length of time taken to perform
such tasks.
No. 396 – Continental Shelves in the Quaternary
(1996-2000)
W. W.-S. Yim, Department of Earth Sciences, The
University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong
SAR, China, e-mail: wwsyim@hku.hk
P. J. Davies, Department of Geology and Geophysics,
The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2000, Australia,
e-mail: pjd@beryl.es.su.oz.au
Description: The project aimed to study and interpret
the Quaternary sequences on continental shelves and
provide climatostratigraphic correlation of the epiconti-
nental seas. It examined present-day continental shelves
50
down to a water depth of about 200 m using bore hole
data and remote-sensing techniques such as seismic
profiling, geochemical, analytical techniques and
palaeontological methods. It also mapped the continental
shelves of the world during the Quaternary and helped
to reconstruct the palaeoenvironment of the Quaternary.
It provided a better understanding of palaeosol devel-
opment, evolution of coral reefs and sedimentology of
continental shelves. The study was beneficial to coastal
engineering projects and to the exploration and exploita-
tion of living and non-living resources on continental
shelves. A highly successful five years with a number
of countries taking part amounting to 43 and the number
of participants in excess of 400.
Website of the project
http://www2.env.uea.ac.uk/gmmc
Participating countries
(*indicate countries active this year)
Argentina*, Australia*, Bangladesh*, Belgium*,
Brazil*, Bulgaria*, Canada*, Chile*, China*, Cuba*,
Czech Republic, Egypt*, Fiji*, Finland*, France*,
Germany*, India*, Indonesia*, Iran*, Ireland*, Israel*,
Italy*, Jamaica, Japan*, Korea (Rep. of)*, Namibia*,
Netherlands*, New Zealand*, Nigeria*, Norway*,
Portugal*, Romania*, Russia*, Sri Lanka*, South
Africa*, Spain*, Suriname*, Sweden*, Thailand*,
United Kingdom*, Ukraine*, United States*, Viet
Nam*.
Summary of major past achievements
It was recognised necessary for participants to lobby
governments in order to gain access to data and samples
collected for surveys of optical fibre submarine cable
systems for research studies on continental shelves.
Participants of IGCP 396 are currently being made
aware of this.
Participation at the MARGINS Source-to Sink Workshop
in Lake Tahoe, United States, 11-15 September 2000
has revealed that some of the IGCP 396 participants are
already leading the world in the use of innovative drilling
technology to study continental shelves. Margins will
not carry out drilling on continental shelves with funding
from the United States National Science Foundation
until the year 2003. Even when they start, drilling will
be restricted to three areas in the world: Alaska, Papua
New Guinea and New Zealand. It is to be noted that for
the ten-year duration proposed, several million dollars
per year will be needed excluding expenses for shipping
time and drilling.
The Portable Remotely Operated Drill (PROD) of
co-leader PJD was tested with encouraging results in the
North-West Shelf of Australia and in Puget Sound,
United States.
Achievements of the project this year
1. Completion of the final report.
2. Proposal for a successor project.
3. Continuous active involvement of IGCP 396 in the
co-IGCP project (involving IGCP 413, 448, 464 and
459) under the leadership of Prof. E. Derbyshire.
4. A highly successful final meeting at the 31st Inter-
national Geological Congress held in Rio de Janeiro,
Brazil.
5. National reports have been received from Australia,
Canada, China, France, India, Iran, Netherlands,
Spain, United Kingdom and Russia.
6. The revision of the IGCP 396 poster and its display
at conferences/workshops to help to draw the inter-
national scientific community’s attention to the
importance of the project. These include:
(i) 31st International Geological Congress, 6-17
August 2000, Rio de Janeiro
(ii) Margins Source-to-Sink Workshop, 11-15
September 2000, Lake Tahoe.
7. Publication of results of IGCP-396 in Ocean News
and Episodes.
8. The ability of participants to continue to work
together and seek funds through their own countries
to support research work related to the project. This
has included postgraduate training for students from
developing countries in developed countries.
9. Dr N. K. Tovey, international secretary of the project,
continued to update the project Web page. The
address of the site is http://www2.env.uea.ac.uk/
gmmc/
10. Compilation of cruise track data casts for the conti-
nental shelf around Taiwan by Prof. M. P. Chen.
11. Production of a geomorphological map of the
Villasimius continental shelf in Italy.
General scientific achievements
1. The scientific achievements given in last year’s report
have all been reaffirmed.
2. Further supporting evidence was found for the five
interglacial-glacial cycles in the South China Sea off
Hong Kong through the record of diatom preserva-
tion in a 60 m borehole.
3. Initiation of Project Neptune in Canada.
4. In order to determine the rate of sedimentation of
siliciclastics-dominated shelves self weight consoli-
dation and cementation must be taken into account.
5. Completion of a Ph.D. thesis on the Holocene record
of typhoons in the Pearl River Estuary. Societal bene-
fits: Work on the shelf indicated that perhaps only
10% of the sedimentary record of the Holocene is
preserved. It is possible to obtain return periods of
typhoons based on instrumental record, historical
record, archaeological record and the Holocene
record in offshore boreholes.
6. Identification of both drowned and partially drowned
landslide deposits in Hong Kong formed during
glacial periods. These landslides are appreciably
larger in scale compared to landslides formed during
interglacial periods. Societal benefits: improvement
in the risk analysis of landslides.
7. Improvement in the understanding of engineering
properties of shelf deposits through sea-level change.
Societal benefits: reducing the costs of coastal engi-
neering including a better understanding of ground
settlement such as at the Kansai International Airport
in Osaka Bay.
8. The possible role of sub-aerially exposed continental
shelves in the release of greenhouse gases to trigger
ice ages to terminate. Societal benefits: better under-
standing of the causes of climate change.
9. Marine archaeological work on the Egyptian conti-
nental shelf has resulted in the identification of three
sunken cities: Canopus, Menouthis and Herakleion
to the west of the Nile Delta.
Meetings
– International Workshop on Deltas: their Dynamics,
Facies and Sequences with Special References to
Sea-level Changes and Human Impacts, 16-17
March 2000, Geological Survey of Japan, Tsukuba.
About 100 participants from 10 countries.
– Session on Shelf Sea Palaeoceanography: the
Quaternary record at Geoscience 2000 Conference,
17-20 April 2000, University of Manchester. About
80 participants from 6 countries.
– General symposium 20-5 Continental shelves in
the Quaternary at 31st International Geological
Congress, 6-17 August 2000, Rio de Janeiro.
Approximately 90 participants from 20 countries.
– Margins Source-to-Sink Workshop, 11-15
September 2000, Lake Tahoe. 128 participants from
7 countries.
Most important publications
– Journal of Asian Earth Sciences. Special issue on:
Late Quaternary Coastal Dynamics and Sea-level
Changes in the Asian and Pacific Region, Guest
Editors C. D. Woodroffe, K. Berryman (eds.):
K. Burke, A. J. Barber, Vol. 18, No. 4, 2000.
– Continental Shelf Research. Special issue, Vol. 20,
Issue 16, 2000.
– Atlas of Geology and Mineral Resources of the
Russian Shelf Seas by the Russian Academy of
Science.
– Birch, G. F.; Taylor, S. E. 2000. Distribution and
Possible Sources of Organochlorine Residues in
Sediments of a Large Urban Estuary, Port Jackson,
Sydney. Australian Journal of Earth Sciences, 47,
pp. 749-56.
– Chandler, R. J. 2000. Clay Sediments in Depositional
Basins: the Geotechnical Cycle. Quaterly Journal of
Engineering Geology and Hydrogeology, 33, pp. 7-39.
51
– Chiocci, F. L. 2000. Depositional Response to
Quaternary 4th Order Sea level Falls on the Northern
Latium Margin. In: D. Hunt and R. L. Gawthorpe
(eds.) Sedimentary Responses to Forced Regressions.
Geological Society Special Publication, London,
172, pp. 271-89.
– Chivas, A. R.; Garcia, A.; Van der Kaars, S. et al.
(In press.) Sea-level and Environmental Changes
Since the Last Interglacial in the Gulf of Carpentaria,
Australia: An overview. Quaternary International.
– Clarke, J. D. A.; Ringis, J. 2000. Late Quaternary
Stratigraphy and Sedimentology of the Inner Part
of South-West Joseph Bonaparte Gulf. Australian
Journal of Earth Sciences, 47, pp. 715-32.
– Collina-Girard, J. 1999. Submarine Valley Network
and Seismic Surveying: Relationship and Structural
Implications on the Continental Shelf (Marseilles,
France). Earth and Planetary Sciences, 329, pp. 357-
62 (In French with English abstract.)
– Collina-Girard, J. 2000. The Submerged Palaeo-
lagoons of Marie-Galante Island (Ex-French West
Indies). Earth and Planetary Sciences, 331, pp. 367-
72 (In French with English abstract.)
– Fedje, D. W.; Josenhans, H. 2000. Drowned Forests
and Archaeology on the Continental Shelf of British
Columbia, Canada. Geology, 28, pp. 99-102.
– Gagan, M. K.; Ayliffe, L. K.; Beck, J. W.; et al. 2000.
New Views of Tropical Palaeoclimates from Corals.
Quaternary Science Review, 19, pp. 45-64.
– Hanebuth, T.; Statteger, K.; Grootes, P. M. 2000.
Rapid Flooding of the Sunda Shelf: a Late-Glacial
Sea-level Record. Science, 288, pp. 1033-35.
– Hernandez, F. J.; Somoza, L.; Lobo, F. 2000. Seismic
Stratigraphy of the Gulf of -Cadiz Continental Shelf:
a Model for Late Quaternary Very High Resolution
Sequence Stratigraphy and Response to Sea-level
Fall. In: D. Hunt and R. L. Gawthorpe (eds.)
Sedimentary Responses to Forced Regressions.
Geological Society Special Publication, London,
172, pp. 329-62.
– Kennett, J. P.; Fackler-Adams, B. N. 2000. Relation-
ship of Clathrate Instability to Sediment Deformation
in the Upper Neogene of California. Geology, 28,
pp. 215-8.
– Lambeck, A.; Woolfe, K. J. 2000. Composition and
Textural Variability Along the 10 m Isobath, Great
Barrier Reef: Evidence for Pervasive Northward
Sediment Transport. Australian Journal of Earth
Sciences, 47, pp. 327-35.
– Okbah, M. A. E-A. 1999. Speciation of Some
Trace Metals in El-Mex Bay Water, Alexandria,
Egypt. INQUA Commission on Sea-level Changes
and Coastal Evolution Subcommission 4, The
Mediterranean Newsletter, 21, pp. 5-13.
– Shulmeister, J.; Soons, J. M.; Berger, G. W. et al.
1999. Environmental and Sea-level Changes on
Banks Peninsula (Canterbury, New Zealand) Through
Three GlaciationIinterglaciation Cycles.
Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology,
152, pp. 101-27.
52
– Yim, W. W.-S.; Li, J. 2000. Diatom Preservation
in an Inner Continental Shelf Borehole from the
South China Sea. Journal of Asian Earth Sciences,
18, pp. 471-88.
– Yim, W. W.-S. 2000. Drowned and Partially Drowned
Landslide Deposits in Hong Kong. Proceedings of
the Symposium on Slope Hazards and Their
Prevention, 8-10 May, The Jockey Club Research and
Information Centre for Landslip Prevention and Land
Development, Hong Kong, pp. 78-83.
– Yim, W. W.-S.; Choy, A. M. S. F. 2000. Some
Engineering Applications of Quaternary Sea-level
Changes in Hong Kong. Proceedings Engineering
Geology Hong Kong 2000, November, Institution of
Mining and Metallurgy, London, Hong Kong Branch,
pp. 211-8.
– Yim, W. W.-S. (In press.) Stratigraphy of Quaternary
Offshore Sand and Gravel Deposits in the Hong
Kong SAR, China. Quaternary International.
– Yokoyama, Y.; Lambeck, K.; De Deckker, P.;
Johnston, P.; Fifield, L. K. 2000. Timing of the Last
Glacial Maximum from Observed Sea-level Minima.
Nature, 406, pp. 713-6.
Activities planned
General aims
It is envisaged to conceive a successor project on conti-
nental shelves during the Last Glacial Cycle together
with its applications.
Publications planned/in progress
– A special issue on Continental shelves in the
Quaternary to be published in the Quaternary
International.
– A special issue on Continental shelves in the
Quaternary by the Spanish IGCP396 National
Working Group to be published in Scientia Marina.
No. 400 – Geodynamics of Continental Rifting
(1996-2000)
D. Damien, Royal Museum for Central Africa,
Department of Geology and Mineralogy, B-3080
Tervuren, Belgium, e-mail: ddelvaux@africamuseum.be
A. Khan, Leicester University, University Road,
Department of Geology, Leicester, LE1 75H, United
Kingdom, e-mail: mak@leicester.ac.uk
Description: The project aimed at a better understanding
of the Cenozoic geodynamics of rifting and sedimen-
tary basin formation in their complex intraplate envi-
ronment. It was based on comparative investigation of
geophysical, tectonic, kinematic and magmatic processes
of intracontinental rifts, their crustal and upper mantle
structure, and their global plate tectonic settings. It paid
special attention to the early stages of rifting in conti-
nental plates. Four active rift systems were selected: the
Afro-Arabian, Baikal, Rio Grande and European Rift
Systems. For a better understanding of the evolution of
rifting processes with time, the project also considered
rifts at various stages of formation, with examples of
the mature failed rift of North Sea and Passive Margins
in general. IGCP 400 project had several links with other
IGCP and ILP (International Lithosphere Programme)
projects. It also considered prediction of environmental
and natural hazard risks, palaeoclimatic and palaeoen-
vironmental changes, lacustrine environment protection
and promotion of multilateral north-south and east-west
scientific and technological co-operation. More than 200
persons were involved in the project, from 39 different
countries.
Website of the project
http://www.le.ac.uk/gl/pkm/Current/Rifts.html
List of countries involved in the project
(* indicates countries active this year)
Australia, Austria, Belgium*, Botswana, Brazil*, Brunei,
Canada*, Czech Republic*, China, Denmark, Egypt,
Eritrea, Ethiopia, France*, Germany*, Greece, Hungary,
Iceland*, India, Ireland, Israel*, Italy*, Japan, Jordan*,
Kenya, Mongolia, Palestine*, Papua New Guinea,
Russia*, Switzerland*, Sweden*, Tanzania, Turkey*,
Uganda, Netherlands*, Norway*, United Kingdom*,
United States*, Viet Nam.
Achievements of the project for the year 2000
Meetings
– Discussion Meeting at the Geological Society,
Burlington House, Picadilly, London, 12 November
1999: Rifts and Ridges. This meeting marked the
retirement of Aftab Khan, Professor at Leicester
University, Co-Leader of this IGCP 400 project, and
whose research career concentrated among others on
the study of extensional processes in both the East
African Rift System and in Cyprus. This discussion
meeting brought together British and international
colleagues providing talks on extension processes in
Kenya, East African Rift System and Cyprus.
– First Stephan Mueller Conference of the European
Geophysical Society (EGS): From Continental
Break-up to Collision, Dead Sea, Israel, 11-16
June 2000.
– The scientific programme included 94 contributions,
as keynote, oral presentation and poster. The main
topics concerned basin evolution, the dynamics of
rifting, crustal structure, tectonic modelling, research
and diving in the Dead Sea, and the Dead Sea rift.
Two field excursions were organised, during one day
in the middle of the conference, on the architecture
and history of the Dead Sea Basin and the Late
Pleistocene and Holocene sediments and tectonics.
About 110 participants from 16 countries attended
the meeting. This was a historical meeting as it
brought together for the first time in many years
geologists from Israel, Palestine and Jordan.
– IGCP 400 Post Meeting Field Trip: The Western
Margin of the Southern Dead Sea Rift, Israel, 16-20
June 2000. To conclude the field trip, a discussion
meeting was held at Eilat on 18 June. It was organ-
ised as a contradictory debate on the rift or trans-
form rift nature of the Dead Sea-Gulf of Aqaba
depression. A total of 15 participants from seven
countries attended the field excursion.
– IGCP 400 Fourth and Final Meeting during the 31st
International Geological Congress (IGC), Rio de
Janeiro, Brazil, 6-17 August 2000. The last annual
and closing meeting of the IGCP 400 project was
organised during the 31st International Geological
Congress, in the form of a Special Symposium
(Special Symposium D-8: Geodynamics of Conti-
nental Rifting, on Tuesday 8 August). The attendance
was between 50 to 100 persons. The meeting started
by a review of the major mechanisms and require-
ments for rifting of intracontinental plates, based on
a comparison of the Baikal, East African, Dead Sea
and Rio Grande rifts (D. Delvaux). Further insights
on continental rifting was given by A. Tommasi and
A. Vauchez, from the observation and modelling of
the mechanical anisotropy of the lithospheric Mantle.
They discussed the role of mantle plumes, pre-
existing orogenic fabric of the plates and strike-slip
faulting on the rifting initiation and development.
A. Nyblade gave evidence for a Mantle Plume or
‘passive’ rifting origin for the East African Rift
System, from the investigation of the seismic velocity
structure of the upper mantle beneath the East African
plate. A. Khan reviewed the results of the KRISP
Working Group on the deep structure of the Kenya
Rift from seismic, gravity and MT measurements and
surface geology. The results indicate the presence of
anomalously hot mantle material below the present
site of the Kenya rift about 20-30 Ma ago. This gave
rise to volcanism along the whole length of the rift
and modification of the underlying crust by mafic
igneous underplating and intrusion. A. Khan also
presented, on behalf of Y. Mart and N. Rabinowitz,
a new view of the crustal structure under the Dead
Sea and the Sea of Galilee, from tomographic
imaging of the central Dead Sea Rift. The contrasting
aspects of rifting and volcanism in the East African
and Central-East Asian rifts were compared by T.
Barry and co-workers. On the basis of the relative
timing of rifting and volcanism and the geochemical
signature of the magmas, they suggested that active
53
 rifting is typical for the East African Rift whereas
passive rifting characterises the Baikal rift in
Central-East Asia. The last presentation concerned
Proterozoic rifting along the western margin of
Laurentia, in the ancestral North America by D.
Thorkelson and co-workers. They show that a series
of pre-0.8 Ga rift basins appear to be intracratonic
features, apparently recording episodic, failed exten-
sion. Complete separation of Laurentia from
Australia and Antarctica (?) may have occurred
during the Neoproterozoic, with the development of
a deep trough along much of Laurentia. At the end
of the session, a business meeting was organised
to draw the main conclusions of the project, to set
up the edition of a new book on rifts and rifting
processes, and to investigate possibilities for future
activities of the scientific community that was
involved in IGCP 400.
Most important publications
– Lithospheric Structure, Evolution and Sedimentation
in Continental Rifts. A. W. B. Jacob, D. Delvaux,
and M. A. Khan (eds.). Proceedings of IGCP 400
first annual meeting, Dublin, 20-22 March 1997.
Communications of the Dublin Institute for
Advanced Studies, Series D, Geophysical Bulletin,
No. 48, 170 pp. ISBN number 1 85500 991 9.
– Tectonics, Sedimentation and Volcanism in the East
African Rift System, D. Delvaux and A. Khan (eds.),
Journal of African Earth Sciences, Special Issue,
Vol. 26, No 3, pp. 343-495, 1998.
– Recent Developments in the Geological Knowledge
of the Baikal Rift System N. A. Logatchev, R. Curnelle
and D. Delvaux (eds.). Special series of the Bulletin
des Centres de Recherches Exploration-Production
Elf-Aquitaine. 1993-2000 (12 articles.)
– Sedimentation in Active Tectonic Continental Basins.
M. De Batist, D. Delvaux, M. Grachev and J. Klerkx
(eds.). Proceedings of the Active Tectonic Conti-
nental Basins International Conference, Gent,
Belgium, 30 April-2 May 1998. International Journal
of Earth Sciences (former Geologische Rundschau),
Vol. 89, No. 2, pp.183-283, 2000.
– Botswana-50th Anniversary of the Geological
Survey, Geodynamics of Continental Rifting (IGCP
400), Evolution of the Kibaran Belt (IGCP 418),
Neoproterozoic Foreland Basins (IGCP 419). D. C.
Turner, R. Mapeo, D. Delvaux, A. B. Kampunzu
and W. Wendorff (eds.). Journal of African Earth
Sciences, Vol. 30, No. 3, pp. 535-78, 2000 (3 papers
from IGCP 400.)
Activities planned
Publications
– Tectonic control of continental sedimentary basins in
East-Central Asia (Baikal and Altai). Special Issue
54
of Tectonophysics, D. Delvaux, M. De Batist, N. L.
Dobretsov and J. Klerkx (eds.). This issue will contain
papers on tectonics and geophysics presented at the
Active Tectonic Continental Basins meeting 30 April-
2 May 1998, Gent (Belgium). (In preparation.)
No. 404 – Terrestrial Carbon in the Past 125 Ka
(1996–2000)
H. Faure, Université de la Méditerranée, B. P. 106, 13406
Marseille Cedex 9, France, e-mail: faure@luminy.
univ-mrs.fr
J.-L. Probst, Laboratoire des mécanismes de transferts
en géologie, UMR CNRS/Université Paul Sabatier,
n° 5563, 38, rue des 36 Ponts, 31400 Toulouse, France,
e-mail: jlprobst@cict.fr
A. A. Velichko, Department of Evolutionary Geography,
Institute of Geography RAS, Academy of Sciences of
Russia, Staromonetny 29, Moscow 109017, Russia,
e-mail: paleo@glasnet.ru
Description: The terrestrial carbon cycle is fundamental
to life on Earth and to the atmosphere, including climate
change. Carbon is an essential element of life for food,
for energy. It is also a key component of greenhouse
gases and for climate changes. A specific scientific
problem of the Quaternary is the change that appears in
the Carbon Cycle during glacial-interglacial oscillations.
At present the terrestrial phase of the carbon cycle is
not as well studied as the atmospheric and oceanic
phases. The objectives of the project were to evaluate
organic carbon storage in the terrestrial biomass and
compare the dynamics of changes in biomass and carbon
storage. The project further studied the relationship
between the changing carbon storage on land and the
ocean-cryosphere-atmosphere system, in order to better
understand the past and future carbon cycles. The project
was also expected to develop models incorporating
carbomaps isotopes and vegetation. The results of the
project contributed to the understanding, quantification
and modellisation of the global and regional carbon
cycle.
Website of the project
http://www.esd.ornl.gov/ern/qen/
Participating countries
Australia, Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China,
Cuba (no report received), Djibouti (no report received),
Egypt, Ethiopia, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong,
India, Indonesia (no report received), Israel, Italy,
Japan, Morocco, Mauritania, Netherlands, New Zealand,
Nigeria, Norway, Poland, Russia, Senegal (no report
received), South Africa, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Chad,
United Kingdom, United States.
Scientific achievements
Because the carbon flux induced by human activities,
mostly fossil fuels, is above an order of magnitude of
most natural net flux of carbon, several components of
the carbon cycle have been neglected in simplified
models applied to prediction of future CO2 concentra-
tion in the atmosphere. For this reason present models
are not in a state to predict long-term evolution of our
atmosphere. This is because several neglected flux
(as the internal flux of changing volcanic activity and
lithosphere flux or the gas hydrate decomposition or
reconstitution, etc.) may play an important role at time
scales of century or millennium. Human beings should
be interested in their environment at these time scales,
just because great civilisations were and are interested
in the long-term future. On the other hand, all the net
flux considered is small compared to the annual
exchanges of flux such as photosynthesis/respiration/
decomposition or physical annual dissolution/expulsion
of CO2 in the oceans. The annual exchange fluxes are
one order of magnitude or more than the human induced
flux. This is important to suggest new methods for
carbon sequestration.
Results from the modelling group
Comparison of vegetation distribution and terrestrial
carbon budgets was reconstructed for the last glacial
maximum with several biosphere models. The leader of
this group worked in full collaboration with the Palaeo-
climate Intercomparison Modelling Project (PMIP) of
the International Geosphere Biosphere Programme
(IGBP) and his contribution as leader of the Group was
important on vegetation modelling. It appears that the
intercomparison between different models shows dis-
crepancies. The differences in the modelling results are
about as large as the difference with the palaeogeo-
graphic approach of 'naturalists'. The IGCP 404 conclu-
sion is that the collaboration between the two approaches
(modelling and palaeogeography) should be enhanced.
A group of intercomparison should be established within
the paleogeographers to publish a code and method in
palaeogeography with the Russian group.
At this stage of the comparison, a limited number of
common experiments have been performed with
BIOME4, CARAIB and ALBIOC. All of these models
use a similar mechanistic description of photosynthesis,
but the models differ in their treatment of the hydro-
logical cycle, carbon allocation, autotrophic and
heterotrophic respiration, as well as in their calculation
of biome distribution. BIOME4 and CARAIB are of
comparable complexity. These two models derive the
relative abundance of the plant functional types by
comparing their calculated net primary productivities
(NPP). The association of these plant functional types
provide the biome type at each model grid cell. The
amount of carbon in the vegetation, litter and soil reser-
voirs is calculated explicitly from their respective flux
budgets. The two models differ with respect to their
temporal resolution, which is shorter in CARAIB.
Moreover, a stochastic weather generator is used by
CARAIB to derive daily temperature and precipitation
from monthly values. ALBIOC is conceived as a less
complex model. The biome distribution is calculated
from BIOME1 and hence does not depend on the model
vegetation net primary productivity. Living phytomass
is fixed in each biome, although an adjustment is made
to accommodate for the impact of the reduced atmos-
pheric CO2 level at the LGM.
In the experiments performed to date, only the anom-
alies from the GCMs are used and combined with a
reference present-day monthly climatology at 0.5ox0.5o
resolution in longitude and latitude. Modern and LGM
(lower sea level) land masks have been defined at this
spatial resolution. The present-day continental area is
131.91x106 km2 today and 154.30x106 km2 at the LGM,
excluding Antarctica. The control run of each biosphere
model is performed with the reference climatology, a
pre-industrial atmospheric CO2 level and the modern
land mask. The LGM simulations are performed with a
reduced atmospheric CO2 concentration, the LGM land
mask and the climatic fields obtained by combining with
the reference climatology the LGM anomaly fields of
eight different PMIP GCM simulations interpolated at
0.5ox0.5o. Four of these eight PMIP GCM simulations
are fixed (CLIMAP, 1981) sea surface temperature (SST)
experiments (gen2_fix, ccsrl_fix, lmd5_fix, lmd4_fix),
while the others are computed (thermal budget of a slab
ocean) SST experiments (ccc2.0_cal, ccm1_cal,
ukmo_cal, lmd4_cal). In each category, extreme (coldest
and warmest) and average simulations have been chosen
from the point of view of the global annual mean surface
air temperature. The atmospheric CO2 levels used in
ALBIOC and CARAIB are 280 and 200 ppmv respec-
tively for pre-industrial and LGM times. In BIOME4,
for calibration reasons, the adopted atmospheric CO2
levels are slightly higher (respectively 296 and 211 ppmv
for pre-industrial and LGM times). One additional exper-
iment (Low CO2: LGM CO2 with modern land mask
and climate) has been run to test the role of CO2 fertil-
isation.
As obvious from the Low CO2 experiment, the three
biosphere models appear to have rather different sensi-
tivities to atmospheric CO2 (CO2 fertilisation). BIOME4
is the most sensitive with a reduction of 890 Gt C of
the global biospheric carbon stock associated with the
85 ppmv decrease from the reference run. This carbon
storage change is the combined result of a reorganisa-
tion of the biomes (the area of woodland and shrublands
increase at the expense of forests and the C4 photo-
synthetic pathway is favoured with respect to C3) and
of a strong reduction of plant NPP. The corresponding
carbon storage decrease is only 227 Gt C for ALBIOC
and 767 Gt C for CARAIB. The variability range asso-
ciated with the use of different climatic fields at the
LGM is comparable in all models: different climates
55
produce variations in carbon storage of at most 200-300
Gt C. Consequently, for a model like BIOME4 or
CARAIB, the effect of the atmospheric CO2 decrease
on the carbon stocks is much larger than that of using
different climatic fields for the LGM. Note that, if the
variability range linked to the climatic fields is similar,
the trends may show significant divergence between
models. For instance, lmd4_fix climatic fields produce
the lowest biospheric carbon stock with CARAIB, while
for ALBIOC the same simulation yields one of the
highest values. Similarly, for CARAIB and BIOME4,
the carbon storage variability is lower in the fixed than
in the calculated SST experiments, while the reverse is
observed for ALBIOC. Finally, it must also be noted
that there is no direct correlation between global values
of air temperature or precipitation and the biospheric
carbon storage obtained by the models.
Results of the palaeogeographic groups
These groups have established different sets of global
or hemispheric maps out of which calculations can be
given of changes in carbon storage in vegetation and in
soils from a Glacial Maximum (LGM) to Holocene or
Eemian optimum. Estimates of methane flux have also
been proposed for different ‘key dates’ of the glacial
cycle.
1. Vegetation carbon
The project on past carbon storage is dependent on
data available from the present land surface of the world,
with allowance made for the 'natural' state of biomes
in the late Quaternary. Apart from attempting to make
allowances for the degree of anthropogenic influence (or
lack of it) at various times in the past, it was necessary
to consider no-analogue situations in former vegetation
which had a composition differing from that of today.
It is perhaps too easy to be distracted by the floristic
distinctiveness of Quaternary 'no-analogue' assemblages
and to forget that they usually represent species drawn
from within a broad vegetation biome that exists today.
Thus, making general inferences about their past struc-
ture may remain a generally reliable approach in most
cases. For instance, the no-analogue. Eurasian steppe-
tundra of the LGM, despite its floristic distinctiveness,
was certainly growing under conditions that were fairly
arid as perceived by the plants growing within it, with
an incomplete ground cover and fairly low overall carbon
storage (although seasonal shoot productivity may have
been quite high). Other evidence such as the striking
lack of any significant peat or organic deposition from
these regions during the LGM interval (only very
sporadic peat deposition was occurring at that time)
backs this up.
The influence of differing carbon dioxide levels remains
a problem in inferring carbon storage in vegetation at
the LGM, although not so much for the interglacial
periods which had CO2 levels similar to the pre-indus-
trial world. For instance, it may be that CO2 levels
56
allowed vegetation to develop with a composition similar
to that of today but with lower carbon storage. It is, in
fact, more plausible to assume that because of the way
in which CO2 and water make up the two faces of a
common physiological currency, the influence on plant
survival in a competitive world would be to give vege-
tation in both cases a broadly similar composition and
carbon storage to that of the present, but a different rela-
tionship to climate. Nevertheless, the CO2 effect remains
a significant uncertainty, so that any LGM carbon storage
estimate based on present-day carbon storage values may
tend to overestimate the amount of carbon on land
during that time (thus underestimating the size of the
contrast between LGM and interglacial carbon storage
on land).
The time slices chosen are not only those given the most
attention in the literature: they are also selected as times
of relative vegetation stability where a lengthy period
might have allowed a rough carbon storage equilibrium
to be reached. This is in preference to other stages, such
as 12 Kyr or 10 Kyr, in which a strong disequilibrium
in carbon storage in many regions is more likely to have
been the case. Note also that the 5 Kyr value is chosen
to represent the state of vegetation closest to the present,
but before the main impact of expanding agriculture and
human population that took place over subsequent
millennia.
2. Soil carbon
As is the case with vegetation, the present-day organic
carbon storage values for soils and peat lands remain
somewhat controversial although knowledge is actively
advancing. 'Matched' values of representative soil carbon
storage values for particular biomes have already been
produced. Whilst a more directly pedological approach
would be more satisfactory, this biome approach to soil
carbon storage was used to derive a preliminary set of
estimates. Natural carbon storage in newly formed soils
often seems to be a process that takes longer to equili-
brate than vegetation carbon in many areas. Never-
theless, the process often shows a sigmoid 'plateau' after
a few hundred years. A notable exception is for peat
lands, where vertical and horizontal spread may take
many millennia before equilibrium is reached. For the
Holocene, we shall allow for this factor in a preliminary
way using peat column versus age relationship, and for
existing maps of present-day average peat cover and
depth of Eurasia and North America (whilst bearing in
mind the presently unsatisfactory nature of much of
these data). Other preliminary age versus depth data
from peat lands in the tropics and high latitudes will
also be used wherever these are available.
Inorganic carbonate storage data for soils of the present-
day world are obtainable from various sources. Together
with a range of interested Quaternary scientists from
INQUA, IGCP 404 plans to use their biome distribution
maps to make some general inferences about the likely
distribution and extent of soil carbon over time, assuming
a broad relationship between soils and climate/vegeta-
tion, which is similar to that of the present day. Evidence
of disequilibrium processes will also be taken into
account in reconstructing soil carbonate storage for the
past time intervals. Eventually, such work will lead to
general estimates of the strength of weathering sinks of
atmospheric carbon dioxide over time.
3. Internal carbon
In the last years studies on geological sources of carbon
have focused on the compilation of an inventory of flux
data for CO2 and CH4 from volcanic and non-volcanic
areas. The inventory includes unpublished and recently
acquired data sets. The inventory, updated in
September 2000, has been submitted for publication in
the Global and Planetary Change Journal. The data set
will be made available at the INQUA C-Commission
web site. The main conclusions of the research carried
out can be summarised under the following two points:
(i) The Earth degassing (geological emissions in
volcanic and non-volcanic areas) is an unquanti-
fied part of the global carbon cycle. Presently it is
possible to estimate a lower limit of the global
geological emission at 600 Mt CO2/y (more than
2% of the anthropogenic sources, and 10% of the
carbon source due to deforestation and land-use
change), which is a non-trivial amount in a refined
global C-budget model. (In Italy, an estimate at the
national level gives conservatively an output of
20 to 60 Mt CO2/yr, or 5-15% of the national
anthropogenic emission). A refined quantification
of the geological sources based on the improve-
ment of direct observational data is necessary
to better constrain the long-term (Quaternary)
C Cycle models and to assess the influence on the
present CO2-CH4 atmospheric budget.
(ii) Specifically, CH4 cycle must be refined in order
to study in more detail the suspected missing
source of old-methane. Micro-seepage in hydro-
carbon prone areas and mud-volcanoes, both in
sub-aerial and submarine environments, could
contribute to this missing source. The development
of submarine observatories is needed for moni-
toring energy and mass transfer between seafloor
and ocean, an important gap in the C-cycle. Natural
CH4 emissions, independently of the anthropogenic
fossil fuel exploitation activities, can be a signifi-
cant source at a global scale. (A rough global esti-
mate indicates a geological source that is at least
of the same order of magnitude of termites or
ocean sources, i.e. 10-40 Mt CH4/yr)
4. Volcanic carbon
This group has been working on present-day degassing
both from active (or quiescent) volcanoes (Mammoth
Mt. CA, Solfatara) and from geothermal areas. Another
aspect of this research is the quantification of diffuse
carbon dioxide earth degassing estimated from carbon
balance of regional aquifers.
5. Weathering group
The Role of Continental Erosion and River Transports
in the Global Carbon Cycle and Perspectives.
The chemical and physical erosion of land materials
released organic carbon into rivers (dissolved (DOC) and
particulate (POC)) and inorganic (dissolved (DIC) and
particulate (PIC)) carbon, which is subsequently
discharged into the oceans. The present-day riverine flux
of carbon is estimated at about 1 GtC.y-1 (0.8 to 1.2
according to the estimates); DIC, PIC, DOC and POC
fluxes represent respectively 38%, 17%, 25% and 20%.
Most of the carbon transported by the rivers originates
from the atmospheric CO2, except PIC and half of the
DIC, which are supplied by the physical and chemical
erosion of carbonates respectively.
The chemical erosion of inorganic materials, which
consists in dissolving or hydrolyzing primary minerals
of rocks and soils requires CO2 and releases DIC. The
flux of CO2 consumed by weathering processes is mainly
produced by the oxydation of soil organic matter. Never-
theless, on a geological time-scale, the flux of CO2
consumed by carbonate dissolution on the continents is
balanced by the CO2 fluxes released in the atmosphere
by carbonate precipitation in the oceans. Consequently,
with regard to the CO2 content in the atmosphere, it is
only the fluxes of CO2 consumed by silicate rock weath-
ering which represent a non-negligible sink of CO2.
Consequently, future researches on weathering must
focus on the CO2 uptake by silicate rock weathering and
on the subsequent riverine alkalinity transport.
As previously shown, the run-off is one of the main
factors controlling rock weathering and atmospheric/soil
CO2 consumption. Consequently, if the erosion and river
transports of carbon during the Quaternary period or the
geological past are to be correctly simulated, it is first
necessary to improve the run-off modelling. Moreover,
it appears also clearly that, for similar run-off, the CO2
flux consumed by silicate weathering is lower for lateritic
drainage basins than for non-lateritic ones. It is impor-
tant to consider such a difference for future research
because the lateritic covers occupy 33% of the whole
continental areas. To reconstruct the geological fluctua-
tions of CO2 consumed by silicate weathering, it is inter-
esting to derive directly alkalinity produced by silicate
weathering from riverine discharge of dissolved silica.
But, there is no direct correlation between alkalinity and
dissolved silica content in large rivers because litholo-
gies and weathering types and rates are so different from
one river basin to another. Nevertheless, it has been
possible in a recent study to determine a good relation-
ship between the silicate weathering types and the ratio
alkalinity/silica in large river basins.
Concerning the chemical and physical erosion of soil
organic matter, all the organic carbon released into the
rivers originates from the atmospheric CO2, via photo-
synthesis and litter fall. Nevertheless, part of this carbon
57
(two thirds) can be oxydized and released into the atmos-
phere during the fluvial transport, but also in the estu-
arine and coastal zones and on the long term in the
oceans. The contribution of the organic geological carbon
erosion is not very well known for the moment.
Modelling shows that DOC and POC fluxes are respec-
tively dependent on the contents of soil organic carbon
and on the transports of river sediment. The knowledge
of these two parameters must be improved for the
geological past.
Finally, the role of river carbon loop (i.e. the uptake of
atmospheric CO2 by erosion-riverine transport of carbon-
subsequent to ocean transport of riverine carbon-loss of
riverine carbon, back to the atmosphere by air-sea gas
exchange) in the global carbon cycle has been under-
estimated and even sometimes ignored. Researchers of
IGCP 404 could recently show for example that the river
carbon loop can explain the discrepancy between data
based and model-based estimates of the ocean inter-
hemispheric transport of carbon.
6. Lake carbon
Lakes, reservoirs, and peat lands collectively cover less
than 2 percent of the Earth's surface, but bury organic
carbon at an annual rate that is four times the carbon
burial rate in all oceans (which cover 71 percent of the
Earth's surface). This participation has been essential to
introduce the important role of fossil carbon in water
and recent sediments, which will be taken into account
more and more in the future as well as the role of
microbes in the carbon cycle.
7. Shelf carbon
A working group on shelf carbon is set up to study shelf
carbon in the South China Sea. Participants include the
United States, Australia, France, Germany and China.
Sub-aerially exposed continental shelves during the
glacial periods may have an important role to play in
the global carbon cycle. Seismic records showing large
areas of acoustic turbidity on sub-tropical continental
shelves are indicative that the greenhouse gases
including carbon dioxide and methane released during
the late stage of the glacial periods may have an impor-
tant role in switching the earth from a glacial mode back
into an interglacial mode. Continental margins are impor-
tant for source-to-sink and future directions.
8. Amazonia
Great advances in the knowledge of past Amazonia have
been obtained recently by studies of neighbouring
ecosystems and marine sediments. All these records
show that the Amazonian region has been subject to
climate changes since the Last Glacial Maximum.
Temperature lowering for the LGM is now considered
to have been 5±1°C. Considering carbon storage, the
main controversy remains in the size of the Amazonian
forest during the LGM. Several hypothetical reconstitu-
tions of LGM Amazonia have been presented. The first
ones, based on undated biogeography and geomor-
58
phology evidences, suggest a two/third reduction of the
present-day forest area. This would be due to a drier
climate during LGM. An opposite hypothesis proposes
that the forest has occupied almost the same area than
at present, the main observed changes being due to lower
LGM temperature.
Uncertainty on carbon storage is not only related to the
size of the past forest area: in the present-day forest,
biomass carbon varies from 80 to 180 t C ha-1. Soil
carbon, the mean of which is 100 t C ha-1, varies from
40 to 140 t C ha-1 in the upper 30 cm. In deep soils,
carbon storage below 1 m depth can increase these
values by a 2.5 coefficient. This present-day variability
is directly related to specific turn-over time of the
different compartments and to past forest history: deep
soil carbon accumulation represents at least 103 years;
living biomass is strongly dependent on the highest trees,
102 years old. Past environmental changes therefore
appear as an important parameter for present-day carbon
storage. Studies of 13 C content in soils have shown
that the forest has been reduced during the Holocene.
Changes in Amazonian ecosystems have also influenced
other aspects of carbon fluxes in the atmosphere, either
under the form of CO2 produced by fires which were
very intense during the middle Holocene, or as methane
produced in inundated systems which developed fast
since 4000 years B.P.
Publications
– Anhuf, D. 2000. Vegetation History and Climatic
Changes in Africa North and South of the Equator
(10°S to 10°N) during the Last Glacial Maximum.
In: P. P. Smolka and W. Volkheimer (eds.). Southern
Hemisphere Palaeo- and Neoclimates. Springer,
Berlin, Heidelberg, New York, pp. 225-48.
– Behling, H.; Artz, H. W.; Patzold, J.; Wefer, G. 2000.
Late Quaternary Vegetational and Climate Dynamics
in North-Eastern Brazil, Inferences From Marine
Core. GeoB 3104-01, Quaternary Sciences Reviews
(In press.).
– Behling, H.; Costa, M. L.; 2000. Holocene
Environmental Changes from the Rio Curuà Record
in the Caxiuanã Region, Eastern Amazon Basin.
Quaternary Research (In press.).
– Behling, H.; Hooghiemstra, H. 2000. Neotropical
Savannah Environments in Space and Time: Late
Quaternary Interhemispheric Comparisons. In: V.
Markgraf (ed.) Interhemispheric Climate Linkage.
Academic Press (In press.).
– Behling, H.; Hooghiemstra, H. 2000. Holocene
Amazon Rain Forest: Savannah Dynamics and
Climatic Implications: High Resolution Pollen
Record Laguna Loma Linda in Eastern Colombia.
Journal of Quaternary Sciences (In press.).
– Beranzoli, L.; Braun, T.; Calcara, M.; Calore, D.;
Campaci, R.; Coudeville, J. M.; De Santis, A.; Etiope,
G.; Favali, P.; Frugoni, F.; Fuda, J. L.; Gamberi, F.;
Gasparoni, F.; Gerber, H.; Marani, M.; Marvaldi, J.;
 Millot, C.; Palangio, P.; Romeo, G.; Smriglio, G.
2000. European Seafloor Observatory Offers New
Possibilities for Deep-sea Study. EOS, 81, 5, pp. 45
and 48.
– Chiodini, G.; Frondini, F.; Cardellini, C.; Parello, F.;
Peruzzi, L. 2000. Rate of Diffuse Carbon Dioxide
Earth Degassing Estimated from Carbon Balance of
Regional Aquifers: the Case of Central Apennine,
Italy. J. Geophys. Res., Vol.105, No. B 4, pp. 8423-
34.
– Chiodini, G.; Frondini, F. 2000. Carbon Dioxide
Degassing from the Albani Hills Volcanic Region,
Central Italy. Chemical Geology (In print.).
– Dupont, L. M.; Jahns, S.; Marret, F.; Shi, N. 2000.
Vegetation Change in Equatorial West Africa: Time-
slices for the Last 150 Ka. Palaeogeography,
Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 155, pp. 95-122.
– Etiope, G.; Italiano, F.; Fuda, J. L.; Favali, P.; Frugoni,
F.; Calcara, M.; Smriglio, G.; Marani, M. 2000. Deep
Submarine Gas Vents in the Aeolian Offshore. Phys.
Chem. Earth, 25, 1, pp. 25-8.
– Godderis, Y.; Veizer, J. 2000. Tectonic Control of
Chemical and Isotopic Composition of Ancient
Oceans: The Impact of Continental Growth.
American Journal of Science, 200, pp. 434-61.
– Karim, A.; Veizer, J. 2000. Weathering Processes in
the Indus River Basin: Implications from Riverine
Carbon, Sulfur, Oxygen, and Strontium Isotopes.
Chemical Geology, 170, pp. 153-77.
– Ledru, M.-P.; Mourguiart, P. 2000. Late Glacial
Vegetation Changes in the Americas and Climatic
Implications. In Present and Past Inter-hemispheric
Climate Linkages in the Americas and their Societal
Effects. V. Markgraf (ed.), Academic Press. Chap.20.
– Pichler, T.; Heikoop, J. M.; Risk, M. J.; Veizer, J.;
Campbell, J. L. 2000. Hydrothermal Effects on
Isotope and Trace Element Records in Modern Reef
Corals: An Introductory Study of Porites lobata from
Tutum Bay, Ambitle Island, Papua-New Guinea.
Palaios, 2000, pp 225-34.
– Probst, J. L.; Chivas, A. R.; Wilson, J. (eds.) 2000.
Laterites and Palaeoclimates. Weathering and
Anthropogenic Impact. Chem. Geol., Special issue,
170, No. 1-4, 257 pp.
– Rogie, J. D.; Kerrick, D. M.; Chiodini, G.; Frondini,
F. 2000. Flux Measurements of Non-volcanic CO2
Emission From Some Vents in Central Italy. J.
Geophys. Res. Vol.105, No. B 4, pp. 8435-46.
– Semhi, K.; Clauer, N.; Probst, J. L. Strontium Isotope
Compositions of River Waters as Records of
Lithology-dependent Mass Transfers: the Garonne
River and its Tributaries (SW France). Chem. Geol.,
168, pp. 173-93.
– Shi, N.; Dupont, L. M.; Beug, H.-J.; Schneider, R.
2000. Correlation Between Vegetation in South-
Western Africa and Oceanic Upwelling in the Past
21,000 Years. Quaternary Research, 54, pp. 72-80.
– Telmer, K.; Veizer, J. 2000. Isotopic Constraints on
the Transpiration, Evaporation, Energy and GPP
Budgets of a Large Boreal Watershed: Ottawa River
Basin, Canada. Global Biogeochemical Cycles, 14,
pp 149-66.
– Wang, X.; Veizer, J. 2000. Respiration/Photo-
synthesis Balance of Terrestrial Aquatic Ecosystems,
Ottawa Area, Canada. Geochimica et Cosmochimica
Acta, 64, pp. 3775-86.
– Yim, W. W. S. 2000. Drowned and Partially Drowned
Landslide Deposits in Hong Kong. Proceedings of
the Symposium on Slope Hazards and Their
Prevention, May, Hong Kong, pp. 78-83.
– Yim, W. W. S.; AMSF, Choy 2000. Some Engineering
Applications of Quaternary Sea-level Changes in
Hong Kong. Proceedings of Engineering Geology,
Hong Kong, 2000, November. Institution of Min-
ing and Metallurgy, London, Hong Kong Branch,
pp. 211-8.
– Yim, W. W. S.; Li, J. 2000. Diatom Preservation in
an Inner Continental Shelf Borehole from the
South China Sea. Journal of Asian Earth Sciences,
18/4, pp. 471-88.
Conclusion
From all the studies stimulated or collected by IGCP
404 the results show that the simple models useful for
describing the Carbon cycle to the general public are
not sufficiently accurate to represent the real world.
Small neglected fluxes or phenomena at a very short
time-scale may play a major role at the glacial inter-
glacial time-scale and at human time-scale. Any predic-
tive model must include all fluxes. To understand global
changes one has to study local changes in various key
areas and only after these results integrate them in a
global model. Neglected important aspects may be the
role of microbes of clathrates and gas hydrates in general.
The complexity of soils, the dynamics of underground
waters should be introduced in the system. More over
the carbon cycle cannot be disconnected from other
cycles as the nitrogen and phosphorous cycles. Finally
carbon cycle and water cycle are intimately intercon-
nected and must be studied together. This will be the
aim of the proposed successor project to IGCP 404.
No. 405 – Anthropogenic Impacts on Weathering
Processes (1996–2000, OET in 2001)
P. Sulovský, Department of Mineralogy, Petrography and
Geochemistry, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University,
Kotlarska 2, 611 37 Brno, Czech Republic, e-mail:
sulovsky@sci.muni.cz
J. Zeman, Department of Mineralogy, Petrography and
Geochemistry, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University,
Kotlarska 2, 611 37 Brno, Czech Republic, e-mail:
jzeman@sci.muni.cz
Description: The main objective of the project lay in the
co-ordination of theoretical, experimental and applied
59
research activities focusing on certain aspects of those
weathering processes, which have a serious impact on
environmental quality and human life. The key areas of
relevant laboratory research were:
• long-term study of mineral- and rock-water inter-
actions
• long-term weathering experiments with artificial
inorganic materials (wastes, building and binding
materials), geared to toxic element liberation
• study of microbial activity influence and organic
solutes (humic acid) on these processes
In the field of applied research of man-influenced
weathering processes, special attention was applied to
various topics relating to weathering of natural and
artificial inorganic materials, especially with respect to
assessment and prevention of the consequential dangers
to human life and the environment as well as remedia-
tion of damages. In the field of applied research, the
interest poll among IGCP project 405 participants has
identified two main themes:
1. Weathering as a cause of the mechanical disintegra-
tion of buildings and objects constructed therefrom.
The problems included here comprise identification
of dangers to the mechanical integrity of large
constructions such as water works, waste dumps,
roads and smaller, but valuable historical and cultural
objects – lithic monuments, art works, etc.
2. Weathering as a source of pollution. The hazards
involved in this aspect of weathering include the
release of heavy metals and other toxic elements
from fertilisers and virtually stable inorganic matters
deliberately added to soils (rock powders, mining
wastes, fly ash, etc.) into surface- and groundwater;
acidification of groundwater due to sulphide ore
weathering; contamination of soils and sediments
(directly as well as through contaminated ground-
water); weathering in waste dump bodies (mining
dumps, landfills, setting ponds, etc.) as sources of
possible large-scale contamination of the environ-
ment.
Website of the project
http://www.sci.muni.cz/~sulovsky/igcp405.html
Participating countries
(*indicates countries active this year)
Australia, Austria*, Belgium*, Canada, China*, Czech
Republic*, Denmark, France, Germany*, Italy, Japan,
Netherlands*, Poland*, Republic of South Africa,
Russia*, Slovakia*, Slovenia, Spain*, Sweden*,
Ukraine*, United Kingdom*, United States, Venezuela,
Yugoslavia.
Summary of major past achievements
– Expanded and extended information and results
exchange among project participants about various
60
aspects of weathering and its impact on human life.
– Formulation of the concept of Factors Accelerating
Weathering (FAW).
– Preparation of an extensive literature database about
weathering (7200 references) which can be freely
accessed and used.
– Formation of editorial and authors team for IGCP
405 Final Memoirs 'Anthropogenic Weathering'
which will not be just a ‘report’ but a scientific hand-
book. The scope of this book is to characterise
main ways in which man influences the natural
course of weathering. As weathering is an integral
part of the global geological processes and cycles
which form the face of our planet the consequences
of human activity on natural weathering extends
gradually to all geospheres. The targeted audience is
a broad scientific community in the fields related to
weathering, i.e. geologists, biologists, agriculturists,
chemists, hydrologists, etc.
Achievements of the project this year
General scientific achievements
Determination of environmental influences
on stone monuments by means of stone sensor material
In the framework of the above project different stone
materials are studied with respect to their degrada-
tion/weathering behaviour on exposure sites. In the year
2000, as a first step towards application, exposure of
samples on selected objects in Tyrol was started. The
aim of the study is to develop a spectrum of stone sensor
materials which react very specifically to certain impact
factors (air pollution, frost-thaw, rain, wind, etc.), which
may be used for characterisation and monitoring of envi-
ronmental impact effects on stone objects, e.g. stone
monuments. Basic requirements for this study are the
availability of well petrophysically and mineralogically
characterised stone materials as well as characteristic
exposure sites of which the environmental and meteor-
ological parameters are well defined and representative
of certain environmental types, such as alpine, non-
alpine, urban- rural areas, etc. In the same field, a
research group dedicated to building sandstone was
formed. It has designed an extensive research scheme
aiming to develop a façade evaluation tool for model-
ling decay of building sandstones (FACET). The pro-
ject was elaborated for submission to the European
Commission Programme Energy, Environment and
Sustainable Development. Although the project proposal
was not accepted for financing by European Union
funds, the project participants are determined to continue
to harmonise their research by using the mutually recog-
nised reference sandstones, and exchanging promptly
the obtained results via electronic post and video-
conferencing.
This project seeks to promote the restoration, conserva-
tion, preservation and enhancement of built environment
with respect to sandstone building façades. The research
programme seeks to co-ordinate information in the
development of a database and expert system for eval-
uation of long-term performance of building sandstones,
and to support the best practice in building maintenance.
This is achieved through incorporation of existing data,
experimental studies and façade condition surveys into
a relational database and expert system. There is a signif-
icant amount of existing local and regional information
on factors, which influence the long-term behaviour of
building stone (e.g. inherent stone characteristics and
anthropogenically influenced factors like climate and air
pollution). However, the information that is presently
available lacks the necessary degree of organisation
and accessibility, which would allow it to be readily
used in conservation practice. There is in addition a
lack of useful information on the long-term behaviour
of building sandstones. The FACET project aims to
co-ordinate existing and new information on sandstone
properties and behaviour in the development of a rela-
tional database and expert system to support the best
practice in façade maintenance and conservation. The
FACET subgroup had its gathering meeting in Aberdeen
(January 2000), attended by researchers from ten coun-
tries (United Kingdom, Czech Republic, Germany,
Austria, Belgium, Ireland, Finland, Denmark, Greece,
Portugal, Spain).
The dissemination of acquired knowledge was also
realised through direct teaching activities. Already
during the project progress, several universities and
institutions providing higher education, e.g. Masaryk
University in Brno (Czech Republic), Bristol University
(United Kingdom), RWTH Aachen (Germany), and
International Institute for Aerospace Survey and
Geosciences in Enschede (Netherlands) have started
refining existing syllabi of environmental geology,
emphasising the central role of the impact of weath-
ering, its causes and consequences. The project leaders,
together with Dr Vala Ragnarsdottir of Bristol Univer-
sity, prepared already in 1999 a summer school, striving
to teach young geologists the principle impacts of
anthropogenic activities on the geological environment,
in most cases somehow connected with weathering.
In 2000, the summer school was found by European
Union authorities to be worth the financial support
within the academic programme Socrates as an
Intensive Course in Environmental Geoscience. 32
participants attended the course from Great Britain,
Germany, Ghana, and the Czech Republic. It consisted
in theoretical explanation of weathering processes and
their impact on the environment, demonstration of the
phenomena on typical examples in the field, sampling
and laboratory analysis of the samples, and guided
interpretation of the results.
Meetings
– IGCP 405 Workshop in Aberdeen, Great Britain.
Meeting of Building Stone Weathering Subgroup in
Aberdeen (January 2000). Preparation of a joint
international project 'Façade Evaluation Tool for
Modelling Decay of Building Sandstones' (FACET),
attended by ten participants.
– Intensive course of IGCP 405 Project ‘Environmental
Aspects of Weathering Processes’ (June/July 2000).
The course had 32 attendants from four countries
(Czech Republic, Germany, Great Britain, Ghana).
The case localities showing the impact of anthro-
pogenically induced or influenced weathering on the
environment were located across the whole Czech
Republic:
(a) weathering of sulphide-rich lignite in Chomutov
opencast mines (North-West Bohemia)
(b) forest decay due to enhanced weathering
of base-cation poor bedrock (Erzgebirge and
Jizera Mountains, North-West and North
Bohemia)
(c) weathering of massive burning coal heap
in (Radvanice, North-East Bohemia) and
associated release of heavy metals and radio-
nuclides
(d) acid in situ uranium leaching (Stráz̆ p.R., North
Bohemia)
(e) acid mine drainage site in Chvaletice, weath-
ering of industrial waste,-fly ash (Central
Bohemia)
(f) impact of conventional uranium mine flooding
(Rozinka, South Moravia)
(g) weathering of building and decorative rock mate-
rials (sandstone sculptures cut in place)
(Bethlehem of M. B. Braun at Kuks, East
Bohemia, Charles Bridge and other historical
buildings in Prague)
(h) weathering of U- and Th-rich igneous rocks and
environmental problems associated with this
process (Trebic Massif, West Moravia)
– International Congress on Applied Mineralogy
'ICAM 2000' (17–19 July). Special session devoted
to anthropogenic weathering and cultural heritage
(28 contributions). Publication, Applied Mineralogy,
Balkema, Rotterdam 2000, 2 volumes, 1048 pp.
– The scientific results, especially the concept of
factors affecting weathering of the IGCP 405
building stone weathering group were presented
by Dr R. Khnel at the 5th International Symposium
on the Conservation of Monuments in the
Mediterranean Basin, held in Seville (Spain),
April 2000. The invited lecture ‘Driving forces of
rock degradation’ described in detail the forces
causing rock degradation, especially in respect to
human contribution and in different environments.
The paper stresses the non-separability of the phys-
ical, chemical and biological forces involved in
weathering processes. The aspects of human impact
on different processes involved in overall rock
degradation have to be considered very carefully,
61
 as is clearly shown by the example of chlorine input
into the atmosphere; where the natural input from
oceans, oceanic and terrestrial biota largely exceeds
the anthropogenic input from fuel burning and
degradation of chlorinated fluorocarbons. Another
project member, B. Fitzner, presented another key
issue, which will be implemented in the Final
Memoirs. It concerns the quantification of stone
damage due to weathering. Precise damage diag-
nosis is required for characterisation, rating, inter-
pretation and prediction of damages and is vital
for remedy and sustainable prevention. Quantifica-
tion of damages has become an important concern
of modern scientific approach. In situ investigation
of monuments contributes essentially to damage
diagnosis. The monument mapping method has
been developed as a non-destructive procedure for
precise registration, documentation and evaluation
of weathering damages. The mapping method is
based on investigation on weathering forms, repre-
senting the visible result of weathering processes
initiated and controlled by interacting weathering
factors.
Most important publications
– Galko, I.; Kraus, I.; Kuhnel, R.; Tshibangu-Katshi,
J.-P. 2000. Durability of Andesites and Basaltoids
from Slovakia According to Clay Formation During
Wet Grinding. Folia Fac. Sci. Nat. Brun., Vol. 28-
29, pp. 171–9.
– Pohlmann, M.; Gottlicher, J. 2000 Ber. d. Deutschen
Miner. Ges. – Beihefte z. European Journal of
Mineralogy, 11, 1, p. 179.
– Rammlmair, D. 2000. Ber. d. Deutschen Miner. Ges.
Beihefte z. European Journal of Mineralogy, 11 1,
p. 187.
– Sulovský, P. (ed.), 2000. Proceedings of the 15th
Conference on Clay Mineralogy and Petrology,
Scripta Fac. Sci. Nat. University Masaryk. Brun.,
Vol. 28. 156 pp. Masaryk University, Brno. ISBN
80-210-1886-0.
Activities planned
General goals
Elaboration of IGCP 405 Final Memoirs.
Meetings
– Meeting of project participants within EUG11
(Strasburg, April 2001).
– Intensive Course in Environmental Effects of
Weathering – ENVIWEATH 2K1 (September 2001).
– Meetings of IGCP 405 Final Memoirs Group,
March 2001 (Prague), November 2001.
62
No. 406 – Circum-Arctic Lower-Middle
Palaeozoic Vertebrate Palaeontology
and Biostratigraphy (1996-2000)
M. V. H. Wilson, Department of Biological Sciences,
University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta T6G 2E9,
Canada, e-mail: mark.wilson@ualberta.ca
T. Märss, Institute of Geology, Tallinn Technical
University, Estonia Ave. 7, Tallinn EE0001, Estonia,
e-mail: marss@gi.ee
P. Männik, Institute of Geology, Tallinn Technical
University, Estonia Ave. 7, Tallinn EE0001, Estonia,
e-mail: mannik@gi.ee
Description: This project was designed to encourage
international co-operation between scientists in the study
of the geology of Palaeozoic strata in the Circum-Arctic
Region. The working groups of the project organized on
the basis of geographical location (Canadian Arctic,
Greenland, Barentsia, the Baltic, and Siberia) were in
charge of the actual work. Another working group was
set up to study palaeotectonics and palaeogeography of
Palaeozoic basins in the Circum-Arctic regions. During
the project, an initially small group of about 60 experts
on geology grew to a large community of more than
200 persons with similar interests: palaeontology, strati-
graphy, lithology and tectonics of Arctic regions.
Participants came from 22 countries.
Silurian strata were studied in Northern Canada
(Cornwallis and Baillie-Hamilton Islands, Mackenzie
Mountains, Anderson River, Boothia Peninsula), the
United States (Alaska), Northern Greenland, Baltic
countries, the United Kingdom, Northern Russia (Timan-
Northern Urals region, Novaya Zemlya, Severnaya
Zemlya, New Siberian (Novosibirsk) Islands, Wrangel
Island, Taimyr Peninsula, Siberian Platform, and the
Polar-Central Urals, Gornyj Altaj). Devonian-Permian
strata were investigated, in addition to the listed regions,
also in Prince of Wales, Devon, and Ellesmere Islands
(Canada), Spitsbergen, and Eastern Greenland.
Website of the project
http://www.biology.ualberta.ca/wilson.hp/Paleozoic.html
Participating countries
(* indicates countries active this year)
*Australia, Belgium, *Belarus, *Canada, *China,
*Estonia, *France, *Germany, *Ireland, *Italy, *Japan,
*Latvia, *Lithuania, *Netherlands, Norway, *Poland,
Portugal, *Russia, *Sweden, *Ukraine, *United
Kingdom, *United States.
Achievements of the project in 2000
Canadian Arctic working group
The aims of this working group were to study palaeon-
tology, biostratigraphy, and evolutionary and environ-
mental palaeobiology with field work in the Mackenzie
Mountains and the Arctic Archipelago, and visits to
different museums of the world to study existing
collections.
Baltic and Siberia working groups
These groups emphasised material from the northern
part of the Baltic palaeocontinent (including Novaya
Zemlya, Vajgach, Dolgij and Kolguev islands; the
Northern, Subpolar and Polar Urals, and the Timan
Pechora Region) and from Siberia. The main tasks of
the Baltic and Siberia working groups were:
• to organize and co-ordinate co-operative studies of
the Russian Arctic regions by scientists from different
institutions and countries
• to study in detail the palaeontology, sedimentology
and biostratigraphy of key Silurian and Devonian
sections in the remote regions of the East European
and Siberian cratons, and in the Russian Arctic
islands (Novaya Zemlya, Severnaya Zemlya,
Novosibirsk Islands, etc.)
• to encourage co-operative study of taxonomy, succes-
sion, and biostratigraphy of different fossil groups to
find reliable criteria for subdivision and correlation
of sections
• to check and improve the correlations of local and
regional stratigraphical units with the international
standard; special interest was to correlate the sections
of Russian Arctic islands and Northern Siberia, the
Timan Pechora Region, the Urals and the East
European Platform
• to carry out a comparative analysis of the develop-
ment of the Silurian and Devonian palaeobasins on
Laurentia, the Northern Baltic and Siberia; revision
of palaeotectonic and palaeogeographic reconstruc-
tions.
Greenland working group
This group had three emphases: to promote studies on
Silurian vertebrate palaeontology and biostratigraphy;
to collect vertebrate remains from the localities of
Eastern Greenland, and to re-examine Devonian fishes
and early tetrapods; and to revise the Cambrian-
Ordovician problematic taxon Anatolepis.
Barentsia working group
It was planned that this group would contribute to the
knowledge about morphology, biology, interrelation-
ships and environmental impact of different vertebrate
groups from Spitsbergen; correlation of vertebrate and
palynological biozonations was foreseen.
Working group on palaeotectonics and palaeogeography
This group was established during the meeting in
Jurmala, Latvia. Its main task was a comparative analysis
of data collected by other working groups with the aim
of reconstructing the palaeogeographical situation, and
evaluating and improving the palaeotectonic reconstruc-
tions of the studied region.
Overall achievements of the project
Canadian Arctic working group
Achievements in palaeontology
Silurian and Lower Devonian thelodonts of the Canadian
Arctic (Cornwallis and Baillie-Hamilton islands) have
been studied. Some 39 species (28 new, including
12 species with articulated squamation) from 24 genera
(13 new), 16 families (7 new), 5 orders (1 new), and
two more taxa of uncertain position are being described.
This work is important because both scale taxa and
taxa based on articulated thelodont squamations are
described, and the body morphology of 12 species is
known. New information on the geographical and strati-
graphical distribution of thelodonts has also been discov-
ered. This is the first time that a natural classification
of thelodonts has been attempted. Scale taxa and 'body-
fossil' taxa of articulated thelodonts have been united on
the basis of the presence of both sets of data for many
species, including scale morphology and histology. It
is evident that group Thelodonti is much more diverse
and includes more than the previously defined orders
Katoporida, Thelodontida and Furcacaudiformes.
Collaboration and intensive study continue on heteros-
tracans from the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, in prepa-
ration of another major monographic work whose
completion is eagerly anticipated by international
specialists.
Scientists from Canada, Germany, Estonia, and France
have been studying gnathostome (jawed vertebrate)
species from the Mackenzie Mountains, Anderson River,
and the Arctic Archipelago. Studies of the Lochkovian
(Early Devonian) MOTH locality in the Mackenzie
Mountains have continued, which now has an estimated
diversity of more than 60 species of vertebrates. Dis-
coveries include the oldest known complete skeletons of
chondrichthyans (shark relatives). Silurian strata in the
same and nearby sections are also yielding heterostra-
cans and thelodonts. H.-P. researchers completed exca-
vations in the Lower Devonian Bear Rock Formation at
the Anderson River, Northwest Territories, and in Bear-
Rock-equivalent strata near the Snake River, Northern
Yukon Territory. The former site yielded the oldest
complete skeletons of actinopterygians (ray-finned
fishes, Dialipina), and associated acanthodians, placo-
derms, porolepiforms, and lungfishes.
Achievements in biostratigraphy
Microvertebrate-based correlations of the Llandovery-
Wenlock boundary in some sections of the Selwyn
(Mackenzie Mountains) and Franklinian (Baillie-
Hamilton and Cornwallis islands) sedimentary basins,
Northern Canada, were carried out. Additionally studies
were published on correlation of Silurian-Devonian
sections in the Mackenzie Mountains and summarised
present knowledge of the age of numerous other verte-
brate-bearing fossil localities in the region.
63
Results of study of the isotope geology
For the first time in the Arctic Islands the isotope values
of rock samples from vertebrate-bearing sections were
studied. The value curve showed the same pattern as in
earlier studies of Baltic sections. In addition, conodont
and vertebrate data helped the correlations of the sections
with the European ones.
The Baltic and Siberia working groups, and the working
group on palaeotectonics and palaeogeography
Achievements in palaeontology
A monograph including descriptions of main groups of
fossils was prepared, based on a general revision and
detailed analysis of the material from the Severnaya
Zemlya Archipelago. Numerous palaeontologists, strati-
graphers, lithologists and palaeo-geographers from many
countries took part in this work. Invertebrates from the
Russian Arctic have been studied and described in
several publications. Anaspids (Agnatha, Vertebrata) of
the northern hemisphere, from the localities of Severnaya
Zemlya, the Central Urals, the Baltic, Ringerike,
Southern Sweden, Greenland, the Canadian Arctic, and
the Mackenzie Mountains have been described. This
study is mainly based on scale material collected during
several decades, which had been described as taxa in
open nomenclature, and on Norwegian and British
articulated specimens from different museums. All
together, 24 species (17 new) from 18 genera (12 new)
and 8 families (4 new) have been described. These data
show that birkeniid anaspids were a rather common
group in the faunal communities, and that they were
rather diverse, and had a wide geographic distribution.
It was possible to show some tendencies in the devel-
opment of the morphology and histology of scales. The
new species were also used in correlations.
The handbook Palaeontology of Russia and adjacent
countries under preparation by the Paleontological
Institute of RAS, Moscow (in Russian) also deals with
vertebrates from the Russian Arctic. Data on 65 thelo-
dont species (belonging to 20 genera, 12 families and
6 orders), including their holotype, their diagnoses,
and their distributions, have been given; chapters on
osteostracans, acanthodians, placoderms, are also
submitted or are in preparation. The results of long-
term studies of the Palaeozoic in the Timan Pechora
Region and Northern Urals are or will be published in
two monographs, and in several papers on corals,
Devonian stratigraphy and palaeobiogeography, and on
vertebrates.
In the study of the Devonian sections of the Main and
Central Devonian Fields, notable results include those
on ostracodes and vertebrates. Acanthodians from the
Devonian of Taimyr, Severnaya Zemlya and Timan
Pechora Region brought out the fact that the acantho-
dians go over the boundaries of the biogeographical
provinces. Also, the Early Devonian phylogenetic line-
ages of nostolepid acanthodians were established.
64
Achievements in stratigraphy
Using biostratigraphical methods, the Silurian and
Devonian strata were subdivided, while local and
regional stratigraphical units and their boundaries in the
Arctic regions of the Baltic and Siberia were correlated
with the standard units more precisely than previously.
Research on Severnaya Zemlya in the course of IGCP
project 406 must be emphasised. A monograph dealing
with the general problems of the Lower Palaeozoic
stratigraphy of Severnaya Zemlya and comparison of
sedimentary basins was published. In it, the distribution
of all main fossil groups were presented, assemblages
of fauna and their successions and biozones were estab-
lished, and different correlations given. The results of
studies on conodonts allowed improvement of the dating
and correlations of the Ordovician and Lower Silurian
strata. The Upper Wenlock and the whole Upper Silurian
were subdivided and correlated using thelodonts, and
inter-regional correlations were based on thelodont
biozonal scheme established in the Baltic. It was
confirmed that in the Silurian, Severnaya Zemlya, Taimyr
and the Timan Pechora Region belonged to the same
palaeobiogeographic province that was separated from
Siberia.
Biostratigraphical investigations from the Timan-
Northern Urals region were most important to correlate
the sections to those of Baltic countries and thereby to
the Global Stratigraphical Standard units. Co-operative
studies of reefs and sedimentology from the Timan-
Northern Urals region and Alaska, North America,
have been very productive to find a common language
between geologists of these remote areas. In the Timan-
Northern Urals region the Lower Devonian sediments
are oil-bearing and economically most important.
Palaeozoic oil and gas-containing carbonate complexes
of the Pechora Basin (structure, conditions of formation,
prognosis for natural reservoirs) were treated. Detailed
studies on the correlational significance of global,
regional and local chronozonal bed-by-bed standards in
the Silurian of Siberia are noteworthy and unsurpassed.
Comparative analysis of the distribution of different
fossil groups (ostracodes, vertebrates) allowed correla-
tion of facially highly variable Upper Devonian strata
(freshwater, epicontinental, shoal, and reef facies, and
facies of deep water uncompensated depressions).
For the first time, successions of miospore, conodont,
ammonoid, and vertebrate assemblages from the
Frasnian (Upper Devonian) were studied in detail, and
zonations were worked out. The correlation of the Upper
Devonian Regional stages with the Standard Conodont
Zonation, and with eustatic cyclicity were specified. The
possibility of correlating the Frasnian miospore
complexes of the Timan-Northern Urals region with
those in North America was proved. Frasnian vertebrate
zones were traced in the Timan Pechora Region, the
Urals, and the Main and Central Devonian fields.
Peculiarities of the Frasnian and Famennian reef build
ups, and relationships between the formation of reefs
and eustatic cyclicity were established. The similarity of
the Frasnian reef formations in the Timan-Northern
Urals region, Ardennes and Western Canada was proved.
Palaeobasinal analyses
On the basis of new biostratigraphical correlations of
the Silurian and Devonian sections from the Northern
Siberian craton, Taimyr, Severnaya Zemlya, Novaya
Zemlya, Spitsbergen, the East European craton, and
some regions of North America, a comparative analysis
of the development of the Silurian and Devonian
palaeobasins on Laurentia, the Baltic and Siberia was
attempted. Coral, brachiopod, ostracode, conodont and
vertebrate data were used. Possibilities for correlations
of regional and global eustatic, anoxic and other events
were investigated. Exact coincidence of the Early
Silurian eustatic cyclicity in all compared basins was
elucidated. The eustatic cycles are less distinct in the
Late Silurian. Differences in sedimentation in the Early
and Middle Devonian in the Northern and Eastern East
European craton can, most probably, be explained by the
appearance of the Late Caledonian orogeny. Contours of
the continent with Old Red type sedimentation in the
Arctic were fixed more precisely. Based on the distri-
bution of Devonian thelodonts and heterostracans, the
position of the boundary between the North European
and Siberian biogeographical provinces was drawn
between Severnaya Zemlya and Taimyr. New palaeo-
geographical reconstructions do not support the exis-
tence of a connection between the Urals and Kolyma
basins in the Silurian and Devonian across the Taimyr.
The Taimyr Ocean did not exist at that time.
Stable isotope studies
During recent decades, stable isotope studies of
Palaeozoic strata have been a popular topic in investi-
gations to understand the causes of environmental and
biotic events. In the Baltic, the stable isotopes are studied
in detail in the Upper Ordovician and Silurian strata,
and this sequence can be used as a standard. In the Baltic
whole rock samples are used. The same method, together
with faunistic analyses, which gives the time frame, has
been applied for each region under study. Comparative
analyses of the distribution of brachiopods and the
changes in the C13 values (data from the Upper Silurian
brachiopods) suggested a revision of the Upper Silurian
stratigraphy in the Timan-Pechora region. Also, the posi-
tion of the Llandovery-Wenlock boundary in the
sequences of Severnaya Zemlya and of the Timan-
Northern Urals region has been under discussion for
more than a decade. The results of the recent stable
isotope studies in these regions agree well with the
conodont data indicating that the Llandovery-Wenlock
boundary lies considerably higher in the sequence than
considered up to now.
Meetings
– On 12-15 July 2000, the final meeting of IGCP
project 406 took place in Syktyvkar, Komi Republic,
Russia. Approximately 60 scientists attended. The
meeting included two geological excursions: one
to Timan (Upper Devonian) and the other to
Ordovician-Permian sections in the Subpolar Urals
(Kozhym River) and to selected sections in Timan.
– On 16-19 May 2000, many IGCP 406 members were
key participants at the 9th Early/Lower Vertebrates
Meeting held in Flagstaff, Arizona. Some 75 re-
searchers (including 42 IGCP 406 members) from
16 countries (15 IGCP 406) attended. This meeting
was followed by an extensive field excursion
composed of 30 participants to important Devonian
vertebrate localities in Utah and Nevada. Numerous
scientific papers presented at both these meetings
consisted of results of IGCP 406 studies; the Flagstaff
results will be published as papers contributing to a
special issue of Journal of Vertebrate Palaeontology,
edited by D. Elliott.
Most important publications
Volumes
– Antoshkina, A.; Malysheva, E.; Männik, P. 2000.
Sub-Polar Urals Field Trip Guidebook. 16-23
July 2000. Supplement to Special Publication of
Ichthyolith Issues 6. Published by Institute of
Geology, Komi Science Centre, Uralian Division,
Russian Academy of Sciences. ISSN 1302-1314.
pp. 1-119.
– Antoshkina, A.; Malysheva, E.; Wilson, M. V. H.
2000. Pan-Arctic Palaeozoic Tectonics, Evolution of
Basins and Faunas. Ichthyolith Issues Special
Publication 6. Published by Institute of Geology,
Komi Science Centre, Uralian Division, Russian
Academy of Sciences. ISSN 1302-1314. pp. i-vii and
1-166.
– Belyaeva, N. V.; Ivanov, A. O. (eds.) 2000. South
Timan Field Trip Guidebook 6-11 July 2000.
Supplement to Special Publication of Ichthyolith
Issues, 6. Published by Institute of Geology, Komi
Science Centre, Uralian Division, Russian Academy
of Sciences. ISSN 1302-1314. pp. 1-84.
– Blieck, A.; Turner, S. (eds.) 2000. Palaeozoic
Vertebrate Biochronology and Global Marine/Non-
marine Correlation. Final report of IGCP 328 (1991-
96). Cour. Forsch. Inst. Senckenberg, 22, 575 pp.,
140 figs, 29 tables, 37 plates, 50 authors, 25 papers;
Frankfurt a. M.
– Goujet, D. (ed.) (In press.) Palaeontology and Strati-
graphy of the Silurian-Devonian of Severnaya
Zemlya, Russia (IGCP 406 volume). Geodiversitas,
Paris.
Research Papers
– Abushik, A. F. 2000. Silurian-earliest Devonian
Ostracode Biostratigraphy of the Timan-Northern
Ural Region. Proceedings of the Estonian Academy
of Sciences. Geology, 49, 2, pp. 112-25.
65
 – Antoshkina, A. I. 2000. The Silurian of the Timan-
Northern Ural Region. Proceedings of the Estonian
Academy of Sciences. Geology, 49, 2, pp. 69-84.
– Beznosova, T. M. 2000. Silurian Brachiopods in
the Timan-Northern Ural Region: Zonation and
Palaeocology. – Proceedings of the Estonian
Academy of Sciences, Geology, 49, 2, pp. 126-46.
– Blieck, A.; Karatajute-Talimaa, V. N. (In press.)
Upper Silurian and Devonian Heterostracan
Oteraspidomorphs (Vertebrata) from Severnaya
Zemlya (Russia): A Preliminary Report with Bio-
geographical and Biostratigraphical Implications.
In: D. Goujet (ed.), Palaeontology and Stratigraphy
of the Silurian-Devonian of Severnaya Zemlya,
Russia (IGCP 406 volume). Geodiversitas, Paris.
– Blieck, A.; Turner, S.; Young, G. C. with contribu-
tions of Luksevics, E.; Mark-Kurik, E.; Talimaa, V.;
Valiukevicius, J. 2000. Devonian Vertebrate Bio-
chronology and Global Marine/Non-marine Cor-
relation. In: P. Bultynck (ed.). Subcommission on
Devonian Stratigraphy – Fossil Groups Important for
Boundary Definition. Courier Forschungsinstitute
Senckenberg, 220, pp. 161-93.
– Blom, H.; Märss, T.; Miller, G. (In press.) Silurian
and Lowermost Devonian Birkeniid Anaspids from
the Northern Hemisphere. Transactions of the Royal
Society of Edinburgh. Earth Sciences.
– Daeschler, E. B.: Shubin, N. H. 1998. Fish with
Fingers? Nature, 391, 133, pp.
– Dumoulin, J. A.; Harris, A. G.; Gagiev, Mussa;
Bradley, D. C.; Repetski, J. E. (In press.) Lithostrati-
graphic and Faunal Links Between Lower Palaeozoic
Strata in Northern and Central Alaska and North-
Eastern Russia, In: E. Miller and A. Grantz (eds.)
Geological Society of America, Special Paper,
Beringia volume.
- Evdokimova, I. O.; Abushik, A. F. (In press.) The
Early Devonian Ostracodes from Severnaya Zemlya
(Russia). In: D. Goujet (ed.), Palaeontology and
Stratigraphy of the Silurian-Devonian of Severnaya
Zemlya, Russia (IGCP 406 volume). Geodiversitas,
Paris.
– Ginter, M.; Ivanov, A. 2000. Stratigraphic
Distribution of Chondrichthyans in the Devonian on
the East European Platform Margins. In: A. Blieck
and S. Turner (eds.). Palaeozoic Vertebrate Bio-
chronology and Global Marine and Non-marine
Correlations. Final Report of IGCP 328 (1991-96).
Courier Forschungsinstitut Senckenberg, 223,
pp. 325-40.
– Ivanov, A.; Luksevics, E. 2000. Vertebrate Zonation
of the Main Devonian Field and its Correlation with
Other Regions. In: A. Blieck and S. Turner (eds.)
Palaeozoic Vertebrate Biochronology and Global
Marine and Non-marine Correlations. Final Report
of IGCP 328 (1991-96). Courier Forschungsinstitut
Senckenberg, 223, pp. 342-50.
– Karatajute-Talimaa, V.; Märss, T. (In press.) Upper
Silurian Thelodonts of Severnaya Zemlya
Archipelago. In: D. Goujet (ed.), Palaeontology and
66
Stratigraphy of the Silurian-Devonian of Severnaya
Zemlya, Russia (IGCP 406 volume). Geodiversitas,
Paris.
– Marshall, J. E. A.; Astin, T.; Clack, J. 2000. East
Greenland Tetrapods are Devonian in Age. Geology,
27, pp. 637-40.
– Schultze, H. P. 2000. A Primitive Porolepiform
Rhipidistian from the Lower Devonian of the
Canadian Arctic. Mitt. Mus. Naturkde, Geowiss.
Reihe, 3, pp 97-107.
– Soehn, K. L.; Hanke, G. F.; Märss, T.; Wilson, M.
V. H. 2000. Preliminary Vertebrate Biostratigraphy
of the Avalanche Lake Sections (Wenlock, Silurian),
Southern Mackenzie Mountains, N.W.T., and Review
of North-Western Canadian Vertebrate Localities of
Silurian Age. In: A. Blieck and S. Turner (eds.)
Palaeozoic Vertebrate Biochronology and Global
Marine and Non-marine Correlations. Final Report
of IGCP 328 (1991-96). Courier Forschungsinstitut
Senckenberg, 223, pp. 129-55.
– Turner, S. 2000. New Llandovery to Early Pridoli
Microvertebrates Including Early Silurian Zone
Fossil, Loganellia avonia nov. sp., from Britain.
Courier Forschungs-Institut Senckenberg, 223,
pp. 91-107.
– Valiukevicius, J.; Kruchek, S. 2000. Acanthodian
Biostratigraphy and Interregional Correlations of the
Devonian of the Baltic States, Belarus, Ukraine and
Russia. In: A. Blieck and S. Turner (eds.) Palaeozoic
Vertebrate Biochronology and Global Marine and
Non-marine Correlations. Final Report of IGCP 328
(1991-96). Courier Forschungsinstitut Senckenberg,
223, pp. 271-80.
– Zhuravlev, A. V.; Sobolev, D. B. 2000. Conodonts of
the Visean-Serpukhovian Boundary Beds of the
Southern Part of the Tchernyshev Ridge (Izyayu
River). Syktyvkarskiy Paleontologicheskiy sbornik, 4,
pp. 84-9.
Activities planned
General goals
Future plans include completing several publication
projects (e.g. the Geodiversitas volume edited by D.
Goujet) and helping to plan future projects to continue
the momentum established during the lives of IGCP 328
and 406.
Ideas on a successor projects include:
1. Mesozoic microvertebrates and Palaeozoic-Mesozoic
boundary. The focus would be on extending the
studies of Late Palaeozoic microvertebrate bio-
stratigraphy across the end-Palaeozoic boundary and
applying similar methods to Triassic and later rocks,
where these methods have been little used.
2. Geological events and evolution of Palaeozoic crani-
ates (including conodonts). The focus would be on
 event horizons (geochemical excursions, extinction
horizons, sea-level changes, etc.) and their correla-
tion with conodont and vertebrate zonation schemes,
extinction events, and evolutionary radiations. This
would have the advantage of including a broad
spectrum of specialists and geological ages, a broad
(global) geographical focus, and continuing the
cross-fertilization of ideas between geologists and
palaeobiologists.
3. Evolution of basins. Basin evolution is of funda-
mental importance to regional geologists; comparison
of techniques and global correlation of strata between
basins could be of interest to many stratigraphers.
There seems no good reason to limit the possibilities to
a single project, and all three of the above ideas are
worthy of further development.
No. 408 – Rocks and Minerals at Great Depth
and on the Surface (1998-2002)
F. P. Mitrofanov, Geological Institute KSC RAS,
14 Fersman Str., Apatity, Murmansk Region, 184200
Russia, e-mail: felix@geoksc.apatity.ru
D. M. Guberman, Scientific and Industrial Centre ‘Kola
Superdeep’, 17 Jubileynaya Str., Zapolyarny, Murmansk
Region, 184415 Russia, e-mail: kolasd@com.mels.ru
H.-J. Kümpel, Geological Institute, University of Bonn,
Nussallee 8, D-53115 Bonn, Germany, e-mail:
kuempel@geo.uni-bonn.de
Description: The Kola Super Deep Borehole KSDB-3
near Zapolyarny in Russia is the deepest borehole in
the world (12,261 m). The collection of core material
recovered from the borehole (the common length is
4,700 m) is unique in its completeness, in the quality of
the preserved material and in the variety of the crystal-
line rocks and formations present. The scientific aim of
the project is to study among others the mineralogy,
geochemistry and physical properties of the rocks at
great depth and their equivalents occurring at and near
the surface, by using state-of-the-art analytical tech-
niques. The wealth of information that will be obtained
from the Kola and other super deep boreholes will be
used to gain greater insights into four problems in the
geosciences:
• geomechanical stability of the continental crust
• potential and risks for waste disposal at great depth
• localisation of ore deposits in the middle crust
• geological interpretation of geophysical measure-
ments
To solve these problems five international thematic
working groups have been created: geology-geophysics,
mineralogy, isotope-geochemistry, physical properties
and borehole measurements.
Website of the project
http://icdp.gfz-potsdam.de/html/kola/news.html
Participating countries
(*indicates countries active this year)
Canada, *Czech Republic, China, *Finland, *France,
*Germany, *Hungary, *India, Ireland, Italy, New
Zealand, *Norway, *Poland, *Russia, *Slovakia, Sweden,
Spain, *Ukraine, *United Kingdom, *United States.
Summary of major past achievements of the project
Geologic-geophysical constraints on the correlation of
geological homologues in the KSDB section and its
surroundings have been determined, and correlation of
ore mineralisation in the section and on the surface has
been carried out. The results have been published and
they provide the basis for further specific investigations
of tectonic-lithological heterogeneity of different levels
in rocks surrounding the KSDB. Metamorphic forma-
tions of the Archean complex located close to the
Pechenga structure have been mapped and sampled.
With high probability, they may be considered to be
homologues of unit 2 of the KSDB Archean section.
Deep structure of the Lapland-Pechenga region on the
basis of seismic investigations has been constructed and
surface analogues of ‘grey gneiss’ have been investi-
gated. Two types of plagiogneiss have been distinguished
among the Archean rocks of the KSDB. Their protoliths
were formed at P≥15 Kbar (type A, garnet-amphibolite
restite) and P ≈ 8 Kbar (type C, plagioclase-amphibole
restite). It is found that the hydrothermal lead-zinc
mineralisation on the Pechenga seacoast and the copper-
zinc mineralisation in the Kola super deep borehole
section are superimposed on the Karelian structures and
originated in a different environment. This environment
has not been previously clarified.
Major and trace element geochemistry suggests a
close genetic link between the shallow-seated Palaeo-
proterozoic volcanic formations and numerous deep-
seated mafic bodies developed in the Archaean complex.
The latter cluster in three main geochemical groups,
which were apparently co-magmatic with the four
Palaeoproterozoic volcanic formations. The established
link corroborates the previously reached conclusion that
the Palaeoproterozoic Pechenga zone was an intraplate
rift during the early stage of its development. The two
youngest MORB-like Palaeoproterozoic formations and
the associated deep-seated co-magmatic bodies cannot
be discriminated from one another on the basis of major
and trace element geochemistry. As a result the Conrad
discontinuity, detected seismically at a depth of 8.5 km,
has been identified as a 800 m thick, intensively ‘basi-
fied’ zone.
The seismic reflection profile KOLA OGT-92 depicted
rocks of the Pechenga series at a depth of 12 km and
67
imaged major faults dipping south-west at 30-50o.
Horizontal reflectors, which intersect the KSDB and are
interpreted as a fluid-filled fracture system crosscut the
imbricated roots of the Pechenga structure. These data
served as a basis for the elaboration of a seismic model
of the area around the Kola Super deep Borehole, which
is in a good agreement with the integrated three-dimen-
sional geodynamic model of the Pechenga ore district
produced by geological, and petrophysical correlation
of the KSDB section and a surface reference profile.
Summing-up and new appraisal of geophysical and
geological data made it possible to suggest a tomo-
graphic model of the transition zone ‘Land-Sea’ to deci-
pher the deep structure of this zone and relate the
polymetallic hydrothermal ore formation to the Barents
Sea shelf development.
The continuing monitoring of water level fluctuations
and hydrologic regimes in crystalline rocks in the Kola
Super Deep Borehole and in two more shallow bore-
holes in its vicinity allow assessments of hydraulic trans-
missivity and the degree of bulk aquifer confinement.
The findings support evidence of free mobile fluids in
crystalline crust generated elsewhere and have impact
on considerations of safety aspects for locations of
critical waste disposal.
Achievements of the project this year
In late 1999 and early 2000 the first step towards an
information system on Kola was realised through the
setting-up of an English/Russian website comprising
general information on the borehole and on IGCP 408.
For the first time a dynamic, digital geological profile
was set up, and simultaneously a previously confiden-
tial huge petrophysical data set on core samples was
made accessible. In addition, a literature reference set
was made available. The data is incorporated into the
Information Network of the International Continental
Scientific Drilling Programme.
The research which was carried out helped to determine
staged geochemical zoning of the granite pegmatite
system, caused by continuous migration of contrast
chemical elements (pyrophile Ba, Sr, Ca and fluophile
Rb, F, Li) from bottom to top under conditions of an
open system within each pegmatite stage. The through
migration range for the system lower stage is not less
than 3 km (from 11.8 to 8.0 km) along the vertical.
Experimental investigations showed a possibility of the
migration (diffusion) into quartz crystals from the rock
interporous space as well as concentrations in already
existing fluid microinclusions in quartz.
The impurity of Ge and Ti ions in quartz structure are
a criterion for stratification and correlation of the meta-
morphic rocks. Analyses of the rocks and distribution
of structure impurities in the rock-forming minerals
suggest that the Archean basement of the Pechenga
68
structure is composed of two complexes – greenstone
and infracrustal. The petrochemical composition, distri-
bution of impurity centres in quartz and feldspar suggest
that the amphibolites in the KSDB section are basalt
co-magmates of different magmatic formations of the
Early Proterozoic age. Archean amphibolites account for
no more than 3% of all amphibolites from the KSDB
section.
In the transition from the shallow setting in low-grade
green schist facies to a depth of 4,700 m in high-grade
green schist facies, the sedimentary dolomite exhibits
enrichment in Fe and Mn and depletion in Ca. The
excessive Mn and Fe are bound to non-structural posi-
tions and the degree of crystallinity decreases. Singular
oxygen vacancies in quartz remain stable at a depth of
6,000 m although they are quickly recombined at a
greater depth.
An unusually high degree of C and O isotope fraction-
ation has been found in the Palaeoproterozoic 13C-rich
sedimentary and metamorphic carbonates in the transi-
tion from low-grade to high-grade greens schist facies.
The 13C-rich sedimentary dolomite exhibits depletion in
13C by 1.5‰ and in 18O by 6‰. In the high-grade zone,
the metamorphic calcite is extremely depleted in both
13C (by 4‰) and 18O (by 6‰) relative to the co-existing
dolomite. Both the sedimentary and the metamorphic
dolomite-calcite pairs are not in isotopic equilibrium in
the high-grade zone with respect to O and C isotopes.
The KSDB carbonates cannot be used for the construc-
tion of a δ13C calibration curve. It was found that amphi-
boles from the KSDB Archaean section and from the
surface metamorphic and igneous rocks are similar in
the mode of isomorphic cation distribution between
non-equivalent sites (long-range order) and in the degree
of iron oxidation. However, in cummingtonites and in
actinolites from the borehole the short-range cation
order is absent, while in the surface actinolites the cation
clustering is pronounced.
Ore mineralisation has been traced along the entire
KSDB section. More than 40 mineral types represent it.
The composition of the main sulphides changes with
depth. For the first time Pd and Rh have been found in
sulphides. Increased V, Mn and Ti impurities that were
not registered earlier have been revealed in oxides.
Geological-geochronological investigations allow one to
receive the following results. Zircon from rhyodazite
porphyrite of the Luchlompolo Formation in the
Proterozoic part of the KSDB section was analysed and
the U-Pb age was found to be 2043±18 Ma. The main
phase of the porphyritic granite from the Litza-Araguba
complex was dated on monazite and the U-Pb date was
determined at 1765±7 Ma, which is close to the age of
the KSDB porphyritic granite dykes. The U-Pb dates of
zircon from the veined granite of the Portlubol massif
is 1762±9 Ma. This age is similar to the U-Pb dates of
zircon (1765±2 Ma) from porphyritic granite or dykes
detected in the KSDB units II and IV. The zircon from
the KSDB has less altered during all the processes, and
the preservation of the U-Pb system in the KSDB zircon
is higher than that in the surface rocks.
The presence of a mantle component has been deter-
mined in Early Proterozoic granitoids in the KSDB
section and the Pechenga structure surroundings.
Granitoids of tonalite-trondhjemite composition from
the KSDB Archean complex have been divided into
3 geochemical types: extremely depleted in HREE
(heavy rare-earth elements), depleted in HREE and
enriched in HREE. This allows one to ground identifi-
cation of homologues at the surface. The time and dura-
tion of the Early Proterozoic granitisation has been
established. This granitisation was caused by mantle-
crustal interaction under generation of sub-alkaline
basalts of Pechenga unit II (Pirttijarvi).
Seismic anisotropy and shear wave splitting is a very
important characteristic of the rocks representing the
Archean basement. Oriented cracks contribute largely to
velocity anisotropy and shear-wave splitting at low pres-
sure, in addition to lattice-preferred orientation (LPO)
of major minerals. Velocity anisotropy and shear wave
splitting observed at high confining pressure is predom-
inantly caused by LPO. Structural-textural investigations
of geological bodies of different ranks in the KSDB
geospace showed that anisotropy of the earth crust struc-
ture is of plural nature that reflects mainly magmatic,
stratigraphic, tectonic and metamorphic processes.
Anisotropy, symmetry and asymmetry of the rocks in
the section correlate with their elastic and strength prop-
erties and greatly influence the deviation of super deep
boreholes. An upward increase of the rock tectonic
reworking degree in the borehole section in the 4675-
4749 m depth interval (the Luchlompolo Fault) and
corresponding changes of grains' microstructure and
magnetite coercivity parameters as a result of its
intracrystal transformations vs. stresses and temperature
were established.
A geo-mechanical model has been developed for the
assessment of the stressed-deformed state of the upper
crust in the KSDB site area. The analysis of this rock
mass stressed-deformed state has been carried out taking
into account its geologic-tectonic structure. The stress
field gravity-tectonic model has been found complying
with the data on the borehole wall failure, borehole devi-
ation and core disking. The gamma-ray log is a good
indicator of compositional variations in crystalline rocks
and can be used to supplement drill cores. Shallow
(500 m) VSPs show velocity anisotropy related to frac-
ture systems. The zone from 7.1 to 8.4 km depth is about
45% amphibolite and 55% gneiss with an average
velocity of only 6.1 km/s suggesting a particularly frac-
tured, fluid-rich zone. In comparing the Kola with the
KTB borehole, both boreholes show strongly lowered
seismic velocity indicative of abundant fluid-filled frac-
tures in the lower part of the boreholes. Results from
both boreholes suggest that fluid-rich fracture zones may
be mapped seismically.
Hydrologic regimes in crystalline rocks in the surround-
ings of the Kola Super Deep Borehole differ signifi-
cantly on a short spatial scale. This has been revealed
by analyses of water level fluctuations in the super deep
borehole as well as in two more shallow boreholes in
its vicinity. The fluctuations reflect pore pressure varia-
tions in the hydraulically connected rock formations and
allow assessments of hydraulic transmissivity and the
degree of bulk aquifer confinement. The findings support
evidence of free mobile fluids in crystalline crust made
elsewhere and have impact on considerations of safety
aspects for locations of critical waste disposal.
The Pechenga structure and its surroundings were found
to be promising for grounding the selection of sites to
be used for isolation of radioactive wastes of different
origin (solid conditioned wastes from the Kola Nuclear
Power Plant, military and civil atomic vessels, spent
nuclear fuel and reactor units of dismantled atomic
submarines). Geologic and socio-economic advantages
of various versions have been determined. It was
suggested that an international laboratory dealing with
the study of waste disposal should be established on the
Kola Peninsula.
Meetings
– Plenary Meeting in Prague, Czech Republic, 24 to
28 September 2000. The total number of participants
was 44, from seven countries.
– Visit of the Kontinental Deep Drilling (KTB)
Borehole, KTB site in Windischeschenbach and KTB
core storage facility in Wackersdorf, Germany,
27 September 2000.
Most important publications
– Komlev, V.; Bichuk, N.; Zaitsev, V.; Melikhova, G.;
Pavlov, V. 2000. Socio-economic Premises for the
Non-traditional Participation of the Raw Material
Branches in Nuclear Programmes. Journal Resources
of the Russian Regions, N3, pp.2-10.
– Locajicek, T.; Pros, Z.; Klima, K.; Nikitin, A. N.;
Ivankina, T. I.; Ullemeyer, K.; Smirnov, Y. P.;
Guberman, D. M.; Kuznetsov, Y. 2000. Laboratory
Investigation of Elastic Anisotropy and Texture of
Rocks from Kola Super Deep Borehole SG-3. Proc.
'Int. Conf. on Textures and Physical Properties of
Rocks' (Goettingen, Germany), Goett. Arb. Geol. Pal.
Sb4, p. 114.
– The Results of the Study of the Deep Substance and
Physical Processes in the Kola Superdeep Bore-
hole Section Down to a Depth of 12261 m. 2000.
F. P. Mitrofanov. and F. F. Gorbatsevich Apatity
(eds.), Polygraph (In English.) 153 p., (In Russian.)
170 p.
69
Activities planned
General goals
The project envisages full-scale laboratory studies and
fieldwork, if required. Mineralogical, isotope, geo-
chronological and other analyses of core and surface
samples, petrophysical measurements of rock samples
will be carried out. The operational phase of fluid level,
microseismic, stress field monitoring in the KSDB will
continue and the work plans verified. Publications are
planned within the international working groups for
Episodes, Newsletter of ICDP, Terra Nova and other
reviewed journals.
Meetings
Plenary meeting in Germany (Windischeschenbach and
KTB site), September 2001 as well as fieldwork at the
Pechenga structure and surroundings if required.
No. 410 – The Great Ordovician
Biodiversification Event (1997-2001)
B. D. Webby, Centre for Ecostratigraphy and Palaeo-
biology, Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences,
Macquarie University, North Ryde, NSW 2109, Australia,
e-mail: bwebby@laurel.ocs.mq.edu.au
F. Paris, UPR du Centre National de Recherche
Scientifique (CNRS) « Géosciences », Université de
Rennes I, 35042 Rennes Cedex, France, e-mail:
florentin.paris@univ-rennes1.fr
M. Droser, Department of Earth Sciences, University of
California, Riverside, CA 92521, United States, e-mail:
mary.droser@ucr.edu
Description: The project seeks to examine the nature and
processes responsible for coastal changes during sea-
level highstands, with the ultimate aim of applying the
results to the management of present and future coastal
change. The history of coastal environmental changes
during the past few thousand years, up to the present day,
will be compared with similar intervals of sea level high-
stands in the longer geological record (e.g. comparison
of the Last Interglacial Maximum or interstadials with
the present Holocene Interglacial). During these episodes,
sea level was at its highest or next to its highest points
in the most recent period of Earth history. Thus, the
changes which have occurred during similar sea-level
highstands during the last few hundred thousand years
will also be examined as a framework to model possible
future change in the environmentally sensitive and
extremely dynamic setting of the coastal zone.
This globally based project has an overall goal to fully
appraise all known records of preserved biotas in
Ordovician rocks, as a basis for a comprehensive
70
evaluation of the manner in which the greatest diversi-
fication of marine life on Earth took place. The approach
to achieving this primary goal requires a focus also on
the following tasks:
• identify the significant global (and regional)
bioevents
• establish the onshore-offshore biofacies profiles
within each latitudinal belt
• assess, on a group-by-group basis, diversity trends
for each major taxonomic group
• find possible physical or chemical causes (e.g.
whether they be related to changes in climate, sea
level, volcanism, plate movements, etc.), and
• evaluate economically significant Ordovician
organic-matter assemblages of contrasting deeper
pelagic and shallow, intracratonic oil-shale deposits.
A web-based relational database will be established
for the input of relevant biotal data (species level
and above), as well as all related geographical, strati-
graphical and environmental information. A wholly inte-
grated stratigraphic framework has also been assembled
to provide the basis for establishing a more reliable
framework for global and regional correlation.
Data collection and analysis will initially be co-ordinated
on a regional basis. Seven regional teams with invited
co-ordinators have been proposed for the main regions
of the world: Australasia, Baltoscandia, Europe-Africa,
Kazakhstan/Middle Asia/Siberia, China/Korea/Viet Nam,
North America and South America. Additionally, inde-
pendent clade teams have been established to assess the
worldwide distribution patterns of the main taxonomic
groups in time and space. This work is aimed to comple-
ment the regional study programme.
Websites of the project
http://www.es.mq.edu.au/MUCEP/igcp410/index.htm
(for information about the project)
http://homepages.uc.edu/~millerai/welcome.html
(for details about the database)
http://www.hku.hk/earthsci/41199pubs.htm
Other information
http://www.geosciences.univ-rennes1.fr/www/ch/paris/
default.htm
Participating countries
(*indicates the countries active this year)
Algeria, Argentina*, Australia*, Austria, Belarus,
Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil*, Bulgaria, Canada*, China*,
Czech Republic*, Denmark*, Estonia*, France*,
Germany*, Ireland, Italy*, Iran, Kazakhstan, Korea
(Rep. of)*, Mongolia*, Morocco, New Zealand*,
Norway*, Poland*, Portugal*, Puerto Rico, Russia*,
Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Spain*, Sweden*, Viet Nam,
United Kingdom*, United States*, Uzbekistan.
Achievements of the project this year
General scientific achievements
This year the clade team work programme has progres-
sed substantially, all the main clade team groups have
been actively involved in the compilation of their data.
A set of guidelines with preferred diversity measures
and an integrated global time scale were prepared and
distributed to all participants; the web-based relational
database was adopted as the official IGCP 410 website
for input of the biodiversity data, and the project has
received provisional approval for a planned book
submitted to the Editor, University of California Press,
for publication of our global Ordovician clade team
results next year. The extended manuscripts of the papers
presented at the special IGCP 410/CIMP-sponsored
Ordovician Palynomorph Session in 1999 Prague,
focusing on the organic walled microfossil clade groups
– the acritarchs, chitinozoans and the cryptospores – have
been assembled in a special issue of the Elsevier journal
Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology that will be
published before the end of 2000. Two IGCP 410-related
publications were derived from the Palaeontology-Down-
Under 2000 Conference in Australia in July. The first
includes a large number of contributions on Ordovician
biodiversity themes, contributed to oral and poster
sessions of the Palaeontology-Down-Under 2000 meet-
ings. These are presented in the Abstracts volume
(Geological Society of Australia, Abstracts Vol. 61,
pp. 1-183). Secondly, a field guide entitled: ‘Biostrati-
graphy and Biodiversity of Ordovician Volcanic Islands
in the Lachlan Orogen, New South Wales’ was published
by the Geological Survey of New South Wales. This
47-page volume was compiled and edited by Ian Percival
as Geological Survey Report No. GS 2000/410.
Meetings
– The 410-project meeting in Orange, New South
Wales, Australia, associated with the interlinked
Palaeontology-Down-Under Conference activities,
from 11-15 July 2000 attracted together 140 persons,
with some 34 (from 10 different countries) attending
the IGCP 410 business meeting.
– The session ‘Great Ordovician Biodiversification
Event’, at the General Symposium at the 31st Inter-
national Geological Congress, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil,
from 6-17 August 2000 was attended by about
25 scientists.
Most important publications
– Albanesi, G. L.; Barnes, C. R. 2000. Subspeciation
Within a Punctuated Equilibrium Evolutionary
Event: Phylogenetic History of the Lower-Middle
Ordovician Paroistodus originalis-P. horridus
Complex (Conodonta). Journal of Palaeontology, 74,
pp. 492-502.
– Brenchley, P. J.; Marshall, J. D. Relative Timing of
Critical Events During the Late Ordovician Mass
Extinction – New Data from Oslo. In: P. Kraft and
O. Fatka (eds.) Quo Vadis Ordovician? 8th Inter-
national Symposium on Ordovican System, Prague.
Acta Universitatis Carolinae, Geologica, 43, pp. 187-
90.
– Carrera, M. G. 2000. Epizoan-sponge Interactions in
the Early Ordovician of the Argentine Precordillera.
Palaios, 15, pp. 261-72.
– Cooper, R. A., 2000. Graptolites, Trilobites. In: The
New Zealand Inventory of Biodiversity: A Species
2000 Symposium Review. (In press.)
– Copper, P. 2000. Reefs During the Ordovician/
Silurian Boundary Crises: Anticosti Island, Eastern
Canada, and worldwide. Canadian Journal of Earth
Sciences, 37 (In press.)
– Droser, M. L.; Bottjer, D. J.; Sheehan, P. M.; McGee,
G. R. Jr. 2000. Decoupling of Taxonomic and
Ecologic Severity of Phanerozoic Marine Mass
Extinctions. Geology, 28, pp. 675-78.
– Dronov, A. V.; Meidla, T.; Ainsaar, L.; Tinn, O. 2000.
The Billingen and Volkhov Stages in the Northern
East Baltic: Detailed Stratigraphy and Lithofacies
Zonation. Proceedings Estonian Academy of
Sciences, Geology, 49, 1, pp. 3-16.
– Dzik, J. 2000. The Origin of the Mineral Skeleton
in Chordates. Evolutionary Biology. 31, pp. 105-54.
– Feist, R.; Talent, J. A. 2000. A New Early Ordovician
Trilobite from the Broken River Region, North-
Eastern Australia: Taxonomy and Palaeogeographic
Implications. Records of the Western Australian
Museum Supplements, No. 58, special issue, IGCP
421 (In press.)
– Ferretti, A.; Hammann, W.; Serpagli, E. 2000. La
Collocazione Paleogreografica della Sardegna nel
Tardo Ordoviciano Nuovi Dati. Acc. Naz. Sci. Lett.
Arti di Modena, 21, pp. 105-10.
– Fortey, R. A. 2000. Olenid Trilobites: the Oldest
Chemoautotrophic Symbionts? Proceedings of the
National Academy of Sciences, Washington, 97, pp.
6574-8.
– Fortey, R. A.; Harper, D. A. T.; Ingham, J. K.; Owen,
A. W.; Parkes, M. A.; Rushton, A. W. A.; Woodcock,
N. H. 2000. A Revised Correlation of Ordovician
Rocks in the British Isles. Geological Society, Special
Report, 24, 83 pp., 34 figs.
– Ghienne, J. F.; Bartier, D.; Leone, F.; Loi, A. 2000.
Caractérisation des Horizons Manganésifères de
l’Ordovicien Supérieur de Sardaigne: Relation avec
la Glaciation Fini-Ordovicienne. C. R. Acad. Sci.
Paris (In press.)
– Gnoli, M.; Pillola, G. L. 2000. The Oldest Nautiloid
Cephalopod of Sardinia: Bathmoceras cf. linnarssoni
Angelin 1880 from the Arenigian (Early Ordovician)
of Tacconis (South-East Sardinia) and Remarks on
the Surrounding Biota. Neues Jahrbuch Geologische
Paläontologische Mh. (In press.)
– Guensburg, T. E.; Sprinkle, J. 2000. Ecological
Radiation of Cambro-Ordovician Echinoderms. In:
71
 R. Riding,; A. Yu Zhuravlev, (eds.) Ecology of the
Cambrian Radiation. Columbia University Press,
New York (In press.)
– Hints, L.; Oraspold, A.; Kaljo, D. 2000. Strato-
type of the Porkuni Stage with Comments on the
Röa Member (Uppermost Ordovician, Estonian).
Proceedings Estonian Academy of Sciences,
Geology, 49 (3), pp. 177-99.
– Hints, O. 2001. Ordovician Eunicid Polychaetes of
Estonia and Surrounding Areas: Review of their
Distribution and Diversification. Rev. Paleobot.
Palynol. 113, 1/3, pp. 41-55.
– Holmer, L. E.; Popov, L. E.; Bassett, M. G. 2000.
Early Ordovician Organophosphatic Brachiopods
with Baltoscandian Affinities from the Alay Range,
Southern Kirgizia. Geol. Foren. Forh., 123, pp. 367-75.
– Jin, J. S.; Copper, P. 2000. Late Ordovician and Early
Silurian Pentamerid Brachiopods of Anticosti Island,
Quebec, Canada. Palaeontographica Canadiana, 18,
76 pp., 31 pls.
– Johnston, D. I.; Barnes, C. R. 2000. Early and Middle
Ordovician (Arenig) Conodonts from Saint Pauls
Inlet and Martin Point, Cow Head Group, Western
Newfoundland, Canada. 2 Systematic Palaeontology.
Geologica et Palaeontologica 34, pp. 11-87.
– Kaljo, D.; Hints, L.; Martma, T.; Nõlvak, J. 2000,
Carbon Isotope Stratigraphy In the Latest Ordovician
of Estonia. Chemical Geology (In press.)
– Le Hérissé, A. 2000. Characteristics of the Acritarch
Recovery in the Early Silurian of Saudi Arabia. In:
S. Al-Hajri and B. Owens (eds.), Stratigraphic
Palynology of the Palaeozoic of Saudi Arabia.
GeoArabia Special Publication 1. Gulf Petrolink,
Bahrain, pp. 57-81.
– Lee, D.-J.; Elias, R. J. 2000. Paleobiologic and
Evolutionary Significance of Corallite Increase and
Associated Features in Saffordophyllum newcombae
(Tabulata, Late Ordovician), Southern Manitoba.
Journal of Paleontology, 74, pp. 404-25.
– Loi, A.; Dabard, M.-P. 2000. Sedimentological
Models for the Genesis of Si-Al Nodules as Result
of Sedimentary Condensation in Distal Marine
Environments. Sedimentology (In press.)
– Löfgren, A. 2000a. Conodont Biozonation in the
Upper Arenig of Sweden. Geological Magazine, 137,
pp. 53-65.
– Löfgren, A. 2000b. Early to Early Middle Ordovician
Conodont Biostratigraphy of the Gillberga Quarry,
Northern Öland, Sweden. Geol. Foren. Forh., 123,
pp. 321-38.
– Montenari, M.; Servais T.; Paris, F. 2000. Palyno-
logical Dating (Acritarchs and Chitinozoans) of
Lower Palaeozoic Phyllites from the Black Forest,
Southern Germany. C. R. Acad. Sci., Paris, 330,
pp.1-8.
– Montenari, M.; Servais, T. 2000. Early Palaeozoic
(Late Cambrian-Early Ordovician) Acritarchs from
the Metasedimentary, Baden-Baden, Gaggenau
Zone (Schwarzwald, South-West Germany). Rev.
Paleobot. Palynol., 113, 1/3, pp. 73-85.
72
– Owen, A.W.; Parkes, M. A. 2000. Trilobite Faunas
of the Duncannon Group: Caradoc Stratigraphy,
Environments and Palaeobiogeography of the Leinster
Terrane, Ireland. Palaeontology, 43, pp. 219-69.
– Paris, F. 2000. Biodiversité des Chitinozoaires: La
Réponse d'un Groupe Cryptique aux Contraintes
Environnementales durant le Paléozoïque Inférieur.
Conférence invitée, Modène, 13-14 Juin 2000.
Collana di Studi della Accademia Nazionale di
Scienze Lettere e Arti di Modena, 21, pp. 187-90.
– Paris, F. 2000. Silurian of France. In: E. Landing
(ed.), Silurian of the World. (In press.)
– Paris, F.; Verniers, J.; Al-Hajri, S. 2000 Ordovician
Chitinozoans from Central Saudi Arabia. In: S. Al-
Hajri and B. Owens (eds.), Stratigraphic Palynology
of the Palaeozoic of Saudi Arabia. GeoArabia,
Special Publication 1. Gulf Petrolink, Bahrain,
pp.42-56.
– Percival, I. G. 2000. North Parks Volcanic Group,
Goonumbla Volcanics, Billabong Creek Limestone.
In: P. Lyons, O. L. Raymond, and M. B. Duggan,
(compiling editors) Forbes 1: 250000 Geological
Sheet SI/55-7, 2nd edition, Explanatory Notes,
AGSO Record 2000/20, pp. 19-24.
– Percival, I. G. 2000. Appendix: Palaeontological Data
and References. In: P. Lyons, O. L. Raymond and M.
B. Duggan, (compiling editors) Forbes 1: 250000
Geological Sheet SI/55-7, 2nd edition, Explanatory
Notes, AGSO Record 2000/20, pp. 215-23.
– Percival, I. G.; Lyons, P. 2000. Jingerangle
Formation. In: P. Lyons, O. L. Raymond, and M. B.
Duggan (compiling editors) Forbes 1: 250000
Geological Sheet SI/55-7, 2nd edition, Explanatory
Notes, AGSO Record 2000/20, pp. 33-5.
– Percival, I. G.; Pickett, J. W.; Sherwin, L.; Webby,
B. D. 2000. Biostratigraphy and Biodiversity of
Ordovician Volcanic Islands in the Lachlan Orogen,
New South Wales. Geological Survey of New South
Wales, Palaeontological Report 2000/01 (Geological
Survey Report No. GS 2000/410), 47 pp.
– Pickett, J.; Furey-Grieg, T. 2000. Webbygnathus, a
New Late Ordovician Conodont Genus from New
South Wales. Alcheringa, 24, pp. 147-52
– Popov, L. E.; 2000a. Late Ordovician Linguliformean
Microbrachiopods from North-Central Kazakhstan.
Alcheringa, 24, pp. 257-75.
– Popov, L. E. 2000b. Late Ordovician (Ashgill)
Linguliformean Microbrachiopods from the
Bestyube Formation, North-Central Kazakhstan.
Geobios, 33 (4), pp. 419-35.
– Popov, L. E.; Nikitin, I. F.; Cocks, L. R. M. 2000.
Late Ordovician Brachiopods from the Otar
Member of the Chu-Ili Range, South Kazakhstan.
Palaeontology, 43, pp. 833-70.
– Pyle, L. J.; Barnes, C. R. 2000. Upper Cambrian to
Lower Silurian Stratigraphic Framework of Platform
to Basin Facies, Northern British Columbia. Bulletin
of Canadian Petroleum Geology, 48, pp. 123-49.
– Samuelsson, J.; Vanroy, P.; Vecoli, M. 2000.
Micropalaeontology of a Moroccan Deposit Yielding
 Soft Bodies Organisms Showing Ediacara-like
Preservation. Geobios, (In press.)
– Shergold, J. H. 2000. The Early Ordovician Trilobite
Genus Jujuyaspis in Australia, In: G. F. Acenolaza
and S. Peralta (eds.) Cambrian from the Southern
Edge. Instituto Superior de Correlación Geológica
(INSUGEO), Miscelanea, 6, pp. 128-30.
– Shergold, J. H.; Feist, R.; Vizcaino, D. 2000. Early
Late Cambrian Trilobites of Australo-Sinian Aspect
from the Montagne Noire, Southern France.
Palaeontology, 43, (4), 34 pp.
– Sherwin, L.; Percival, I. G. 2000. Gunningbland
Formation, Wombin Volcanics, Parkes Volcanics.
In: P. Lyons, O. L. Raymond and M. B. Duggan
(compiling editors) Forbes 1: 250000 Geological
Sheet SI/55-7, 2nd edition, Explanatory Notes,
AGSO Record 2000/20, pp. 24-7.
– Soufiane, A.; Achab, A. 2000. Chitinozoan Zonation
of the Late Ordovician and the Early Silurian of the
Island of Anticosti, Québec, Canada. Rev. Palaeobot.
Palynol. 109, pp. 85-111.
– Soufiane, A.; Achab, A. 2001. Upper Ordovician and
Lower Silurian Chitinozoans from Central Nevada
and Arctic Canada. Rev. Palaeobot. Palynol. 113, 1/3,
pp. 165-87.
– Sprinkle, J.; Guensburg, T. E. 2000. The Great
Ordovician Radiation of Echinoderms in North-West
Laurentia. Geological Society of America, Abstracts
with Program, 32 (7), A.
– Webby, B.D.; Percival, I. G. 2000. IGCP Project No.
410: The great Ordovician Biodiversification Event:
Implications for Global Correlation and Resources.
The Australian Geologist, 117, pp. 43-5.
– Webby, B. D.; Percival, I. G.; Edgecombe, G. D.;
Cooper, R. A.; Vandenberg, A. H. M.; Pickett, J. W.;
Pojeta, J. JR.; Playford, G.; Winchester-Seeto, T.;
Young, C.; Zhen, Y.-Y.; Nicoll, R. S.; Ross, J. R. P.;
Schallreuter, R. 2000, Ordovician Biogeography
of Australasia. Memoir of the Association of
Australasian Palaeontologists, 23, pp. 63-126.
– Winchester-Seeto, T. M.; Foster, C. B.; O'Leary, T.
2000. Middle Ordovician Chitinozoa from the
Goldwyer and Nita Formations, Canning Basin,
Western Australia. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica,
45, 29 pp.
– Zalasiewicz, J. A.; Rushton, A. W. A.; Hutt, J. E.;
Howe, M. P. A. (eds.) 2000. Atlas of Graptolite Type
Specimens. Folio 1, Palaeontolographical Society,
London.
– Zhang, S.; Barnes, C. R. 2000. Anticostiodus, a New
Multielement Conodont Genus from the Lower
Silurian, Anticosti Island, Quebec. Journal of
Paleontology, 74, pp. 662-9.
Activities planned
General goals
The main IGCP 410 efforts during 2001 will again focus
on the two main areas of clade team and regional team
data collection. Data compilations are being prepared
for each significant clade group using a set of preferred
diversity measures, and an integrated global time-scale
that was prepared and circulated to all participants some
time ago. The Riverside meeting aims to provide a forum
for discussion of the individual clade group results, and
also a unique opportunity for individual clade teams to
relate their individual patterns of biodiversity change to
the patterns established by other clade groups. Further
analysis and synthesis will result in the first com-
prehensive survey of Ordovician clade groups in time
and space. The completion of the synthesis is expected
before the end of the year, and then the proceedings will
be published in early 2002. Collection of data by the
regional teams will continue to be encouraged, and the
planned field trips to Eastern Russia and Mongolia
should help to activate work programmes in these areas.
Both clade team and regional team groups will be
involved actively during the coming year inputting their
biodiversity data into the IGCP 410 web-based data-
base established by Arnie Miller at the University of
Cincinnati (United States).
Meetings
– University of California, Riverside, United States
The major focus of the IGCP 410 clade team work
programme will be a meeting held at the University
of California, Riverside, from 21 to 24 June 2001.
– Novosibirsk and Russian Altai/
Ulaan Bator and Southern Mongolia
The second major IGCP 410/421 meeting will
comprise accompanying field excursions (to areas in
the Siberian Altai and possibly Tuva – focus will be
on the Ordovician, Silurian and Devonian succes-
sions and their biotas) and indoor sessions between
1 August and 9 September 2001. The Mongolian part
of the IGCP 410/421 activities will be concurrent,
commencing on arrival in Ulan Baator on 21 or
22 August with indoor (technical and business)
meeings, then a 16-day camping-style field trip to
Southern Mongolia (on the edges of the Gobi Desert).
Publications
The University of California Press has given a pre-
liminary approval of the book proposal for a synthesis
entitled ‘Ordovician Biodynamics: Global Patterns of
Rising Biodiversity’. Sources of the data collection for
each taxonomic group will be compiled in databases
(or prepared in census lists) if possible down to species.
The information will be transmitted to Arnie Miller at
the University of Cincinnati, who is maintaining the
IGCP project 410 database website at: http://homepages.
uc.edu/~millerai/welcome.html
73
No. 411 – Geodynamics of Gondwanaland-
derived Terranes in East and South Asia
(1998 2002)
S. Hada, Research Institute for Higher Education, Kobe
University, Nada-ku, Kobe 657-8501, Japan, e-mail:
hada@kobe-u.ac.jp
I. Metcalfe, Asia Centre, University of New England,
Armidale NSW 2351, Australia, e-mail: imetcalfe@metz.
une.edu.au
J. H. Kim, Department of Geological Science, Seoul
National University, Seoul, 151-742, Korea, e-mail:
jhk@plaza.snu.ac.kr
Tran Van Tri, Department of Geology and Mineral of
Viet Nam, 6 Pham Ngu Lao St., Hanoi, Viet Nam,
e-mail: GSV@bdvn.net
Jin Xiaoch, Institute of Geology, Chinese Academy of
Geological Sciences, Beijing 100037, People’s Republic
of China, e-mail: jinxchi@public.bta.net.cn
Description: The major scientific objective of the pro-
ject is to understand the processes that led to the final
assembly of Gondwanaland-derived terranes in East
and South-East Asia. It will adopt an interdisciplinary
approach including the study of igneous activity, meta-
morphism, sedimentation, tectonics, palaeobiogeography,
palaeomagnetism, metallogenesis, and petroleum and
coal geology. Apart from Japan and Russia, the main
activities will take place in the developing countries of
the south-east Asian region. An important goal is to
produce a tectonic Map of East and South-East Asia at
1:10 million, which will be compiled in GIS format by
various geological surveys in the region. The societal
benefits of the project are related to metallogenesis
in each terrane, and development of hydrocarbon- and
coal-bearing sedimentary basins during the final
emplacement of the terranes.
Website of the project
http://plaza.snu.ac.kr/~geol/IGCP411/index2.html
Participating countries
(*indicates countries active this year)
*Australia, *China (PR), France, *India, Indonesia,
*Japan, *Korea (Rep. of), Lao (PDR), *Malaysia,
*Philippines, Papua-New Guinea, *Thailand, *United
Kingdom, *United States, *Viet Nam.
Achievements of the project in 2000
Meetings
The 2nd symposium of IGCP 411 was held in Seoul
National University, Seoul, Korea on 28-29 August 2000.
74
More than 130 scientists from 8 countries attended the
symposium.
Another major international conference Where Worlds
Collide: Faunal and Floral Migrations and Evolution in
South-East Asia-Australasia was held at the University
of New England, Armidale, Australia from 29 November
to 2 December 1999. This conference was a contribu-
tion to IGCP 411 and a number of papers were presented
by IGCP 411 working group members. Selected refereed
papers are to be published in early 2001 as an A.A.
Balkema book (similar to the Gondwana Dispersion and
Asian Accretion Final Results Volume for IGCP 321)
and this will be a formal contribution to IGCP 411.
Activities planned
General goals
1. Igneous and metamorphic activity. Distribution and
characterisation of igneous and metamorphic rocks
in the collision zone, consuming plate margin and
post-orogenic magmatism, and tectonic setting of
their activities and characterisation of metallogenesis.
2. Sedimentation. Spacio-temporal changes of deposi-
tional environment in and around continental
margins, tectonic setting of their activity, and their
relation with petroleum and coal resources.
3. Biotic distribution. Regional correlation, determining
biogeographical distributions and palaeoenviron-
mental analysis of both marine and land organism.
4. Palaeomagmatism. Detailed information on the
movements and deformation of continental blocks,
and the changing spatial distribution of seas and
oceans.
5. Tectonism. Comparative studies of regional tectonic
feature and recognition of small terranes in collision
zones, and characterisation of shear zone develop-
ment and final emplacement of accreted terranes by
the on-going plate motion including the collision
between India and Asia.
6. Natural resources potential. Time-space distribution,
geodynamic and tectonic setting of useful natural
resources, and their tectonic features in each terrane.
Reports from IGCP 411 working groups
Australian working group (I. Metcalfe)
The small Australian Working Group for IGCP 411,
essentially similar to the working group of the prede-
cessor project IGCP 321, continues to work on the
geodynamic evolution of Eastern Asia, in particular on
suture zones of the region and on palaeobiogeography
and palaeogeography. Outcomes of this work during the
last year include:
– A special issue of the Journal of Asian Earth Sciences
(Vol. 18, Part 6) on Suture Zones of East and South-
East Asia, edited by Ian Metcalfe (Australia) and
Mark Allen (United Kingdom), is to be published in
late 2000. This special issue presents new informa-
tion on the constraints from sutures on the timings
of collisions between various Asian terranes, as well
as valuable overview information on the various
suture zones.
– A major International conference Where Worlds
Collide: Faunal and Floral Migrations and Evolution
in South-East Asia-Australasia was held at the
University of New England, Armidale, Australia,
from 29 November to 2 December 1999, including
IGCP 411 contributions.
– I. Metcalfe (Australia) and K. Wakita (Japan)
continue to work on the Digital Terrane Map of East
and South-East Asia. The Science and Technology
Agency of Japan has funded the project, by and the
Geological Survey of Japan will publish the
CD–ROM. by
Permian working groups
Dr Guang R. Shi, one of the Australian working group
members has initiated two working groups which are
sanctioned by the Subcommission on Permian Strati-
graphy (SPS). These are: SPS Working Group on
Permian Transitional Biotas and Permian Research
Group of South-East Asia. Both these working groups
are making valuable contributions to IGCP 411. The
latter group has already negotiated a special issue of the
Journal of Asian Earth Sciences on the Permian of South-
East Asia with G.R. Shi and I. Metcalfe as editors, to be
published, as a formal contribution to IGCP 411 in 2002.
Japanese working group (Koji Wakita)
Working group members presented papers related to
IGCP 411 at the International Symposium 'Geodynamics
and Tectonic Evolution of China and Related Gondwana
Fragments' held at Yichang, China, October 1999; at the
IGCP Symposium of the National Committee of Japan,
held in Tokyo on 20 January 2000; and the International
Symposium of IGCP 411 held at Seoul, 28 August to
2 September 2000. Preparation of the Digital Terrane
map of East and South-East Asia
Philippine working group (Dr Yumul)
A field geological survey was conducted in the South-
Western Zamboanga Peninsula, Mindanao, during 1-24
April 2000. The fieldwork area covers Zamboanga City
and the adjacent municipalities that include Sibuco,
Zamboanga del Norte and Tungauan, Zamboanga del
Sur. The stratigraphy and geology of the area have
been established during this field survey. Geological,
structural and sample location maps at a 1:50,000 scale
were eventually prepared after the fieldwork. Field
geological investigation was also conducted last April
2000 in the Sibutad gold mine, Sibutad, Zamboanga del
Norte. A total of thirteen diamond drill holes in the
Lalab ore body, equivalent to 2,200 metres of drill cores,
were logged and sampled. This was done to further
characterize the epithermal gold deposit in the area.
Malaysian working group (Lee Chai Peng)
Following the first two of the series of seminars on
the Dynamic Stratigraphy and Tectonics of Peninsular
Malaysia started in April 1999, the Sedimentology and
Stratigraphy Working Group of the Geological Society
of Malaysia successfully held a third seminar on the
theme 'The Mesozoic of Peninsular Malaysia' on 13 May
2000. Research was carried out on Malaysian granites
on palaeostresses influence in controlling gold mineral-
isation and on Permian fossils.
Thailand working group (Adichat Surinkum)
The discovery of the chromian spinel detritus in sand-
stones of the Nam Duk Formation confirms that the sili-
ciclastic part of the formation is related to an evolving
mountain belt caused by contractional deformation
during the late Middle to Upper Permian. The geographic
distribution of the Nan-Uttaradit ophiolite and the
geometry of the folds exposed in the Nam Duk strata
suggest that the subduction was located to the west.
Therefore, the source area of the chromian spinel detritus
in the more internal zones of the rising mountain belt
is expected further to the west. The areas to the east of
the section along the Lom Sak-Chum Phae are con-
sidered as foreland areas. The possibility of the major
influx of detrital material from the foreland areas in the
east is quite unlikely. The region close to the Nan-
Uttaradit suture zone, however, shows evidence of
contractional deformation and subsequent uplift to an
erosional level in the Permian when the chromian spinel
detritus was deposited in the Nam Duk Formation.
Korean working group (Jeong Hwan Kim)
The 2nd symposium of the IGCP 411 was held in Seoul
National University, Seoul, Korea from 28 to 29 August
2000. More than 130 participants from 8 countries attended
the symposium. 48 papers were presented at the tech-
nical sessions and were published as short papers in
the special volume of the Geosciences Journal (Vol. 4,
Special Edition).
Most important publications
– Ahn, K. S.; Nakamura, Y. 2000. The Natural Reaction
Muscovite + Chlorite + Chloritoid = Andalusite +
Biotite + Quartz + H2O and a New Petrogenetic
Grid. Geosci. Jour., 4, pp. 25-40.
– Ando, A.; Kodama, K.; Kojima, S. (In press.) Low
Latitude and Southern Hemisphere Origin of the
Anisian (Triassic) Bedded Chert in the Inuyama Area,
Mino Terrane, Central Japan. Jour. Geophys. Res.
75
– Cho, K. S.; 2000. Petrochemical Study on Granite
Gneiss in the Gurye-Suncheon, Korea. Econ.
Environ. Geol., 33, pp. 173-80.
– Choi, S.; Moon, W.; Choi, S. G. 2000. Fuzzy Logic
Fusion of W-Mo Exploration Data from Seobyeog-ri,
Korea. Geosci. Jour., 4, pp. 43-52.
– Ehiro, M. 2000. Origin of Some Small Continental
Blocks Distributed in East Asia., Geosciences
Journal., Vol. 4, Special Edition, pp.117-20.
– Hada, S.; Yoshikura, S.; Gabites, J. E. 2000. U-Pb
Zircon Ages for the Mitaki Igneous Rocks, Siluro-
Devonian Ttuff, and Granitic Boulders in the
Kurosegawa Terrane, South-West Japan. Memoirs of
the Geological Society of Japan, No. 56, pp.183-98.
– Hisada, K.; Chutakositkanon, V.; Charusiri, P.; Arai,
S. 2000. Tectonic Significance Deduced from Detrital
Chromian Spinels in the Permian Nam Duk
Formation, Central Thailand, Geosciences Journal,
Vol. 4, Special Edition, pp. 102-4.
– Huang, B. C., Otofuji, Y.; Yang, Z. Y.; Zhu, R. X.
2000. New Silurian and Devonian and Palaeo-
magnetic Results from the Hexi Corridor Terrane,
North China and Their Tectonic Implications,
Geophys. J. Int., 140, pp. 132-46.
– Hur, S. D.; Park, H. I. 2000. Ore Mineralogy and
Fluid Inclusion Study on the Shinjeongseon Pb-Zn
Ore Deposit, Jeongseon, Korea. Jour. Geol. Soc.
Korea, 36, pp. 93-112.
– Hwang, S. K.; Ahn, U. S.; Kim, S. W. 2000. Spatial
Compositional Variations and Their Origins in the
Buseok Pluton, Yeongju batholith. Econ. Environ.
Geol., 33, pp. 147-63.
– Kang, H. C.; Kim, I. S. 2000. Palaeomagnetic Study
on the Early Cretaceous Hayang Group in Yongyang
Area, North-Eastern Kyongsang Basin. Jour. Geol.
Soc. Korea, 36, pp. 47-71.
– Kim, J. H.; Yoon, W. S.; Choi, J. W.; Kwon, H. S.;
Bae, G. H.; Cheon, S. W.; 2000. Geological Struc-
tures in the Tongri-Dogye and Sangdeog Areas in the
Eastern Part of the Samcheog Coalfield, Korea.
Geosci. Jour., 4, pp. 153-63.
– Kim, J. S.; Lee, J. D. 2000. Magma Mingling
Evidence by the Geochemical Characteristics of the
Geoje-island Granitic Rocks. Jour. Geol. Soc. Korea,
36, pp. 19-38.
– Kim, J. S.; Lee, J. D.; Kim, I. S.; Paik, I. S.; Choi,
B. S. 2000. Petrology of Enclaves in the Granite
Around Bangeujin, Ulsan. Jour. Geol. Soc. Korea,
36, pp. 73-92.
– Kim, K. H. Hwang, S. J. 2000. Mineralogical and
Geochemical Studies of Titanoferous Iron Ores and
Ultramafic to Mafic Rocks from the Boreumdo Iron
Ore Deposits, South Korea. Econ. Environ. Geol.,
33, pp. 1-18.
– Kim, W. K.; Min, K. D.; Kim, J. W.; Won, J. S.; Park,
C. H.; Koo, S. B. 2000. Geologic Structure of
Euiseong Sub-basin by Analytic Aeromagnetic
Anomaly Data. Econ. Environ. Geol., 33, pp. 229-
37.
– Kim, W. K.; Min, K. D.; Won, J. S.; Kim, J. W. 2000.
76
Geologic Structure of Euiseong Sub-basin from
Spectrally Correlated Geopotential Field Anomalies.
Econ. Environ. Geol., 33, pp. 217-28.
– Kojima, S.; Kametaka, M. 2000. Jurassic
Accretionary Complexes in East Asia, Memoirs of
Geological Society of Japan, No. 55, pp. 61-72.
– Kojima, S.; Kemkin, I. V.; Kametaka, M.; Ando, A.
(In press.) A Correlation of Accretionary Complexes
Between Southern Sikhote-Alin of Russia and Inner
Zone of South-West Japan.
– Lee, H. 2000. Significance of Systematic Changes
in Crenulation Asymmetries Within Metasediments
Across the Ogcheon Supergroup in the Goesan Area
Southern Korea. Geosci. Jour., 4, pp. 115-34.
– Matsuoka A. 2000. Radiolarians as Tools for
Accretionary Complex Research, Memoirs of the
Geological Society of Japan, No. 55, pp. 17-26.
– Min, K. D.; Lee, Y. J. 2000. A Study on the Crustal
Structure Between Pohang, Kongju and Manripo by
Gravity Method. Econ. Environ. Geol., 33, pp. 101-9.
– Otofuji, Y.; Uno, K.; Higashi, T.; Ichikawa, T.; Ueno,
T.; Mishima, T.; Matsuda, T. 2000. Secondary
Remanent Magnetization Carried by Magnetite
Inclusions in Silicates: A Comparative Study of
Unremangetized and Re-magnetized Granites, Earth
Planet. Sci. Lett., 180, pp. 271-85.
– Sano, H.; Orchard, M. J. 2000. Significant Contri-
bution of Calcimicrobes to Shallow-marine
Carbonate Sedimentation in Aftermath of Permo-
Triassic Mass Extinction Event, Geosciences
Journal, Vol. 4, Special Edition, pp. 46-7.
– Sano, H.; Kojima, S. 2000. Carboniferous to Jurassic
Oceanic Rocks of Mino-Tamba-Ashio Terrane,
South-West Japan, Memoirs of Geological Society of
Japan, No. 55, pp. 123-44.
– Sashida, K.; Hori, N. 2000. Mesozoic Strata in the
Yamizo Mountains and Their Unit Division, Memoirs
of the Geological Society of Japan, No. 55, pp. 99-106.
– Tazawa, J. 2000. Middle Permian Brachiopod Faunas
of Japan and South Primorye, Far East Russia: Their
Palaeobiogeographic and Tectonic Implications, Geo-
sicences Journal, Vol. 4, Special edition, pp. 40-2.
– Tazawa, J. 2000. Permian Brachiopod Faunas and
Pre-Neogene Tectonics in the Inner Side of South-
West Japan, Monograph 49, pp. 5-22, The
Association for the Geological Collaboration in
Japan.
– Tazawa, J. 2000. The Palaeozoic of the Hida Gaisen,
South Kitakami, and Kurosegawa Belts: Correlation
and Tectonic History. Memoirs of the Geological
Society of Japan, No. 56, pp. 39-52.
– Ueno, K. 2000. Permian Fusulinacean Faunas of the
Sibumasu and Baoshan Blocks: Implications for the
palaeogeographic Reconstruction of the Cimmerian
Continent, Geoscience Journal, Vol. 4, Special
Edition, pp. 160-3.
– Ueno, K.; Sashida, K.; Nakornesi, N. 2000. Middle
Permian Fusulinacean Fauna from the Kanchanaburi
Area, Western Thailand and its Palaeobiogeographic
Implications, Abstract with programmes. The 2000
 Annual Meeting, The Palaeontological Society of
Japan, 140.
– Wakita, K. 2000. Melanges of the Mino Terrane,
Memoirs of Geological Society of Japan, No. 55,
pp. 145-63.
– Wakita, K. (In press.) Cretaceous Accretionary:
Collision Complex in Central Indonesia, Journal of
Asian Earth Sciences, Vol. 4-5/2, pp 1-12.
– Yamakita, S.; Otoh, S. 2000. Cretaceous Rearrange-
ment Processes of Pre-Cretaceous Geologic Units of
the Japanese Islands by MTL-Kurosegawa Left
Lateral Strike-Slip Fault System. Memoirs of the
Geological Society of Japan, No. 56, pp. 23-38.
– Yang, K.; Lee, J. D. 2000. The Sannae-Eonyang
Granitic Rocks and Hydrothermal System, South-
Eastern Kyongsang Basin. Econ. Environ. Geol., 33,
pp. 19-30.
– Yoshida, K. 2000. Sedimentary Petrology and
Sedimentology of the Middle Permian Coarse Clastic
Rocks, South Kitakami Terrane, North-Eastern Japan
and its Tectonic Implication, Geosciences Journal,
Vol. 4, Special Edition, pp. 50-1.
– Yoshida, K. 2000; The Sedimentary System and the
Tectonic Implication of the Usuginu-type Conglo-
merate in the South Kitakami Terrane, North-East
Japan: Especially to the Sandstone Petrography and
the Sedimentary Facies of the Middle Permian Coarse
Clastic Deposits. Memoirs of the Geological Society
of Japan, No. 56, pp. 89-102.
– Faunal and Floral Migrations and Evolution in
South-East Asia-Australasia: a Collection of papers
to be published as a thematic book by A.A. Balkema,
I. Metcalfe, J. M. B. Smith, M. Morwood, and
I. Davidson (eds.).
Activities planned
Meetings
The next IGCP 411 symposium will be held in Osaka,
Japan on 26-30 October 2001.
No. 413 – Understanding Future Dryland
Changes from Past Dynamics (1998-2002)
D. S. G. Thomas, Department of Geography and
Sheffield Centre for Dryland Research, University of
Sheffield, Sheffield S10, 2TN, United Kingdom, e-mail:
d.s.thomas@sheffield.ac.uk
A. K. Singhvi, Co-leader, Earth Science Division,
Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad, 380009,
India, e-mail: singhvi@prl.ernet.in
Description: The key objectives of IGCP 413 (successor
to IGCP 349) are to develop an enhanced understanding
of the processes controlling the timing and amplitude of
dryland environmental changes, together with the nature
of these changes, and an advanced understanding of the
linkages relevant to dryland changes. This will be done
in the context of the relationship between dryland
changes and global system changes, and in the context
of environment-society links. The overall expectation is
to provide a realistic synthesis of the sedimentary record
of climatic changes with process-based interpretations
to provide a more meaningful input for geological
correlations and climate modelling experiments.
Website of the project
http://www.shef.ac.uk/~igcp413/
Participating countries
Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Botswana, Canada,
China, Denmark, Egypt, Ethiopia, Finland, France,
Germany, India, Iran, Ireland, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait,
Mauritania, Mexico, Netherlands, Poland, Russia, South
Africa, Switzerland, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Spain,
Sweden, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United
States.
Achievements in 2000
Projects within the IGCP 413 framework
Interregional collaborative projects that were initiated
during 1999 within the framework of IGCP 413
continued with vigour. Programmes in Arabia, involving
IGCP participants from India, the United Kingdom,
United States, Canada, and in Mauritania, involving
IGCP participants from Mauritania, India, France and
the United States, were particularly active in 2000. New
initiatives on sediment sequences in Israel and the
Mojave Desert, and on assessing the impact of climate
on human cultures and the impact of society on geomor-
phic processes are being planned. A new collaborative
programme between the German and the Chinese
scientists to understand the past desertification record of
the Mu Us desert was also initiated in the year 2000.
Overall, IGCP 413 has been generating significant new
research initiatives on dryland palaeoclimatic records,
human-environmental relationships, changes in past
hydrological regimes and modern day process-based
studies. Monsoon-related studies from the Indian
Ocean/Arabian Sea region have also remained active,
with some of the new results as outlined below. Such
ocean-based studies are important both for understanding
the geomorphological evolution of drylands in India as
also in establishing the long-term dynamics of the
growth and decline of human civilisations in monsoon-
dominated regions.
Scientific achievements
A major achievement of the IGCP 413 group has been
the enhanced tempo of activities towards producing
77
more refined and robust reconstructions of environ-
mental changes affecting drylands. This is being
achieved through the use of nre and more precise chrono-
metric techniques and by using process-based studies to
inform the interpretation of palaeo-features and their
climatic significance. The publication list provides a
flavour of the outputs from these activities. Region-
specific research projects continue to flourish and
substantial new data from major dryland/desert regions
are being reported and published. Process-based studies
addressing the dynamic linkages between different
dryland sediment systems with special attention to
contemporary conditions are also reported. For example,
sediment supply to aeolian systems (both aerosol loading
and sand) from river and lake systems, and the effects
of de-vegetation, depletion in ground water and agri-
cultural practices on aeolian sediment supply are all
being investigated. Together, IGCP 413 research is both
informing better palaeoenvironmental reconstructions
and allowing human impacts on dryland systems to be
better understood. IGCP 413 has been attempting to
develop further its activities in the more applied sphere
by forging links with the Land Degradation and
Desertification Commission (COMLAND) of the Inter-
national Geographical Union (IGU), which addresses the
issues of contemporary change. IGCP 413 is also actively
collaborating with the Fluvial Archives Group and IGCP
449 by way of its own activities on dryland river systems
and is actively participating with IGCP 404 in the Intra-
IGCP initiative via interests in Carbon Dynamics in
Drylands and its links with the Global Change.
Summary of regional research
India
The studies on the Thar Desert continued and a major
new study was the identification of the slack water
deposits in the Luni basin, the only river in the Thar.
Informed by an analysis of modern slack water deposits
and their relationship to rainfall events, channel
morphometry measurements, altimetry of slack water
deposits and application of luminescence dating have
been used to reconstruct the magnitude and timing of
major flood events during the past millennium. A strong
correlation is indicated between higher flood frequen-
cies and medieval warming. This information is expected
to be of value to river basin planners during the
21st century.
Studies on desert margins indicate a northward shift in
the monsoon during the Holocene, such that aeolian
accretion in southern areas ceased at 10 Ka and 5 Ka
ago. Aeolian accretion in the core region of the Thar
continued till 800 years ago. These data indicate spatial
shifts in the monsoon gradient, which are now being
modelled. A new programme to understand the process
linking Holocene monsoon changes and urban settle-
ment/expansion episodes has been initiated. While
78
gross correlations between Holocene settlement and
the occurrence of the Monsoon are known, more subtle
variations are now being observed. For example, the
major settlement phases – the Chalcolithic (5-3 Ka ago),
Early Historical (2.2-1.8 Ka ago) and Medieval period
(1.1-0.7 Ka ago) – also included episodes of lake desic-
cation and dune activity. A better understanding of
human responses to climatic changes, and human contri-
butions to environmental changes, is being achieved by
these new studies. Away from the Thar Desert, studies
in the arid Central Eastern Indian region (the Anantpur
district of Andhra Pradesh) have also been initiated, to
determine the long-term climatic record of the region,
the impact of human activities and any similarities/phase
lags/discordance with the record from the Thar.
Southern Africa
Research aiming at better chronometric controls on
aeolian episodes in the Namib and Kalahari has
continued. In the Kalahari efforts are also under way to
reconcile differences between aeolian, lacustrine and
cave-derived chronologies of changes. In many instances,
it is considered that the contradictions in chronologies
arise from the differences in the resolution of data
formdifferent chronometric techniques. The limited
number of closed sites in the region, and the disjunct
nature of studies of different geomorphic features,
contributes to a number of problems in arriving at an
integrated chronology of change. The Tsodilo Hills,
40 km west of the Okavango Delta and one of the richest
rock art sites in Botswana, is providing an opportunity
to investigate direct evidence of conditions wetter and
drier than today at a single site. Today there is no
standing water at Tsodilo, but lacustrine carbonates
(containing abundant mollusc and diatom remains) and
shorelines provide evidence of perennial lake conditions
in the past. To the south of the hills stabilised linear
dunes indicate past drier conditions, with the dune
closest to the hills eroded by lake waters and lower dune
sediments superimposed by a shoreline feature. The
lacustrine surface possesses four sub-basins suggestive
of the feature having variable extents depending on the
volume of runoff and seepage generated from the hills
themselves.
Seventeen radiocarbon ages from lacustrine carbonates,
6 AMS radiocarbon dates from molluscs, 6 OSL ages
from dunes and 4 from shoreline deposits have been
determined from the Tsodilo complex. Dune sediments
have been dated within 35-28 Ka, with shoreline ages
of 27 Ka and 11 Ka. The radiocarbon dates are also
suggesting the possibility of a wet phase at ca. 9 Ka.
The errors associated with the different dating methods,
appropriate interpretation of lacustrine carbonate and
shoreline ages require some consideration. It is suggested
that such investigations on samples from an integrated
site offer the promise of understanding the relative
timing of wetter and drier phases in the Late Quaternary
for the region.
Australia
Research work in Australia during 2000 continued on a
number of projects, which relate to different aspects of
IGCP 413. Investigation of the palaeohydrology of
monsoon-fed Lake Eyre continued. The emphasis was
on the stratigraphy and chronology of the lunettes on
the downwind (north-eastern) margin of the lake. This
work is aimed at improving information about the defla-
tion events, which characterise the lake's response to the
drier portions of the glacial-interglacial climatic cycles.
This is to complement the existing record on lacustrine
and fluvial sediments deposited during wetter phases.
Work has also progressed in dating the enhanced lacus-
trine phases of monsoon-fed lakes on the northern desert
margins, namely Lake Woods in the Northern Territory
and Lake Gregory in Western Australia.
An initial drilling exercise was carried out at Scrubby
Peak Lake located in the semi-arid Northern Eyre
Peninsula, on the southern margin of the Gawler Ranges.
This playa lake is incised into a Tertiary lacustrine
sequence and shows evidence of at least one phase
during the Quaternary when conditions were wetter than
at present. If the strong precipitation gradient across the
Eyre Peninsula can be pushed north by an enhancement
of the winter westerlies then Scrubby Peak Lake should
become wetter. This will provide an opportunity to
compare variations of the winter westerly regime and
the monsoon in Australia without the complication of
easterly-derived precipitation, which can contribute to
many of the Murray basin lakes and rivers.
Several studies examining the interaction of fluvial and
aeolian depositional environments and the changing flow
regime of Cooper Creek in Central Australia during the
mid- to late- Quaternary are nearing completion. They
provide convincing evidence that the flow regime of the
Cooper has declined markedly over this period. Source-
bordering transverse dunes flanked the northern margins
of channels during Oxygen Isotopic Stage 5, with
attached linear dunes reworked northwards from the
transverse dunes after the Last Glacial Maximum.
Following a pronounced drying of climate in late Stage
4 and early Stage 3, there has been massive disruption
of Cooper Creek, which used to drain to Lake Eyre both
westwards across the Strzelecki Desert and southwards
via the Lake Frome depression. The Creek now follows
an ill-defined path through the Strzelecki dune field, with
its discharge reaching Lake Eyre only about once in a
decade. During exceptional floods, it still sheds a portion
of its flow partly way down its previous course via Lake
Frome. Ongoing tectonism of the Innamincka Dome and
the growth of linear dunes during the Late Pleistocene
and Holocene have further disrupted drainage in this
area of South Australia.
In the tropics of Northern Australia, the rate of chem-
ical induration of river alluvium is such that, during
the Late Quaternary, rivers that normally would be
self-adjusting alluvial systems have become 'bedrock'
confined. On the Gilbert River and other fan-deltas
draining to the Gulf of Carpentaria, nick points are
migrating upstream through strongly calcreted and
ferruginized sediments. Here channels periodically
avulse in order to adjust to hydraulic constraints imposed
by the induration of alluvial boundaries. Because these
fan-deltas have been prograding into the Gulf throughout
the Quaternary, there is a progressive increase in their
degree of induration inland, and this dictates a change
in river character upstream.
Detailed analysis of fluvial and aeolian evidence for flow
regime and climate changes are continuing in the Cooper
Creek catchment of the Lake Eyre basin. Studies of flood
history and hydrology in Macdonnell ranges of Central
Australia with analysis of palaeoflood history and
geomorphology were extended to the Hale and the Finke
river system in addition to the Todd River. This histor-
ical perspective is assisted by an analysis of the geomor-
phic impact of the February and April 2000 floods of
the River Finke and a study of the nature of fluvial and
aeolian interaction in the Todd River flood out.
A detailed study on the lacustrine, fluvial and aeolian
environments in the Central Australian Lewis Basin
(Northern territory) at the southern edge of the
Australian monsoon regime is at an advanced stage. A
long period of wetter conditions during most of the
Pleistocene is followed by hydrologic closure of the
basin resulting in deposition of more heterogeneous
lacustrine sediments. Fluctuating climate and hydrologic
conditions subsequently deposited large volumes of
calcretes and gypsum at the depo-centre along with
aeolian activity that established dune fields across the
basin axis. Diagenetic deposition of Zeolites and large
quantities of secondary silica phases within the clastic
lake sediments indicate climate changes during the
Pleistocene that affected the delivery of monsoon driven
rainfall. Attenuated rainfall, very high evaporation rates
and fluctuating groundwater alkalinities since the last
interglacial have resulted in a hydrologic closure of the
basin, sluggish ground water flow, solute accumulation
and crystallisation of entirely new mineral phases in the
semi-arid interior region.
Work is also continuing on the timing and process of
the extinction of the Australian megafauna, the possible
role of humans in that event, the wider palaeoenviron-
mental implications of the first arrival of humans on the
continent and the resultant changes in fire regimes. For
the first time, a reliable date for the extinction of one
element of the megafauna (the giant flightless bird,
Genyornis) has been obtained. This age of 50±5 Ka is
shortly after the likely time for the first arrival of humans
on the continent. Stable carbon isotopes of fossil eggshell
of both Emu and Genyornis are being used to recon-
struct some aspects of the vegetation (relative abundance
of C3 and C4 plants). The phytolith record, particularly
from archaeological sites, is additionally complemented
79
by this vegetation reconstruction from the arid and semi-
arid zones (where continuous pollen records are absent).
Canada
Work on two major research projects, (a) Climatic
changes and drought impacts on the Canadian Prairies,
and (b) Sensitivities of regional ecosystem and soil land-
scapes to climatic variability and change, was taken up
during 2000. Project (a) aims to determine regional scale
landscape change, examine its correlation with climatic/
drought events and then develop a GIS-based landscape
sensitivity model to aid the planning of adaptive pro-
cesses to reduce future impacts. Project (b) aims to
model the sensitivity of soil landscapes of sub-humid
Canadian plains to climatic change and variability. The
Canadian group would thus provide records of cooler
analogues of warmer drylands.
Other regions
Considerable efforts have been under way in Spain,
Egypt, Yemen and China relating to climatic change
chronologies and human records. Programmes on
sustainable use of natural resources in rural systems of
Eastern African Drylands (Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania):
strategies for environmental rehabilitation; and on
Enhancing Soil Fertility in Africa: from field to policy-
maker were taken up. In addition, studies for the recon-
struction of Holocene palaeoenvironmental changes
based on valley in-fill sequences in Northern Ethiopia
and Northern Tanzania with special focus on the last
two millennia have been initiated. Standard geomor-
phological, sedimentological, geochronological (Radio-
carbon and Luminescence) and geo-archaeological
techniques will be used. Studies on desertification and
anthropogenic erosion processes in tropical mountain
catchment in Tigray, Ethiopia are also under way.
Oceanic records
The German group has commenced a new programme
on luminescence dating and tuning of high-resolution
palaeoclimatic time series from the Arabian Sea during
the time 70-20 Ka. This is an important programme to
understand the changes in the Indian monsoon through
time and in providing a realistic mechanism to compare
the oceanic record with land record by using the same
dating technique. Radiocarbon of oceanic sediments
needs both calibration and correction for reservoir
ages, and, thus, a direct correlation of the radiocarbon
ages on ocean sediments and luminescence ages on
terrestrial sediments may imply systematic differences.
On the other hand, luminescence dating of ocean sedi-
ments provides a direct comparison of the oceanic and
land records. Geochemistry (elemental composition),
magnetism and reflectance colour spectrophotometry of
sample from an Arabian sea core 70 KL, indicated quasi-
periodic oscillation in the Dansgaard-Oeschger band
(1-3 Ka) during the last glacial. Dominant periodicities
80
at 2 Ka and 1.2 Ka in the summer monsoon activity and
950 years in the winter monsoon activity, 1450 a and
1050 a in the dust transported by the north-westerly
Arabian winds were seen. The millennial scale cycles
are not strictly periodic but occur in bands such that the
specific activity phases and amplitude increases during
the warm stages for cycles 1.1 Ka and 1.8 Ka and, 1.45
Ka cycle dominates the cold intervals. Interestingly ~1.5
Ka periodicity in the dune accretion records has been
suggested from the Thar Desert.
Meetings
IGCP 413 held one international and numerous regional
and thematic meetings during 2000. The international
conference on Linkages between fluvial, lacustrine and
aeolian systems was held in Zzyzx, United States, during
23-28 October 2000, with papers from 63 participants
representing 13 countries.
Organization of national meetings in India, Germany
and Canada.
International workshop on Luminescence Dating in
Earth Sciences held at Ahmedabad, India, during
February 2000, with the objective to discuss chrono-
metry of arid zone records.
Major publications
– Paleoenvironmental Reconstruction in Arid Lands.
A. K. Singhviand E. Derbyshire (eds.), Balkema
Publications, 340 pp. The Netherlands.
– Bao, H.; Thiemens, M. H.; Farquhar, J.; Campbell,
D. A.; Chi-Woo Lee, C.; Heine, K.; Loope, D. B.
2000. Anomalous δ17O Compositions in Massive
Sulphate Deposits on the Earth, Nature, 406 (6792),
pp. 176-8.
– Bowler, J. M.; Magee, J. W. 2000. Redating Australia
Oldest Human Remains: A Sceptic’s View. J. Human
Evolution, (In press.)
– Eitel, B. 2000. Different Amounts of Pedogenic
Palygorskite in South West African Cenozoic
Calcretes: Geomorphological, Palaeoclimatical and
Methodological Implications. Zeitschrift für Geo-
morphologie N. F., Suppl. Bd. 121, S. pp. 139-49.
– Eitel, B.; Blümel, W. D.; Hüser, K. 2000. The Early
to Mid-Holocene Climatic Change in South-Western
Africa: Evidences from Dunes, Loess-like Deposits
and Soils Based on TL and OSL-data. In: Diaz del
Olmo, F. et al. (Hrsg.) Environmental Changes during
the Holocene. INQUA Commission on the Holocene,
Conf. Sevilla, S. pp. 41-3.
– Eitel, B.; Eberle, J. 2000. Kastanozems in the
Otjiwarongo Region (Namibia). Pedogenesis,
Associated Soils and Evidence for Landscape
Degradation. Erdkunde, Bd. 54/3 (In press.)
– Eitel, B.; Blümel, W. D.; Hüser, K.; Mauz, B. 2000.
Dust and Loessic Alluvium in North-Western
Namibia (Damaraland, Kaokoveld): Sedimentology
 and Palaeoclimatic Evidence Based on Luminescence
Data. Quaternary International. (In press.)
– Heine, K.; Heine, J. T. 2000. A Palaeohydrologic Re-
interpretation of the Homeb Silts, Kuiseb River,
Central Namib Desert (Namibia) and Palaeoclimatic
Implications. Catena (In press.)
– Kale, V.; Singhvi, A. K.; Mishra, P. K.; Bannerjee,
D. 2000. Sedimentary Records and Luminescence
Chronology of Late Holocene Palaeofloods in the
Luni River, Thar Desert, North-West India. Catena,
40, pp. 337-58.
– Kar, A.; Singhvi, A. K.; Rajaguru, S. N.; Juyal, N.;
Thomas, J. V.; Banerjee, D.; Dhir, R. P. 2001.
Reconstruction of Late Quaternary Environment of
the Lower Luni Plains, Thar Desert, India.
– Luuschner, D. C., Sirocko, F. 2000. The Low Latitude
Monsoon Climate During Dansgaard-Oeschger
Cycles and Heinrich Events. Quaternary Science
Reviews. 19, pp. 243-54.
– Miller, G. H.; Magee, J. W.; Johnson, B. J.; Fogelm
M. L.; Spooner, A. A.; McCulloch, M. T.; Aylifee,
L. K. 1999. Pleistocene Extinction of Genyornis
Newtoni: Human Impact on Australian Mega Fauna.
Science, 283, pp. 205-8.
– Nyssen, J.; Mitiku Haile; Moeyersons, J.; Poesen, J.;
Deckers, J. 2000. Soil and Water Conservation in
Tigray (Northern Ethiopia): The Traditional Daget
Technique and its Integration with Introduced
Techniques. Land Degradation and Development,
11(3), pp. 199-208.
– Nyssen, J.; Moeyersons, J.; Deckers, J.; Mitiku Haile;
Poesen, J. 2000. Vertic Movements and the Develop-
ments of Stone Covers and Gullies, Tigray High-
lands, Ethiopia. Zeitschrift fuer Geomorphologie
N.F., 44(2), pp.145-64.
– Sauchyn, D. J. 2001. Spatially Explicit Modelling of
Geomorphic Disturbances of Regional Ecosystems:
Implications of Location and Scale. Journal of
Environmental Monitoring and Assessment. (In
press.)
– Srivastava, P.; Juyal, N.; Singhvi, A. K.; Wasson, R.
J.; Bateman, M. 2000. Luminescence Chronology of
River Adjustment and Incision of Sediments in the
Alluvial Plains of the Sabarmati River, North Gujarat.
Geomorphology. (In press.)
– Teller, J. T.; Glennie, K. W.; Lancaster, N.; Singhvi,
A. K. 2000. Calcareous Dunes of the United Arab
Emirates and the Noah’s Flood: The Post-glacial Re-
flooding of the Persia (Arabian Gulf). Quaternary
International. 68-71, pp. 297-308.
– Wolfe, S. A.; Huntley, D. J.; Sauchyn, D. J.; David,
P. P.; Ollerhead, J. MacDonald, G. M. (In press.)
Geochronologic Evidence for Widespread Dune
Aactivity Induced by Late 18th century Dryness,
Great Sand Hills, South-Western Saskatchewan.
Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences.
– Wolfe, S. A.; Muhs, D. R.; David, P. P.; McGeehin,
J. (In press.) Chronology and Geochemistry of
Late Holocene Aeolian Deposits in the Brandon
Sand Hills, Manitoba, Canada. In: Holocene
Environmental Change on the Great Plains. S. A.
Wolfe, G. Goodfriend and R. Baker (eds.) Quaternary
International.
– Zöller, L. 2001. 175 years of Loess Research in
Germany: Long Records and ‘Unconformities’.
Journal of Quaternary Science. (In press.)
– Zöller, L. 2000 Chronology of Upper Pleistocene
‘Red Silts’ in the Siwalik System and Constraints for
the Timing of the Upper Palaeolithic in Nepal.
Catena, 41, pp. 229-35.
Activities planned
To enhance activities on understanding the interrela-
tionship of people, climate and geomorphic processes
with better chronological controls of identified past
interactions. To continue development of activities of the
‘hydrological dynamics’ and ‘aeolian styles’ themes and
completion of a first order synthesis of the aeolian sand
records.
Meetings
Major meeting in 2001: In September a workshop and
conference will be held at the University of the North
West, South Africa, with an integral field excursion to
the Kalahari desert and drylands in Botswana and
Namibia. The overall theme is planned to be Past and
modern environmental change in human-utilised dry-
lands. Efforts are being put in place to ensure signifi-
cant African participation, including a special lower-
rate registration fee. The target attendance is 150-200
delegates.
Regional meetings are planned in North America,
Germany, India and the United Kingdom.
No. 414 – Realistic Modelling of Seismic Input
for Megacities and Large Urban Areas
(1997–2001)
G. F. Panza, Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra,
Università di Trieste, 34127 Trieste, Italy, e-mail:
panza@dst.univ.trieste.it
Description: The project addresses the problem of pre-
disaster hazard prediction and risk assessment mapping
in megacities and large urban areas. The postulate is that
lives can be saved and property damage reduced by
highly detailed, specific seismic predictions, based on
geotechnical, lithological, geophysical, topographical,
palaeoseismological and seismotectonic data, coupled
with sophisticated computer modelling of wave propa-
gation. The modelling is to be carried out for 15 large
cities in Europe (especially Eastern Europe), Madagascar,
China, and America. The benefits of the project for
society – to prevent loss of life and property by realistic
81
prediction of the effects of earthquakes that can be used
in building codes and urban planning – are clear, and the
project has direct implications in those large urban areas.
Website of the project
http://www.ictp.trieste.it/www_users/sand/projects.html
http://www.ictp.trieste.it/www_users/sand/unesco-414.html
Participating countries
Algeria, Bulgaria, China, Croatia, Cuba, Egypt, Greece,
India, Italy, Morocco, Romania, Russia, Slovenia, Syria.
Achievements of the project
Meetings
– Open meeting: Trieste, Italy from 8 May to 6
November 2000; 11 countries involved. Programme
of the meeting:
1. Validation and homogenisation of input data to
be used in the modelling, following the standard
format defined by the International Lithosphere
Programme, Task Group II-4
2. Intensive use of the specialised software, devel-
oped at ICTP and DTS of University of Trieste,
for the computation of ground motion
3. Illustration of the main properties of the
specialised software for newcomers
4. Systematic runs, test runs, including networking
5. Mapping of the results of ground motion modelling.
– General Meeting of the project at ICTP, Trieste
29 September 2000; 15 participants from 15 countries.
Most important publications
– Alvarez, L.; Vaccari, F.; Panza, G. F. 1999.
Deterministic Seismic Zoning of Eastern Cuba.
PAGEOPH, 156, pp. 469-86.
– Aoudia A.; Chimera G.; Costa G.; Nunziata T.; Panza
G.; Romanelli F.; Saraó A.; Suhadolc P.; Vaccari F.
1999. Modelling of the Seismic Ground Motion for
the Umbria-Marche Earthquake Sequence. 12WCEE
200, Wellington, NZ.
– Decanini, L.; Mollaioli, F.; Panza G. F.; Romanelli
F. 1999. The Realistic Definition of Seismic Input:
An Application to the Catania Area. In: ERES II, 15-
17 June 1999, Catania, Italy. Advances in Earthquake
Engineering, Earthquake Resistant Engineering
Structures. G. Oliveto, C. A. Brebbia (eds.) WIT
press, pp. 425-34.
– El-Sayed, A.; Romanelli, F.; Panza, G. F. 2000.
Recent Seismicity and Realistic Waveforms Model-
ing to Reduce the Ambiguities about the 1303
Seismic Activity in Egypt. Tectonphysics (In press.)
– El-Sayed, A.; Vaccari, F.; Panza, G. F. 2000.
Deterministic Seismic Hazard in Egypt. GJI. (In
press.)
82
– Harbi, A.; Maouche, S.; Ayadi, A. 1999. Neotectonics
and Associate Seismicity in the Eastern Tellian Atlas
of Algeria. Journal of Seismology 3, pp. 95-104.
– Herak, D.; Herak, M.; Panza, G. F. Costa, G. 1999.
Application of the CN Intermediate-term Earthquake
Prediction Algorithm to the Area of Southern
External Dinarides. PAGEOPH 156, pp. 689-99.
– Kouteva, M.; Panza, G. F.; Paskaleva, I. 1999. An
Example for Strong Ground Motion Modelling in
Connection with Vrancrea Earthquakes (Case Study
in NE Bulgaria, Russian Site). 12WCEE 2000,
Wellington, NZ.
– Moldoveanu, C. L.; Panza, G. F. 1999. Modelling for
Micronization Purposes of the Seismic Ground
Motion in Bucharest, due to Vrancrea Earthquake of
May 30 1990. In: Vrancea Earthquakes: Tectonics,
Hazard and Risk Mitigation,. F. Wenzel et al. (eds.),
pp. 85-97, Kluwer Academy Publishers.
– Nunziata, C.; Costa, G.; Natale, M.; Panza, G. F.
1999. FFTAN and SASW Methods to Evaluate
Vs. of Neapolitan Pyroclastic Soils. Paper 14b,
S.I.C.E.G.E., Portogallo, 21-25 June 1999, pp. 15-9.
A.A. Balkema, Rotterdam.
– Nunziata, C.; Costa, G.; Natale, M.; Panza, G. F.
1999. Seismic Characterisation of Shore Sand at
Catania. JOSE, 3, pp. 253-64.
– Nunziata, C.; Vaccari, F.; Fäh, D.; Luongo, G.; Panza,
G. F. 1997. Seismic Ground Motion Expected for the
Eastern District of Naples, Natural Hazards 15,
pp. 183-97.
– Nunziata, G.; Costa, G.; Natale, M.; Vuan, A.; Panza,
G. F. 1999. Shear-wave Velocities and Attenuation
from Rayleigh Waves. Second International Sympo-
sium on Pre-failure Deformation Characteristics
of Geomaterials. Torino, 27-29 September 1999,
A.A. Balkema, Rotterdam, pp. 365-70.
– Panza, G. F.; Romanelli, F.; Vaccari, F. 2000.
Deterministic Approach to Seismic Zoning and
Microzoning. Bridging Large Spans, pp. 241-50.
– Panza, G. F.; Romanelli, F.; Vaccari, F.; Decanini, L.;
Mollaioli, F. 2000. Contribution of the Deter-
ministic Approach to the Characterization of the
Seismic Input. OECD-NEA Workshop on Engineer-
ing Characterization of Seismic Input, BNL, Upton,
New York, 15-17 November 1999, NEA/CSNI/R
(2000) 2, (In press.)
– Panza, G. F.; Vaccari, F.; Cazzaro, R. 1999. Deter-
ministic Seismic Hazard Assessment. In: Vrancea
Earthquakes: Tectonics, Hazard and Risk Mitigation.
F. Wenzel et al. (eds.), pp. 269-86. Kluwer Academy
Publishers.
– Peresan, A.; Costa, G.; Panza, G. F. 1999. Seismo-
tectonic Model and CN Earthquake Prediction in
Italy. PAGEOPH, 154, pp. 281-306.
– Peresan, A.; Costa, G.; Panza, G. F. 2000. A Proposal
of Regionalization for the Appplication of the CN
Earthquake Prediction Algorithm to the Italian
Territory. Ann. Geof., 42, 5, pp. 883-96.
– Soloviev, A. A.; Vorobieva, I. A.; Panza G. F. 1999.
Modelling of Block Strucuture Dynamics: Parametric
 Study for Vrancea, PAGEOPH, 156, pp. 395-420.
– Suhadolc, P.; Marrara, F. 1999. 2-D Modeling of Site
Response for Microzonation Purposes. In: Vrancea
Earthquakes, F. Wenzel, D. Lungu and Novak (eds.),
Kluwer, pp. 123-36.
– Monograph: ‘Seismic Hazard in the Circum
Pannonian Region’, Special issue of Pure and
Applied Geophysics (157, 279 pp, 2000) G. F. Panza,
M. Radulian, C. Trifu (eds.)
– Book: ‘Seismic Wave Propagation in Laterally
Heterogeneous Anelastic Media: Theory and
Applications to the Seismic Zonation’ by Panza,
G. F.; Romanelli, F.; and Vaccari, F. Advances in
Geophysics, 43, pp. 1-95, 2000.
Activities planned
General goals
The stages for the construction of the final maps could
be: (a) identification of areas with common properties;
(b) determination of some typical stratigraphies for the
various areas; (c) assignment of a response spectra char-
acteristic (peak or shape) of each area. Some discussion
arose for the possible criteria of classification of the
different areas, but there is general agreement on the
fact that the grouping of units can be done adopting
different criteria, also at the final stage.
1. Compilation of the database for 3-D structures, 3-D
sources, and computations of synthetic seismograms
in the areas of interest. Experimental study of the
propagation of the seismic waves in selected areas,
and comparison with in situ measurements.
2. Mapping of ground motion.
3. Co-operation with the Earthquake and Megacities
Initiative (EMI) for the definition of the seismic input
in the cities participating in the 'Cluster of Cities'
and 'Regional Centres' projects, and with IGCP
project 383.
4. Preparation of a Monograph collecting, in a stan-
dardised way, all the results obtained in the different
cities, as a preparatory document to be released to
Administrators, in collaboration with EMI. This
publication will be the instrument to integrate the
overall meaning of the results from different cities
and will supply a standardised description of seismic
input. The most relevant result that can be already
anticipated is the total inadequacy of the concept of
site effect, as currently employed, in the definition
of seismic ground motion.
Meetings
Considering the great success of the open meetings in
1997, 1998, 1999, 2000 that allowed taking the largest
possible advantage of the ICTP facilities, as planned, the
same experience will be repeated till the end of the
project (2001), obviously givingpriority to scientists
from developing countries.
Programme of the open meeting in Trieste
1. Validation and homogenisation of the input data to
be used in the modelling, following the standard
format defined by the International Lithosphere
Programme, Task Group II-4.
2. Intensive use of the specialised software, developed
at ICTP and DTS of University of Trieste, for the
computation of ground motion, for researchers
coming from the centres where the project is most
advanced.
3. Systematic runs, including networking.
4. Mapping of the results of ground motion modelling.
No. 415 – Glaciation and Re-organization
of Asia's Drainage (1997-2002)
J. T. Teller, Department of Geological Sciences,
University of Manitoba, 240 Wallace Building,
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada R3T 2N2, e-mail:
jt_teller@umanitoba.ca
R. Vaikmae, Institute of Geology, Tallinn Technical
University, 7 Estonia Blvd., 10143 Tallinn, Estonia,
e-mail: vaikmae@gi.ee
Description: The main objectives of GRAND
(Glaciation and Re-organization of Asia’s Network or
Drainage) are to study the extent and timing of late
Quaternary glaciation in Asia (Siberia and the
Himalayas) and the impact that this had on the conti-
nent’s hydrological system. Because of the importance
of continental freshwaters on ocean circulation and, in
turn, on global climate, it is critical to know how Asia’s
north-flowing rivers were influenced by ice sheets. If, as
in North America, ice sheets dammed the northward
draining river systems to the Arctic Ocean, Asia’s runoff
would have been forced to seek new routes southwards
through the Aral, Caspian, Black and Mediterranean
Seas. Thus, much of the continent’s freshwater system
would have flowed into the Central Atlantic Ocean,
rather than into the Arctic Ocean as it is today.
Website of the project
http://mercury.eas.ualberta.ca/igcp/IGCP415.html
Participating countries
Canada, China, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany,
India, Japan, Latvia, Mongolia, Norway, Russia, Spain,
Sweden, United Kingdom, United States.
Achievements in 2000
Working groups
1. Glaciation in Asia
2. Glaciation in the Tibet Plateau
83
3. Permafrost and Ground Ice in Asia
4. Eurasian Arctic Ocean Record
5. Proglacial Lakes and Drainage Systems of Siberia
6. Caspian-Black Sea Drainage System
7. Drainage off the Tibetan Plateau
8. Modelling Ice Sheets, Oceans, and Climate
9. Aral Sea Palaeohydrology
Scientific achievements
Field research by IGCP 415 in 2000 has added new
insight into past glaciation and hydrological conditions
in Asia during the late Quaternary (as indicated below),
and is giving us new baseline data to use in modelling
changes in global land-atmosphere systems and the
potential impact of changes in climate on society.
Computer modelling by members of the project has used
these and other data to simulate past climatic conditions
and to evaluate the role of snow cover, glaciers, and
freshwater runoff from Asia on the global system. By
understanding the spatial and temporal variability in the
evolution of the climate system, one can predict with
more confidence the global impacts of dynamical oscil-
lations and of human forcing over the next few decades.
Prediction of environmental change and its impact on
society is dependent on the understanding of past change,
because that past record must serve as the basis for
predictive models. In fact, the past record is the only
test of reality for those models.
Most of the project's working groups are using geolog-
ical proxies with specific known relationships to envi-
ronmental conditions (e.g. sediment characteristics,
biota, isotopes, geomorphology) – placed in an histor-
ical framework constrained by radiocarbon, lumines-
cence, and cosmogenic dating – to decipher the glacial
and hydrological history of Asia. A complimentary
method is also being used, namely the direct numerical
simulation of the Earth's past climate using these proxy
data in combination with an understanding of modern
earth and atmosphere systems.
The computer modelling by working group 8 has
provided exciting new insight into Asia’s palaeoenvi-
ronmental history. One of the primary goals of WG 8
is to develop a fully coupled atmosphere-ocean-ice
model so that glacial/interglacial transition periods may
be simulated more faithfully. The University of Alberta
acquired a 40-cpu Silicon Graphics (SGI) Origin 2000
system for about $1 million that was expanded last year
by an additional $1.8 million in funding for a second
64-cpu SGI Origin 2400; this makes this facility the
largest supercomputing facility in academic Canada. The
following scientific conclusions by WG 8 are mainly the
result of activities using this new supercomputing
facility.
Working Group 8 is continuing to pursue a study of
South Asian monsoon evolution during the late
Quaternary. One publication identified climatic feed-
84
backs that may have been in operation during expansion
and contraction of Himalayan glaciers. Work in the past
year related to working groups 2 and 7 concerns the
relationship of South Asian monsoonal circulation and
the way it affected snow accumulation and, by inference,
glacial build up in the Himalayas during the Last Glacial
Maximum (LGM) and the mid-Holocene. In particular,
simulations indicate enhanced snow accumulation in the
Eastern Himalayas at the LGM, and enhanced accumu-
lation in the North-Western Himalayas during the mid-
Holocene. Field data indicate this spatio-temporal pattern
of glacier expansion. This study contributes to the efforts
being made to understand why glaciation in regions
of the Himalayas is asynchronous with the build up of
large continental ice sheets. A second component of
the coupled cryosphere-atmosphere model that WG 8 is
investigating is a detailed study of radiative feedbacks
and the sensitivity of the ice-albedo feedback to snow
cover, moisture advection, temperature advection, and
the long wave and short wave properties of the atmos-
phere above the known ice cover in high latitude (mainly
Siberia) and high elevation (mainly the Himalayas and
Tibet) Asia.
WG 8 has compared their numerical results to field data
from Northern China's loess plateau. In particular, they
have compared simulated climatic conditions during the
mid-Holocene and at the LGM to those inferred by
desert margin migration (as indicated by grain sizes
within the loess sections). The comparison is favourable
in the sense that the model reproduces north-westward
retreat of the desert during the mid-Holocene and south-
eastward expansion at the LGM. They identified the
mechanisms by which the regional climate was different
during these times and stressed the importance of the
summer South Asian monsoon as well as the Fenno-
scandian ice sheet.
The link between monsoon strength and orbital param-
eters has been well documented by others, both from
geological records and from numerical models. However,
a subtler link between ENSO and monsoon strength
exists (during El Niño the monsoon is weak and during
La Niña the monsoon is strong), although the dynamics
are not yet understood. For example, a study was
produced to show how warm tropical Pacific sea surface
temperatures could have regulated monsoon strength
during the early-mid Holocene, demonstrating that warm
sea surface temperature anomalies in the tropical Pacific
can actually dominate the orbital forcing. A recently
submitted work investigates the reasons why the wind
was different over the tropical Pacific Ocean during the
mid-Holocene and at the LGM (and, therefore, why the
sea surface temperatures were different), and relates
these changes to orbital forcing and to the presence of
massive continental ice sheets. Numerical simulations
were conducted of how exposure of the Sunda Shelf
during the LGM affected regional and tropical climate,
and what impact it had on monsoon flow. The Sunda
Shelf connects the islands of the Indonesian archipelago
and at present lies submerged beneath approximately
75-80 metres of water. By a series of direct numerical
simulations, they have shown that exposure of this exten-
sive shelf impacts on tropical climatology in a funda-
mental way, by leading to cooling and drying of the
tropics, and by enhancing snow accumulation in the
Eastern Himalayas.
Fieldwork in High Asia by working groups 2 and
7 continued on several fronts in 2000, with a number
of research projects currently under way to reconstruct
the extent of former glaciation in Tibet and the bordering
mountains. Research currently under way by WG 2
includes numerical dating of glacial landforms. Unlike
mid- and high-latitude regions, standard radiocarbon
dating cannot be applied in most parts of Tibet and the
bordering mountains because of the lack of organic
material in most glacial sediments. However, recently
developing techniques such as cosmogenic radionuclide
and optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating
have provided an opportunity to date important glacial
successions throughout Tibet and the bordering moun-
tains. As part of IGCP 415, a research project is currently
co-ordinated as a series of research projects to date
moraines in Pakistan, India, Nepal and China. These
projects involve research groups in China and India, and
graduate students and post-doctoral researchers in the
United States and United Kingdom. As part of this
effort, papers on OSL dating and cosmogenic radionu-
clide dating were published this year. Several other
papers were prepared on cosmogenic radionuclide dating
that are currently being reviewed.
WG 7 works closely with WGs 2 and 8. One of its goals
is to provide a new database for the palaeoclimatic
evolution of the Tibetan Plateau during the last glacial-
interglacial cycle; another is to provide dates on glacial
and hydrological events in the Tibetan Plateau. Some
colleagues are now using optically stimulated lumines-
cence (OSL) dating to constrain some of their chronolo-
gies in Tibet. For the first time these projects are
providing ages on Pleistocene glaciations. However, the
reconstruction of present and former equilibrium line
altitudes (ELAs) in High Asia is still in its infancy. The
first product of this work appears in IGCP 415’s new
Quaternary International volume on ‘Late Quaternary
glaciation in Tibet and bordering mountains’ published
in 2000 and edited by Owen and Lehmkuhl; this volume
was the result of IGCP meetings in Manali (India) and
Potsdam, Germany, in 1998, reported last year in the
Annual Report. Additional details of activities and
research are available on the home pages of Working
Group 7 and Working Group 2.
New efforts to understand the late Quaternary drainage
south of the glacial margin in Northern Asia were
reported at the Annual Meeting in Moscow with the
GLOCOPH (Global Continental Palaeohydrology)
group. Included in this meeting were the results of activ-
ities of WG 5 (‘Proglacial lakes and drainage systems
of Siberia’), presented a synthesis of the results of
QUEEN (Quaternary Environment of the Eurasian
North), a sister organization of GRAND for which we
have a Liaison Scientist in our working group 1. Many
of the scientific accomplishments of QUEEN, integral
to the goals of IGCP 415, were published last year in a
special issue of Boreas (Vol. 28, No. 1). As reported at
the Moscow meeting, most now believe that the Kara
and Barents Ice Sheets of Asia attained their greatest
extent prior to the last glacial advance during the Late
Weichselian; the LGM expanded only as far as western
part of the Russian mainland, not as far as the Ural
Mountains nor south onto the Siberian Plain. North-
flowing rivers were not dammed during the LGM.
This contrasts with the views of WG 5 and a few others,
published previously and recently as a book, and
presented at the Annual Meeting in Moscow. The impor-
tance of the QUEEN conclusion cannot be understated,
as the impact of runoff from Northern Asia on ocean
systems and global climate would have been dramati-
cally different if it had been re-routed south through the
Aral-Caspian-Black-Mediterranean Sea system. New
research at this by WG 5 on palaeodrainage through the
Caspian and Black Sea system has added important new
information to this debate.
To the north, Working Group 4 has been investigating
the record of the Arctic Ocean basin. A plethora of new
data has been collected from the Eurasian Arctic over
the past several years. The major effort of WG 4 has
been to interpret these data with respect to the history
of glaciation and its effect on the river runoff from
Siberia. Polyak for the South-Eastern Barents Sea and
South-Western Kara Sea collected new seismo- and
chronostratigraphic data at sea during the past year.
These data allow us to establish the chronology and
spatial pattern of events associated with the last glacia-
tion of the shelf and the subsequent ice retreat, sea level
rise, and migration of rivers to their modern estuaries.
In addition, Polyak has discovered ice-sheet scouring/
molding of the submarine ridges and plateaus in the deep
Arctic Ocean. As a result, a new understanding has been
developed about the extent of the LGM in the Eurasian
Arctic seas. The major conclusions are that the last
glaciation was restricted and did not occupy the Siberian
lowlands. However, it is possible that the drainage of
western Siberian rivers, including the Ob and Yenisey,
was blocked farther north on the shelf.
Efforts by RAISE (Russian-American Initiative on Shelf-
Land Environments in the Arctic), which are linked
through working group 1 also have concluded that there
is little evidence for complete damming of Asia’s
drainage during the LGM; 34 papers on the palaeo-
environmental history of North-Eastern Russia and
adjacent Alaska will be published in a forthcoming issue
of Quaternary Science Reviews.
An understanding of permafrost and ground ice in
Northern Asia is not only important in our effort to
85
interpret the past extent of glaciation and proglacial
lakes, but also to the future of human activities in regions
underlain by permafrost today. The latter is affected by
climate and sea level change, and is further affected by
human activity. The ice complexes in the Laptev Sea
region are being dated, and the flora, fauna, cryogenic
structures, chemical composition, and isotopes in the
sediment and ice are being studied. The land-based
research is being combined with offshore coring on the
shelf west of Kotel’ny Island; below the Holocene sedi-
ments are frozen marine and syncryogenic ice-rich
deposits. Evidence suggests that ice during the LGM
was not extensive enough to impound north-flowing
rivers of Asia. However, the variable melting and degra-
dation of permafrost during warmer periods, especially
as related to sea level transgressions, has impacted on
continental runoff. As well, the stability (and release)
of gas hydrates trapped in and below permafrost is
influenced by its melting, which is of considerable
importance to humans.
Meetings
– IGCP Working Groups 2 and 7 ‘Symposium and
Field Workshop on Quaternary Glaciation in
Monsoonal Asia’ in Chengdu, China, 5-18 June;
24 oral presentations, 40 in audience.
– IGCP Annual Meeting and joint conference with
GLOCOPH in Moscow, 21-26 August 2000, 55 oral
presentations, including scientists from 8 countries,
75 in audience.
– IGCP 415 Symposium at the 31st International
Geological Congress in Rio de Janeiro, 6-17
August 2000, ‘Glaciation and Reorganization of
Asia’s Network of Drainage’.
– Planning meeting by working group 2 in Riverside,
California, for research on Late Quaternary glacia-
tion along the Tibetan margins, 31 October-
2 November 2000, with participating scientists from
China and the United States.
– IGCP 415 ‘Theme Session’ at the Annual Meeting
of the Geological Society of America, in Denver,
Colorado, 25 October 1999, ‘Glaciation and
Reorganization of Asia’s Network or Drainage; the
Effects on Late Quaternary Global Change’, audi-
ence of 250 participants.
– IGCP working groups 2 and 7 Workshop in Clear
Creek, Colorado, 29-31 October 1999 with presen-
tations and discussions by 16 IGCP 415 members
from six countries.
Publications
– Articles in Quaternary International, volume 65/66,
2000 special issue: Late Quaternary Glaciation in
Tibet and the Bordering Mountains. L. Owen and
F. Lehmkuhl, (eds.)
– A number of papers submitted for IGCP 415 special
issue of Global and Planetary Change.
86
Other full publications
– Bush, A. B. G. (In press.) Pacific Sea Surface
Temperature Forcing Dominates Orbital Forcing of
the Early Holocene Monsoon. Quaternary Research.
– Lehmkuhl, F. 2000. Alluvial Fans and Pediments in
Western Mongolia and Their Implications for
Neotectonic Events and Climatic Change. Berliner
Geowissenschaftliche Abhandlungen, Reihe A, 205,
pp. 14-21.
– Lehmkuhl, F.; Klinge, M.; Rees-Jones, J.; Rhodes,
E. J. 2000. First Luminescence Dates for Late
Quaternary Aeolian Sedimentation in Central and
Eastern Tibet. Quaternary International, Vol. 68-71,
pp. 117-32.
– Nilson, E.; Lehmkuhl, F. (In press.) Interpreting
Temporal Patterns in the Late Quaternary Dust
Flux from Asia to the North Pacific. Quaternary
International.
– Polyak, L.; Gataullin, V.; Okuneva, O.; Stelle, V.
2000. New Constraints on the Limits of the Barents-
Kara Ice Sheet During the Last Glacial Maximum
Based on Borehole Stratigraphy from the Pechora
Sea. Geology, Vol. 28, pp. 611-4.
– Polyak, L.; Levitan, M.; Gataullin, V.; and three
others; (In press.) The Impact of Glaciation, River
Discharge, and Sea Level Change on Late Quaternary
Environments in the South-Western Kara Sea.
Internat. J. Earth Sci.
– Romanovskii, N. N.; Hubberten, H. W.; Gavrilov, A.
V.; Tumskoy, V. E.; Grigoriev, M.N.; Tipenko, G. S.;
Siegert, Ch. 2000. Thermokarst and Land-ocean
Interactions, Laptev Sea Region, Russia. Permafrost
and Periglacial Phenomena, Vol. 11(2), pp. 137-52.
– Tipenko, G.S.; Romanovskii, N. N.; Kholodov, A. L.
(In press.) Simulation of the Offshore Permafrost and
Gas Hydrate Stability Zone: Mathematical Solution,
Numerical Realisation and Preliminary Results.
Polarforschung.
Activities planned
General goals
As the project approaches its final year of GRAND
activities, it is bringing together the effort of its Working
Groups to accomplish the goals (i.e. give answers to the
questions) originally outlined in the proposal four years
ago, namely to better understand the extent of glacia-
tion in Asia (on the continent in Siberia and in High
Asia, and in the Arctic Ocean basin) during the past
200,000 years, and to understand the role and inter-rela-
tionship of this glaciation with the late Quaternary river
systems of the continent and with the oceans into which
they drained. In turn, the modelling of the impact of
these cryo- and hydrological systems on global climate
is being carried out. Each working group will be synthe-
sising their scientific accomplishments and these will be
integrated to provide a state-of-the-art statement on
‘Late Quaternary glaciation in Asia: its extent and impact
on continental hydrology and runoff’ (the official title
of IGCP 415). Computer modelling the impact of the
cryo-hydrological systems of Asia on global climate
by WG 8 will be an important part of the work. In addi-
tion, a major effort in 2001 by WG 7 is to prepare new
maps of the extent of Quaternary glaciers during the
Last Glacial Maximum in Western Mongolia and Tibet,
which will be submitted as a contribution to INQUA
Commission on Glaciation.
During 2001, IGCP 415 will complete the editing of a
new issue of Global and Planetary Change, which will
be dedicated to IGCP 415 research reported at the
special symposium at the Geological Society of America
meeting a year ago (Glaciation and reorganization of
Asia’s network of drainage: the effects on late Quaternary
global change; L. Owen, J. Teller, and N. Rutter, (eds.)).
In addition, working group leaders F. Lehmkuhl and L.
Owen are now soliciting new contributions for a book
on the Quaternary glacial geology of Tibet and adjacent
mountains. At the annual meeting in 2001, the final
syntheses of IGCP 415 scientific accomplishments will
be completed, and all Working Groups will be preparing
papers for publication in Quaternary International.
Meetings
– IGCP 415 synthesis meeting in Germany,
October 2001; details will be available on the
project's website: http://mercury.eas.ualberta.ca/
igcp/IGCP415.html.
– Joint meeting and field excursion with GLOCOPH
in Krasnoyarsk, Russia, on Intracontinental palaeo-
hydrology and river valley geomorphogenesis,
Yenisei (Siberia), 25 July-7 August 2001.
– Working Group 2 meeting at the Fifth International
Conference on Geomorphology in Tokyo, Japan,
(23-28 August 2001), including talks, discussions,
and a field excursion to examine the Late Quaternary
glaciation in the Hidaka Range, Hokkaido; details
available on website: http://wwwsoc.nacsis.ac.jp/jgu/
icg_hopa/indexicg.html.
– QUEEN special session at the European Union of
Geosciences meeting in Strasburg, France, 8-12
April; IGCP 415 executive invited to participate.
– Working Group 2 meeting on Glaciation in the Tibet
Plateau, October 2001, Riverside, California
– German IGCP meeting, May 2001, AWI, Potsdam,
Germany.
– Second Russian Conference on Geocryology, 6-8
June 2001, Moscow, Russia.
No. 418 – Kibaran Events in South-Western
Africa (1997-2001)
R. M. Key MBE, British Geological Survey, Murchison
House, West Mains Road, Edinburgh EH9 3LA,
Scotland, United Kingdom, e-mail: rmk@bgs.ac.uk
R. Mapeo, University of Botswana, Department of
Geology, Private Bag 0022, e-mail: mapeorbm@
mopip.ub.bw
Description: In order to produce a well-defined recon-
struction of the global distribution of continental crust
(notably the Rodinia Supercontinent) at the end of the
Mesoproterozoic, it is important to properly understand
the geological evolution of the Mesoproterozoic orogenic
belts (or plate Boundary Zones, PBZs). The principal
objectives of IGCP 418 are to:
1. Trace and study the south-western extension and
evolution of the Mesoproterozoic Kibaran belt s.s.
of Central Africa into South-Western Africa.
2. Investigate the geological evolution of other contem-
poraneous geological terranes and rock units in
South-Western Africa.
3. Synthesise the Mesoproterozoic geological evolution
of Africa.
4. Integrate the new knowledge concerning the
Mesoproterozoic geological evolution of Africa into
models for the creation and later destruction of
Rodinia.
5. Evaluate the mineral potential of the Meso-
proterozoic orogenic belts of South-Western Africa.
The south-western parts of the Kibaran Belt and contem-
poraneous Irumide belt of Central Africa are concealed
by younger rocks and sediments. However, new regional
detailed geophysical surveys, notably in Botswana and
Namibia, are enabling to delineate the full extent of these
and other Mesoproterozoic terranes in South-Western
and Central Africa. New geological mapping in con-
junction with geochronology and other laboratory work
on the Mesoproterozoic terranes is affording a fuller
understanding of their evolution.
Participating countries
Angola, Belgium, Botswana, Burundi, Canada, Congo
(D.R.), France, Germany, India, Italy, Kenya, Namibia,
South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, United Kingdom,
United States, Zambia, Zimbabwe.
Summary of major past achievements
– Mesoproterozoic orogenic events can be recognised
outside the type area of the Kibaran Belt (in the
Democratic Republic of Congo and the Great Lake
regions) in Botswana, Namibia, Zambia, South
Africa, Zimbabwe and Mozambique.
– Mesoproterozoic magmatism took place outside of
the orogenic belts, notably to form mafic dyke
swarms in cratonic settings.
– The southern part of the Kibaran Belt s.s. is confined
to the Democratic Republic of Congo and does not
continue into Zambia.
– The Mesoproterozoic geology of Botswana and South
Africa is well documented with reliable isotopic
87
 dates for major events (see the 1999 annual report
of the project and Key and Mapeo, 1999).
Achievement of the project this year
Meetings and scientific achievements
Angola meeting
During the technical sessions of the first meeting of
IGCP 418 in 2000, held in conjunction with GeoLuanda
2000, in Angola from 21-24 May 2000, the Kunene
Anorthosite body of Southern and Northern Namibia
was the major area of focus for both technical presen-
tation and field excursion. The geological conditions
under which anorthosites are emplaced were described
with emphasis on the Bolangir Anorthosite Complex of
the Eastern Ghats Belt in India. This anorthosite is
dated at 933±33 Ma. Petrological studies indicated that
anorthosites are mainly emplaced in rift-like extensional
settings. However, structural work in the Bolangir
Anorthosite Complex suggests that these anorthosites
were emplaced in a thrust-shear dominated deformation
regime. This new interpretation suggests that anortho-
sites can also be emplaced during processes of crustal
thickening.
Other research focused on the Kunene Anorthositic
Complex in North-West Namibia, which comprises light
coloured, strongly altered and tectonically overprinted
massive anorthosites. These are intruded by less altered,
dark anorthosites along east-west trending extensional
faults. The Kunene Anorthositic Complex induced high-
grade metamorphism on rocks of the surrounding Epupa
Complex. An extensional setting is proposed for the
emplacement of the Kunene Anorthositic Complex. Both
major and trace element geochemistry data was provided
for the dark and white facies of the Kunene Anorthositic
Complex. These two types of anorthosite display a
similar differentiation sequence involving an increase of
Mn, Mg, Fe and Ti and a decrease in Si, Al and Ca from
anorthosite to troctolite and leucogabbronorite. The
white anorthosites show hydrothermal overprint that is
indicated by higher K, Na, Ba and Sr. The variations in
REE also display a similar trend in all the rock types.
Other research provides first evidence that the Kunene
Anorthositic Complex was emplaced during the
Mesoproterozoic. A mangeritic dyke crosscutting the
anorthosite gave an U-Pb age of 1370±4 Ma. Additional
analyses (Rb/Sr) were performed on plagioclase, biotite
and whole rock of a biotite-bearing anorthosite. The
Rb-Sr isochron yielded an age of 1347±13 Ma with
initial 87Sr/86Sr of 0.70459. Field evidence suggests the
mangerite dyke was cogenetic with the anorthosite, and
therefore the late stage magmatism of the Kunene
Complex was Early Kibaran. It is suggested that the
Kunene Complex grew by the coalescence of discrete
plutons. This conclusion is based on both field evidence
(texture) and geochemical data. Based on geochemistry
88
southern and northern Plutons are defined, whose
boundary constitutes a south-west/north-east belt, which
contains a number of granite bodies. Each intrusion was
fed by injection of a plagioclase-rich crystal mush,
continuously delivered from under plated mantle magma.
Inflation of the individual plutons was accompanied
by stretching of crystallising cumulates and extraction
by filter pressing of intercumulus components. The
emplacement of the Kunene Complex requires an
extending crust and a significant thermal anomaly during
the time of intrusion.
Detrital zircon SHRIMP data were provided by another
group of researchers for the Nyangezi Group of Eastern
Kivu in the Democratic Republic of Congo. In this
paper, it is indicated that the North-East Kibaran belt
includes segments exposed in Burundi, Rwanda and
Kivu; their correlation is based on geochronologically
unconstrained petrographic and tectonic similarities. The
Nyangezi Group of Eastern Kivu was affected by the
climax of the Kibaran deformation and related medium-
pressure metamorphism. The sedimentary rocks from
the Nyangezi Group contain detrital zircons yielding
the following ages: 2773±11, 2290±40, 1950-1850 Ma
(predominant group) and 1400-1150 Ma. These data
provide a severe constraint on the age of the Kibaran
orogeny that is younger then 1.15 Ga.
The origin of tin granites is based on the results of
SHRIMP data on zircons from the Tin granites from the
Kivu District of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Three sets of discordant zircon ages were obtained;
2460±6 to 227±11 Ma; approximately 1900 Ma and
between 1500-1250 Ma. These groups of xenocrystic
zircons are interpreted to represent detrital zircons
entrapped in the magma during partial melting of
Kibaran metasedimentary rocks leading to the genera-
tion of the fertile Kasika S-type tin granite.
The Chinkokomene Formation of Central Zambia that
is bounded by east-west trending faults of the Nyama
Dislocation Zone within the Irumide belt is considered
to belong to the Mesoproterozoic Muva Supergroup, was
deposited in an active Irumide basin, and subsequently
suffered 39% shortening.
A study undertaken in the Tete and Manica Provinces
of Mozambique concerns rocks that are granitic gneisses
and charnokites of N Tete, and Lake Cabora Bassa that
have emplacement ages between 1004 and 1046 Ma.
Quartzofeldspathic melts in these rocks yield an age of
~1002 Ma, indicating the effects of late Kibaran high-
grade metamorphism. In addition, ages were obtained
that show the extent of the Zimbabwe Craton into
Western Mozambique.
Moreover, evidence was provided showing that polyde-
formed lamprophyre dykes intruding the Mangula Granite
are affected by the Magondi (ca. 2.0-1.8 Ga), Kibaran
(ca.1.5-1.3 Ga) and Pan-African (ca. 0.55 Ga) orogenesis.
A summary of the Archaean and Proterozoic geology of
Central and South-Eastern Africa stipulated that likely
Mesoproterozoic equivalents of the Muva Super group
are identified in the Irumide belt (Zambia), Rushinga
and Frontier Groups (Zimbabwe and Mozambique)
where they are strongly folded. As a whole, the Kibaran
belt is typically intra-continental in Central-Eastern
Africa and lacks any arc-related magmatism. In the
Mozambique belt (from Kenya to Central Mozambique)
the exposed supra-crustal sequence comprises platform
carbonates associated with calc-alkaline rocks and
inferred ophiolites, suggesting back-arc-basin environ-
ments at ~1.1-1.2 Ga. In Tanzania remobilised parts of
the Tanzania Craton are recognised far within the
Mozambique belt, suggesting the Craton was thrust over
the belt. Correlations of the Lurio Belt with belts of
known Kibaran/Grenville age in South-Eastern Africa
(Natal ~ 1250 Ma), Eastern Antarctica (Queen Maude
Land) and Western Africa (Namaqualand) suggest that
the Lurio Belt is also part of a major Grenvillian orogen.
Geochemical data which indicate that the ~1020 Ma
granites are peraluminous, with flat heavy REE patterns
and moderate to steep light REE patterns. Based on
tectonic discrimination utilising trace elements of the
older suites of granites represent syn-collision magma-
tism whilst the younger suites were emplaced in a within
plate setting.
South Africa and Namibia meeting
At the Geocongress 2000, four full technical sessions
were devoted to IGCP 418 and one of the post-
conference field trips focused on the base metal mineral
deposits of the Mesoproterozoic Namaqua Belt.
Extended abstracts of the papers are printed in the
conference abstract volume (Volume 31, Number 1A of
the Journal of African Earth Sciences).
Meetings
Annual Meeting: The business meeting of IGCP 418 was
held during the GeoLuanda2000 Conference (21-24
May 2000). The meeting included a field trip to the Kunene
Complex of Southern Angola and to the Chela Group.
Important Publications
– Brett, J. S.; Mason, R.; Smith, P.H. 2000. Geo-
physical Exploration of the Kalahari Suture Zone.
Journal of African Earth Sciences and the Middle
East. 30, 3, pp. 489-97.
– Clark, D. J.; Hensen, B. J.; Kinny, P. D. 2000
Geochronological Constraints for a Two-stage
History of the Albany-Fraser Orogen, Western
Australia. Precambrian Research. 102, 3-4, pp. 155-83.
– Chatupa, J. C.; Direng, B. B. 2000. Distribution of
Trace and Major Elements in the -180 +75 mu m
and -75 mu m Fractions of the Sandveld Regolith
in North-West Ngamiland, Botswana. Journal of
African Earth Sciences and the Middle East. 30, 3,
pp. 515-34.
– Evans, D. M.; Boadi, I.; Byemelwa, L.; Gilligan, J.;
Kabete, J.; Marcet, P. 2000. Kabanga Magmatic
Nickel Sulphide Deposits, Tanzania; Morphology
and Geochemistry of Associated Intrusions. Journal
of African Earth Sciences and the Middle East. 30,
3, pp. 651-74.
– Goscombe, B.; Armstrong, R. A.; Barton, J. M. 2000.
Geology of the Chewore Inliers, Zimbabwe;
Constraining the Mesoproterozoic to Palaeozoic
Evolution of the Zambezi Belt. Journal of
African Earth Sciences and the Middle East. 30, 3,
pp. 589-627.
– Johnson, S. P.; Oliver, G. J. H. 2000. Meso-
proterozoic Oceanic Subduction, Island-arc
Formation and the Initiation of Back-arc Spreading
in the Kibaran Belt of Central Southern Africa:
Evidence from the Ophiolite Terrane, Chewore
Inliers, Northern Zimbabwe. Precambrian Research.
103, 3-4, pp. 125-46.
– Kampunzu, A. B.; Armstrong, R. A.; Modisi, M. P.;
Mapeo, R. B. M. 2000. Ion Microprobe U-Pb Ages
on Detrital Zircon Grains from the Ghanzi Group:
Implications for the Identification of a Kibaran-
age Crust in North-West Botswana. Journal of
African Earth Sciences and the Middle East. 30, 3,
pp. 579-87.
– Kazmin, V. G.; Byakov, A. F. 2000. Magmatism and
Crustal Accretion in Continental Rifts. Journal of
African Earth Sciences and the Middle East. 30, 3,
pp. 555-68.
– Key, R. M.; Ayres, N. 2000. The 1998 Edition of the
National Geological Map of Botswana. Journal of
African Earth Sciences and the Middle East. 30, 3,
pp. 427-51.
– Kruger, F. J.; Geringer, G. J.; Havenga, A. T. 2000.
The Geology, Petrology, Geochronology and Source
Region Character of the Layered Gabbronoritic
Oranjekom Complex in the Kibaran Namaqua
Mobile Belt, South Africa. Journal of African Earth
Sciences and the Middle East. 30, 3, pp. 675-87.
– Kokonyangi, J.; Kampunzu, A. B.; Yoshida, M. 2000.
Lithostratigraphy and Structural Evolution of the
Kalima-Moga Tin District, Kibaran Belt (Maniema,
Congo). Gondwana Newsletter [Japan]. 14, pp. 257-
9. International Association for Gondwana Research.
Osaka, Japan.
– Kroener, A.; Hegner, E.; Collins, A. S.; Windley, B.
F.; Brewer, T. S.; Razakamanana, R.; Pidgeon, R. T.
2000. Age and Magmatic History of the Antananarivo
Block, Central Madagascar, as Derived From Zircon
Geochronology and Nd Isotopic Systematics.
American Journal of Science. 300, 4, pp. 251-88.
– Modie, B. N. 2000. Geology and Mineralisation in
the Meso- to Neoproterozoic Ghanzi-Chobe Belt of
North-West Botswana. Journal of African Earth
Sciences and the Middle East. 30, 3, pp. 467-74.
– Porada, H.; Berhorst, V. 2000. Towards a New
Understanding of the Neoproterozoic-Early Palaeo-
zoic Lufilian and Northern Zambezi Belts in Zambia
and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Journal of
89
 African Earth Sciences and the Middle East. 30, 3,
pp. 727-71.
– Ramokate, L. V.; Mapeo, R. B. M.; Corfu, F.;
Kampunzu, A. B. 2000. Proterozoic Geology and
Regional Correlation of the Ghanzi-Makunda Area,
Western Botswana. Journal of African Earth Sciences
and the Middle East. 30, 3, pp. 453-66.
– Reeves, C. 2000.The Geophysical Mapping of
Mesozoic Dyke Swarms in Southern Africa and
Their Origin in the Disruption of Gondwana. Journal
of African Earth Sciences and the Middle East. 30,
3, pp. 499-513
– Sacchi, R.; Cadoppi, P.; Costa, M. 2000. Pan-African
Reactivation of the Lurio Segment of the Kibaran
Belt System; a Reappraisal from Recent Age Deter-
minations in Northern Mozambique. Journal of
African Earth Sciences and the Middle East. 30, 3,
pp. 629-39.
– Turner, D.C.; Mapeo, R. B. M.; Delvaux, D.;
Kampunzu, A. B.; Wendorff, M. (eds.). 2000. 50th
Anniversary of the Geological Survey; Geodynamics
of Continental Rifting (IGCP 400); Evolution of the
Kibaran Belt (IGCP 418); Neoproterzoic Foreland
Basins (IGCP 419). Journal of African Earth
Sciences and the Middle East. 30, 3, pp. 427-771
– Ward, S. E.; Hall, R. P.; Hughes, D. J. 2000. Guruve
and Mutare Dykes: Preliminary Geochemical
Indication of Complex Mesoproterozoic Mafic
Magmatic Systems in Zimbabwe. Journal of African
Earth Sciences and the Middle East. 30; 3, pp. 689-
701.
– Wendorff, M. 2000. Genetic Aspects of the Katangan
Megabreccias; Neoproterozoic of Central Africa.
Journal of African Earth Sciences and the Middle
East. 30, 3, pp. 703-15.
Activities planned
– The meeting for 2001 will be hosted by South Africa
and take place in the Natal-Namaqua belt.
– 9-20 July in Durban with field workshops in the
Natal and Namaqua Belts, combined meeting with
IGCP 440, with a field trip covering Natal/Namaqua
belts.
No. 419 – Foreland Basins of the
Neoproterozoic Belts in Central to
Southern Africa and South America
(1998-2002)
M. Wendorff, University of Botswana, Department of
Geology, Private Bag 0022, Botswana, e-mail:
wendorff@mopipi.ub.bw
P. L. Binda, University of Regina, Department of
Geology, Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada, S4S 0A2,
e-mail: plbinda@sk.sympatico.ca
90
Description: The project is focused on regional and
interregional correlation of foreland basins of the
Neoproterozoic-Lower Palaeozoic Belts in Africa and
South America. In relevant cases, the inner regions of
the Neoproterozoic belts are researched as well as new
data reflecting on the foreland evolution are required.
One of the focal problems is regional and interconti-
nental correlation of the ‘tillite’/glaciogenic markers
and the underlying and overlying sedimentary sequences
in Africa south of the Equator and in South America.
This work is based upon the criteria provided by lithos-
tratigraphy, sequence stratigraphy, basin analysis,
palaeontology, palaeoclimatic and palaeomagnetic
reconstructions, geochronology and studies of stable
isotopes. Structural geology and geophysics are applied
to elucidate the tectonic framework of the correlated
units and provide additional correlation criteria. Inves-
tigations of the Precambrian/Lower Palaeozoic boundary
in the studied provinces of the Western Gondwana, iden-
tification and definition of the boundary in the localities
crucial to the stratigraphy of the identified regions/basins
is another aspect fostered by the project. The investi-
gated basins and belts are sites of important economic
resources. Therefore, research into the economic aspects
of the targeted Proterozoic and Lower Palaeozoic units,
especially the context of Cu-Co mineralisation, the
origins of the carbonate-hosted Pb-Zn deposits and the
sources and potential reservoirs of hydrocarbons are part
of the project's programme.
Participating countries
(*indicates countries active this year)
Argentina, Australia*, Belgium*, Botswana*, Brazil*,
Canada*, Congo* (DR), France*, Germany*, Italy,
Japan*, Namibia*, Netherlands, Poland*, Slovakia,
South Africa*, Spain, Tanzania*, Uganda*, United
Kingdom*, United States*, Zambia*, Zimbabwe.
Achievements of the project
General achievements this year
As per the approved original work plan, the project
initially focused on the region of Africa, IGCP 419 has
been expanded in 2000 by taking initial steps towards
the correlation with South America. Work focused on
the foreland basins, but in relevant cases, the inner
regions of the Neoproterozoic belts were researched,
obtaining new data on foreland evolution. The mapping
activities initiated at an earlier stage of the project were
continued, impressive new age determinations provided
better constraints for the timing of events, tectonic
studies were conducted, relations between tectonics
and sedimentation provided new perspective on the
investigated foreland basins evolution. The number of
publications increased significantly.
Scientific achievements
Brazil
• An expressive volume of new geochronological data,
especially U-Pb, has been produced, filling enormous
gaps in the timing of geologic events of virtually all
Brazilian regions of project interest, with great impli-
cations in stratigraphic problems.
• Whole-rock Sm-Nd analyses yielded information on
provenance and constraints of age of sedimentation
of supracrustal units of Tocantins and Mantiqueira
Provinces.
• Stable isotope research on Neoproterozoic metased-
imentary sequences in Brasilia and Alto Paraguai
belts, although incipient, point to significant perspec-
tives of basin evolution and stratigraphic correlation.
• A vast amount of new radiometric age determina-
tions obtained enabled to better constrain a series of
tectonic basin-forming events.
• Research into the tectonic evolution of the foreland
regions (mainly Cambrian-Ordovician) of the Neo-
protrozoic belts was continued and gave new insights
into the geotectonic framework.
• The Dom Feliciano Belt was correlated with equiv-
alent provinces of South-West Africa.
• First SHRIMP (Sensitive High Resolution Ion Micro-
Probe) dating of the Neoproterozoic glaciation pro-
vides foundations for further time-correlation with
glacial deposits in Central and Southern Africa; and
• A synthesis of several orogenic elements of the
Brasiliano cycle was done.
Botswana
• A regional geochemical survey of the project-target
areas in North-West Botswana was completed, maps
are in preparation; geochemical data on the Nama
Group in Namibia were collated as the first step
towards comparison with Nama in Botswana.
• A detailed mapping, and sedimentological work in
the same region was continued enabling to interpret
depositional environments of criteria for sequence
stratigraphy analysis.
• Detrital zircon ages from new target units in North-
West Botswana, identified in the previous year, were
obtained.
Congo/West Congolian belt
• Synthetic analysis of the West Congolian Belt was
completed providing foundations for joint work
planned for the next year in Brazil to achieve detailed
inter-regional correlation.
Katangan Belt: D.R. Congo and Zambia
• A mapping campaign in the western sector of the
Katangan belt in Zambia, a part of which contains
synorogenic structures and successions, was
completed.
• Sedimentological work on the Katangan foreland
deposits was continued.
• New tectonostratigraphic relationships, partly based
upon regional sequence stratigraphy criteria, were
identified and enabled to re-define some stratigraphic
units, their stratigraphic position and present a
preliminary new version of the stratigraphic classi-
fication.
• The above work provides new stratigraphic criteria
for mineral exploration.
Namibia
• A study of the Naukluft Nappe complex, initiated in
1999, was continued.
• New fieldwork on late-synorogenic granites was
done, aiming at correlation with similar occurrences
in Brazil.
• Work on the southern and northern foreland succes-
sions was continued.
South Africa
• Work on the Gariep Belt and Nama succession was
continued.
• Correlation between Southern Africa and South
Brazilian succession was presented.
• Dating of Cape Granite was done.
• Data on timing of evolution stages of the Damara
Belt and its foreland were synthesised; they can now
be compared/correlated with the timing database
from South America.
Meetings
– Business meeting during the 18th Colloquium of
African Geology in Graz, Austria, July 2000. Several
presentations related to the project work were given
during the Colloquium.
– The main annual event of Project 419 in the frame-
work of the 31st International Geological Congress
was a Special Symposium F7 'Neoproterozoic
Orogenic Systems and Assembly of Gondwana
Supercontinent'. The number of participants/
audience is estimated at about 200. The Symposium
was designed to provide a broad overview of the
most advanced recent results of work on the Neo-
proterozoic. The range of the global-scale problems
extended from global tectonics to palaeoclimate and
biogeochemistry. Then talks related to the specific
regions of the project work followed, and the
Symposium was wrapped up by a presentation on
the mineral deposits formed during Gondwana
assembly.
Publications
Over 60 publications were recorded. A list of major and
most representative publications is enclosed.
– Chatupa, J. C.; Direng, B. B. 2000. Distribution of
Trace and Major Elements in the -180 + 75 µm and
91
 -75 µm Fractions of the Sandveld Regolith in North-
West Ngamiland, Botswana. Journal of African Earth
Sciences, 30, pp. 515-34.
- Da Silva, L. C.; Gresse, P. G.; Scheepers, R.;
McNaughton, N. J.; Hartmann, L. A.; Fletcher, I.
2000. U-Pb SHRIMP and Sm-Nd Age Constraints
on the Timing and Sources of the Pan-African Cape
Granite Suite, South Africa. Journal of African Earth
Sciences, 30, pp. 795-815.
– Heilbron, M.; Mohriak, W.; Valeriano, C. M.; Milani,
E.; Almeida, J. C. H. Tupinambá, M. 2000b. From
Collision to Extension: The Roots of the South-
Eastern Continental Margin of Brazil. In: Atlantic
Rifts and Continental Margins. Talwani and W.
Mohriak (eds.) pp. 1-34. American Geophysical
Union, Geophysical Monograph Series, Rio de
Janeiro.
– Hitzman, M. W. 2000. Source Basins for Sediment-
hosted Stratiform Cu Deposits: Implications for the
Structure of the Zambian Copperbelt. Journal of
African Earth Sciences, 30, pp. 855-63.
– Key, R. M.; Ayres, N. 2000. The 1998 Edition of the
National Geological Map of Botswana. Journal of
African Earth Sciences, 30, pp. 427-51.
– Mapeo, R. B. M.; Kampunzu, A. B.; Armstrong, R.
A. 2000. (Accepted.) Ages of Detrital Zircon Grains
from Neoproterozoic Siliciclastic Rocks in the
Shakawe Area: Implications for the Evolution of
Proterozoic Crust in Northern Botswana. South
African Journal of Geology.
– Pedrosa-Soares, A. C.; Cordani, U. G.; Nutman, A.
2000. Constraining the Age of Neoproterozoic
Glaciation in Eastern Brazil: First U-Pb (SHRIMP)
Data of Detrital Zircons. Revista Braisleira de
Geosciencias, pp. 58-61.
– Porada, H.; Berhorst, V. 2000. Towards a New
Understanding of the Neoproterozoic-Early Palaeo-
zoic Lufilian and Northern Zambezi Belts in Zambia
and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Journal of
African Earth Sciences, 30, pp. 727-71.
– Ramokate, L. V.; Mapeo, R. B. M.; Corfu, F.;
Kampunzu, A. B. 2000. Proterozoic Geology and
Regional Correlation of the Ghanzi-Makunda
Area, Western Botswana. Journal of African Earth
Sciences, 30, pp. 453-66.
– Santos, R. V.; de Alvarenga, C. J. S.; Dardenne,
M. A.; Sial, A. N. Ferreira, V. P. 2000. Carbon and
Oxygen Isotope Profiles Across Meso-Neo-
proterozoic Limestones From Central Brazil: Bambuí
and Paranoá Groups. Precambrian Research, 103,
pp. 107-22.
– Valeriano, C. M.; Simões, L. S. A.; Teixeira, W.;
Heilbron, M. 2000b. Tectonic Discontinuities in
the Southern Brasilia Belt (South-East Brazil):
Implications to Fold-thrust Evolution During the
Neoproterozoic Brasiliano Orogeny. Revista
Brasileira de Geociências, 30, pp. 195-9.
– Wendorff, M.; 2000a. The Framework of Strati-
graphy and Sedimentary Facies of the Tsodilo Hills,
North-West Botswana. Journal of African Earth
92
Sciences, 18th Colloquium of African Geology,
Special Abstract Issue, 30, pp. 87-8.
– Wendorff, M. 2000b. Genetic Aspects of the
Katangan Megabreccias: Neoproterozoic of Central
Africa. Journal of African Earth Sciences, 30,
pp. 703-15.
– Wendorff, M. 2000d. New Elements and Implications
of Tectonostratigraphy Within the Foreland of the
Pan-African Katangan Belt, Central Africa. Journal
of African Earth Sciences, 18th Colloquium of
African Geology, Special Abstract Issue, 30, p. 87.
– Wendorff, M. 2000e. Revision of the Stratigraphical
Position of the 'Roches Argilo-Talqueuses' (RAT) in
the Neoproterozoic Katangan Belt, South Congo.
Journal of African Earth Sciences, 30, pp. 717-26.
Activities planned
• Work in specific sub-regions will continue on
ongoing research and new problems
• At a broad regional scale, the main thrust of work
will follow three major lines
• More detailed timing, comparisons and correlations
of rock units and events within Western Gondwana,
in both Africa and South America
• Applied aspects: geotectonic and stratigraphic frame-
work of and controls on mineral deposits
• Initial insights into the links between Western and
Eastern Gondwana
• Effort towards the establishment of a database for
the Katangan will continue, as the approaches for
financial support in 2000 were unsuccessful due to
lack of sponsors.
General goals
• Consolidation of the existing data and acquisition of
new data on the stratigraphy, tectonics as well as
their controls on mineralisation of the investigated
basins
• Further steps towards their more detailed correlation,
especially across the national boundaries, and
between Africa and South America
• Revisions of the stratigraphic nomenclature (where
needed)
• Direct exchange of experience and joint fieldwork
on a more detailed correlation between the South
American units and those in Central and Southern
Africa – planned during a joint field workshop.
Meetings
– A session with presentations and a field workshop is
planned in Brazil, in September 2001, jointly with
IGCP Project 450.
– Participation of the Project in the SGA/SEG joint
conference in Krakow, Poland (August/
September 2001). The organisers have preliminarily
 approved a session on ‘Mineralisation controls in
foreland regions’.
– Participation of IGCP 419 in the Gondwana
Conference in Osaka, Japan (October 2001).
Business meetings will be held during all three events.
Publications
– A new geological map of the North-West sector of
Zambian Copperbelt.
– Abstracts of papers presented at the three confer-
ences listed above.
– Preparation of a Special Journal/Book Volume
summarising the investigated foreland regions.
– A number of journal papers.
No. 420 – Continental Growth in the
Phanerozoic: Evidence from Central Asia
(1998-2002)
Bor-ming Jahn, Géosciences Rennes, Université de
Rennes 1, 35042 Rennes Cedex, France, e-mail:
jahn@univ-rennes1.fr
N. L. Dobretsov, Institute of Geology, UIGGM, Siberian
Branch, RAS, Novosibirsk, 630090, Russia, e-mail:
vladimir@uiggm.nsc.ru
Description: The problem of the growth and evolution
of the continental crust has always been an important
subject of research in earth sciences. The issue of the
rate and nature of continental growth has not yet been
resolved satisfactorily. All growth models predict that
the formation of the continental crust was essentially
completed by late Archean to Early Proterozoic, and the
amount of new crust produced in the Phanerozoic is
minor or insignificant. This idea of negligible crustal
growth in the Phanerozoic is challenged by the discovery
of voluminous juvenile crust produced in the Canadian
Cordillera, Western United States, and most notably, the
Central Asian Orogenic Belt (CAOB, or the Altaid
Tectonic Collage) during the period of Palaeozoic to
Mesozoic (about 500 to 100 Ma). Central Asia or the
CAOB is immense in size and its geology is poorly
known outside the former USSR and China. It is rich
in mineral resources, which have been subject to
numerous studies in the last forty years. Its generally
'juvenile' crustal characteristics have invited many recent
investigations of terrane accretion and geodynamic
evolution as well as intense isotope studies aimed at
quantifying the proportion of juvenile crust to old
Precambrian basement in the CAOB.
The main purpose of this project is to investigate
the processes of juvenile crustal formation in this
gigantic orogenic belt. This includes: (a) genesis of the
Phanerozoic crust, (b) origin of alkaline and peralkaline
granitoids, (c) mineralisation associated with the granitic
intrusions, and (d) structural analyses and tectonic
modelling. Multidisciplinary methodology including
field analyses, petrology, geochemistry, geochronology,
and palaeomagnetism will be employed to study the
generation of the immense volumes of granitic rocks
intruded in this region and to constrain models of
tectonic evolution of the accretionary orogenic belt. The
data acquired for the CAOB will be used in conjunc-
tion with those obtained for other Phanerozoic juvenile
crusts, such as the Canadian Cordillera, the Appalachians
in North America and Eastern Australia, to reassess the
growth of the continental crust. Collaboration between
scientists from all countries, particularly from Russia,
Mongolia, China, and other former USSR member
countries, is necessary.
Participating countries (all active)
Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, China, France,
Germany, India, Israel, Japan, Kazakhstan, Mongolia,
Russia, Taiwan, United Kingdom, United States.
Website of the project
http://www.geosciences.univ-rennes1.fr/igcp420/
Major scientific achievements
1. Massive production of juvenile granitoids in Central Asia
The presence of Phanerozoic juvenile crust has been
progressively recognized in all continents. In Central
Asia, the recognition of significant mantle contribution
in the genesis of massive granitoids is mainly achieved
by Sr-Nd isotope studies of granitoids from many parts
of the CAOB – Transbaikalia, Mongolia, Kazakhstan,
Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia, and North-East China. This
is probably the most important achievement of this
project, and it is definitely going to modify our concept
of the continental growth.
Intrusion of voluminous granitic magmas took place in
post-collisional and intra-continental conditions. The
granitic massifs are spatially associated with long-lived
shear zones. The group proposed a model, which
assumes that under the shear zones secondary mantle
diapir formed as a result of slab detachment after col-
lision. They suggested to treat these systems (shear
zone + associated granitic magmatism) as a separate
phenomenon – Hot Shear System (HSS). Granites
formed within the HSS often show signs of interaction
with mantle source as reflected in their geochemical and
isotopic composition. They considered that this is direct
evidence for the mantle contribution to the crust growth
in the intra-continental stage. The Kalguty granitic-
ongonitic dyke belt (T3-J1) is reputed for its high content
of fluorine and phosphorous. Isotope analyses have
confirmed the participation of mantle-derived magmas
in the petrogenesis of the Kalguly belt rocks.
93
In the Mongolian-Transbaikalian Belt (MTB), Rb-Sr and
Sm-Nd isotope study of peralkaline granitoids and
related volcanic rocks continued. The MTB stretches for
more than 2,000 km and comprises 350 plutons and
numerous volcanic fields made up of bimodal series.
New age data established that the MTB was formed in
Carboniferous, with the main stage of formation between
285 Ma and 210 Ma. The main stage was subdivided in
a number of discrete magmatic episodes: 285-280 Ma,
about 250 Ma, 225-220 Ma and about 210 Ma. In each
episode, large volcanic-plutonic structures, up to 2000
km2 in area, were formed. The data point to multiple
effect of large mantle plume on the high-K basic and
silicic magma-generation process on the immense terri-
tory. Like the Kalguty, the Khamar-Daban province of
rare metal granites and ongonites with fluorite, topaz,
tourmaline and rare metal mineralization are distin-
guished in the territory of South Siberia. Li-F granites
and ongonites in the Khamar-Daban and adjacent
Mongolian-Transbaikalian provinces were formed in a
period from Carboniferous to Cretaceous.
In Northern Xinjiang (Altai, Junggar, Tianshan and
Northern Tarim), Nd isotope data show that a substan-
tial amount of granitoids was derived from mantle
sources and the proportion of crust to mantle contribu-
tion in granite petrogenesis increases from Junggar to
Altai to Tianshan. The basement rocks (granitic gneisses,
amphibolites and metasediments) in Northern Tarim are
of Middle Archean to Early Proterozoic (3.2-2.2 Ga), in
Tianshan Early to Middle Proterozoic (2.0-1.7 Ga), in
Altai Mountains Middle Proterozoic (1.4-1.0 Ga), and
in Junggar Late Proterozoic ages (ca. 600 Ma). In a
detailed study of the sediments and granitoids from the
Altai Mountains of Northern Xinjiang, a secular varia-
tion of Nd isotope ratios was demonstrated in Palaeozoic
passive margin sediments. An abrupt increase of initial
Nd values in the Carboniferous-Permian sequence
indicates a significant addition of juvenile materials in
the sedimentary source regions, which may represent the
uplifted Devonian back-arc oceanic crust and the newly
formed Irtysh arcs.
In Inner Mongolia, two granitoid belts (Balidao and
Halatu) from the Solonker zone were analysed for
chemical and isotopic (Sr-Nd) compositions in order to
constrain the nature of their source(s) and to examine
the problems of the suturing processes and juvenile
addition of continental crust in the Phanerozoic. The
intrusive age of the arc-type Baolidao magma suite
was determined by SHRIMP (Sensitive High Resolution
Ion Micro-Probe) zircon analyses at 309 ± 8 Ma. The
emplacement of the collision-type Halatu granites took
place at ca. 230 Ma based on whole rock, Rb-Sr isochron
and zircon Pb evaporation analyses. This age also implies
the time of collision and suturing of the Manchurides
and Altaids. Geochemical and isotopic data suggest that
both types of granitoids contain large proportions of
mantle components and their magma generation and
emplacement involved crustal contamination.
94
North-Eastern China is an eastern part of the CAOB. Its
geology is distinguished by extensive distribution of
Phanerozoic granitic and acid volcanic rocks. A study
indicates that the granitoids comprise mainly I- (espe-
cially the highly fractionated felsic I-) and A-types
granites; S-type granites are conspicuously absent. New
zircon U-Pb and Rb-Sr mineral isochron ages, together
with previously published results, indicate that these
granites were emplaced in Late Palaeozoic to Late
Mesozoic times. Most of the granites are characterised
by low initial 87Sr/86Sr ratios (0.705 ± 0.001), positive
Nd(T) values (+4 to 0) and fairly young TDM model
ages (500-1300 Ma), suggesting that a significant pro-
portion of the granites is of juvenile origin. In contrast,
some granites emplaced within Precambrian terranes
(or micro-continents) in this area show negative Nd(T)
values of 0 to -8, and higher TDM ages of 1500-2000
Ma. This suggests that the Precambrian basement rocks
have exerted a significant role in the generation of these
granites.
Similarly, in the Hida belt of Japan, the Phanerozoic
Funatsu granitic suite (ca. 190 Ma) is characterised by
rather juvenile Sr-Nd isotopic compositions (ISr = 0.7044
to 0.7054 and Nd(T) = -0.8 to +5.5), irrespective of the
rock compositions; whereas, another group of granites
are characterised by negative Nd(T) values (-1 to – 10),
which could be explained by contamination of Pre-
cambrian rocks, though no longer present in the Hida
belt.
2. Late Proterozoic to Early Palaeozoic crustal growth
In the Altai-Sayan region, the Tomsk microcontinent was
traditionally distinguished from the Altai-Sayan foldbelt.
The age of the microcontinent was taken as Archean or
Early Proterozoic. However, recent geochronological
(U-Pb, Sm-Nd, Rb-Sr, Ar-Ar) investigations showed that
the oldest rocks of the Tomsk micro-continent are of
Neoproterozoic age. They are represented by MORB-
and OIB-type metabasalts (Sm-Nd age 694 ± 43 Ma).
The granitic gneiss complex, thought to be Archean
in the past, show Permo-Triassic ages. Their origin,
based on structural data, was linked to the re-activation
of major regional fault. Their isotopic characteristics
(Sr (T) = -38.2 to 4.3; Nd(T) = +2.5 to +3.5) suggest
that they were derived from very primitive and juvenile
protholith, with an active role of mantle-derived magmas.
The Novosibirsk group obtained new ages (Ar-Ar- and
U-Pb) and structural data for the synkinematic nature of
post-collisional granites of the West-Sangilen (O2-3) and
Irtish-Kalba regions (P-T). The main phase of ductile
deformations in the shear zones was synchronous with
the intrusion of voluminous granitic magmas. Sm-Nd
isotope analyses of granitoid rocks of the western part
of Altai-Sayan fold region indicate that a large-scale
crust-forming event took place in Early Neoproterozoic
(750-950 Ma). The granitic rocks of the Altai-Mongolian
terrain have Sm-Nd model ages of 1200-1500 Ma.
A co-operative project, involving scientists from Saint
Petersburg, Moscow and Kyzil, Russia, Leicester,
United Kingdom, Ulan Bator, Mongolia and Almaty,
Kazakhstan, was launched to study the Late Precambrian
to Early Palaeozoic evolution of the CAOB in Tuva,
Siberia, Western Mongolia and Southern Kazakhstan.
The field study in Kazakhstan shows that most of
South-Central Kazakhstan consists of a collage of latest
Precambrian to Early Palaeozoic island arc assemblages
as well as Mid- to Early Proterozoic continental frag-
ments of uncertain derivation. Narrow, high strain belts
often containing ophiolites that are interpreted as rem-
nants of small ocean basins separate these from each other.
Geochemical and isotopic work on samples from
the Agadagh-Tes-Chem Ophiolite (ca. 570 Ma) and
Tannuola Arc in the southern part of Tuva suggest
magma generation within a shallow marginal basin.
Highly variable initial Nd(570 Ma) (+1.9 to +7.1) for the
ophiolite lavas indicate crustal contamination in the
magma source by the entrainment of subducted, crustally
derived sediments. In contrast, the isotopic signature of
the island arc rocks is more uniform, indicating their
juvenile origin from a normal depleted mantle source.
Preliminary age dating of ophiolites and gneiss terrains
near Bayanhongor, Altai City (Khantayshir) and Dariv
in Western Mongolia revealed a latest Precambrian age
for the ophiolite assemblages, and Mid- to Early
Proterozoic ages for the gneisses.
In China, Simon Wilde continued the geochronological
study of the Precambrian Jiamusi Massif in North-East
China. Further zircon U-Pb SHRIMP geochronology has
established the westward extension of granulite-facies
metamorphism ca. 500 Ma ago within the Mashan
Complex. Recent work has indicated that mafic gran-
ulite xenoliths in garnetiferous granite and detrital
zircons in sillimanite metasediments contain compo-
nents as old as ~1800 Ma; there is still no evidence that
rocks of Archaean age occur in the area. Further work
has been undertaken on the graphite and sillimanite
mineralisation in the khondalitic metasediments and
their metamorphic conditions and the results evaluated
in terms of global processes at ~500 Ma. This meta-
morphic event is interpreted as resulting from continent-
continent collision, with emplacement of mantle-derived
mafic magma and possible delamination at the base of
the crust. It appears likely that this terrane formed part
of an originally more extensive orogenic belt of Late
Pan-African age. Rocks of similar age are recorded from
East Antarctica, Western Australia, India and Sri Lanka,
suggesting that the Mashan Complex was most likely
juxtaposed with these areas within Gondwanaland.
3. Metallogeny
Geochemical studies of granitoids and ore mineraliza-
tion in Central Asia suggest juvenile sources for all ore
elements. This is best demonstrated on the ore deposits
of Central Kazakhstan. The spectrum of the ore deposits
reflects a range of lithospheric magmatism controlled by
the polycyclic geodynamic evolution of an active conti-
nental margin. The margin develops from back-arc
oceanic settings (volcanic-hosted massive sulphide Cu-
Au ore deposits) to subduction-controlled calcalkaline
magmatism (copper porphyries) with subsequent stages
of crust differentiation of low-degree partial melting
and extended fractionation (molybdenum porphyries) on
to continental rifting (peralkaline REE-Zr-Nb-rich
systems). Despite highly variable ratios of mantle/crust
components in individual magmatic systems (gabbros
to leucogranites), most rocks have very similar initial
Nd values of 0 to +5.5, and depleted mantle model ages
in the range of 500 to 800 Ma. The ubiquitous relatively
young mantle extraction age is likely to characterize
the lower crust of Central Kazakhstan. Anorogenic rift-
related Permian peralkaline riebeckite granites with
REE-Zr-Nb mineralization have very high positive
Nd of +5 to +8, which is probably inherited from young
subcontinental lithosphere.
In the Mongol-Okhotsk belt, ore mineralization is mainly
related to subalkaline and high-evolved granites.
Structural and geochemical control of ore mineraliza-
tion is clear. Au mineralization is related to gabbro-
granite intrusions in the Khentei uplift. Rare metal (Sn,
W, Mo) mineralization is related to granite-leuco-
granites of elevated alkalinity and Sn, Nb, Ta to Li-F
granites. Granite series widespread in the surrounding
depressions are associated with Sn, Pb, Zn mineraliza-
tion and monzonite series with Pb-Zn, Ag and U miner-
alization. Au mineralization is associated with basalt-
rhyolite series in the East-Mongolian (Argunian)
volcano-plutonic belt. Porphyry Cu-Mo minerlization is
associated with volcanics and porphyry intrusions in the
surrounding Khentei uplift depressions.
Moreover, intracontinental rifting resulted in the forma-
tion of carbonatite-related magnetite/apatite mineralisa-
tion, and REE mineralization is controlled by the deep
faults of the Main Mongolian lineament. Post-collision
events resulted in formation of the extensional regime
with bimodal trachybasalt-rhyolite volcanics. These
volcanics are host for low and high sulphidation
epithermal gold and base metal, porphyry copper and
molybdenum, molybdenum-tungsten skarn, vein and
metosomatic replacement uranium deposits.
The Palaeozoic magmatic arcs and subduction/accretion
complexes, as well as the Mesozoic rift zones, are
considered to constitute exploration objectives for
gold in Mongolia. The arc terranes, especially those in
South Mongolia, have demonstrated potential for gold-
rich porphyry copper deposits and high-sulphidation
epithermal gold in lithocaps; possibilities for sediment-
hosted gold also exist and, given the local preservation
of the epithermal environment, low-sulphidation
epithermal gold deposits, possibly along side lithocaps,
also deserve consideration.
95
Meetings
– Two workshops have been held: The first in Urumqi
and the Altai Mountains, Xinjiang, China (27 July-
3 August 1998) and the second in Ulan Bator and
Byankhongor, Mongolia (25 July–3 August 1999).
– One special symposium (A-5 Continental growth in
the Phanerozoic), sponsored by IGCP 420, was held
during the 31st International Geological Congress in
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (August). The symposium
attracted a full-house audience. A poster of IGCP
420 was also on exhibition in the booth of IGCP/
IUGS.
Publications
– Special issue of Tectonophysics – Continental growth
in the Phanerozoic: Evidence from Central Asia. Bm
Jahn, W. Griffin and B. Windley (eds.) 2000,
Vol. 328, Issues 1-2. 227 pp.
– Arakawa, Y.: Saito, Y.; Amakawa, H. 2000. Crustal
Development of the Hida Belt, Japan: Evidence
from Nd-Sr Isotopic and Chemical Characteristics
of Igneous Rocks and Metamorphic Rocks.
Tectonophysics, 328, pp. 183-204.
– Brookfield, M. E. 2000. Geological Development and
Phanerozoic Crustal Accretion in the Western
Segment of the Southern Tien Shan (Kyrgyzstan,
Uzbekistan and Tajikistan). Tectonophysics, 328,
pp. 1-14.
– Chen B.; Jahn, Bm.; Wilde S.; Xu B. 2000. Two
Contrasting Palaeozoic Granitoids Magmatism in
Northern Inner Mongolia, China: Petrogenesis and
Tectonic Implications. Tectonophysics, 328, pp. 157-82.
– Chen, J.; Zhou, T.; Xie, Z.; Zhang, X.; Guo, X. 2000.
Formation of Positive Nd(T) Granitoids from the
Alataw Mountains, Xinjiang, China, by Mixing and
Fractional Crystallization: Implication for Phanero-
zoic Crustal Growth. Tectonophysics, 328, pp 53-67.
– Gao, J.; Zhang, L.; Liu, S. 2000. The 40Ar/39Ar Age
Record of Formation and Uplift of the Lueschist and
Eclogites in the Western Tianshan Mountains.
Chinese Science Bull., 45, pp. 1047-51.
– Gao, J.; Klemd, R. 2000. Eclogite Occurrences in the
Southern Tianshan Mountains, North-West China.
Gondwana Res., 3, pp 33-8.
– Gerel, O. 2000. Mesozoic Granitic Magmatism and
Metallogeny: Evidence from Central Asia. Geology.
Ulan Bator, pp 58-63.
– Heinhorst, J.; Lehmann, B.; Ermolov, P.; Serykh, V.;
Zhurutin, S. 2000. Palaeozoic Crustal Growth and
Metallogeny of Central Asia: Evidence from
Magmatic-hydrothermal Ore Systems of Central
Kazakhstan. Tectonophysics, 328, pp. 69-87.
– Hong Dawei; Wang Shiguang; Xie Xilin; Zhang
Jisheng. 2000. Genesis of Positive Nd(T) Granitoids
in the Da Hinggan Mts. Mongolia Orogenic Belt and
Continental Crustal Growth. Earth Science Frontiers,
17, pp. 441-56.
96
– Hu, A. Q.; Jahn, B. M.; Zhang, G. X.; Zhang, Q. F.
2000. Crustal Evolution and Phanerozoic Crustal
Growth in Northern Xinjiang: Nd-Sr Isotopic
Evidence. Part I: Isotopic Characterisation of
Basement Rocks. Tectonophysics, 328, pp. 15-51.
– Ivanov, V. G.; Yarmolyuk, V. V.; Antipin, V. S. 2000.
Intracontinental Magmatism as an Indicator of
Processes-caused Formation of the Baikal Rift Zone,
Russian Geology and Geophysics, 41/4, pp. 557-63.
– Jahn, B. M.; Wu, F. Y.; Hong, D. W. 2000a. Important
Crustal Growth in the Phanerozoic: Isotopic
Evidence of Granitoids from East Central Asia. In:
Isotopes in Earth Sciences, Proc. Indian Academy of
Sciences, Vol. 109, pp. 5-20.
– Jahn, B.M.; Wu, F.Y.; Chen B. 2000c. Granitoids of
the Central Asian Orogenic Belt and Continental
Growth in the Phanerozoic. Trans. Royal Soc.
Edinburgh, Earth Sci., Vol. 91.
– Jahn, B.M.; Griffin, W.L.; Windley, B. 2000.
Continental Growth in the Phanerozoic: Evidence
from Central Asia. Tectonophysics, 328, pp. vii–x.
– Kovalenko, V. I.; Salnikova, E. B.; Antipin, V. S.;
Yarmolyuk, V. V. 2000. Unusual Assemblage of Li-
F and Peralkaline Granites in the Soktuy Pluton (East
Transbaikalia)/Doklady of RAS, 372/4, pp. 536-40.
– Litvinovsky, B. A.; Steele, I. M.; Wickham, S. M.
2000. Silicic Magma Formation in Overthickened
Crust: Melting of Charnockite and Leucogranite at
15, 20 and 25 kbar. J. Petrol., 41/5.
– Litvinovsky, B. A.; Yarmolyuk, V. V.; Jahn, B. M.;
Vorontsov, A. A. (In press.) Multistage Formation of
the Mongolian-Transbaikalian Granitid Belt and
Nature of the Silicic Magma Sources. Petrology.
– Litvinovsky, B. A.; Yarmolyuk, V. V.; Vorontso, v A.
A. (In press.) Late Triassic Stage of the Mongolian-
Transbaikalian Alkali Granitoid Province Formation:
Data of Isotope and Geochemical Study. Russian
Geology and Geophysics.
– Sun Deyou, Wu Fuyuan, Li Huimin and Lin Qiang,
2000. Emplacement Age of the Postorogenic A-type
Granites in North-Western Lesser Xing’an Ranges,
and its Relationships to the Eastern Extension of
Suolunshan-Hegenshan-Zhalaite Collisional Juncture
Zone. Chin. Sci. Bull., 45, (In press.)
– Takahashi, Y.; Arakawa, Y.; Oyungerel, S.; Naito, K.
2000. Compilation of Geochronological Data of
Granitoids in the Bayankhongor Area, Central
Mongolia. Bull. Geol. Surv. Japan, 51, pp. 167-74.
– Titov, A. V.; Litvinovsky, B. A.; Zanvilevich, A. N.;
Shadaev, M. G. 2000. Hybridization in Composite
Dikes: Basic-leucogranitic Dikes from the Ust’-
Khilok Pluton, Transbaikalia. Russian Geology and
Geophysics, 41/12.
– Titov, A. V.; Vladimirov, A. G.; Vystavnoy, S. A.;
Pospelova, L. N. 2000. Unusual High-temperature
Felsites in Post-granitic Dyke Complex of Kalguty
Rare-metal-bearing Granite Massive (Gorny, Altai).
Geokhimia, (In press.)
– Wei, C. S.; Zheng, Y. F.; Zhao, Z. F. 2000. Hydrogen
and Oxygen Isotope Geochemistry of A-type
 Granites in the Continental Margins of Eastern China.
Tectonophysics, 328, pp. 205-27.
– Wilde, S. A.; Zhang, X.; Wu, F. Y. 2000. Extension
of a Newly Identified 500 Ma Metamorphic Terrain
in North-East China: Further U-Pb SHRIMP Dating
of the Mashan Complex, Heilongjiang Province,
China. Tectonophysics, 328, pp. 115-30.
– Wu Fuyuan, Sun Deyou, Li Huimin and Wang
Xiaolin, 2000. The Zircon U-Pb Ages of Songliao
Basement Rocks. Chin. Sci. Bull., 45, pp. 1514-8.
– Wu, F. Y.; Jahn, B.M.; Wilde, S.; Sun, D.Y. 2000.
Phanerozoic Crustal Growth: Sr-Nd Isotopic
Evidence from the Granites in North-Eastern China.
Tectonophysics, 328, pp. 89-113.
– Yarmoluk, V. V.; Kovalenko, V. I.; Kuzmin, M. I.
2000. North Asia Superplume Activity in the
Phanerozoic: Magmatism and Geodynamics.
Geotectonika, N5, pp.3-29.
– Zhou Taixi, Chen Jiangfeng, Xie Zhi, Zhang Xun,
Yang Xuechang and Chen Fuming. 2000. Isotopic
Geochemistry of Granitic Rocks from Tuomuer Peak
Region, Tianshan, China. Acta Petrologica Sinica,
16, pp. 153-60.
Meetings and activities planned
– 2001 Field Workshop III in Novosibirsk, Russia and
Mongolian Altai (possibly joined by IGCP Project
373).
– Co-sponsoring the International Symposium on the
Assembly and Break up of Rodinia and Gondwana,
and Growth of Asia (ISRGA), to be held in Osaka,
Japan (26-30 October 2001).
– 2002 Changchun, North-East China and Great
Khingan (Xing'an) Mountains (field excursion).
No. 421 – North Gondwana Mid-Palaeozoic
Biodynamics (1997-2001)
R. Feist, Institut des Sciences de l’évolution, Université
de Montpellier II, 34095 Montpellier, France, e-mail:
rfeist@isem.univ-montp2.fr
J. A. Talent, Centre for Ecostratigraphy and
Palaeobiology, School of Earth Sciences, Macquarie
University, NSW 2109, Australia, e-mail: jtalent@laurel.
ocs.mq.edu.au
Description: Although regional and national strati-
graphic scales within the broad swath of North
Gondwana crustal blocks/terranes are often out of align-
ment with each other, emergence of globally accepted
criteria for defining series and stage boundaries within
the Silurian to Early Carboniferous suggested that the
time was ripe for a broad-scale exercise in re-correla-
tion of the stratigraphic sequences throughout the North
Gondwana regions. It was anticipated that such an exer-
cise might provide a sufficiently rigorous basis from
which to investigate not only transgression-regression
patterns, but also bioevent and biogeographic patterns.
A fundamental aim of IGCP project 421 is to test to
what extent biogeographic data may illuminate the dispo-
sitions and motions of the various North Gondwana
crustal blocks/terranes.
Much of the taxonomic database for the North
Gondwana region may be described as unruly and thus
often of questionable value as a basis for tectonic infer-
ences. Precise information on biogeographic patterns
and how these may have changed over time depends on
an accurate taxonomic database; it is necessary for a
North Gondwana-wide exercise to be conducted to eval-
uate the quality of previous work (specifically for mean-
ingful computer analysis) and for this evaluation to be
undertaken with the best possible time frame at hand.
The revised and annotated faunal lists (the basic data
for computer modelling) should be arranged according
to the pattern of major lithospheric blocks. The strati-
graphic framework needs therefore to be critically eval-
uated, crustal block by crustal block, using the most
recent zonal schemes based on pelagic taxa. One of the
objectives of IGCP project 421 is to seek data that may
indicate variation (or not) in impress/impact of specific
global events. Special attention is being given to short-
term changes in the diversity and dispersal patterns that
may be linked to sea level changes and to ascertaining
the extent to which these events can be deciphered
throughout the North Gondwana regions.
Website of the project
http://www.es.mq.edu.au/MUCEP/igcp421.htm
Participating countries
(*indicates countries active this year)
Australia* Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria*, Canada*,
China*, Czech Republic*, France*, Germany*, Hungary,
Italy*, India, Iran*, Mongolia*, Morocco*, Myanmar*,
New Zealand, Pakistan*, Poland*, Portugal*, Russia*,
Spain*, Sweden*, Tajikistan, Turkey*, Ukraine,
Uzbekistan*, United Kingdom*, United States*, Viet
Nam.
Objectives
To conduct analysis of bioevents (especially global
extinctions and recoveries), major variation in biodiver-
sity, and change in biogeographic differentiation along
the North Gondwana continental margin during the Mid-
Palaeozoic. Incidental to this: integration of these data
with the biofacies\lithofacies database for the region in
pursuit of increased precision in stratigraphic alignments
and improved palaeogeographic and palaeoclimatologic
syntheses.
97
IGCP 421 is an umbrella for promoting inter-regional
co-operative work by as many participants as possible
with interests (especially research interests in Silurian
to Early Carboniferous, and in geodynamics) in the
North Gondwana region, i.e. the region that includes the
major crustal blocks of the former Gondwana super-
continent (Australia, Africa, South America) and the
blocks calved from it – now forming the 'underbelly' of
Eurasia.
Achievements of the project this year
Meetings
Two international meetings of IGCP 421 were held
during 2000 at each end of the 'North Gondwana' region
covered by the project.
– Seventh International Meeting of IGCP 421 at
Orange, Australia, 11-25 July 2000, taking place in
the heart of the most instructive Ordovician, Silurian
and Early Devonian sequences in Eastern Australia.
This meeting attracted 122 participants of whom
50 were international visitors.
– Eighth International Meeting of IGCP 421 at Evora,
Portugal, 11-25 October 2000. The second was held
in Evora, Portugal, close to important Silurian and
Devonian/Early Carboniferous sequences examined
on a pre-conference excursion. This was held in
conjunction with the First Iberian Palaeontological
Congress and XVI Jornadas de la Sociedad española
de Paleontología. Attendance of IGCP 421 parti-
cipants was 54 from 11 countries.
Publications
– Mawson, R.; Talent, J. A.; Long, J. A. (eds.) 2000.
North Gondwana Biota and Biogeography (Papers
from the Esfahan, Iran, meeting of IGCP 421).
Records of the Western Australian Museum
Supplement 58, 441 pp.
– Mistiaen, B.; Corsin, P. (eds.) 2000. Papers from the
Esfahan Meeting of IGCP 421: Chariseh section.
Special issue of Annales de la Société Géologique
du Nord (Publication scheduled December 2000.)
– Talent, J. A.; Gratsianova, R. T.; Yolkin, E. A. 2000.
Latest Silurian (Pridoli) to Middle Devonian of the
Asia-Australia Hemisphere: Rationalization of
Brachiopod Taxa and Faunal Lists; Correlation
Charts. Courier Forschungsinstitut Senckenberg, ca.
300 pp. (Publication scheduled December 2000.)
– Talent, J. A.; Mawson, R. (with contributions from
18 authors), 2000. Devonian Biogeography of
Australia and Adjoining Areas. Memoirs of the
Association of Australasian Palaeontologists, 76 pp.
(Publication scheduled December 2000.)
– Wright, A. J.; Talent, J. A.; Young, G. (eds.) 2000.
Palaeobiogeography of Australasian Floras and
98
Faunas. Historical Biology, 16, (whole col.; page-
proof stage October 2000.)
Being edited:
– Hamidullah, S.; Talent, J. A. Papers from the
Peshawar Meeting of IGCP 421. Geological Bulletin
of the University of Peshawar.
– Mawson, R.; Talent, J. A. Contributions to the Second
Australian Conodont Symposium (AUSCOS-2) held
in Orange, Australia, 11-15 July 2000. Courier
Forschungsinstitut Senckenberg (Consisting almost
entirely of IGCP 421 papers.)
– Tahiri, A.; El Hassani, A. (eds.). Proceedings of the
Subcommission on Devonian Stratigraphy (SDS) –
IGCP 421 Morocco Meeting (Errachidia/Rabat
1999). Trav. Inst. Sci. Rabat, Série Géol. & Géogr.
Phys, No. 20-2000, 125 pp., 11 papers (Publication
spring 2001.)
Activities planned
Anticipated objectives in coming years
1. Interaction of quantitative palaeobiogeographic and
tectonic/geophysical modelling. Because provincial
patterns have a pronounced longitudinally constrain-
ing aspect, and palaeomagnetic data is latitudinally
constraining, the project plans to bring together a
broad spectrum of scientists with expertise in palaeo-
magnetic modelling and/or tectonics (especially for
the regions covered by IGCP 421) for interaction
with colleagues who have undertaken palaeobio-
geographic modelling. This is planned to take place
in Montpellier at the end of the post-conference
excursion for the ECOS-VIII\IGCP 421 meeting in
June 2002.
2. Synthesis of a volume setting out the extent to which
palaeobiogeographic data (quantitatively probed)
impinges on geodynamic models for the North
Gondwana region.
3. Generation of an annotated correlation chart for
Central and South Asia. This was set in train at
the Esfahan, Iran, meeting of IGCP 421 in
December 1998.
Critical milestones for 2001
1. Publication of four volumes of scientific papers arising
from the 1999 meetings in Errachidia-Rabat and
Peshawar, and the 2000 meetings in Orange and
Evora. Volumes from the first three meetings are
presently at an advanced stage of editing.
2. Acceleration of data compilation for various groups
– so that exercises in computer biogeography can be
undertaken in time for the two meetings we wish to
have in 2,002 in association with ECOS VII and the
First International Palaeontological Congress.
3. Generating a draft of the Correlation chart for Mid-
Palaeozoics of Central and South Asia, hopefully by
the end of 2001.
Meetings
Two international meetings are scheduled for 2001, both
with prime focus on bio- and geodynamics of Gondwana/
Laurussia interactions during mid-Palaeozoic times
(Silurian to Early Carboniferous);
1. Ninth International Meeting of IGCP 421 at
Frankfurt, 11-21 May 2001. This is being organized
by the Senckenbergische Naturforschende Gesell-
schaft as their 15th International Senckenberg
Conference.
2. Tenth International Meeting of IGCP 421:
Altai (South-West Siberia)-South-West Mongolia,
1-17 August (South-West Siberia), 21 August -
9 September (South-West Mongolia) under the
auspices of the Siberian Branch of the Russian
Academy of Science and the Mongolian Academy
of Science respectively. These include a two-day
session of papers in Novosibirsk (15-16 August),
and a one-two-day session of papers in Ulan Bator
(8 and 9 September).
No. 425 – Landslide Hazard Assessment
and Cultural Heritage (1998-2002)
K. Sassa, Landslide Section, Disaster Prevention
Research Institute (DPRI), Kyoto University, Uji, Kyoto,
611-0011, Japan, e-mail: sassa@scl.kyoto-u.ac.jp
P. Canuti, Dipartimento Scienze della Terra, Università
di Firenze, Via G. La Pira, 4-50121, Florence, Italy,
e-mail: canuti@geo.unifi.it
R. Carreno, PROEPTI-Cusco, Apartado postal 638,
Cusco, Peru, e-mail: proepti@mail.cosapidata.com.pe
Description: This project highlights the scientific basis
of landslide management where risk is near cultural
heritage sites of high value in areas of relatively dense
population. An important goal is to develop techniques
of rational hazard assessment by primary, high resolu-
tion monitoring of slope instability at such sites. This
follows the current thinking on risk-based approaches
of landsliding. The aims of the project include a higher
than usual precision in hazard characterisation, zoning
and risk evaluation, as well as the development of a
strategy designed to serve the specific needs of heritage
sites. The project will adopt a deliberately interdiscipli-
nary and cross-sectoral approach to natural hazard and
preservation of cultural heritage. Thus, it is expected to
involve tangible collaborative work between these two
sub-sectors.
Recent rapid urbanisation and regional development are
increasing landslide risks in areas of rapidly growing
population and at cultural heritage sites, particularly
in developing countries throughout the world. Special
attention will be given to historical areas, densely popu-
lated urban areas and cultural heritage sites of universal
value, which generate considerable income through
active cultural tourism throughout the world.
Website of the project
http://landslide.dpri.kyoto-u.ac.jp/igcp/
Participating countries
Australia, Austria, Bangladesh, Bulgaria, Czech
Republic, Canada, China, Colombia, France, Greece,
Germany, India, Iran, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Mexico,
Nepal, Peru, Romania, Russia, Switzerland, Turkey,
United Kingdom, United States, Uzbekistan.
Achievements of the project this year
General achievements
Eight new subproject proposals for IGCP 425 were
approved at the second general meeting at UNESCO,
September 1999, and seven new subproject proposals
for IGCP 425 were approved at the third general meet-
ing in the Science Council of Japan, Tokyo, in January
2001.
A Memorandum of Understanding was signed in
December 1999 between UNESCO and the Disaster
Prevention Research Institute, Kyoto University,
Concerning Co-operation in Research for Landslide
Risk Mitigation and Protection of the Cultural And
Natural Heritage as a Key Contribution to Environmental
Protection and Sustainable Development in the First
Quarter of the Twenty-First Century.
Meetings
– During the 31st International Geological Congress
in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, August 2000, an IGCP 425
special symposium 23-3 'Geological Hazards and
Cultural Heritage' was jointly held with COGEO-
ENVIRONMENT.
– The third General Meeting of IGCP 425 was organ-
ized in Tokyo, 18-19 January 2001 as a part of the
UNESCO/IGCP Symposium on Landslide Risk
Mitigation and Protection of Cultural and Natural
Heritage.
– The joint meeting of the IGCP 425 national
committee and ISSMGE ATC-9 national committee
was held in Tokyo, on 13 January 2000, where the
plan of activities in 2000 and for the Conference in
January 2001 was examined.
99
Publications
Progress of IGCP-425 was reported in Landslide News
No.12 (1999), and No.13 (2000), Japan Landslide
Society.
List of IGCP 425 Subprojects 2001
1. Research on the Slope Stability of Block II of the
Lishan Landslide, Lintong County, Xian, China
2. The Archaeological Site of Delphi, Greece:- A Site
Vulnerable to Earthquakes and Landslides
3. Slope Stability Conditions of the Rockmass at the
Foundation Areas of the Monasteries of Mount Athos,
in Northern Greece
4. Conservation from Rockfall of the Engraved Wall in
the Fugoppe Cave, Hokkaido, Japan
5. Slope Deformation and Other Geohazards Endanger-
ing the Stability of Historic Sites in the Western
Carpathians
6. Landslide Hazard and Risk Assessment in Archaeo-
logical Sites
7. The evaluation of the risk of deep-seated mass move-
ments to the cultural heritage sites of Hallstatt-
Dachstein, Upper Austria
8. Geotechnical Landslide Risk Analysis around and
inside some Egyptian Historical Monuments
9. Landslide Hazard Assessment for the Places of
Historical Heritage in the North-Eastern Azov Sea
coastal region (Taganrog city and the area of the
ancient Greek town of Tanais, Rostov district,
Russia)
10. Assessment and Mitigation of the Landslide Hazard
to Cultural and Historical Monuments in Central
Russia (the Golden Ring of Russia)
11. The Present and Past Geomorphologic Hazards in
The Archaeological Sites of Sicily and Calabria
(South Italy)
12. Development of Quantitative Prediction Models for
Landslide Hazard, Chang-Jo F. CHUNG, Geological
Survey of Canada, Canada
13. Rice-Paddy Terrace and Landslides
14. Quantitative Analysis of Natural Landslide Hazards
Affecting the Rocky Mountain Parks of Canada
15. Protection of Inca Cultural Heritage on Landslide
Zones at Cusco, Peru
16. Landslide Risk Evaluation for the Protection of
Cultural Heritage: Case of Old Quebec, Canada
17. Prediction of Rapid Landslide Motion for Lishan,
China, Unzen, Japan
18. Seismogenic Landslides and Rockfalls in the Vicinity
of the Horeseman of Madara (North-East Bulgaria)
19. Monitoring of a Large-scale Landslide Threatening
the Zentoku Historical Settlement in the Iya-Valley,
Tokushima, Japan
20. Development of a Spatial Database System for
Landslide Information Management and Analysis
21. Landslide Hazard and Mitigation Measures in the
Area of the Mediaeval Citadel of Sighisoara
(Rumania)
100
22. Disaster of Rock Avalanches and Landslides in the
Tianchi Lake Tourist Area of Changbai Mountain
(Volcano), North-East China
23. Guidelines for the Safeguard of Cultural Heritage
against Natural Risk
24. Rock Slope Monitoring for Environment-friendly
Management of Rock Fall Danger
25. Slope Stability in a Context of Progressive Environ-
mental Change
26. An Integrated Approach to Sustainable Manage-
ment of Landslides Along the Black Sea Coast
(Romania)
27. Protection of Cultural Heritage Sites from Landslide
in the Hindu Kushi- Himalayan Region (Nepal)
28. Assessment of Mass Movement Hazard to the Natural
Heritage Sites of Akha Area, Northern Tehran, Iran
29. Monitoring Unstable Cultural Heritage Sites with
Radar Interferometry, Paolo Canuti and Carlo Atzeni,
University of Firenze (Italy)
30. Landslide Hazard and Mitigation Measures in the
South Gippsland Highlands, Victoria, Australia
31. Landslide Hazard Mapping along the Prithiwi
Highway to Protect Seven World Heritage Sites in
Kathmandu Valley, Nepal
Note:
• Subprojects Nos 1-16 were approved at the Tokyo
symposium in December 1998 following the first
general meeting in Vancouver, September 1998.
• Subprojects Nos 17-24 were approved at the second
general meeting at UNESCO, September 1999
• Subprojects Nos 25-31 were approved at the third
general meeting at the Science Council of Japan,
Tokyo, January 2001
Activities planned
IGCP 425 participants and a new International
Consortium on Landslides will organize a symposium
of 5 days in January 2002 in co-operation with the
Working Group on Rapid Landslide Motion of
ISSMGE TC-11 (Technical Committee on Landslides in
Kyoto.)
IGCP 425 and a new International Consortium on
Landslides will organize a Field workshop on Machu
Picchu landslide, Peru, in June or July in Urubamba,
Cusco, Peru.
IGCP 425 and ISSMGE ATC-9 (Protection of Cultural
Heritage from Landslides) will organize a field work-
shop on Landslides and Natural/Cultural Heritage in
Turkey, 22-24 August 2001.
A joint meeting of the IGCP 425 national committee
and ISSMGE ATC-9 national committee will be held in
Tokyo in FY2001.
2001 Tokyo Declaration
With reference to the 1997 Xian and 1999 Tokyo appeals
(Report of IGCP project 425, UNESCO, Paris) we, as
international experts in a broad scientific field and
knowledgeable for our understanding of processes of
landslides and their impact on society as well as for our
expertise to mitigate such impact and design remedial
and preventive measures,
1. Recognising the very significant safety and economic
impact landslides may have on humankind, particu-
larly in densely populated areas;
2. Recognising the disastrous impact landslides may
have on many historical monuments and UNESCO
cultural and natural heritage sites;
Recommend:
1. to join all international and national scientific and
non-scientific effort to improve understanding of
processes and assessment of landslides and to
co-operate on landslide prevention and on mitigation
of their effects on society and ecology,
2. to establish an International Consortium on
Landslides (ICL),
3. ICL consists of all interested organizations related
to landslides studies and mitigation,
4. to seek official approval of ICL by UNESCO and
the International Union of Geological Sciences
(IUGS) and to consider ICL as a joint initiative of
both parties,
5. the Board of ICL will create and provide direction
to an International Secretariat with an Executive
Director, to be situated in the Disaster Prevention
Research Institute of the Kyoto University, Japan,
6. ICL will develop a Research Programme, a Com-
munication Plan, an Educational Plan, and a Publi-
cation Plan,
7. to enhance awareness of the worldwide public of
landslide risks and mitigation, and to demonstrate
our abilities to reduce landslide impact,
8. the Secretariat will develop statutes which will
include the above-mentioned Programme and Plans
to be approved by the Board,
9. to focus its Research Programme initially on the
threatened Machu Picchu World heritage site.
No. 426 – Granite Systems and Proterozoic
Lithospheric Processes (1998–2002)
W. R. Van Schmus, Department of Geology, 120 Lindley
Hall, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas 66045,
e-mail: rvschmus@ukans.edu
J. S. Bettencourt, Instituto de Geociências-USP, Caixa
Postal 11348, 05422-970 São Paulo – SP, Brazil, e-mail:
jsbetten@usp.br
O. Tapani Rämö, Department of Geology, University of
Helsinki, P. O. Box 11, 00014 Helsinki, Finland, e-mail:
tapani.ramo@helsinki.fi
Description: The scientific aim of this project is to inves-
tigate the petrology and geochemistry of Proterozoic
granite systems in relation to their metallogeny and
tectonic environments. The principal result will be corre-
lation of Proterozoic granite systems with the tectonic
environments in which they formed, together with the
development of models designed to explain these corre-
lations. These results will, in turn, be a source of improved
general understanding of granitoid petrogenesis in the
context of global tectonics through time. Better under-
standing of the correlation between granite petrogenesis
and certain types of metallogenic provinces will also
improve prospecting and exploration strategies. The
principal societal benefits will be twofold. First, the
applied results will help certain countries to find and
develop better economic deposits. Secondly, involve-
ment of participants from less developed countries as
active partners with participants from more developed
countries will enable the former to enhance their geo-
logical research capabilities and background.
Participating countries (all active this year)
Australia, Brazil, Cameroon, Canada, China, Estonia,
Finland, France, India, Lithuania, Russia, Sweden,
Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States, Venezuela.
Achievements of the project in 2000
Meetings
– IGCP 426 co-sponsored session 6-6 of the general
symposia at the International Geological Congress,
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 6-17 August 2000, on Igneous
Petrology, which consisted in a half-day oral session
with five keynote speakers and a half-day poster
session with 59 submitted papers. The general
symposia brought together a number of scientists
from a variety of disciplines to discuss the most
significant advances in the state-of-the-art of Pro-
terozoic granitoid petrogenesis, metallogeny, and
geodynamic settings. Following the oral technical
session a business meeting was held in order to
discuss the achievements to date and to plan future
activities of IGCP 426. Nine participants attended
the meeting from four countries.
– As a result of discussions held during the technical
sessions and business meeting at the 31st Inter-
national Geological Congress, an ad hoc workshop
was held on Intercontinental Correlations, at the
University of Sao Paulo, 12-14 December 2000, to
examine to major geodynamic problems in which
Proterozoic granite systems play a central role.
These are (a) correlation of Palaeoproterozoic and
101
 Neoproterozoic grantitic systems between North-
East Brazil and Central Africa (tectonic history of
the Pan African-Brasiliano fold belt and the assembly
of West Gondwanaland), and (b) correlation of
Palaeoproterozoic and Mesoperoterozoic granite
systems in Amazonia-Baltica-Laurentia (tectonic
history of palaeocontinents such as Atlantica and
Rodinia). 20 participants attended the workshop from
5 countries.
Other activities of 2000
In 2000, the Chinese Working Group of IGCP 426 was
mainly carrying out research on Proterozoic granitoids
in the North China Block (NCB), with special focus on
Neoproterozoic granitoids around the Jinningian orogen
(1.0-0.8 Ga) and Palaeoproterozoic granitoids (2.4-1.85
Ga). The group arranged geological fieldwork in the
northern and southern margin of the North China Block
and in the northern margin of the Chaidamu Basin.
Through recent work and summaries of previous
research, a giant Neoproterozoic granitoid belt and its
tectonic setting have been defined along the Central
China Orogenic Belt. Palaeoproterozoic granitoids from
the North China Block are distinctive in some respects.
Many have the characteristics of S-type granites and
some of them have the composition of tonalities and
trondhjemites, differing from Palaeoproterozoic gra-
nites in Fennoscandian Shield. The Palaeoproterozoic
granitoids from North China Block with ages from
2.4 Ga to 1.85 Ga fill in the gaps that exist on many
continents with the absence of the igneous activities
between 2.4-2.0 Ga.
In 2000, the Venezuelan Working Group of IGCP 426
initiated the study of the Proterozoic Imataca Complex
in North-Central Bolivar State, with its major granitic
belts, dimension stone, and mineral resources (iron-ore,
quartz, pegmatites).
Most important publications
– Geraldes, M. C.; Van Schmus, W. R.; Condie, K. C.;
Bell, S.; Teixeira, W.; Babinski, M. 2001. Proterozoic
Geologic Evolution of the SW Part of the Amazonian
Craton in Mato Grosso State, Brazil (Precambrian
Research, accepted for publication).
– Geraldes, M. C.; Teixeira, W.; Van Schmus, W. R.
2000. Isotopic and Chemical Evidences for Three
Accrestionary Magmatic Arcs (1.79-1.42) in the
SW Amazonian Craton, State of Mato Grosso, Brazil.
Revista Brasileira de Geociências, 30 (1), pp. 99-
101.
– Kosunen, P. 1999. The Rapakivi Plutons of Bodom
and Obbnäs, Southern Finland: Petrography and
Geochemistry. Bulletin of the Geological Society of
Finland, 71 (2), pp. 275-304 (Appeared in print in
2000.)
– Nironen, M.; Elliott, B. A.; Rämö, O. T. 2000. 1.88-
1.87 Ga Post-kinematic Intrusions of the Central
102
Finland Granitoid Complex: a Shift from C-type to
A-type Magmatism During Lithospheric Conver-
gence. Lithos, 53, pp. 37-58.
– Nogueira, S. A. A.; Bettencourt, J. S.; Tassinari, C.
C. G. 2000. Geochronology of the Salamangone
Gold Deposit Host Rocks, Lourenço District, Amapá
Brazil. Revista Brasileira de Ceociências, Vol. 30 (2),
pp.261-4, CDROM.
– Rodriguez, S. E. 2000. Complex Ta-Nb-Ti-Sn
Minerals Associated with Late Pegmatites, Parguaza
Batholith, Bolivar State, Venezuela. Applied
Mineralogy in Research, Economy, Technology,
Ecology, and Culture, Vol. I, pp. 411-4. A. A.
Balkema, Rotterdam.
– Rosa, M. L. S.; et al. 2000. Geochronology (U-
Pb/Pb-Pb) and Isotopic Signature (Rb-Sr/Sm-Nd) of
the Palaeoproterozoic Guanabi Batholith, South-
Western Bahia State (NE Brazil). Revista Brasileira
de Geociências, Vol. 30 (1), pp. 62-5, CDROM.
– Rios D. C.; et al. 2000. Granite Ages of the Serrinha
Nucleous, Bahia: Brazil: a Review. Revista Brasileira
de Geociências, Vol. 30 (1), pp.74-7, CDROM.
– Silva, R. H. C.; Juliani, C.; Nunes, C. M. D.;
Bettencourt, J. S. 2000. Petrographic Characteri-
zation of the Hydrothermal Alteration Zones
Associated with Gold Mineralization in Granitic
Rocks of the Batalha Gold field, Tapajós PA, Brazil.
Revista Brasileira de Geociências, Vol. 30 (2),
pp.242-5, CDROM.
Activities planned
General Goals
The general goals focusing on (a) the use of granite
systems for intercontinental geodynamic studies of
palaeocontinent reconstructions, (b) the origin of A-type
granite systems (rapakivi; AMCG suites, etc.), (c) the
metallogenesis associated with granite systems, and
(d) geotechnical education and outreach for less devel-
oped countries through visitations and collaborations at
laboratories in more developed countries.
Meetings
During 2001 the co-leaders of the project will partici-
pate in several regional meetings which have technical
sessions or symposia related to the project's main themes.
It is planned to use these meetings, in conjunction with
the ones held in 2000, to develop active working groups
focusing on (a) North-East Brazil-Central Africa corre-
lations, (b) Amazonia-Laurentia-Baltica correlations,
(c) the tectonic setting and magmagenesis of ‘anoro-
genic’ plutonic suites, and (d) metallogenesis.
– At the 12th International Conference of the Geo-
logical Society of Africa, Yaounde, Cameroon,
27 March-2 April 2001, will be held an open session
on Precambrian geology and an informal workshop
 for potential African participants of IGCP 426 from
other countries in Central Africa. The theme will be
the study of Proterozoic granite systems in the Pan
African belt of Central Africa, its potential correla-
tions with similar systems in the Brasiliano belt
North-East Brazil, their importance in understanding
the pre-collisional history of terranes within these
belts, and the assembly history of West Gondwanaland.
– During the meeting of the European Union of
Geosciences (EUG-XI), Strasbourg, France, 8-12
April 2001, IGCP 426 co-leader O. Tapani Rämö
will co-convene Symposium L8 ‘Origin and evolu-
tion of Precambrian anorogenic magmatism’, which
addresses one of the project's special themes. He will
also hold an informal working group meeting with
scientists interested in this topic and in questions
of Proterozoic correlations of Baltica-Laurentia-
Amazonia.
– IGCP 426 will hold a special session at the annual
meeting of the Geological Association of Canada/
Mineralogical Association of Canada (GAC/MAC)
in Saint John’s, Newfoundland, 27-30 May 2001.
This session will focus on the evolution of magmatic
and lithospheric processes during the Proterozoic. It
will encompass anything from granitoid magma
generation to mechanical modes of emplacement, to
metallogenesis, particularly on the tectonic environ-
ment of formation of anorthosite and related rocks,
whether it is unique or whether there are many
different ways to produce this type of rock. Another
aspect to be included is the unfolding debate on
the issue of orogenic versus anorogenic setting for
Mesoproterozoic magmatism in the United States,
Canada, and Europe. IGCP 426 co-leader Van
Schmus will hold an informal working group meeting
on IGCP 426 topics, including Laurentia-Baltica-
Amazonia correlations and the tectonic setting of
‘anorogenic’ granite systems.
– A special workshop on ‘Granite Systems and Pro-
terozoic Lithospheric Processes’ will take place at
the Institute of Geology University of São Paulo,
June 2001, which will focus on recent advances in
understanding the evolution of the south- western
sector of the Amazonian Craton. During the last
10 years substantial amounts of geologic data have
been produced and this workshop will bring together
Brazilian scientists and selected international parti-
cipants from a variety of disciplines to discuss the
mutual themes of interest and mutual efforts to unify
approaches and thoughts. It will focus on lithos-
pheric processes and tectonic environments; platform
sedimentary sequences; granitoid magma generation;
basement rocks; metallogenesis; palaeocontinental
reconstruction. Two of IGCP 426 themes that will be
important for this conference will be (a) origin of A-
type (rapakivi) magmas, and (b) palaeocontinental
correlations with Laurentia and Baltica.
– A field conference on proterozoic granite systems
will be held in Australia (such as the Mount Isa
block). These systems have many chronologic simi-
larities to late Palaeoproterzoic to Mesoproterozoic
systems in Laurentia, Baltica, and Amazonia, and
an open question is whether there may be palaeo-
continental significance in these similarities. Other
themes that would be addressed include that of metal-
logensis.
– A field trip is planned to the proterozoic granite
systems in North-East Brazil which would focus on
Transamazonian (2.1 Ga), Cariris Velhos (0.97 Ga),
and Brasiliano (0.6 Ga) granite systems in North-
East Brazil and their role in understanding the pre-
collisional history of this part of West Gondwana-
land, taking into account potential correlations with
the geological particularities of Central Africa in
order to develop a more comprehensive model for
pre-Gondwanaland tectonics.
– Another field trip would focus on three granite
systems: late Palaeoproterozoic orogenic systems,
Mesoproterozoic (1.45 Ga) anorogenic systems, and
the 1.0 Ga Pikes Peak Batholith Proterozoic granite
systems in the Front Range of Colorado-Wyoming,
United States. Of these, the relationship of the
1.45 Ga suite to continental margin tectonics to the
south would be examined relative to the question of
the tectonic setting and magma genesis of this
system, still one of the most enigmatic in the world.
Activities planned
Meetings
Meetings are planned during the Basement Tectonics
Conference, which will be held in South-East Missouri
in 2002, and at the EUG XII in Strasbourg, France, in
2003. One or more of the meetings in 2002 and 2003
will specifically address progress made with respect
to the themes being defined in detail during 2001:
(a) North-East Brazil-Central Africa correlations,
(b) Amazonia-Laurentia-Baltica correlations, (c) the tec-
tonic setting and magmagenesis of ‘anorogenic’ plutonic
suites, and (d) metallogenesis. Papers addressing these
themes will then be solicited for a final publication of
the project (book or special issue of a journal).
Publications
Precambrian Research Special Issue
The co-leaders have made a proposal to Elsevier to
publish a Precambrian Research special issue under the
theme of IGCP Project 426 ‘Granite Systems and Pro-
terozoic Lithospheric Processes’. A call for full papers
to be included in the volume was sent to those who
presented papers at the IGCP 426 Field Conference
in Wisconsin (1998) and the IGCP 426 sessions at the
103
IV Hutton Symposium (1999), the GSA Annual meeting
(1999), and the 31st International Geological Congress
(2000). The aim is to send the reviewed manuscripts for
printing at the end of 2001 and, accordingly, an early
2002 publication date.
No. 427 – Ore-forming Processes in Dynamic
Magmatic Systems (1998-2002)
C. M. Lesher, Mineral Exploration Research Centre,
Willet Green Miller Centre, Level A3, Laurentian
University, 933 Ramsey Lake Road, Sudbury, ON P3E
6B5 Canada, e-mail: lesher@nickel.laurentian.ca
S.-J. Barnes, Sciences de la Terre, Université du Québec
à Chicoutimi, 555 boulevard de l'Université, Chicoutimi,
QC G7H 2B1 Canada, e-mail: sjbarnes@uqac.uquebec.ca
Description: The basic and applied scientific goals of
this project deal with relevant topics in fluid dynamics
and thermomechanical erosion in magmatic systems
with an emphasis on sulphide, PGE, oxide precipitation
mechanism and controls of the composition of magmatic
ores. A better understanding of the origin of ore deposits
of Ni-Cu-Co, Cr-V-Ti and PGE should contribute to the
efficient prospecting of ore deposits. Although not a
major aim, it is expected that a contribution will be made
to current understanding of how the geochemistry of
sulphur may contribute to the handling of mining waste.
The project will involve an international, interdiscipli-
nary group of researchers with expertise in field geology,
experimental, igneous and metamorphic petrology,
volcanology, mineralogy, geochemistry, isotope geo-
chemistry, fluid dynamics and thermodynamics. The
project will meet short- and long-term world-wide needs
by aiding in the transfer of research methodologies to
colleagues in less developed countries and by aiding in
the development of exploration tools that can be used
to discover and optimally develop sustainable resources
of PGE, Ni, Cu, Co, Cr, V, and Ti.
Website of the project
http://www.laurentian.ca/www/geology/IGCP/IGCP.htm
Participating countries
Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China,
Czech Republic, Denmark, Egypt, Finland, France,
Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Morocco, Namibia,
Norway, Portugal, Russia, South Africa, Spain, Ukraine,
United Kingdom, United States, Venezuela, Zimbabwe.
Achievements of the project this year
General scientific achievements
Field, laboratory, experimental, and theoretical studies
have advanced scientific understanding of ore-forming
104
processes (e.g. lava/magma emplacement, thermo-
mechanical erosion, wall-rock contamination, magma
mixing, base metal and PGE partitioning, crystallisation,
and ore segregation) in volcanic and subvolcanic systems
all over the world. These advances have benefited society
by transferring research methodologies to colleagues in
developing countries and by aiding in the development
of better exploration tools that can be used to discover
and optimally develop sustainable resources of PGE, Ni,
Cu, Co, Cr, V, and Ti.
Specific scientific achievements include:
1. Recognition that different elements and isotopes may
decouple during processing in dynamic magmatic
systems, that S isotopes are less sensitive than Os
isotopes to being reset by magma flow-through, and
that Sr and Os may be held behind during incon-
gruent melting of wall rocks.
2. Demonstration that sulphides may fractionate by a
variety of different processes including liquid immis-
cibility, partial fractional crystallisation, gravity
filtration, and zone refining.
3. Demonstration that dense, fluid sulphides and hydro-
dynamically-equivalent large blocks of country rocks
may be more easily transported in less dense, more
fluid magmas than previously believed.
4. Recognition that PGEs may occur in more than one
setting within layered intrusions and that lower grade
deposits may be economic.
5. Recognition of the role of volatiles in modifying
the crystallisation behaviour of the host magmas,
in modifying the partitioning of metals between
sulphide phases (solids and liquids), and in mobil-
ising metals during the late stages of crystal-
lisation to produce a broader range of mineralisa-
tion styles.
6. A better understanding of the behaviour of H and O
isotopes in dynamic magmatic systems and their
value in constraining ore-forming processes; and
7. The discovery of many new styles of mineralisation
in ore deposits world-wide.
Meetings
– 1 to 17 August 2000, 31st International Geo-
logical Congress, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil: Business
Meeting, co-sponsored General Session 11-6
Mineralisation Associated with Mafic and
Ultramafic Igneous Rocks, and co-sponsored field
trip Bft16 XIII Niquelândia and Barro Alto Mafic-
Ultramafic Layered Complexes of Goiás State,
Central Brazil. The General Session included 96
presentations from participants from 30 countries
and was attended by about 90 participants from all
over the world.
– 5 November 2000, Symposium on Ore Deposits
of the Sudbury District, Sudbury, Canada (about
160 participants).
Publications
– Amelin, Y.; Li, C.; Valeyev, O.; Naldrett, A. J. 2000.
Nd-Pb-Sr Isotope Systematics of Crustal Assimila-
tion in the Voisey’s Bay and Mushuau Intrusions,
Labrador, Canada. Economic Geology, Vol. 95,
pp. 815-30.
– Armstrong, R.; Wilson, A. H. 2000. A SHRIMP
U-Pb Study of Zircons from the Layered Sequence
of the Great Dyke, and a Granitoid Anatectic
Dyke. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, Vol. 180,
pp.1-12.
– Lambert, D. D.; Frick, L. R.; Foster, J. G.; Li, C.;
Naldrett, A. J. 2000. Re-Os Isotopic Systematics
of the Voisey’s Bay Ni-Cu-Co Magmatic Sulfide
System, Labrador, Canada: II. Implications for
Parental Magma Chemistry, Ore Genesis and
Metal Redistribution, Economic Geology, Vol. 95,
pp. 867-88
– Li, C.; Naldrett, A. J. 2000. Melting Reactions of
Gneissic Inclusions with Enclosing Magma at
Voisey’s Bay: Implications with Respect to Ore
Genesis. Economic Geology, Vol. 95, pp. 801-14.
– Li, C.; Lightfoot, P. C.; Amelin, Y.; Naldrett, A. J.
2000. Contrasting Petrological and Geochemical
Relationships in the Voisey’s Bay and Mushuau
Intrusions, Labrador, Canada: Implications for Ore
Genesis. Economic Geology, Vol. 95, pp. 771-800.
– Li, C.; Naldrett, A. J.; Ripley, E. M. (In press.)
Critical Factors for the Formation of a Nickel-Copper
Deposit in an Evolved Magma System: Lessons from
a Comparison of the Pants Lake and Voisey’s Bay
Sulfide Occurrences in Labrador: Mineralium Deposita.
– Maier, W. D. 2000. Concentrations of Platinum-
Group Elements in Cu-Sulphide Ores at Carolusberg
and East Okiep, Namaqualand, South Africa.
Mineralium Deposita, Vol. 35, pp. 422-9.
– Maier, W. D.; Arndt, N. T.; Curl, E. 2000. Progressive
Crustal Contamination of the Bushveld Complex:
Evidence from Nd Isotopic Analyses of the Cumulate
Rocks. Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology
(In press.)
– Maier, W. D.; Li, C.; de Waal, S. A. 2000. Why do
Large Layered Intrusions not Host Major Ni-Cu
Sulfide Deposits? Canadian Mineralogist (In press.)
– Naldrett, A. J.; Li, C. (eds.) 2000. Special Issue on
the Voisey’s Bay Ni-Cu-Co Deposit, Economic
Geology, Vol. 95, No. 4, pp. 673-915.
– Naldrett, A. J.; Asif, M.; Krstic, S.; Li, C. 2000. The
Composition of Ore at the Voisey’s Bay Ni-Cu Sulfide
Deposit, with Special Reference to Platinum-Group
Elements, Economic Geology, Vol. 95,
pp. 845-66.
– Naldrett, A. J.; Singh J.; Krstic, S.; Li, C. 2000. The
Mineralogy of the Voisey's Bay Ni-Cu-Co Deposit,
Northern Labrador, Canada: Influence of Oxidation
State on Textures and Mineral Compositions.
Economic Geology, Vol. 95, pp. 889-900.
– Ortega, L.; Lunar, R.; García Palomero, F.; Martín
Estévez, J. R. 2000. Evidencias de Fraccionación en
el Yacimiento Intramagmático de Ni-Cu-EGP de
Aguablanca (Badajoz). Cuadernos del Laboratorio
Geológico de Laxe 25, pp. 110-4.
– Ortega, L.; Prichard, H. M.; Lunar, R.; García
Palomero, F.; Moreno, T.; Fisher, P. C. 2000. The
Discovery of Aguablanca. Mining Magazine,
February 2000, pp. 78-80.
– Park, Y. R.; Ripley, E. M. (In press.) Mechanisms
and Patterns of O and H Isotopic Exchange during
Hydrothermal Alteration of the North Shore Volcanic
Group and Related Hypabyssal Sills, Mid-continent
Rift System, Minnesota. Chemical Geology.
– Pirrie, D.; Power, M. R.; Andersen, J. C. Ø.; Wheeler,
P. D. (In press.) Testing the Validity of Chrome-spinel
Chemistry as a Provenance and Petrogenetic
Indicator. Geology.
– Prendergast, M. D. 2000. Layering and Precious
Metals Mineralisation in the Rincon del Tigre
Complex, Eastern Bolivia. Economic Geology,
Vol. 95, pp. 113-30.
– Rehkämper, M.; Halliday, A. N.; Fitton, J. G.; Lee,
D.-C.; Arndt, N. T.; Wieneke, M. Ir, Ru, Pt and Pd
in Basalts and Komatiites: New Constraints for the
Geochemical Behaviour of the Platinum-group
Elements in the Mantle. Geochimica et Cosmichimica
Acta, Vol. 63, pp. 3815-34.
– Rice, A. 2000. Rollover in Volcanic Crater Lakes: A
Possible Cause for Lake Nyos Type Disasters. Journal
of Volcanology and Geothermal Research, Vol. 97,
pp. 233-9.
– Ripley, E. M.; Snyder, K. 2000. Experimental Sulfur
Isotopic Studies of the Pyrite to Pyrrhotite
Conversion in a Hydrogen Atmosphere. Economic
Geology, Vol. 95.
– Ripley, E. M.; Park, Y. R.; Lambert, D. D.; Frick,
L. R. (In press.) Re-Os Isotopic Variations in
Carbonaceous Pelites Hosting the Duluth Complex:
Implications for Metamorphic and Metasomatic
Processes Associated with Mafic Magma Chambers.
Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta.
– Ripley, E. M.; Park, Y.-R.; Li, C.; Naldrett, A. J.
2000. Oxygen Isotopic Study of the Voisey’s Bay Ni-
Cu-Co Deposit, Labrador, Canada. Economic
Geology, Vol. 95, pp. 831-44
– Thériault, R.; Barnes, S-J.; Severson, M. 2000. Origin
of Cu-Ni-PGE Sulfide Mineralization in the Partridge
River Intrusion, Duluth Complex, Minnesota.
Economic Geology, Vol. 95, pp. 929-45.
– Thériault, R. D.; Barnes, S.-J.; Severson, M. J. 2000.
Origin of Cu-Ni-PGE Sulfide Mineralization in the
Partridge River Intrusion, Duluth Complex,
Minnesota. Economic Geology, Vol. 95, pp. 929-43.
– Williams, D. A.; Wilson, A. H.; Greeley, R. 2000. A
Komatiite Analog for Potential Ultramafic Materials
on Io. Journal of Geophysical Research, Vol. 105,
pp. 1671-84.
– Wilson, A. H.; Murahwi, C. Z.; Coghill, B. M. 2000.
The Geochemistry of the PGE Subzone in the
Selukwe Subchamber, Great Dyke: An Intra-
formational-layer Model for Platinum Group Element
105
 Enrichment in Layered Intrusions. Mineralogy and
Petrology, Vol. 68, pp. 115-40.
– Xiong, Y.; Wood, S. A. 2000. Experimental Quantifi-
cation of Hydrothermal Solubility of Platinum-group
Elements with Special Reference to Porphyry Copper
Environments. Mineralogy and Petrology, pp. 1-28.
Activities planned
Meetings
– 26-29 August 2001, IGCP 427 Business Meeting
and Sponsorship of Special Session S6.1 on Genesis
of PGE Deposits in Honour of Prof. Eugen Stumpfl
at the 6th Biennial SGA-SEG Meeting, Krakow,
Poland, http://galaxy.uci.agh.edu.pl/~sga/
– 1-13 September 2001, IGCP 427 Field Excursion to
the Skaergaard Intrusion departing from Keflavik,
Iceland, http://www.ex.ac.uk/~jcanders
– 17-21 September 2001, IGCP 427 Spanish Working
Group Business Meeting and Special Session asso-
ciated with the XXI Spanish Mineralogical Society
Meeting in Málaga, Spain, 27-29 September 2001
http://www.ehu.es/sem/congreso/CONGRESO.HTM
– 17-22 September 2001, IGCP 427 Field Excursion
to Komatiites of the Norseman-Wiluna Belt, Western
Australia, http://redback.geol.uwa.edu.au/~ias/
– 24-28 September 2001, IGCP 427 Business Meeting
and Joint Sponsorship of 4th International Archaean
Symposium, Perth, http://redback.geol.uwa.edu.au/
~ias/
No. 428 – Past Climate Change Inferred
from the Analysis of the Underground
Temperature Field (1998-2002)
V. C̆ermák, Geophysical Institute, Czech Academy of
Sciences, 141-31 Praha, Czech Republic, e-mail:
cermak@ig.cas.cz
H. N. Pollack, Department of Geological Sciences,
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109,
United States of America, e-mail: hpollack@umich.edu
C. Clauser, Applied Geophysics, RWTH, D-52056
Aachen, Germany, e-mail: c.clauser@geophysik.rwth-
aachen.de
Description: Temperature changes at the earth's surface
propagate downwards with amplitude attenuation and
a time delay that increase with depth. The earth's sub-
surface has a certain capability to ‘remember’ what has
happened at the surface many years ago. This project
aims to reconstruct the climate pattern of past several
106
centuries by an integrated analysis of borehole temper-
ature data together with other proxy information. The
key method used is the inversion technique that allows
extraction of the past climate ‘signature’ still existing
today as small excursions detectable by precise measure-
ments of the present subsurface temperature field when
logging the holes. The general objectives include:
1. Exploitation of temperature-depth profiles to assess
the ground surface temperature history (GSTH) in
various locations.
2. Study of temporal and spatial scales and regional
trends of inverted GSTHs and correlating them with
meteorological and proxy data.
3. Extraction of a possible man-made component of
recent climate warming from the natural climate
variability.
Participating countries
Belarus, Brazil, Canada, China, Czech Republic, Finland,
Germany, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Morocco, Portugal,
Romania, Russia, Slovenia, Switzerland, United States
Achievement of the project in 2000
General scientific achievements
The operational database of borehole temperatures
to assess the global climate change (http://www.geo.lsa.
umich.edu/~climate/) currently contains 616 borehole
temperature profiles inverted for the climate recon-
struction from North America, Europe, Asia, Africa,
Australia, and South America, and is complementary to
instrumental meteorological records and traditional
climate proxies. The analysis of this database showed
a 500-year cumulative warming of about 1 K, half of
which has occurred in the 20th century. The magnitude
of ground surface warming over the past five centuries
is greater in the Northern Hemisphere than in the
Southern Hemisphere.
The magnitude of the most recent (climate) warming
can be directly measured by monitoring temperatures in
shallow subsurface. The results from two 40 m deep
experimental boreholes, drilled in the Czech Republic,
enabled to separate the potential anthropogenic compo-
nent from the natural climate variability. The inversion
of almost one hundred T(z)-records completed by the
analysis of the 1960-97 surface air temperature series
from 30 local meteorological stations revealed a regional
distribution of the present-day warming rate and
confirmed higher decade-scale warming rate of 0.028
K/yr at a site located on the rim of the large urban
agglomeration (Prague) compared with lower value of
0.018 K/yr observed in the agricultural countryside.
For the first time the inversion technique was used to
infer bottom water temperature (BWT) history from a
seafloor borehole. Because of the significant role of
ocean circulation in Earth's climate system, such infor-
mation may yield valuable information for the study of
climate change. The observed temperature-depth pro-
file in a hole drilled under the Ocean Drilling Program
in the Straits of Florida showed significant curvature
in the upper 100 m, which was likely caused by the
temporal variations of the BWT. The corresponding
reconstructed history indicates that the long-term
average BWT in the early 18th century was about
1 degree Celsius lower than the present value, this
history being similar to the surface air temperature
recorded at Key West, Florida.
The collection of temperature profiles from suitable
boreholes from various localities all over the world
continued, the inverted climate reconstructions were
discussed and the data published.
Meetings
– Workshop 'Geothermics at the Turn of the Century',
3-7 April 2000 at Evora, Portugal, organised by
Geophysical Centre of the University of Evora under
the auspices of the IHFC of the IASPEI and co-spon-
sored by the IGCP 428. A typical small-scale meet-
ing belonging to the tradition of the IHFC served
as a forum for the exchange of recent results/data
obtained by the heat flow community. 47 participants
representing specialists from 17 countries attended
the workshop. In addition, new information was
given on so far uncovered or poorly covered areas
(Bulgaria, Portugal, Spain), and in addition for
Canada, Cuba, Italy, Romania, Russia (Urals region)
and the United States. Of special interest was the
information of the possibility to assess the rate of
the present-day warming by direct temperature
monitoring at shallow depths.
– Round table discussion on the 'Use of Temperature
Borehole Data in the Climate Reconstruction',
following the programme of the special symposia
C-1 'Quaternary Climates', C-2 'Past Climate
Changes and the Geological Records' and the
20-2 session 'Recent Achievements Related to Past
Climate Change', all held during the 31st Inter-
national Geological Congress at Rio de Janeiro,
August 2000. The discussion focused on general
information of IHFC activities and its co-operation
under several projects, among which the IGCP
428 plays a central role. 12 specialists attended the
meeting from 10 countries.
Major outcomes from both meetings
1. All presented papers contributed to the knowledge
of a climate pattern of the last millennium, and
generally provided clear evidence that the world
climate got warmer, the 20th century being by far
the warmest compared to previous ones. More
detailed regional studies confirmed the possibility
to further assess the environmental character of the
recent ground surface temperature warming and even
to estimate a potential man-made component of this
warming, such as the effect of industrialisation,
urbanisation or the consequences of deforestation
and land-use changes.
2. It was suggested that the GST inversion of the
subsurface temperatures from regions such as Brazil
may be useful to demonstrate the negative conse-
quences of the fast destruction of the rain forest in
the last decades (in Amazonia and also in Malaysia
or Indonesia) due to elevated air/surface tempera-
tures in the cleared area.
3. The diffusive character of the penetration of temper-
ature changes from the surface to greater depth is of
special interest. Several examples from Europe
(Czech Republic, Slovenia, Finland) and South
America (Brazil) showed that for time 3 Ka B.P., the
averaging interval for assessing the surface condi-
tions stretches over a period of 4-2 Ka ago, for time
10 Ka B.P. such window is 15-5 Ka and for the period
30 Ka B.P. it is 50-10 Ka. This fact accentuates the
necessity for a reasonable application of the inver-
sion method to invert temperature profiles from holes
deeper than 1-2 km. Because the cold climate of the
last (Weichselian) glacial prevailed in the period of
80-10 Ka B.P., there is a chance to obtain mean GST,
despite the large averaging intervals.
List of selected publications
– Beltrami, H. 2000. Air/Soil Temperature in Open
Field and Forest Locations: Air/Ground Coupling
and Ground Temperature history. (Submitted.)
– Čermák, V.; Safanda, J.; Kresl, M.; Dedecek, P.;
Bodri, L. 2000. Recent Climate Warming: Surface
Air Temperature Series and Geothermal Evidence.
Stud. geophys. geod., Vol. 44, pp. 430-41.
– Huang, S.; Pollack, H. N.; Shen, P. Y. 2000.
Temperature Trends Over the Past Five Centuries
Reconstructed from Borehole Temperatures, Nature,
Vol. 403, pp. 756-8.
– Nagihara, S.; Wang, K. 2000. Inferring Bottom Water
Temperature History from Seafloor Borehole
Temperature Data. EOS, Trans. Am. Geophys. Union,
Suppl. 81, No. 22, WP53.
– Pasquale, V.; Verdoya, M.; Chiozzi, P.; Safanda, J.
2000. Evidence of Climate Warming from Under-
ground Temperatures in North-West Italy. Global
Planet. Change, Vol. 25, pp. 215-22.
– Pollack, H. N.; Huang, S. 2000. Climate Reconstruc-
tion from Subsurface Temperatures, Ann. Rev. Earth
Planetary Sci., Vol. 28, pp. 339-65.
– Taniguchi, M.; 2000. Evaluation of the Saltwater-
Groundwater Interface from Borehole Temperature
in a Coastal Region. Geophys. Res. Letts., Vol. 27,
pp. 713-6.
– Wojcik, G.; Majorowicz, J.; Marciniak, K.;
Przybylak, R.; Safanda, J.; Zielski, A. 2000. The Last
Millennium Climate Change in Northern Poland
107
 Derived from Well Temperature Profiles, Tree-rings
and Instrumental Data. Prace geograficzne, Krakow,
Vol. 107, pp. 137-48.
Activities planned
General goals
The project will continue in:
1. Improving the already existing contacts and
establishing new close relations with other palaeo-
climatologists (especially tree-rings), exchanging
databases and results obtained in the GST recon-
structions.
2. Cross-correlation of various proxy records with
instrumental data; assessing the strengths and weak-
nesses of proxies as estimators of the past climate
variability.
3. Effectuating correlation studies of the obtained
ground surface temperature histories with the long-
term meteorological series.
Meetings
– Fifth International Conference on 'Terrestrial Heat
Flow and the Lithosphere Structure', Kostelec, Czech
Republic, 6-10 June 2001. One-week working
meeting of the IHFC organized once in five years
and covering all major problems of contemporary
geothermics: lithosphere studies, thermal modelling,
studies of thermophysical properties of rocks,
including also climate-borehole inversions. Special
attention will be paid to the IGCP 428 programme
and the preparation of a special publication to present
the major results obtained.
– Special symposium on 'Borehole Temperatures as
Imprint of Geological History, Hydrogeology and
Changing Climate' as part of the General Assembly
of the IASPEI, Hanoi, Viet Nam, 18-30 August 2001.
Proposed scope: Last decade has been characterised
by a remarkable progress in different practical
attempts to use precise temperature logs from bore-
holes to solve a number of problems in geothermics,
geophysics, hydrology and geology. Especially the
reconstruction of the ground surface temperature
history (GSTH) by numerical inversion techniques
became a useful alternative palaeoclimate method.
The purpose of the symposium will be to discuss
general methodology of temperature logging and
long-term temperature monitoring in boreholes,
including logging techniques, new high-tech mate-
rial/instrumentation and to present results obtained
in both applied geothermal prospecting as well as in
basic heat flow studies. Special attention will be paid
to present improvement of existing GSTH inversion
schemes, to cross-correlate obtained results with
surface air meteorological series and proxies, and
to evaluate the soil/air temperature coupling and its
108
dependence on environmental factors. Of special
interest will be reports on new data from the so far
uncovered areas and any attempts to separate the
potential man-made components of the global
warming from the natural climate variability.
No. 429 – Organics in Major Environmental
Issues (1998-2002)
J. Pas̆ava, Czech Geological Survey, Klárov 131/3, 118
21 Praha 1, Czech Republic, e-mail: pasava@cgu.cz
J. Jeník, Faculty of Science, Charles University,
Department of Botany, Benátská 2, 128 01 Praha 2,
Czech Republic, e-mail: jenik@natur.cuni.cz
Description: Organic matter and its derivates are essen-
tial components of the natural environment, and
increasing awareness has developed recently on the
varied behaviour and roles of organics in environmental
issues. The scientific aim of this project is to correlate
existing and new data from biospheric, geospheric and
atmospheric studies in order to evaluate the different
roles of organic matter in the environment. Direct
evidence of natural processing of organic matter and
geochemical models will be used to suggest how society
may minimise the negative effects of mining activities
and improve remedies. Studies will include radioactive
waste depository sites, the formation of human carcino-
gens and the fate of organic pollutants in surface and
groundwater.
Website of the project
http://www.min.tu-clausthal.de/www/sga/news6/
art6.html
Participating countries (* active in 2000)
*Albania, Argentina, *Australia, *Austria, *Bulgaria,
Botswana, *Brazil, Burkina Faso, *Canada, *China,
*Czech Republic, *Estonia, *Finland, *France,
*Germany, *Hungary, *Israel, *Italy, *Japan, *Jordan,
*Korea (Rep. of), *Macedonia, Mongolia, Nigeria,
Philippines, *Poland, Republic of South Africa,
*Romania, *Russia, *Slovakia, *Slovenia, *Spain,
*Switzerland, *United Kingdom, *United States.
Achievements in 2000
Meetings and scientific achievements
2000 was the third year of IGCP 429, characterised by
continuing progress within all eight working groups.
Besides 33 countries involved in the project, new links
have been established in Burkina Faso and Botswana.
Two major international events and several national
meetings were carried out within IGCP 429 activities.
The 2000 Annual International Meeting on the ‘Organics
in Major Environmental Issues (C7 Special Symposium)’
took place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 6-17 August, within
the framework of the 31st International Geological
Congress. Scientists from eight countries presented eight
scientific talks at a very well attended half-day session
of the IGCP 429 (about 50 people). Selected papers will
be published in the Geochemical Transactions (a new
electronic journal published by the Royal Society of
Chemistry, in collaboration with the Division of
Geochemistry of the American Chemical Society).
The training component is another very important aspect
of the IGCP 429 activities. The project was actively
involved in the preparation and organization of a training
course for scientists from developing countries. IGCP
429 was one of the organizers and scientific guarantees
of the GEOCHIM 2000 Postgraduate Certificated
Training Course together with the Czech Geological
Survey in Prague, the Czech Commission for UNESCO
and UNESCO/Paris. The course was held in Prague
and Dolní Roz̆ínka (Czech Republic) from 4-18
September 2000. 13 geoscientists representing 9 devel-
oping countries were trained both theoretically and
practically in the geochemical exploration methods and
their environmental applications.
The scientific results reached within the eight individual
topical working groups can be briefly summarised as
follows:
One of the major highlights of the IGCP 429 activities
came out of a Swiss-American-Slovenian collaborative
study. The carbon isotope ratios of individual lipids
from different vegetable oils were analysed by gas
chromatography-combustion-isotope ratio mass spectro-
metry (GC/C/IRMS). This approach provides further
insight into the purity and geographic origin of the oils.
The δ13C of the fatty acids appears to be preserved
where lipids distribution has been altered by degrada-
tion or burial. The results indicate that the GC/C/IRMS
of plant lipids may be a potential tracer of the global
changes recorded in the terrestrial carbon cycle.
Working group 1
In the field of organic matter/metals interactions
(WG 1), important scientific results have been reached
through the study of PGE sorption and various other
metals especially by American and Russian scientists.
It was suggested that the use of surface complexation
modelling of aqueous metal adsorption onto bacterial
surfaces yields accurate estimates of the distribution of
metals in bacteria-bearing solutions. Experiments on
Pt sorption on activated carbonised organic matter have
proven to be an effective mechanism of Pt accumula-
tion in newly discovered low-grade Pt deposits bound
to low-rank brown coals and black shales.
Working group 2
In the field of microbial leaching in environmental clean-
up (WG 2), considerable progress was achieved by
Belgium and United States scientists who reported on
the use of heavy metal resistant bacteria in a bioreactor
concept to remove bio-available heavy metals in polluted
soils. Japanese scientists have been successful in bio-
degradation of hazardous organochlorine compounds in
groundwater using indigenous microbe. Scientists from
India and Trinidad highlighted significant biosorption
properties of Ganoderma lucidum (macro fungi), widely
occurring in tropical rainforests worldwide, as an alter-
nate wastewater treatment technology.
Working group 3
In the field of weathering of organic matter (WG 3) for
society, Czech scientists reported very useful results on
the weathering of organic matter in waster dumps of
coalmines of various ages from the Pilsen Basin (West
Bohemia, Czech Republic). This study has shown that
a significant amount of oxidation products (humic
substances) is produced during weathering. From the
agrochemical point of view, the weathering of organic
matter affects namely the sorption capacity of rocks
dumped on the heaps. These results should be taken into
consideration at the remediation of various dumpsites
after coal mining worldwide. Norwegian scientists have
demonstrated that soil compaction has affected the
biological potential of CH4 oxidation in the soil.
Working group 4
In the field of acid mine drainage (WG 4), considerable
scientific results have been obtained by Brazilian scien-
tists who suggested that Brazilian peat is suitable for
the removal of heavy metals of acid effluents from coal
mines. Canadian scientists in Quebec successfully
applied similar studies, based on organic barriers.
Estonian scientists demonstrated that alumosilicate
(smectite) is able to buffer only a certain proportion of
the acidity at the Maardu site, depending on the partial
equilibrium with respect to the dominating secondary
phase. All these results are very important for the treat-
ment of acid mine drainage at various sites of the world.
Working group 5
Studies in the field of environmental models of black
shale hosted mineral deposits (WG 5), of sulphide, envi-
ronmentally hazardous facies of the Upper Proterozoic
black shales in the Bohemian Massif showed that they
cause local acidification of wells, strong corrosion of
municipal water pipeline and killings of local biota in
surface waters through leaking of acid mine waters from
the abandoned mining sites. Similarly, oriented studies
have been progressing in Austria, China, Georgia,
Finland, Kazakhstan, Korea (Rep. of), Macedonia,
Poland, Ukraine, United States, Uzbekistan and other
countries.
Working group 6
In the field of organic atmospheric particulates (WG 6),
a Chinese-Korean collaborative project identified coal
combustion in power stations and households as the
major factor influencing heavy metal contamination in
the Hunchun basin (North-East China). It was concluded
109
that the behaviour of atmospheric particles need to
be studied to face successfully future environmental
problems related to these emissions, expecting growing
coal consumption especially in developing countries.
Working group 7
In the field of organic matter in nuclear waste issues
(WG 7), research activities, using the most advanced
analytical methods and carried out by Canadian, French
and Australian scientists, helped to confirm that the
immobilisation of uraninite in solidified graphitic bitu-
men enhanced the presence of 235U and various fission
products at Oklo (Gabon). A new model of trace metal-
humate interactions was applied to situations, which
generally occur in deep groundwater at selected reposi-
tories of radioactive waste. Swiss scientists postulated
this. These results should be considered in developing
safe nuclear waste depository sites.
Working group 8
In the field of organics in aquifers and water systems
(WG 8), a new classification of geothermal water of the
Panonian Basin (Hungary), based on the study of organic
composition, was suggested by Hungarian scientists who
were able to determine various organic compounds and
link them to individual stages of the basin evolution.
More data from different geothermal water worldwide
are needed to verify the proposed classification scheme.
Brazilian, American and German scientists have also
reported important results in this field.
Publications
More than 80 scientific papers resulted from IGCP
429 activities and were published in the form of mono-
graphs, articles in various scientific journals and
abstracts to the IGCP 429 meetings. Selected publica-
tions are as follows:
– Andersson, E.; Simoneit, B. R. T.; Holm, N. G. 2000.
Amino Acid Abundances and Stereochemistry in
Hydrtothermally Altered Sediments from the Juan de
Fuca Ridge, North-Eastern Pacific Ocean. Applied
Geochemistry, Vol. 15, pp. 1169-90. Pergamon.
– Benner, S. G.; Gould, W. D.; Blowes, D. W. 2000.
Microbial Populations Associated with the
Generation and Treatment of Acid Mine Drainage.
Chemical Geology, Vol. 169, pp. 435-48, Elsevier.
– Fein, J. B. 2000. Quantifying the Effects of Bacteria
on Asorption Reactions in WaterRock Systems.
Chemical Geology, Vol. 169, pp. 265-80, Elsevier.
– Forgác̆, J.; Stres̆ko, V.; S̆oms̆ák, L.; S̆imonovic̆ová, A.
2000. Bioaccumulation of Some Metals on Highly
Polluted Alluvial Soils of the S̆tiavnický Potok Brook
Area (Slovak Republic). Mineralia Slovaca, Vol. 32,
pp. 103-8, Bratislava.
– Fowle, D. A.; Fein, J. B. 2000. Experimental
Measurements of the Reversibility of Metal-Bacteria
Adsorption Reactions. Chemical Geology, Vol. 168,
pp. 27-36, Elsevier.
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– Haggan, T.; Parnell, J. 2000. Hydrocarbon-metal
Associations in the Western Cordillera, Central Peru.
Journal of Geochemical Exploration, 69-70, pp. 229-34.
– Hidaka, H.; Gauthier-Lafaye, 2000. Redistribution of
Fissiogenic and Non-fissiogenic REE, Th and U in
and Around Natural Fission Reactors at Oklo and
Bangomé, Gabon. Geochimica et Cosmochimica
Acta, Vol. 64, pp. 2093-108, Pergamon.
– Hu, W.; Zhou, H.; Gu, L.; Zhang, W.; Lu, X.; Fu,
Q.; Pan, J.; Zhang, H. 2000. New Evidence of
Microbe Origin for Ferromanganese Nodules from
the East Pacific Deep Sea Floor. Science in China
(Series D), Vol. 43, pp. 187-92, Beijing.
– Kr̆íbek, B.; Pas̆ava, J.; Lobitzer, H. 1999. The
Behaviour of Selected Trace Elements in Alpine
Soils Developed on Black Shales in the Upper Part
of the ‘Hauptdolomit’ in the Seefeld Area, Tyrol,
Austria. Abhandlungen der Geologischen Bundesan-
stalt, 56/2, pp. 91-7, Wien.
– Kr̆íbek, B.; Landais, P. 2000. Organic Matter in Ore
Deposits: from the Genesis to the Environmental
Issues. Scientific Bridges for 2000 and Beyond, a
Virtual Colloquium by the Elf ‘Professeurs de
l´Académie des Sciences, Académie des Sciences’,
pp. 121-30, ISBN 2-7430-0365-0, London-Paris-
New York.
– Li Shengrong and Gao Zhenmin, 2000, Origin Trace
for Noble Metal Group Elements in the Lower
Cambrian Black Rock Series of South China. Science
in China (Series D), 30, pp. 169-74. Beijing.
– Moon, J. W.; Moon, H. S.; Woo, N. C.; Hahn, J. S.;
Won, J. S.; Song, Y.; Lin, X.; Zhao, Y. 2000.
Evaluation of Heavy Metal Contamination and
Implication of Multiple Sources from Hunchun
Basin, North-Eastern China. Environmental Geology,
Vol. 39, pp. 1039-52, Springer Verlag.
– Novák, M.; Kirchner, J. W.; Groscheová, H.; Havel,
M.; C̆erný, J.; Krejc̆í, R.; Buzek, F. 2000. Sulfur
Isotope Dynamics in two Central European Water-
sheds Affected by High Atmospheric Deposition of
SOx. Geochimica and Cosmochimica Acta, Vol. 64,
pp. 367-83. Pergamon.
– O’Reilly, C.; Parnell, J. 1999. Fluid Flow and
Thermal Histories for Cambrian-Ordovician Platform
Deposits, New York: Evidence from Fluid Inclusion
Studies. Geological Society of America Bulletin,
Vol.111, pp. 1884-96.
– Parnell, J.; McCready, A. 2000. Paragenesis of Gold-
and Hydrocarbon-bearing Fluids in Gold Deposits.
In: M. Glikson and M. Mastalerz (eds.), Organic
Matter and Mineralization. Kluwer, Dordrecht,
pp. 38-52.
– Pas̆ava, J. 1999. Geochim 99 – Postgraduate
Certificated Training Course in Geochemical
Exploration Methods and their Environmental
Applications. Episodes, Vol. 22, 4, pp. 311-2.
– Pas̆ava, J.; Schonlaub, H. P. 1999. Stratigraphy,
Geochemistry and Origin of Silurian Black
Graptolitic Shales of the Carnic Alps (Austria). Abh.
Geol. B.A., 56/1, pp. 317-24, Wien.
– Peng Xianzhi; Jia Rongfen; Li Rongson; Gai
Shungying; Liu Tungsheng. 2000. Paleo-environ-
mental Study on the Growth of Magnetotactic
Bacteria and Precipitation of Magnetosomes in
Chinese Loess-paleosol Sequences, Chinese science
bulletin, 45 Supp. Pp. 21-5. Beijing.
– Peucker-Ehrenbrink, B.; Hannigan, R. E. 2000.
Effects of Black Shale Weathering on the Mobility
of Rhenium and Platinum Group Elements. Geology,
5, pp. 475-8.
– Plyusnina, L. P.; Kyzmina, T. V.; Likhoidov, G. G.;
Narnov, G. A. 2000. Experimental Modeling of
Platinum Sorption on Organic Matter. Applied
Geochemistry, Vol.15, pp. 777-84, Pergamon.
– Puura, E.; Neretnieks, I. 2000. Atmospheric Oxid-
ation of the Pyritic Waste Rock in Maardu,
Estonia, 2: An Assessment of Alumosilicate
Buffering Potential. Environmental Geology, Vol. 39,
pp. 560-6, Springer Verlag.
– Schucheng, X.; Tandong, Y.; Shichang, K.; Baiqing,
X.; Keqin, D.; Thompson, L. G. 2000. Geochemical
Analyses of a Himalayan Snowpit Profile:
Implications for Atmospheric Pollution and Climate.
Organic Geochemistry, Vol. 31, pp. 15-23. Pergamon.
– Tao Zuyi; Chu Taiwei; Du Jinzhou; Dai XiongXin;
Gu Yingije. 2000. Effects of Fulvic Acids on Sorption
of U(VI), Zn, Yb, I and Se(IV) onto oxides of
aluminum, iron and silicon. Applied Geochemistry
15, 133-139. Pergamon.
Proposed activities in 2001
General goals
• Continuation of ongoing transdisciplinary research
projects covering the eight major topics of the project
with possible involvement of MAB specialists on
both national and international levels.
• Active participation in the GEOCHIM 2001 – a post-
graduate training course on geochemical exploration
methods and their environmental applications.
• Presentation of scientific results on both national and
international levels.
• Publication of new results in local and internation-
ally recognized periodicals.
• Editing Newsletter.
Meetings
– Annual International Meeting The role of organic
matter in the formation of mineral deposits and
related environmental issues, Session S1 in the joint
SGA-SEG Meeting 26-29 August 2001, Cracow,
Poland.
– GEOCHIM 2001 – A Training Course in Geo-
chemical Exploration Methods and Their Environ-
mental Applications, co-organized by the Czech
Geological Survey and UNESCO, Prague and Dolní
Roz̆ínka, 3-17 September 2001.
No. 430 – Tethyan Mantle Dynamics (2000-2004)
M. F. J. Flower, Department of Earth and Environmental
Sciences, University of Illinois at Chicago (m/c 186),
845 W. Taylor St., Chicago, IL 60607, United States,
e-mail: flower@uic.edu
V. I. Mocanu, Faculty of Geology and Geophysics,
University of Bucharest, 6, Traian Vuia St., Bucharest
1, RO – 70139, Romania, e-mail: mocanu@gg.unibuc.ro
R. M. Russo, Department of Geological Sciences, Locy
Hall, Northwestern University, Sheridan Road, Evanston,
IL 60201, United States, e-mail: ray@earth.nwu.edu
N. Trong Yem, Interministerial Centre for Spatial,
Applications, 82A-Str. Bach Dang, Chuong, Duong,
Hoan Kiem, Hanoi, Viet Nam, e-mail: yem@rg-igl.ac.vn
Ma Zongjin, Institute of Geology, State Seismological
Bureau, P.O. Box 9803, Beijing, 100029, P.R. China,
e-mail: jszhang@public3.bta.net.cn
Description: IGCP 430 is addressing mantle-lithosphere
interactions associated with Tethyan plate collisions. As
a start to a better understanding of seismic and volcanic
hazards associated with colliding plate margins, IGCP
430 is co-ordinating research in Tethyan 'natural labo-
ratories' with a view to evaluating the role of collision-
related mantle flow fields in determining geologic hazard
scenarios. Factors linking collision-related mantle flow
with earthquake and volcano behaviour may include
processes such as asthenosphere perturbation associated
with the detachment of subducting lithospheric slabs,
lateral squeezing or extrusion of the asthenosphere, post-
orogenic collapse, mantle delamination and exhumation,
and the lateral escape of lithosphere. It is also likely that
melting associated with plate convergence or collision
is largely decoupled from subducting slabs and triggered
by dehydration reactions within the convecting supra-
subduction mantle.
Two regions – referred to as 'PANCARDI' (the Pannonian
basin and Carpathian and Dinaride orogens, in Eastern
and South-Eastern Europe) and 'SEAWPAC' (including
South-East Asia and Western Pacific marginal basins)
– are already subjects of strongly funded, multidiscipli-
nary studies. By integrating results from, and initiating
new research in these and other natural laboratories,
IGCP 430 will build a basis for assessing the implica-
tions of mantle dynamic collision responses.
Website of the project
http://ns.gg.unibuc.ro/igcp430/
Participating countries
Austria, Brunei, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Canada, China,
Czech Republic, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Indonesia,
India, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Laos, Malaysia,
111
Netherlands, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Poland,
Russia, Romania, Slovakia, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey,
Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States, Viet Nam,
Yugoslavia.
Project Achievements in 2000
The Steering Committee met in December 1999, at
the American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting in San
Francisco, following informal meetings with Chinese,
Vietnamese, Thai, and Japanese colleagues at the annual
meeting of CCOP (Co-ordinating Committee for Off-
shore Geoscience Research in South-East Asia) in Hanoi,
Viet Nam, in October 1999.
The first annual IGCP 430 workshop was held on 16-21
June 2000, in Covasna, Romania. Sixty-five scientists
from more than 20 nations attended the scientific
sessions, which began with a review of the highly
successful EUROPROBE-PANCARDI programme.
Discussion thereafter focused on problems of ophiolite
provenance, tomographic evidence, numerical modelling
constraints, slab motions and mantle flow, post-collision
slab detachment effects, lithosphere kinematics, and
magmatism. Field trips were conducted in the Carpathian
Mountains and Transylvanian Basin, allowing study
of structural components of the Carpathian orogeny
– the Flysch Zone and Getic Nappe, and so-called
Vrancea 'bend zone', along with Neogene-Quaternary
volcanism – including subduction-related volcanoes of
the Calimani-Gughiu-Hargita calcalkaline chain and post-
collision alkali basalts in the Persani Mountains, illus-
trating fundamental aspects of PANCARDI evolution.
A final session was devoted to developing integrated
geologic hazard scenarios – including the evaluation
of seismic risk, implications of seismic attenuation,
mitigating volcanic hazards, and linkages between plate
collision, mantle extrusion, and basin formation.
A special IGCP 430 session was held at the 2000 AGU
Fall meeting, San Francisco, from which 25 papers have
been solicited for publication in a special issue of
Tectonophysics.
IGCP 430-related presentations were also made at the
International Global Dynamics Symposium, 1-5 July
2000, Beijing, People’s Republic of China, the Inter-
national Geological Congress, August 2000, Rio de
Janeiro, Brazil, the Fourth Annual PANCARDI meeting,
1-5 October 2000, Dubrovnik, Croatia, and the meeting
of the IGCP-derived Peritethyan Rifting Programme in
November 2000, in Paris, France.
Activities planned
General goals
The following areas are targeted for funding proposals:
112
1. Asthenosphere-lithosphere structure
Asthenosphere development and the fate of converging
and colliding plates may be recorded by targeted tomo-
graphic experiments, such as those in progress or planned
in Vrancea (Romania) and Yunnan (South-West China),
using in situ seismometers, to establish the extent of
subducting slab continuity, post-collision slab break-off,
and lateral migration of slab tearing. Larger-scale tomo-
graphic studies will be able to define deeper mantle
structure and pre-collision lithosphere consumption
rates. Spatial-temporal relationships between ophiolites,
regional metamorphic grade, orocline formation, and
post-collision magmatism need to be refined in order to
understand relationships between crustal deformation
and collision-related mantle effects. These may include
relationships between post-collision slab break-off,
migration of sedimentary depocentres, and magmatic
activity, providing critical clues to asthenosphere-litho-
sphere flow behaviour.
2. Asthenosphere-lithosphere thermal state
Asthenospheric potential temperatures may be estimated
from mantle melt equilibration conditions derived from
experimental- and thermodynamically based (MELTS)
thermobarometric approaches, also from surface heat
flow measurements – both approaches complementing
mantle velocity structure studies and thermal boundary
layer models. Lithospheric mantle thermal gradients may
be derived from thermobarometric calculations based on
element partitioning between coexisting equilibrated
mineral pairs in mantle xenoliths, together with lower
crustal and upper mantle metamorphic facies analysis.
Reflecting the combined thermal and dynamic condi-
tions erupted magmas represent thermal and composi-
tional 'probes' of their mantle sources as the latter evolve
in response to plate collisions. Their spatial-temporal
occurrence, mantle source isotopic signatures, and inter-
polated mantle thermal state may record asthenosphere
isotopic provinciality and enrichment-depletion histories
and match geophysical (e.g. tomographic) images of
mantle and lithosphere structure.
3. Mantle flow and plate kinematics
Mantle flow may be studied by: (1) establishing asthenos-
pheric anisotropy and rheologic character on the basis
of seismic attenuation, receiver function and poisson
ratio studies, and shear-wave splitting experiments,
(2) using Sr, Nd, Pb, O, and Os isotopic tracers in mantle
'probes' to record contamination and mixing histories,
and (3) using three-dimensional numerical modelling.
Ophiolite sequences and dated asthenospheric melt
eruptions may record spatial-temporal distribution of
'contaminated' mantle. Kinematic reconstructions need
to be constrained by geologic (palaeogeographic) and
palaeomagnetic data, and geodetic (GPS) studies of
neotectonic motions in conjunction with metamorphic
PTt path analysis and numerical modelling, with a view
to distinguishing crustal shortening and thickening,
lithosphere-driven escape, and mantle extrusion
models. Processes associated with the formation and
emplacement of ophiolites may be established on the basis
of their physical structure and compositional affinities,
with the aim of distinguishing provenance in 'oceanic'
or accretionary arc-forearc settings, the latter possibly
signifying collision-induced arc-trench rollback.
Meetings
The 2nd IGCP 430 workshop, 'Implications of Collision-
Related Mantle Flow for Eastern Tethyan Geodynamics',
will be held on 17-26 October at Halong Bay City,
Viet Nam. Workshop goals will be to (1) discuss new
geologic, petrologic, and geophysical data for East and
South-East Asia and analogous Tethyan 'natural labora-
tories', (2) consider models relating lithosphere dyna-
mics to mantle flow resulting from plate collisions, and
(3) refine research strategies for testing these models.
Three 4-day field trips will include guided investigations
of the Red River Fault zone, the Song Ma ophiolite, and
the Song Da outlier of the Emeishan flood basalts. A fur-
ther AGU special session is planned for December 2001.
Other relevant information
A description of IGCP 430 plans and activities was
published in Eos (Transactions of the American Geo-
physical Union), 5 December 2000, while the Covasna
meeting report and Halong Bay meeting announcement
will appear shortly. Further publications from the project
are in press or in preparation and will be listed on the
project website.
No. 431 – African Pollen Database (1998-2002)
A. M. Lezine, URA 1761, Centre national de la
recherche scientifique (CNRS), Paléontologie et strati-
graphie, UPMC Jussieu, B.P. 106, 75252 Paris Cedex 5,
France, e-mail: lezine@ccr.jussieu.fr
B. Sowunmi, Nigeria, e-mail: sowunmi@skannet.com
Description: The African Pollen Database is a network
grouping together all scientists involved in African
palynology. Its objective is to provide a tool independent
of particular research programmes to carry out research
concerned with biodiversity and global change. This
project fills a gap in what is otherwise a global endeavour
to provide tools with which to assess vegetation changes
linked to recent climate changes. Its premises are that
present-day ecosystems are largely dependent on their
history, and that their present-day state cannot be consid-
ered initial or stationary. While the proposal builds on
northern hemisphere traditions of pollen analysis, there
are problems peculiar to the topics that will be addressed,
i.e. the greater diversity of tropical ecosystems, and the
frequently lower pollen production of many species.
Results will facilitate consideration of the effects of
human activity and its relation to the process of
desertification. The project has good links with others
established under the INQUA umbrella, such as the
European Pollen Database, and regional associations of
palynologists. There is an important link with the World
Data Center for Palaeoclimatology in Denver, Colorado,
United States, which is the official data centre for the
IGBP PAGES programme. Applications of societal rele-
vance include the assessments of controls on land cover
changes and lessons learnt for land management.
Website of the project
http://medias.meteo.fr/apd/
Participating countries (all active)
Belgium, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Congo (DR),
Egypt, Ethiopia, France, Germany, Italy, Kenya,
Morocco, Netherlands, Nigeria, Spain, South Africa,
Sudan, Sweden, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, United
Kingdom, United States.
Achievements in 2000
Research on Global Change needs palaeoclimatic
records for the tropics. In the past, earth’s Orbital vari-
ations, changes in extent of ice-sheets and in the atmos-
pheric composition, associated with ocean and land-
surface feedback has caused major changes in the
monsoon dynamics. However, the paucity of continental
data from the monsoon region, emphasized in the results
of BIOME 6000, PMIP, and TEMPO projects, limits the
reliability of model/data comparison in this critical
region. Pollen constitutes a reliable climatic proxy. But
syntheses of palynological studies at the regional or
continental scale rely on the community-wide partici-
pation for pollen data compilation and associated quality
control. Initiatives for creating pollen databases such
as the African Pollen Database, the Chinese Pollen
Database, the Indo-Pacific Database will provide the
appropriate tools. Particular attention should be devoted
to the precession cycle and the distinction between
human impact and climatic changes during the last
millennia.
Data collection:
• the African pollen flora: 6000 photos of reference
pollen grains were collected, corresponding to
148 families.
• photos of 710 pollen taxa are on line.
• 180 Late Quaternary pollen sequences were gath-
ered; they are available in a tilia format through
internet. 101 are converted in paradox tables.
• 1000 modern samples were gathered. The collection
of data will be terminated end of 2000. After this
date, they will be available through the web with
additional tools for interpretation and modeling.
Pollen diagrams:
• to date, "quick look" diagrams are available for
30 Late Quaternary pollen sequences.
113
Modern pollen data:
• isopollen maps and circles for different percentages
are drawn for the modern pollen data.
Pollen data from North Africa:
• pollen data from North Africa will be included into
APD. They are up to now available at the LBHP
laboratory in Marseille (Joel Guiot).
Software tools:
• will be available to provide depth-age models (calib,
Dep-Age). The use of these tools to establish a "par
defaut" chronology has to be discussed with the
authors.
Data policy:
Rules for data-use have to be respected. In particular,
contributors have to be contacted for discussion or asso-
ciated when their data are used for environmental/climate
reconstructions. See §C-3 "ethical recommendations"
(minutes of the meeting on the structure of the African
pollen database held on the 9th September 1996 at
Bierville, France):
Users of the database:
1. Should cite, in any publication using data from the
database, the contributors' original publications
and/or APD sources.
2. Should acknowledge the contributors of unpublished
data used and any advice such contributors might
have provided.
3. Apply normal ethics pertaining to co-authorship of
publications. The contributor should be invited to
be a co-author if a user makes significant use of a
single contributor's site, or if a single contributor's
data comprise a substantial portion of a larger data
set analyzed, or if a contributor makes a significant
contribution to the analysis of the data or to the inter-
pretation of the results.
Meetings
Training
A joint APD/SEARCH training session has been organ-
ized in Toulouse 5-11 November 1999. Conferences and
courses have been carried out by modellers and users
of databases in the field of environmental studies and
palynology. In addition to this, training courses for the
use of computer (entry of data, statistical treatments,
modelling) have been organized for 11 APD fellows
from Bénin, Congo, Ethiopia, France, Italy, Kenya,
Central African Republic, Syria, Togo Uganda.
10th ICP Congress
The project has organized a special meeting during the
10th ICP congress at Nanjing (June 2000). Oral presen-
tations and posters have been presented and a general
discussion has been organized to discuss the network organ-
isation, the progress in data compilation and exploration.
114
Publications
Dissemination of results
The APD web site (http//:medias.meteo.fr/apd) is main-
tained by Medias-France in Toulouse. Anne Delestan is
in charge of the entry of data (pollen counts or photos),
the realisation of software and tools for direct views of
data percentages as proportional circles or isopollen
curves. She is now working with Konrad Gajewski on
the modern pollen database and with Joel Guiot for
climate data for further transfer functions or modelling
experiments. In particular, Joel Guiot and Anne Delestan
have defined the environmental factors need for the
APD databases. The climatic variables are derived from
a re-analysis dataset over a grid of 1° x 1° of latitude
x longitude. They will be interpolated at each surface
sample site:
• mean monthly temperature (averaged over 15 years)
• minimum value of the mean minimum temperature
(within the 15 year dataset)
• maximum value of the mean maximum temperature
(within the 15 year dataset)
• total monthly precipitation (over the 15 years).
Vegetation data will be derived from the NDVI remote-
sensing dataset at a scale of 1 km resolution.
Software has been prepared to interpolate these gridded
datasets at the location of the pollen sites.
As editor of the newsletter of International Union of
Biological Sciences (PALYNOS), Anne-Marie Lézine
has published a short article concerning APD activities.
This newsletter is widely distributed to each members
of palynological association throughout the world.
Elenga, H. et al. Paléoenvironnements Holocène moyen
et récent dans le marais de la Songolo (Congo). (in press
in Société Géologique de France).
Elenga, H. et al. Use of of plots to define pollen
assemblages-vegetation relationships in tropical dense
ecosystems: the Mayombe dense forest (Congo) (in
press in Review of Palaeobotany and Palynologie).
Farrera, I., S. P. Harrison, I. C. Prentice, G. Ramstein,
J. Guiot, P. J. Bartlein, R. Bonnefille, M. Bush, W. Cramer,
U. von Grafenstein, K. Holmgren, H. Hooghiemstra,
G. Hope, D. Jolly, S.-E. Lauritzen, Y. Ono, S. Pinot,
M. Stute, G. Yu, 1999. Tropical climates at the Last
Glacial Maximum: a new synthesis of terrestrial palaeo-
climate data. I. Vegetation, lake-levels and geochemistry.
Climate Dynamics, 15, 823-856.
Guiot, J., Torre, F., Jolly, D., Peyron, O., Boreux, J.J. and
Cheddadi, R., 2000. Inverse vegetation modeling by
Monte Carlo sampling to reconstruct palaeoclimates
under changed precipitation seasonality and CO2 condi-
tions: application to glacial climate in Mediterranean
region. Ecological Modelling, 127: 119-140.
Peyron, O., Jolly, D., Bonnefille, R., Vincens, A. &
Guiot, J., (in press). The climate of East Africa from
pollen data, 6000 years ago. Quaternary Research.
Activities planned
The topic of the next meeting will be “PAST RECORDS
OF LAND COVER CHANGE, CLIMATE OR THE
HUMAN IMPACT”. This meeting will be held in
Nairobi, Kenya (October 2001) together with that of the
“SEARCH” Enrich network.
No. 434 – Land-Ocean Interactions
during the Cretaceous in Asia (1999-2003)
H. Hirano, Department of Earth Sciences, School of
Education, Waseda University, Nishiwaseda, Shinjuku,
Tokyo 169-8050, Japan, e-mail: hhirano@mn.waseda.ac.jp
Description: This project builds on and continues IGCP
project 350, Cretaceous Environmental Change in East
and South Asia. It intends to construct a new scale for
the correlation between the Cretaceous marine and non-
marine deposits by establishing a stable carbon isotope
stratigraphy for the Cretaceous, taking notice of the
global carbon cycle as a new point of view. The non-
marine Cretaceous is widely distributed in Asia, but the
age-determination is still not so well fixed. IGCP 434
aims to study the Cretaceous plume activities and the
associated tectonic movements in East and South Asia
on the one hand, with the background of daily devel-
oping, higher resolution and more reliable correlation.
On the other hand, the project encompasses the genesis
of metallic, non-metallic ore deposits, and fossil fuels,
sea-level changes, carbon cycle, changes of partial pres-
sure of carbondioxydes, climatic changes, floral changes
including the appearance and flourish of angiosperms,
turnover of oceanic layered structure including the
occurrence of up welling and anoxic events, and the
response of biotope, elucidating their relation of cause
and effect in more detail. At present, the project
comprises 200 scientists from sixteen countries.
Special attention is paid to:
1. Establishment of the stratigraphy of the stable carbon
isotope, in the marine deposits at first and the non-
marine deposits at the next step.
2. Environmental analyses by various chemical
analyses.
3. Collecting and evaluation of various geological infor-
mation that affects the global carbon cycle.
4. Study of the cause and effect between the environ-
mental changes and the changes of bio-diversity.
Participating countries
(* indicates countries active this year)
Canada, China*, India, Indonesia, Japan*, Korea (Rep.
of)*, Malaysia, Mongolia, Myanmar, Philippines*,
Russia*, Spain, Thailand*, United Kingdom, United
States*, Viet Nam.
Achievements in 2000
Stratigraphic correlation
In relation to OAE 2, the following internationally effec-
tive seven datum planes in the Japanese Cretaceous for
the correlation of planktic foraminifers in ascending
order have been recognised: (1) FAD (First appearance
datum) of Praeglobotruncana gibba, (2) FAD of Rota-
lipora greenhornensis, (3) FAD of Rotalipora deeckei,
(4) LAD (Last appearance datum) of Rotalipora deeckei,
(5) Co-LAD (Conjoined last appearance datum) of
Rotalipora cushmani and R. greenhornensis, (6) FAD of
Marginotruncana schneegansi, (7) FAD of Margino-
truncana pseudolinneiana.
The following fourteen planktic foraminiferal biozones
in the ages from Aptian to Santonian of the Japanese
Cretaceous were established: (1) ‘Gorbachikella’ kugleri,
(2) Globigerinelloides ferreolensis, (3) Ticinella priula,
(4) Biticinella breggiensis, (5) Favusella washitensis,
(6) Rotalipora appenninica, (7) Rotaliora brotzeni,
(8) Praeglobotruncana stephani, (9) Whiteinella baltica,
(10) Helvetoglobotruncana helvetica, (11) Marginotrun-
cana pseudokinneiana, (12) Marginotruncana sinuosa,
(13) Contusotruncana fornicata, (14) Globotruncana
arca.
Radiolarian biozones have nearly been established
throughout the whole Cretaceous of Japan. Such zona-
tions of planktic microfossils represent a significant
contribution to science as mega-fossils are usually poorly
present and benthic fossils, like inoceramids, which
would be very effective for interregional correlation are
absent in the beds of OAEs.
Biostratigraphy and interregional correlation by ammo-
noids and inoceramids have progressed, mostly for the
Upper Cretaceous of Japan. Now, the Japanese zonation
for the Upper Albian and Lower Cenomanian became
very harmonious with that of the standard section in
Europe.
In 2000, the whole Cretaceous section of the Middle
Amur basin (Russia) has been studied aiming at the
determination of sedimentation conditions, palaeogeo-
graphic environment during the Cretaceous. Samples
were collected from the section in order to determine
Corg. content.
Cretaceous deposits are widely distributed in the
northern part of the Kamchatka Peninsula and are
exposed along the eastern coast of the Penzhin Bay. The
total thickness is about 10,000 m. The Lower Cretaceous
is composed mainly of alternating sandstone and silt-
stone beds with turbidites, and is not fossiliferous. The
115
Upper Cretaceous consists of conglomerate, sandstone
and siltstone, and yields numerous well-preserved
ammonites and inoceramid bivalves at various horizons.
Albian to Early Cenomanian fauna is very similar to
that from North America. The subsequent fauna has
much in common with Sakhalin and Hokkaido, but its
diversity is lower.
Carbon cycle
Forearc basin deposits of the Cretaceous are widely
distributed in Japan. In the case of the well-studied
Cretaceous Sorachi Group and the Yezo Supergroup,
clastics were deposited continuously as thick as 7,000 m
in the period of 70 m. y. B. P. The sedimentation rate
of the Yezo Supergroup is estimated at 100 m in one
million years for these successions and at 200 m in one
million years for the Yezo Supergroup. The excursion
curve of δ13C for the whole Cretaceous has been
analysed and compiled by using these continuous thick
sections. The sequence encompassing the Cenomanian/
Turonian boundary has been studied and those excur-
sion curves are harmoniously correlated with the
European examples. The minute climatic changes in the
Far East of the Asian Continent are reconstructed through
the detailed correlation of these curves. The differences
in the long-term trends of δ13C between the carbonates
and terrestrial plants were recognised as the influence
of the change of vegetation due to climatic changes.
Thus, it is inferred that humid climate prevailed at the
time of the Cenomanian/Turonian boundary time in the
Far East Asian Continent. For the Aptian and Albian
stages, δ13C curves were obtained, which can be cor-
related with the European examples. The four sub-
events, 1a, 1b, 1c, and 1d of OAE 1 are distinguished
in the excursion curves of δ13C obtained from those
continuous, and very thick forearc basin deposits of the
North-Western Pacific.
As mentioned above, the sedimentation rate of the Yezo
Supergroup is as high as 200 m in one million years,
which is extremely larger than any rates of sediments
studied for OAE 1 in the world. That is, the resolution
of the records is extremely higher, and thus the four posi-
tive shifts are recorded in the four subevents respectively.
These changes of curves are harmonious with the changes
of species diversity of ammonoids, as mentioned earlier.
In the North-Western Circum-Pacific, two main trends
in the Late Cretaceous temperatures can be recognised:
(1) In general, a recurrent warming trend is thought to
have begun in the Turonian-Campanian, reaching
temperature maxima in the early Late Santonian and
early Late Campanian, temperature minima in the earliest
Santonian and perhaps Early Campanian; (2) During the
Maastrichtian, temperatures dropped sharply, with only
a slight warming in the early Late Maastrichtian. The
existence of a thermal maximum at the Coniacian-
Santonian transition has previously been proposed, but
not confirmed by new isotopic data.
116
Diversity change
The geographic variations of ammonoid species compo-
sition have been studied in relation to some particular
genera and in whole species. It was demonstrated that
the species diversity of the Japanese Cretaceous
ammonoids are largely constrained by OAE 1a–d, OAE
2, and OAE 3. That is, the extinction rate is signifi-
cantly higher and the diversity decreases in the times
of OAEs. It attracts our interest that the rate of speci-
ation is still high in such dysoxic conditions. The mech-
anism, which makes a high speciation rate in such a
time, is the very interesting subject. It was demon-
strated that some ammonoids had their habitats occu-
pied by the dysoxic water mass at the time of OAE 2;
they escaped to refuges of shallower waters with
decreasing size of populations, and the morphological
evolution arose in the pattern of punctuated equilib-
rium in many characters except the gradual evolution
of the sutural complexity. The evolution in terms of
the bottleneck effect and genetic drift was further
explained. The changes of the number of radiolarian
individuals in rock sample of 1 g in the sections of
the Yezo Supergroup were described and clarified so
as to bring out that the primary production increased
immediately after the OAE 1d and OAE 2.
Geochemistry and basin analysis
It was demonstrated that the chemical compositions
including minor elements and REE of the succession
of OAE 2 are significantly different from those above
and below in terms of multivariate statistical analysis.
The reconstruction of the sedimentary basins in the
Lower Cretaceous of Japan progressed in relation to
the plate movement in the framework of the global
sequence stratigraphy.
Radiometric age
The radiometric ages of acidic tuff beds in and around
the Cenomanian/Turonian boundary of the Yezo Super-
group were analysed and OAE 2 was studied in detail.
The results are harmonious with the hitherto reported
values in the world. Radiometric ages of the boundary
between the Albian and the Cenomanian are also
studied.
Palaeomagnetostratigraphy
A series of normal and reversed polarity zones have
been found from the Upper Cretaceous sedimentary
sequence in Shikoku, Hokkaido, and South Sakhalin.
The continuous magnetostratigraphy from the end of
C34n to C30n in the Naiba area, South Sakhalin, was
shown and indicated that Sphenoceramus schmidti is
close to the base of C32r of the middle and upper
Campanian, and S. naumanni, Gaudryceras tenuili-
ratum are in C33r, and Zelandites varuna zone is upper
C32r.
Tectonics and sedimentology
A sequence stratigraphic viewpoint provides a new
perspective of the regional correlation for the deposi-
tional sequences in the Late Mesozoic sedimentary
basins along the East Asian continental margins.
According to recent data, it has become clearer that the
East Asian continental margins had experienced some
tectonic changes during the Late Mesozoic.
It became clear that three major tectonic changes took
place during the Late Jurassic, earliest Cretaceous and
late Early Cretaceous respectively. Each of them closely
corresponded to the changes in basin type, sedimenta-
tion rate and provenances. The first event is interpreted
as the change of margin type from the convergent margin
to the passive one. The second event in the late Early
Cretaceous is also important for the tectonic modifica-
tion of South-West Japan. The duplicate distribution of
the Jurassic and Early Cretaceous systems may have
resulted from a margin-parallel strike-slip duplex in the
mid-Cretaceous. According to recent data, it is assumed
that strike-slip basins of both the Inner and Outer Zones
of South-West Japan were formed originally at different
positions along the East Asian continental margin.
Margin-parallel shearing in this period and consequent
tectonic inversion in the Late Cretaceous can be found
in wide regions of both East and South Asia. The third
event coincides with the establishment of the Western
Pacific convergent system accompanied by superplume
activity.
Petrology
The Philippine IGCP 434 Working Group essentially
concentrated on four areas that are underlain by
Cretaceous crust-mantle sequences and Cretaceous sedi-
mentary sequences. The four areas are Bohol, Palawan,
Davao Oriental and the Zamboanga Peninsula. Bohol
and Palawan are in the Central Philippine region while
Davao Oriental and the Zamboanga Peninsula are in
Mindanao. The Cretaceous South-East Bohol Ophiolite
Complex, Cretaceous Pujada Ophiolite and Cretaceous
Polanco Ophiolite were studied in Bohol, Davao Oriental
and Zamboanga Peninsula, respectively. The main thrust
of research is in determining where these ophiolite
sequences were generated and their implications in the
tectonic evolution of the Philippine archipelago. The
Cretaceous to Eocene sedimentary sequences were
studied in the Palawan Island with the aim in view of
understanding how these sedimentray sequences had
evolved and what they tell us in terms of the evolution
of Palawan.
Meetings
– The First International Symposium with a Business
Meeting of the Regional Coordinators was held
in the period between 25 and 29 January 2000,
at Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan. In total one
hundred and twenty scientists joined in the discus-
sions.
– Two field excursions to dinosaur-related sites of
Korea were conducted in 2000. The first one was
held from 21-23 February to the south-eastern part
of the Korean Peninsula where several large dinosaur
skulls and bones were discovered from the Early
Cretaceous Hasandong Formation (near the Hadong
area). This discovery was aired in early February
2000. The second one (11-13 July) was to the South-
Western Korean Peninsula where a dinosaur egg-
nesting site was discovered in May 1999. More
than 50 dinosaur eggs in several horizons were
discovered from the Middle(?) Cretaceous Seonso
Formation near Bosung, Chollanamdo Province.
This area was designated as a natural monument.
Participants for these field excursions were about
30 people each.
– International workshop on the Chollanamdo Pro-
vincial Dinosaur Museum Construction held from
27-29 July 2000 at Chonnam National Unversity.
– International Symposium on Mesozoic Dinosaurs
of Priamurie held in the period between 28 and
30 August 2000 in Blagoveshchensk, and a field trip
to Kundur locality of Late Cretaceous dinosaurs.
Fifteen participants from Russia, Japan, Thailand and
Korea took part.
– International field trip along the Amur River, Petro-
pavlovka Lake, Sita River, held between 1 and
4 September 2000, where Early Cretaceous accre-
tionary complexes, turbidites, and olistostromes were
exposed. Scientists from Russia, Japan and Korea
participated in it.
Planned activities in 2001
Meetings
– 2nd Symposium and Field Excursion in Myanmar,
9-16 December 2000. The symposium lasted one or
two days, and the field excursion about five days.
– 3rd International Symposium and Field Excursion,
in Tibet, China, Autumn 2001.
– Field excursion of the 7th International Conference
of Palaeoceanography under the joint auspices of
IGCP 434. This conference was held in Sapporo,
Japan, from 16-22 September 2001. The Field
Excursion for the marine Cretaceous including the
topics of the oceanic anoxic event and bio-diversity
changes was organized by the Japanese National
Committee of IGCP 434 and held on 22 and
25 September (website http://www.ep.sci.hokudai.
ac.jp).
117
Publications
CHINA
More than 20 papers, in total more than 120 pages, were
published in the Proceedings of the Third National
Stratigraphical Conference of China, 2000, Geological
Publishing House, Beijing. In addition, the following
papers were published:
– Li Xianghui; Wang Chengshan; Yi Haisheng; Li
Yong. 2000. Lithofacies and Paleogeography in
Middle Cretaceous and Eocene in Tibet: An
Implication for the Closing of the Tethys. Regional
Geology of China, 19 (4).
– Wan Xiaoqiao; Zhao Wenjin; Liguobiao. 2000.
Restudy of the Upper Cretaceous in Gamba, Tibet.
Geosciences, 14 (3), pp. 281-85.
– Wan Xiaoqiao; Li Guobiao; Hallam, A.; Wignal, P.
2000. Cretaceous and Tertiary Boundary in the Tingri
Region of Southern Tibet. Earth Science Frontiers,
Vol. 7, suppl., pp. 14-7.
– Wan Xiaoqiao; Jansa, L. F.; Sarti, M.; Zhao Wenjin.
2000. New Results of the Stratigraphic Study in the
Nyalam Area of Southern Tibet. Geo Research
Forum, 6, pp. 263-8.
JAPAN
In addition to the First International Symposium of
carbon cycle and bio-diversity change during the
Cretaceous, Programmes and Abstract (2000, 72 pp.),
the following papers were published:
– Asai, A.; Mitsugi, T.; Hirano, H. 2000. Upper
Cretaceous Ammonoids and Inoceramids from the
Ashibetsu Area, Central Hokkaido. Gakujutsu
Kenkyu, School of Education, Waseda University,
Ser. Biol. and Earth Sci., 48, pp. 17-31.
– Hasegawa, T. 2000b. Oceanic Anoxic Event at the
Boundary of the Cenomanian/Turonian (Cretaceous).
Chikyu Monthly, Spec. Vol., (29), pp. 166-77.
– Hasegawa, T. 2000c. Upper Cretaceous Carbon
Isotope Stratigraphy of Terrestrial Organic Matter
from Far East Asia. Fossils, Palaeont. Soc. Japan, (68).
– Hasegawa, T.; Hatsugai, T. 2000. Carbon Isotope
Stratigraphy and its Chronostratigraphic Significance
for the Cretaceous Yezo Group, Kotanbetsu Region,
Hokkaido, Japan. Palaeontological Research, 4,
pp. 95-106.
– Hirano, H.; Tohimitsu, S.; Matsumoto, T.; Takahashi,
K. 2000. Changes In Cretaceous Ammonoid
Diversity and Marine Environments of the Japanese
Islands. In: H. Okada and N. J. Mateer (eds.)
Cretaceous Environments of Asia, Developments in
Palaeontology and Stratigraphy, Vol.17, pp. 145-54.
– Iryu, Y.; Yamada, T. (In press.) Biogeochemical
Contrasts Between Mid-Cretaceous Carbonate
Platforms and Cenozoic Reefs. Island Arc, Vol. 8,
pp. 475-90.
– Kodama, K.; Maeda, H.; Shigeta, Y.; Kase, T.;
Takeuchi, T. 2000. Magnetostratigraphy of Upper
118
Cretaceous Strata in South Sakhalin, Russian Far
East. Cret. Res, Vol. 21, (In press.)
– Matsumoto, T.; Nishida, T. 2000. Biostratigraphy of
the Late Albian-Early Cenomanian Succession – the
Case in the Shuparo Area of Hokkaido. Fossils,
Palaeont. Soc. Japan, 68, pp. 1-12.
– Nakamori, T. (In press.) Global Carbonate
Accumulation Rates from Cretaceous to Present and
Their Implications in the Carbon Cycle Model. Island
Arc.
– Okada, H.; Mateer, N. J. (eds.). 2000. Cretaceous
Environments of Asia. Developments In
Palaeontology and Stratigraphy 17, 255 pp., Elsevier,
Amsterdam.
– Okada, H.; Sakai, T. 2000. The Cretaceous System
of the Japanese Islands and its Physical
Environments. In: H. Okada and N. J. Mateer (eds.)
Cretaceous Environments of Asia. pp. 113-44.
– Toshimitsu, S.; Hirano, H. 2000. Database of the
Cretaceous Ammonoids in Japan: Stratigraphic
Distribution and Bibliography. Rept. Geol. Surv.
Japan.
– Toshimitsu, S.; Matsumoto, T.; Noda, M.; Nishida,
T.; Maiya, S. 1950. Towards an Integrated Mega-,
Micro-, and Magneto-Stratigraphy of the Upper
Cretaceous in Japan. Jour. Geol. Soc. Japan,
Vol. 101, No. 1, pp. 19-29.
– W, Y.; Z, hang W.; and Saiki, K. 2000: Fossil Woods
from the Upper Jurassic of Qitai, Juggar Basin,
Xinjiang, China. Acta Papaeontologica Sinica, 39
(Sup.) pp. 176-85.
– Wani, R.; Hirano, H. 2000. Upper Cretaceous
Biostratigraphy in the Kotanbetsu Area, North-
Western Hokkaido. Jour. Geol. Soc. Japan, 106, (3),
pp. 171-88.
KOREA
– Chang, K. H.; Park, S.-O.; Chang, S. 2000, Upper
Mesozoic Unconformity-Bounded Units of Korean
Peninsula Within Kokuryo Magmatic Province. In:
H. Okada, and N. J. Mateer (eds.) Cretaceous
Environments of Asia. pp. 91-111, Elsevier,
Amsterdam.
– Kang, H. C.; Kim, I. S. 2000, Palaeomagnetic Study
on the Early Cretaceous Hayang Group in Yongyang
Area, North-Eastern Kyongsang Basin. Jour. Geol.
Soc. Korea, Vol. 36, pp. 47-71.
– Lee, J. I.; Lee, Y. I. 2000. Provenance of the Lower
Cretaceous Hayang Group, Gyeongsang Basin,
South-Eastern Korea: Implications for Continental-
arc Volcanism. Jour. Sed. Res., Vol. 70, pp.151-8.
– Paik, I. S. 2000, Bone Chip-filled Burrows
Associated with Bored Dinosaur Bone in Floodplain
Palaeosols of the Cretaceous Hasandong Formation,
Korea. Paleogeo. Paleoclimat. Paleoecol., Vol. 157,
pp. 213-25.
– Yang, K.; Lee, J. D.; 2000. The Sannae-Eonyang
Granitic Rocks and Hydrothermal System, South-
Eastern Kyongsang Basin. Econ. Environ. Geol.,
Vol. 33, pp. 19-30.
RUSSIA
– Bugdaeva, E. V.; Markevitch, V. S.; Bolotsky, Yu. D.;
Sorokin, A. P. 2000. Extinction of Dinosaurs in
Cretaceous Period: Paleobotanists' View. Bulletin
of the Far Eastern Branch, Russian Academy of
sciences, 1, pp. 80-9.
– Kemkin, I. V.; Kemkina, R. A. 2000. Jurassic-Early
Cretaceous Biostratigraphic Chart and Terrigenous
Deposits of the Dalnegorsk Ore Region (Southern
Sikhote-Alin). Geology of the Pacific Ocean, 15,
pp. 85-106.
– Kirillova, G. L. 2000. The Cretaceous of East Russia:
Sedimentation, Geodynamics, Biodiversity, Climate.
Vladivostok: Dalnauka. 94 pp.
– Kirillova, G. L.; Markevitch, V. S.; Belyi, V. F. 2000.
Cretaceous Environmental Changes in East Russia.
In: H. Okada and N. J. Mateer (eds.), Cretaceous
Environments of Asia. Elsevier. Amsterdam, Nether-
lands, pp. 1-42.
No. 436 – Tectonic Evolution
of the Pacific Gondwana Margin:
Structure, Assembly and Break-up
Events (1999-2003)
R. J. Pankhurst, British Antarctic Survey, c/o Kingsley
Dunham Centre, Keyworth, Nottingham NG12 5GG,
United Kingdom, e-mail: r.pankhurst@bas.ac.uk
L. Spalletti, Centro de Investigaciones Geológicas,
Universidad Nacional de La Plata, 644 Calle no. 1, 1900
La Plata, Argentina, e-mail: spalle@cig.museo.unlp.edu.ar
J. D. Bradshaw, Department of Geological Sciences,
University of Canterbury, Private Bag 4800,
Christchurch, New Zealand, e-mail: j.bradshaw@geol.
canterbury.ac.nz
Description: The main goal of the project is to explore
and correlate the geological development of the
Gondwanan continental masses that now form the
southern boundary of the Pacific Ocean, South America,
West Antarctica, Australia and New Zealand. Although
now widely dispersed, these regions were once contin-
uous parts of the Gondwana supercontinent margin.
Activities will concentrate on investigating (i) the con-
tinental basement inherited from Gondwana, (ii) the age
and provenance of the accretionary metasediments of
this margin and their relationship to subduction-related
magmatic arcs, and (iii) the development of economi-
cally important sedimentary basins as part of the break-
up process. The Pacific margin of Gondwana is a
long-lived Andean-type active margin, although there
has been a great deal of strike-slip motion and opening
of marginal basins in some provinces. This region is
therefore of global significance for understanding long-
term subduction related geologic problems. The data
from the project will play a key role in the understanding
of several long-lived Phanerozoic orogenic systems. The
societal benefits of the project are seen in the investi-
gation of hydrocarbon-prone sedimentary basins and
assessment of natural hazards.
Participating countries
(* indicates countries active this year)
Australia*, Argentina*, Brazil*, Chile*, France,
Germany*, Italy, Korea (Rep. of)*, New Zealand*, South
Africa, Spain*, Switzerland, United Kingdom*, United
States*, Venezuela.
Achievements in 2000
Successful meetings were held at opposite ends of the
Pacific Gondwana margin, in Australia and in Chile.
These meetings, and the feedback between them, should
enhance appreciation of the scale of the subject and
encourage co-operation between research scientist
working in Australasia, Antarctica and in South
America.
Scientific results
1. Although at a detailed level events do not precisely
correlate, there are broad mechanistic similarities
between the growth of the Gondwana margin in
Australasia and that in Southern South America.
Thus Late Neoproterozoic and Cambrian develop-
ment in both areas involved ocean closure and the
re-amalgamation of splinters of the pre-existing
supercontinent (Rodinia) which had rifted away to
become semi-allochthonous terranes.
2. In both areas, a late stage of margin formation
involved intense ensialic magmatism. Close compar-
isons can be made between the extent and varied
style of granite generation in the predominantly
Devonian Lachlan Fold Belt of South-East Australia
and the Ordovician Famatinian belt of North-West
Argentina.
3. Permian and Triassic magmatic arcs were active
throughout Southern South America and adjacent
parts of West Antarctica. Within the supercontinent
interior large sedimentary basins developed at this
time, whereas post-Permian turbidite deposits on the
oceanic fringe represent large volumes of accreted
material, possibly allochthonous. Progress is being
made in characterising the age and provenance
characteristics of these accretionary complexes.
4. Several workers in the project have reaffirmed the
role of a large-scale mantle plume in the Jurassic
rifting of Gondwana, which was accompanied by
intense mafic volcanism in the interior and spreading
silicic volcanism towards the margin.
5. A major question still to be addressed is the sig-
nificance within the margin of the Antarctic Peninsula
and Patagonia – of when and how they were incor-
porated.
119
Meetings
– 15th Australian Geological Convention, Sydney,
Australia, 4-8 July 2000. The project-sponsored
symposium 'Pacific Connections of Gondwana in the
Palaeozoic and Mesozoic' was attended by, an
average of 50 people from six countries.
Several themes of central importance to the project were
treated:
1. Growth of the south-east Australian continental
margin during the Cambrian followed Neopro-
terozoic rifting and occurred largely by island arc
collision.
2. The close comparison in timing and composition
between the Early Palaeozoic granitoids of the
Lachlan Fold Belt of South-East Australia and those
of the Sierras Pampeanas, Argentina.
3. Early Palaeozoic and Devonian-Carboniferous
convergence episodes are recorded in the Port
Macquarie mafic-metamorphic complex of South-
Eastern Australia. Carboniferous granitic magmatism
is present in New Zealand, Australia and Marie Byrd
Land, though not in other parts of Antarctica.
Sedimentation associated with the Early Permian
Dun Mountain ophiolite of New Zealand is re-
interpreted as a forearc assemblage adjacent to a
magmatic arc.
4. The Permian-Cretaceous Torlesse terrane sediments
of New Zealand contain a record of provenance
from Proterozoic-Permian sources with a typical
Gondwana zircon inheritance and involved a sig-
nificant degree of sediment recycling. Nevertheless,
distinct sources may be recognised, if not conclu-
sively identified, at different times during sedimen-
tation. The apparently huge distances over which
zircons may be transported complicate identification.
5. Gondwana break-up may have been initiated by the
supercontinent over-riding a mantle plume in Jurassic
times, which would have interrupted subduction and
softened the lithosphere.
6. Large-scale sedimentary basins of economic signif-
icance developed in South-East Australia during the
Mid-Jurassic to Cretaceous rifting associated with
separation from Tasmania and Antarctica.
– The main project meeting of IGCP 436 this year was
held as part of the IX Chilean Geological Congress
in Puerto Varas, Southern Chile. It consisted of a
special symposium Evolución Tectónica del Margen
Pacífico de Gondwana: Estructura, Eventos de
Acreción y Ruptura, and an informal workshop at
which a proposal to try to produce a series of sketch
maps of the entire margin was discussed. An audi-
ence of 30-100 (depending on the choice of parallel
sessions) from six different countries attended the
meeting. by. In an introductory talk IGCP 436 project
leader outlined scientific themes and findings of the
meeting in Sydney, as part of the project's mission
to encourage appreciation and interaction between
120
Australasian and South American earth scientists.
The principal speakers covered broad topics such
as the geochronological evidence for the evolution
of Patagonia, a terrane model for the Antarctic
Peninsula, the Laurentian origin of the Sierra de
Umango, Argentina. Several contributions concerned
the structure, metamorphism and provenance of the
Chonos fore-arc/accretionary complex of Southern
Chile, which is now shown to be largely Mesozoic
in age, with Neoproterozoic to Permian detrital
zircons, with some evidence for a passive margin
environment. Work on basement rocks of the Eastern
Andean Metamorphic Complex was also presented.
In the basement rocks north of the Chonos accre-
tionary complex, mafic volcanic horizons the
complex indicates both N-MORB and back-arc
origins, whereas Permo-Carboniferous silicic meta-
ignimbrites have also been identified. Other topics
dealt with the potential of U-Pb and Sr dating of
limestones for terrane definition, Palaeozoic to Early
Mesozoic igneous complexes east of the Andes and
the extensional dynamics of Early Mesozoic sedi-
mentary basins linked to the break-up of Gondwana.
In other sessions of the congress, a one-day sympo-
sium on Mesozoic-Cenozoic magmatism and sedi-
mentation in Patagonia was of especial pertinence to
IGCP 436. A further advantage derived from this
meeting was involvement in a one-day discussion
meeting to develop plans for a new multinational
transect of the southern Andes (SALT). This is being
led by geophysicists from Berlin, but will incorpo-
rate research being carried out by scientists from
Chile, Argentina, the United States and, possibly,
United Kingdom. The International Lithosphere
Project is supporting the plan.
– Also, although not an official project meeting, IGCP
436 members were heavily involved in two Special
Symposia at the 31st International Geological
Congress in Rio de Janeiro in August 2000. These
drew the attention of the Pacific Gondwana Margin
to a much wider international audience.
Most important publications
– Aceñolaza, F. G.; Toselli, A. J. 2000. Argentine
Precordillera: Allochthonous or Autochthonous
Gondwanic? Zentralblatt für Geologie und Paläonto-
logie, Stuttgart, Teil 1, Heft 7/8, pp. 743-56.
– Adams, C. J.; Barley, M. E. 2000. Provenance of
Permian-Triassic Volcaniclastic Terranes in New
Zealand from Their Detrital Zircon Age Patterns.
Geological Society of Australia, Abstracts, No. 59,
p. 3.
– Bock, B.; Bahlburg, H.; Wörner, G.; Zimmermann,
U. 2000. Tracing Crustal Evolution in the Southern
Central Andes from the Late Precambrian to Permian
Using Nd and Pb Isotopes. Journal of Geology, 108,
pp. 515-35.
– Bradshaw, J. D. Termination of Subduction on the
Australian-New Zealand-Antarctic Margin in the
Late Mesozoic. Geological Society of Australia,
Abstracts, No. 59, p. 51.
– Crawford, A. J.; Münker, C. Cambrian Arc Evolution
along the South-East Gondwana Active Margin: A
Tasmanian-New Zealand Perspective. Geological
Society of Australia, Abstracts, No. 59, p. 106.
– Dalziel, I. W. D.; Lawver, L. A.; Murphy, J. B.
Plumes, Orogenesis and Supercontinental Fragment-
ation. Geological Society of Australia, Abstracts,
No. 59, p. 114.
– Díaz Martínez, E.; Mamet, B.; Isaacson, P. E.; Grader,
G. 2000. Permian Marine Sedimentation in Northern
Chile: New Paleontological Evidence from the Juan
de Morales Formation and Regional paleogeographic
Implications. Journal of South American Earth
Sciences, 13, (In press.)
– Faúndez, V.; Hervé, F. Análisis de Proveniencia de
las Rocas Sedimentarias del Complejo Duque de
York, Región de Magallanes, Chile, IX Congreso
Geológico Chileno, Actas, Resúmenes Expandidos,
Vol. 2, pp. 722-6.
– Franzese, J. R.; SpalIetti, L. A. Extensión Continental
del Triásico Superior-Jurásico Inferior en el Suroeste
de Gondwana; Segmentación Tectónica Paleopacífica
Previa al Desmembramiento de Gondwana. IX
Congreso Geológico Chileno, Actas, Resúmenes
Expandidos, Vol. 2, pp. 727-30.
– Hervé, F.; Demant, A.; Ramos, V. A.; Pankhurst, R.
J.; Suárez, M. 2000. The Southern Andes. In: U. G.
Cordani, E. J. Milani, A. Thomaz-Filho, and D. A.
Campos (eds.), Tectonic Evolution of South America,
Special Volume, 31st International Geological
Congress, Rio de Janeiro, pp. 605-34.
– Hufmann, L. A.; Massonne, H. J. Ancient Arc/Back-
Arc and N-Morb Volcanics Incorporated in the Late
Palaeozoic/Early Mesozoic Metamorphic Complex
of the Coastal Cordillera of Chiloé, Southern Central
Chile. IX Congreso Geológico Chileno, Actas,
Resúmenes Expandidos, Vol. 2, pp. 738-41.
– Lacassie, J. P. Geoquímica, Proveniencia y Régimen
Tectónico de Turbiditas Paleozoicas, Aisén, Chile. IX
Congreso Geológico Chileno, Actas, Resúmenes
Expandidos, Vol. 2, pp. 745-9.
– Márquez, M. J.; Giacosa, R. E. La Evolución
Precenozoica del Margen Occidental de Gondwana
en la Patagonia: Episodios en el Paleozoico e
Interpretaciones Alternativas para el Mesozoico. IX
Congreso Geológico Chileno, Actas, Resúmenes
Expandidos, Vol. 2, pp. 755-9.
– Morata, D.; Aguirre, L.; Oyarzun, M.; Vergara, M.
2000. Crustal Contribution in the Genesis of the
Bimodal Triassic Volcanism from the Coastal Range,
Central Chile. Revista Geológica de Chile, Vol. 27,
pp. 83-98.
– Norvick, M. S.; Smith M. A. The Separation of
Australia from Antarctica and its Stratigraphic Signal
in Southern Australian Basins. Geological Society of
Australia, Abstracts, No. 59, 365 pp.
– Pankhurst,. R. J.; Rapela, C. W., Fanning, C. M. (In
press.) Age and Origin of Coeval TTG, I- and S-type
Granites in the Famatinian Belt of North-West
Argentina. Transactions of the Royal Society of
Edinburgh: Earth Science (Fourth Hutton Sym-
posium on the origin of granites and related rocks).
– Rapalini, A.; López de Luchi, M. G. 2000.
Paleomagnetism and Magnetic Fabric and of Middle
Jurassic Dykes from Western Patagonia, Argentina.
Physics of the Earth and Planetary Interiors, 120,
pp 11-27.
– Rapela, C. W.; Astini, R. (Replica) 2000. Discusión:
El Ambiente Geotectónico de la Región del Famatina.
Revista de la Asociación Geológica Argentina, 55,
pp. 134-8.
– Riley, T. R.; Leat, P. T.; Pankhurst, R. J.; Harris, C.
(In press.) Geochemistry and Petrogenesis of Large
Volume Silicic Volcanism (Antarctic Peninsula-South
America). Journal of Petrology.
– Rowell, A. J.; Van Schmus, W. R.; Storey, B. C.;
Fetter, A. H.; Evans, K. R. (In press.) Latest
Neoproterozoic to Middle Cambrian Age for the
Main Deformation Phases of the Transantarctic
Mountains: New Stratigraphic and Isotopic
Constraints from the Pensacola Mountains,
Antarctica. Journal of the Geological Society,
London.
– Simpson, C.; Whitmeyer, S. J.; De Paor, D. G.;
Gromet, L. P.; Miro, R.; Krol, M. A.; Short, H. 2000.
Sequential Ductile Through Brittle Reactivation of
Major Fault Zones Along the Accretionary Margin
of Gondwana in Central Argentina. In: R. Holdsworth
(ed.) The Nature and Tectonic Significance of Fault
Zone Weakening. Special Publication of the
Geological Society, London (In press.)
– Thomson, S. N.; Hervé, F.; Fanning, C. M.
Combining Fission-track and U-Pb SHRIMP Zircon
Ages to Establish Stratigraphic and Metamorphic
Ages in Basement Sedimentary Rocks in Southern
Chile. IX Congreso Geológico Chileno, Actas,
Resúmenes Expandidos, Vol. 2, pp. 769-73.
– Tomezzoli, R. N.; Vilas, J. F. 1999. Palaeomagnetic
Constraints on the Age of Deformation of the
Sierras Australes Thrust and Fold Belt, Argentina.
Geophysics Journal International, 138, pp. 857-870.
– Trouw, R. A. J.; Passchier, C. W.; Valeriano, C. M.;
Simoes, L. S. A.; Paciullo, F. V. P.; Ribeiro, A. 2000.
Deformational Evolution of a Cretaceous Subduction
Complex: Elephant Island, South Shetland Islands,
Antarctica. Tectonophysics, 319, pp. 93-110.
– Vaughan, A. P.; Storey, B. C. A New Terrane
Accretion Model for the Mesozoic Development of
the Antarctic Peninsula. IX Congreso Geológico
Chileno, Actas, Resúmenes Expandidos, Vol. 2,
pp. 776-9.
– Wandres, A. M.; Bradshaw, J. D.; Weaver, S. D.;
Ireland, T. R. Significance of Igneous Clasts – The
Torlesse Terrane, South Island, New Zealand.
Geological Society of Australia, Abstracts, No. 59,
p. 517.
121
– Willner, A. P.; Hervé, F.; Massone, H.-J. 2000.
Mineral Chemistry and Pressure–temperature
Evolution of two Contrasting High-pressure–Low-
temperature Belts in the Chonos Archipelago,
Southern Chile. Journal of Petrology, Vol. 41,
pp. 309-30.
Planned activities
General goals
The project's aim for 2001 will be to continue encour-
aging active research on the Gondwana margin, concen-
trating again on the timing and processes of assembly.
A main topic will be the latest Precambrian and early
Palaeozoic accretion events of South America, in which
many scientists in Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina are
especially involved. It is also hoped to carry forward
plans to prepare time-slice maps of the whole of the
Gondwana Margin.
Meetings
– A major meeting is planned for 2001. This will be
a symposium at the XI Congreso Latinoamericano
de Geología, to be held in Montevideo in combina-
tion with the III Congreso Uruguayo de Geología.
This will offer a chance to extend participation to
Uruguay and this is especially appropriate since the
project is devolved to the Montevideo office of
UNESCO.
– It is hoped to hold a small informal meeting of the
map group led by Dr L. Spalletti and Dr B. C. Storey
in order to advance this sub-project. The most appro-
priate place and time have not yet been identified.
No. 437 – Coastal Environmental Change
during Sea Level Highstands (1999-2003)
C. V. Murray-Wallace, School of Geosciences, University
of Wollongong, New South Wales, 2522, Australia;
e-mail: colin_murray-wallace@uow.edu.au
Description: The principal objective of this project is to
examine the evolution of coastlines during sea level
highstands, and compare and contrast the products and
nature of different Quaternary highstands. In particular,
the objectives include:
1. To compare and contrast the evolution of coasts
during the present Holocene sea-level highstand with
earlier highstands (e.g. particularly the last inter-
glacial maximum; Oxygen Isotope Sub stage 5e),
and to explain the geological and geophysical basis
for any morphostratigraphic similarities or differ-
ences in these records. The results from these studies
122
will provide the necessary data and scientific inter-
pretations enabling the subsequent management of
present and future coastal change.
2. To document, through geological mapping and
detailed stratigraphic analysis, the global distribution
of highstand shoreline successions from the Holocene
and last interglacial, and where possible, earlier high-
stands, with the aim of elucidating the geological
and geophysical basis for similarities and differences.
3. To quantify the magnitude of sea level variation
evident during highstands and document their basis
(e.g. the contributions of glacio-hydro-isostatic
processes, climate change, as well as relative sea-
level changes associated with neotectonism).
4. To develop new and refine existing technologies for
the assessment of age of coastal sedimentary succes-
sions and landforms through the critical application
of a range of Quaternary dating methods.
5. To evaluate the impact of human-induced environ-
mental changes in coastal environments in the context
of natural environmental changes.
Website of the project:
http://imina.soest.hawaii.edu/Coastal_Conf/PDF/WELC
OME.PDF
http://imina.soest.hawaii.edu/Coastal_Conf (abstracts of
the inaugural meeting, November 1999)
Participating countries
(* indicates countries active in 2000)
Argentina*, Australia*, Austria, Benin, Belgium*,
Brazil*, Canada*, Chile, China*, Denmark*, Egypt*,
Estonia, Fiji*, Finland, France*, Germany*, Greece*,
India, Italy*, Jamaica, Japan*, Netherlands*, New
Zealand*, Norway*, Poland*, Portugal*, Russia,
Senegal, Sierra Leone, Spain*, Sri Lanka, Sweden*,
Tanzania, Thailand, Turkey, United Kingdom*, United
States*.
Achievements of the project for the year 2000
General scientific achievements
The initiation of a new thematic project at times expe-
riences a phase where researchers slowly adjust to a new
set of major research objectives. It was very apparent at
the Second Annual Meeting of IGCP 437 in Patagonia
that many researchers had carefully thought about the
research objectives of the project since its approval, and
were using the new perspectives of the project to recast
various scientific questions relating to the geology of
their respective coastlines and in so doing further advance
aspects of the science. This is regarded as an important
scientific achievement in terms of disciplinary focus.
As with all aspects of geological endeavour, geo-
chronology plays a critical role in quantifying rates
of environmental change. A recent advance within the
project has been the development of amino acid racem-
ization dating by the whole-rock method (i.e. the direct
dating of skeletal carbonate sands). The method has been
used with considerable success in the Bahamas and in
the Coorong Coastal Plain, South Australia. Other
achievements in geochronology include the more wide-
spread successful application of optically stimulated
luminescence (OSL) dating of quartz sands from beach
deposits and uranium-series disequilibrium dating by
thermal ionisation mass spectrometry on fossil corals.
These methods offer the potential for greater sensitivity
and age-resolving power respectively, and accordingly,
significantly refine the sorts of scientific questions that
may be addressed within the discipline.
Although IGCP 437 may still be regarded as in its early
stages, the explicit focus on sea-level highstands is
resulting in a growing body of evidence to show that
the last- and penultimate-interglacials experienced
possibly as much variation in the position of the high-
stand shoreline as is apparent for the present Holocene
interglacial. The geophysical basis for the variation in
the elevation of the sea surface over these contrasting
time intervals, at a global scale, represents a major
research objective of the project.
Meetings
– Second Annual Meeting of IGCP 437 on 'Coastal
interactions during sea-level highstands', 31 October
to 3 November 2000, Puerto Madryn, Patagonia,
Argentina. The technical meeting and associated field
trips were very successful and provided the oppor-
tunity for considerable information exchange and the
establishment of new collaborative research projects
on aspects of coastal evolution in Argentina. Fifty
delegates from 13 countries attended the conference.
– Excursion to visit coastal features of South-West
and South Portugal in change at different timescales,
23-27 May 2000, organized jointly with the INQUA
Shoreline Commission, involving an analysis of the
Holocene shoreline features of the south-west coast
of Alentejo and Algarve and Vila Nova de Mil Fontes.
On the southern Algarve coast towards Faro, various
platform features cut in Mio-Pliocene sediments, as
well as evidence for coastal retreat and human
impacts on sediment fluxes were examined. Other
highlights of the field trip included a traverse of the
Holocene Ria Formosa Lagoon and a visit to Culatra
Barrier Island.
– Workshop on Deltas, 16-17 March 2000. This very
successful meeting discussed aspects of modern
deltaic sedimentation and Holocene coastal change.
The impact of humans on deltaic systems represented
another important aspect of the meeting. The meeting
attracted contributions from researchers resident in
China, Egypt, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Papua New
Guinea, Thailand, and Viet Nam.
– The Spanish working group in Seville conducted
an additional conference entitled Environmental
Change during the Holocene by in March 2000 (Diaz
del Olmo, Faus and Porres (eds.). Extended Abstracts
volume, 206 pp., Libería Andaluza, Seville).
Most important publications
– Chagué-Goff, C.; Nichol, S. L.; Jenkinson, A. V.;
Heijnis, H. 2000. Signatures of Natural Catastrophic
Events and Anthropogenic Impact in an Estuarine
Environment, New Zealand. Marine Geology, 167,
pp. 285-301.
– Dini, M.; Mastonuzzi, G.; Sanso, P. 2000.
Morphogenetic Effects of Relative Holocene Sea
Level Changes, Apulia, Italy. In: O. Slaymaker (ed.).
Geomorphology and Global Environmental Changes.
John Wiley and Sons, Chichester, United Kingdom.
– Felton, E. A.; Crook, K. A. W.; Keating, B. H. 2000.
The Hulopoe Gravel, Lanai, Hawaii: New Sedimento-
logical Data and their Bearing on the ‘Giant Wave’
(Mega-Tsunami) Emplacement Hypothesis. Pure and
Applied Geophysics, 157, pp. 1257-84.
– Fletcher, C.; Anderson, J.; Crook, K. A. W.;
Kaminsky, G.; Larcombe, P.; Murray-Wallace, C. V.;
Scott, D. B.; Riggs, S.; Sallenger, A.; Shennan, I.;
Thieler, E. R.; Wehmiller, J. F. 2000. Coastal
Sedimentary Research Examines Critical Issues of
National and Global Priority. Transactions, American
Geophysical Union, 81, pp. 181-3.
– Fletcher, C. H.; Murray-Wallace, C. V. (eds.)
(In preparation.) Special issue of the journal,
Sedimentary Geology arising from the inaugural
meeting of IGCP Project 437 held in Hawaii in
November 1999.
– Gehrels, W. R. 2000. Using Foraminiferal Transfer
Functions to Produce High-resolution Sea Level
Records from Salt-marsh Deposits, Maine, United
States. The Holocene, 10, pp. 367-76.
– Hearty, P. J.; Kaufman, D. S. 2000. Whole-rock
Aminostratigraphy and Quaternary Sea-level
History of the Bahamas. Quaternary Research, 54,
pp. 163-73.
– Morhange, C. (ed). 2000. Ports Antiques et
Paléoenvironnements Littoraux. Méditerranée:
Revue Géographique des Pays Méditerranéens 94 (1-
2), 112 pp.
– Nunn, P. D. 2000. Illuminating Sea-level Fall Around
AD 1220-1510 (730-440 cal yr BP) in the Pacific
Islands: Implications for Environmental Change and
Cultural Transformation. New Zealand Geographer,
56, pp. 46-54.
– Nunn, P. D. 2000. Significance of Emerged Holocene
Corals Around Ovalau and Moturiki Islands,
Fiji, South-West Pacific. Marine Geology, 163,
pp. 345-51.
– Rodriguez, A. B.; Anderson, J. B.; Banfield, L. A.;
Taviani, M.; Abdulah, K.; Snow, J. N. 2000.
Identification of a -15 m Middle Wisconsin Shore-
line on the Texas Inner Continental Shelf.
123
 Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology,
158, pp. 25-43.
– Schnack, E. J.; Murray-Wallace, C. V.; Orford, J.
(eds.) (In preparation.) Special issue of Marine
Geology arising from the second annual meeting of
IGCP Project 437 held in October/November 2000.
– Shennan, I.; Horton, B.; Innes, J.; Gehrels, R.;
Lloyd, J.; McArthur, J.; Rutherford, M. 2000. Late
Quaternary Sea-level Changes, Crustal Movements
and Coastal Evolution in Northumberland, United
Kingdom. Journal of Quaternary Science, 15,
pp. 215-37.
– Shennan, I.; Lambeck, K.; Flather, R.; Horton, B.;
McArthur, J.; Innes, J.; Lloyd, J.; Rutherford, M.;
Wingfield, R. 2000. Modelling Western North Sea
Palaeogeographies and Tidal Changes During the
Holocene. In: I. Shennanand J. Andrews (eds.).
Holocene Land – Ocean Interaction and Environ-
mental Change around the North Sea. Geological
Society, London, Special Publications, 166,
pp. 299-319.
– Shennan, I.; Lambeck, K.; Horton, B.; Innes, J.;
Lloyd, J.; McArthur, J.; Rutherford, M. 2000.
Holocene Isostasy and Relative Sea-level Changes
on the East Coast of England. In: I. Shennan J.
Andrews (eds.). Holocene Land-Ocean Interaction
and Environmental Change around the North Sea.
Geological Society, London, Special Publications,
166, pp. 275-98.
– Shennan, I.; Lambeck, K.; Horton, B.; Innes, J.;
Lloyd, J.; McArthur, J.; Purcell, T.; Rutherford, M.
2000. Late Devensian and Holocene Records of
Relative Sea-level Changes in northwest Scotland
and their Implications for Glacio-hydro-isostatic
Modelling. Quaternary Science Reviews, 19,
pp. 1103-35.
– Yamano, H.; Miyajima, T.; Koike, I. 2000.
Importance of Foraminifera for the Formation and
Maintenance of a Coral Sand Cay: Green Island,
Australia. Coral Reefs, 19, pp. 51-8.
– Yamano, H.; Kayanne, H.; Yonekura, N.; Kudo,
K. 2000. 21-year Changes of Backreef Coral
Distribution: Causes and Significance. Journal of
Coastal Research, 16, pp. 99-110.
Activities planned
General goals
1. To increase the participation of researchers from
developing countries through increased publicity by
preparing an advertising document for circulation
concerning the activities of IGCP 437 with invita-
tions to people to become actively involved in the
project through collaborative research.
2. To further consolidate the linkages between
IGBP PAGES (Past Global Changes) and LOICZ
(Land-Ocean Interaction in the Coastal Zone).
A joint PAGES-LOICZ workshop accompanied the
124
Inaugural meeting of IGCP 437 in Hawaii in 1999.
The workshop revealed that there are very clear
research linkages between these projects and it was
agreed wherever possible to hold joint meetings.
3. To complete the editorial activities related to publi-
cations arising from the first two meetings of IGCP
Project 437 and initiate new publication activities.
This is considered as a particularly important aspect
of the project for it is the tangible outcome for which
the project will be remembered.
4. To begin the establishment of a global database of
Holocene and Pleistocene sea-level records. There is
no other scientific research group with the depth of
knowledge and expertise to undertake this task.
Meetings
The third annual meeting of IGCP 437 will take place
in the United Kingdom with a meeting in Durham
followed by a post-conference field trip centred on Fort
William in Scotland (4 to 12 September 2001).
No. 440 – Rodinia Assembly and Breakup
(1999-2003)
C. McA. Powell (Professor Powell unfortunately
deceased in July 2001)
R. Unrug, United States (Professor Unrug sadly passed
away in July 2000)
S. Bogdanova, Institute of Geology, Department of
Mineralogy and Petrology, Sölvegatan 13, 223 62 Lund,
Sweden
H. Kampunzu, Faculty of Science, University of
Botswana, Private Bag 0022, Gabaronne, Botswana
Description: The project aims to map the distribution
of the currently dispersed pieces of the Mesoproterozoic
Rodinia Supercontinent (predecessor of Gondwana
Supercontinent) and, through interdisciplinary studies,
document the Mesoproterozoic accretion and the
Neoproterozoic breakup of that supercontinent. It also
intends to determine whether the Palaeoproterozoic
cratons originated by breakup of an older, pre-Rodinia
supercontinent or were independent fragments of con-
tinental crust. The final output of the project will be
the publication of the Geodynamic Map of Rodinia
Supercontinent Assembly. The reconstruction of the
Rodinia Supercontinent will lead to the interpretation
of the current distribution of fragments of formerly
continuous Mesoproterozoic metallogenetic provinces,
providing a strong conceptual background to mineral
exploration programmes in several continents and for
the overall evolution of the Earth. The foundations of
the project were laid by the results of IGCP Project 288,
Gondwanaland Sutures and Fold Belts. Co-operation
with IGCP projects 418 and 436 is intended.
Website of the project
http://www.tsrc.uwa.edu.au/
Countries involved in the projects
(* indicates countries where IGCP activities, other
then normal research activities, took place this year)
Argentina, Australia*, Belgium, Botswana, Brazil*,
Canada, China*, Congo D.R. *, Denmark, Finland,
France, Germany, India, Japan*, Korea (Rep. of)*,
Kuwait, Mexico, Mongolia, Namibia, Norway, Russia,
South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Switzerland,
Taiwan, Netherlands, United Kingdom, United States,
Viet Nam, Zambia, Zimbabwe.
Summary of major past achievements of the project
The project started its operation in the second quarter
of 1999. The rest of that year was devoted to setting up
the project structure, and organising scientific symposia
on Rodinia. Major achievements during that year were:
Establishment of working parties
Regional working parties have been established during
1999 and 2000 for the purposes of co-ordinating regional
activities, and compiling regional tectonic maps. These
include the working parties for East Asia, the Grenville
Province in Canada, the Grenville–Baltica connections,
Nordic (Baltica), and Siberia. The current IGCP 418 will
provide a synthesis of Kibaran events in Southern Africa.
Working parties for Australia and Antarctica are being
established.
Meetings in 1999
– Symposium on Mesoproterozoic Continental
Assembly and Subsequent Break-up, and the IGCP
440 first business meeting, during the 10th European
Union of Geosciences Conference, 28 March - 1 April
1999. At the initial meeting of IGCP 440, at the
EUG 10 in Strasbourg, France, 28 March-1 April,
the project leader convened a symposium on Meso-
proterozoic Continental Assembly and Subsequent
Break-up, at which 21 oral and 14 poster papers were
presented. Chris Powell and Joe Meert (United
States) are editing a selection of these papers,
together with papers from a companion symposium
for publication as a special issue of Precambrian
Research in the first half of 2001. Over 60 people
attended the meeting.
– Joint IGCP 418 and 419 meetings in Kitwe, Zambia,
19-21 July, with field workshops.
– International Symposium and Field Workshop on
Geodynamic and Tectonic Evolution of China and
Related Gondwana Crustal Fragments, Yichang,
9-20 October. About seventy scientists from 13 coun-
tries participated in the two-day symposium and pre-
and post-conference field excursions. The International
Association of Gondwana Research published an
abstract volume, and a special volume on Gondwana
Research for full papers and extended abstracts is
being organised in 2000.
– Geological Society of America (GSA) Annual
meeting in Denver, Colorado, United States, 24-28
October 1999. A full day was allocated to discussion
of IGCP 440 at this meeting. This discussion was
attended by approximately 50 scientists from
Australia, Europe, South America, Asia and North
America. During the main GSA meeting, a sympo-
sium convened by Richard Hanson and Chris Powell
on The role of supercontinents in earth history:
Assembly and dispersal of the Rodinian superconti-
nent (1300-?750 Ma), and impacts on the Proterozoic
biosphere, hydrosphere and crust-mantle system,
attracted thirteen papers, with a further four papers
being presented in a tectonics symposium on Igneous,
metamorphic, and geochronologic perspectives on
continental assembly and breakup.
Achievements of the project in 2000
General scientific achievements
Scientific contributions by participants of the projects
are being published in two special issues of Precambrian
Research, as well as many individual papers in inter-
national scientific journals. In a special issue entitled
Neoproterozoic of Australia (Guest Editor Professor
Malcolm R. Walter, Vol. 100, published in March 2000),
17 scientific articles/reviews were devoted to the latest
progress in understanding the Neoproterozoic succes-
sions in Australia and their global correlations,
Neoproterozoic palaeoenvironment, new high-quality
palaeomagnetic results from both Australia and China,
and implications for Rodinia configuration and breakup.
Members of IGCP 440 working in the Tectonics Special
Research Centre published three papers in the issue.
A second special issue, co-edited by C. McA. Powell
and J. Meert, is going through the final stage of editing
before going to press. The issue covers papers on the
early Neoproterozoic history of Rodinia and its sub-
sequent breakup, especially in Siberia, East Greenland,
the East African orogen, Seychelles and North-West
India, the Congo and adjacent South America.
There were many other important findings reported
in papers by participating scientists worldwide (see
attached publication list), and a large amount of pre-
liminary results and ideas presented and discussed at
scientific meetings co-organized by the Project. Many
connections have been established between scientists
from both developed and developing countries through
the project activities, and many have started collabo-
rating on research projects.
125
During 2000, the project progressed well in developing
the legends for the Rodinia maps, with a trial run to be
organized by the end of the year.
Meetings
– Special session on ‘Assembly and Dispersion of
Rodinia and Gondwana Supercontinents in Western
Pacific’ (sessions T31B and 32A) at the AGU Western
Pacific Geophysics Meeting, 27-30 June 2000,
Tokyo, Japan. IGCP 368, 411 and 440 initiated this
special session. It dealt with all aspects related to
the assembly and dispersion of the two superconti-
nents, Rodinia and Gondwanaland, in the Western
Pacific. Twenty-three papers were presented in the
session, many of which are relevant to Rodinia.
About 40 people were present at the session from
seven countries.
– Special symposium on ‘Precambrian Superconti-
nents’ at the 15th Australian Geological Congress,
3-7 July 2000, Sydney, Australia. Around 120 people
attended the symposium.
– Sessions at the 31st International Geological
Congress, 6-16 August 2000, Rio de Janeiro. IGCP
440 held a one-day workshop during the meeting to
discuss and develop the map legend to be used in
the 1: 2 million and 1: 10 million map compilations.
Approximately 12 people attended this one-day
workshop, including representatives from six
countries.
Most important publications
– Arouri, K.; Conaghan, P. J.; Walter, M. R.; Bischoff,
G. C.; Grey, K. 2000. Reconnaissance Sedimentology
and Hydrocarbon Biomarkers of Ediacarian Micro-
bial mats and Acritarchs, Lower Ungoolya Group,
Officer Basin. Precamb. Res., Vol. 100, pp. 235-81.
– Burrett, C.; Berry R.; 2000. Proterozoic Australia-
Western United States (AUSWUS) Fit Between
Laurentia and Australia. Geology, 28, pp.103-6.
– Calver, C. R.; Walter, M. R.; 2000. The Late
Neoproterozoic Grassy Group of King Island,
Tasmania: Correlation and Palaeogeographic
Significance. Precamb. Res., Vol. 100, pp. 299-312.
– Eerola, T. 2000. (In press.) Neoproterozoic-Cambrian
Climate Changes. In: R. Riding, A. Zhuravlev (eds.)
Ecology of the Cambrian Radiation.
– Evans, D. A. 2000. Stratigraphic, Geochronological,
and Paleomagnetic Constraints upon the Neo-
proterozoic Climatic Paradox. Am. J. Sci., Vol. 300,
pp. 347-433.
– Evans, D. A.; Li, Z. X.; Kirschvink, J. J.; Wingate,
M. T. D. 2000. A High-quality Mid-Neoproterozoic
Palaeomagnetic Pole from South China, with
Implications for Ice Ages, Regional Stratigraphy,
and the breakup Configuration of Rodinia. Precamb.
Res., Vol. 100, pp. 313-34.
126
– Ge, W.; Li, X. H.; Li, Z. X.; Zhou, H. 2000.
‘Longsheng Ophiolite’ in Northern Guangxi
Revisited. Acta Petrologica Sinica, 16(1), pp 111-8
(In Chinese with English abstract.)
– Gehling, J. G. 1999. Microbial Mats in Terminal
Proterozoic Siliciclastics: Ediacaran Death Masks.
Palaios, Vol. 14, pp. 40-57.
– Gehling, J. G. 2000. Sequence Stratigraphic Context
of the Ediacara Member, Rawnsley Quartzite, South
Australia: A Taphonomic Window into the Neoprote-
rozoic Biosphere. Precamb. Res., Vol. 100, pp. 65-95.
– Gehling, J. G.; Narbonne. G. M.; Anderson, M. M.
2000. The First Named Ediacaran Body Fossil:
Aspidella: Terranovica Billings 1872. Palaeontology,
43, pp. 427-56.
– Gorjan, P.; Veevers, J. J.; Walter, M. R. 2000.
Neoproterozoic Sulfur-isotope Variation in Australia
and Global Implications. Precamb. Res., Vol. 100,
pp. 151-79.
– Grey, K.; Blake, D. H. 1999. Neoproterozoic
(Cryogenian) Stromatolites from the Wolfe Basin,
East Kimberley, Western Australia: Correlation
with the Centralian Superbasin. Aust. J. Earth Sci.,
Vol. 46, pp. 329-41.
– Hill, A. C.; Cotter, K. L.; Grey, K. 2000. Mid-Neo-
proterozoic Biostratigraphy and Isotope Stratigraphy
in Australia. Precamb. Res., Vol. 100, pp. 281-98.
– Hill, A. C.; Walter, M. R.; 2000. Mid-Neoproterozoic
(~830-750 Ma) Isotope Stratigraphy of Australia
and Global Correlation. Precamb. Res., Vol. 100,
pp. 181-211.
– Li, Z. X. 2000. New Palaeomagnetic Results from
the ‘Cap Dolomite’ of the Neoproterozoic Walsh
Tillite, North-Western Australia. Precamb. Res., Vol.
100, pp. 359-70.
– Li, Z. X. 2000. Palaeomagnetic Evidence for Uni-
fication of the North and West Australian Cratons
by ca. 1.7 Ga: New Results from the Kimberley
Basin of North-Western Australia. Geophys. J. Int.,
Vol. 142, pp. 173-80.
– Li, Z. X.; Li, X. H.; Kinny, P. D.; Wang, J. 1999.
The breakup of Rodinia: Did it start with a Mantle
Plume beneath South China? Earth Planet. Sci. Lett.,
Vol. 173, pp. 171-81.
– Li, Z. X.; Powell, C. McA. 1999. Palaeomagnetic
Study of Neoproterozoic Glacial Rocks of the
Yangtze Block: Palaeolatitude and Configuration of
South China in the Late Proterozoic Supercontinent
– Discussion. Precamb. Res., Vol. 94, pp. 1-5.
– Li, Z. X. Powell, C. McA. 2000. (In press.) An
Outline of the Palaeogeographic Evolution of the
Australasian Region since the Beginning of the
Neoproterozoic. Earth-Sci. Rev.
– Pisarevsky, S. A.; Li, Z. X.; Grey, K.; Stevens, M.
K. 2000. (In press.) A Palaeomagnetic Study of
Empress 1A, a Stratigraphic Drillhole in the Officer
Basin: New Evidence for the Low-latitude Position
of Australia in the Neoproterozoic. Precamb. Res.
– Walter, M. R.; Veevers, J. J.; Calver, C. R.; Gorjan,
A. P.; Hill, C. 2000. Dating the 840-544 Ma
 Neoproterozoic Interval by Isotopes of Strontium,
Carbon, and Sulfur in Seawater, and some
Interpretative Models. Precamb. Res., Vol. 100,
pp. 371-433.
– Wang, J.; Li, Z. X. 2000. (In press.) Sequence
Stratigraphy and Evolution of the Neoproterozoic
Marginal Basins along South-Eastern Yangtze
Craton, South China. Gond. Res.
– Wingate, M. T. D.; Campbell, I. H.; Harris, L. B.
2000. SHRIMP Baddeleyite Age for the Fraser
Dyke Swarm, South-East Yilgarn Craton, Western
Australia. Aust. J. Earth Sci., Vol. 47, pp. 309-13.
– Wingate, M. T. D.; Giddings, J. W. 2000. Age and
Palaeomagnetism of the Mundine Well Dyke Swarm,
Western Australia: Implications for an Australia-
Laurentia Connection at 755 Ma. Precamb. Res.,
Vol. 100, pp. 335-57.
– Zhang, S.; Li, Z. X.; Wu, H.; Wang, H. (In press.)
New Paleomagnetic Results from the Neoproterozoic
Successions in Southern North China Block and
Paleogeographic Implications. Science in China.
Activities planned
• Three possible IGCP 440 field trips are proposed for
2001. The main field symposium for IGCP 440 in
2001 will be around Irkutsk, on Proterozoic ophio-
lite, dyke swarms and sedimentary series of the
southern margin of the Siberian craton, Irkutsk,
Russia. It will be composed of two weeklong field
excursions with a two-day indoor symposium
between the two. The likely date for the two-week
field symposium is 23 July-5 August, with the sympo-
sium in Irkutsk on 29 and 30 July.
• Professor Yoshida, co-leader of IGCP 368, is organ-
ising a meeting in Osaka, 26-30 October 2001, which
is co-sponsored by IGCP 440. Over 200 scientists
have registered expressions of interest to attend the
meeting.
• IGCP 418 is organizing field activities to examine
the Late Mesoproterozoic Namaqua-Natal belt in
Southern Africa in mid-July (9 to 20 July).
• IGCP 368 is organizing a field conference relevant
to IGCP 440 between 24 and 27 March 2001 to
examine the Pan-African events in the Arabian shield.
• Drs V. Pease and R. Ernst, both major players in
IGCP 440, are organising a special session on large
igneous provinces, possibly at the 2001 AGU Fall
Meeting.
No. 442 – Raw Materials of Neolithic Artefacts
(1999-2002)
D. Hovorka, Department of Mineralogy and Petrology,
Faculty of Natural Sciences, Comenius University, 842
15 Bratislava, Mlynská dolina-G, Slovakia, e-mail:
dubikova@fns.uniba.sk
G. Trnka, Institut für Ur- und Frühgeschichte, Universität
Wien, Franz Klein Gasse 1, A-1190, Wien, Austria;
e-mail: gerhard.trnka@univie.ac.at
Description: The main goal of the project is to carry
out interdisciplinary studies to establish the source and
characteristics of Neolithic/Aenolithic stony artefacts
(tools, weapons, etc.) in order to define communication
paths of raw materials in the given time-period on the
European continent. The methodology proposed for
studying the artefacts is typical of the mineralogy and
petrology (thin sections, abundance of trace elements,
isotopes, etc.) and takes into account archaeological
studies, i.e. recent knowledge of migration paths, mines,
Neolithic settlement distribution, etc. The evaluation and
conclusions fall in the field of European archaeology
and will be used to relate artefacts to defined (known)
geological bodies. The proposal will contribute to the
understanding of technical and cultural interaction in
Europe. Furthermore, it encourages the interdisciplinary
co-operation of geology and archaeology and contributes
to the knowledge of migration of European cultures.
IGCP 442 is the first broadly formulated international
project to deal with petroachaeological and archaeo-
metrical issues.
Website of the project
http://www.ace.hu/ace-home/igcp442/igcp442.html
Participating countries
(* indicates countries active this year)
*Austria, Bulgaria, *Croatia, *Czech Republic, England,
Estonia, *France, Germany, Greece, *Hungary, *Ireland,
Israel, *Italy, Netherlands, *Poland, Romania, Serbia,
*Slovak Republic, *Slovenia, *Spain, *Sweden, Ukraine,
*United States, Yugoslavia.
Achievements of the project this year
General scientific achievements
A special volume of the international scientific journal
Krystalinikum (No. 25), published in the Czech Republic
and distributed by Schweizerbart'sche Verlagsbuchhand-
lung (Nägele und Obermiller) has been realised.
Meetings
– 3rd workshop on 27-29 September 2000, Eggenburg,
Austria was attended by 28 participants from 6 coun-
tries to present and discuss new results on Neolithic/
Aeneolithic raw material types studied in various
countries by individuals or teams of researchers.
Most important publications
Several scientific papers published in: Krystalinikum
(26), Contribution to the Geology and Petrology of
Crystalline Complexes, Brno 2000, Czech Republic.
127
Several abstracts published
– Archeologické rozhledy, L II, Praha 2000 (Czech
Republic), pp. 114-22.
– Abstracts Book, Lengyel '99, 2nd Workshop of the
IGCP/UNESCO Project No. 442, 11-13 October
1999, Veszprém, (Hungary).
– Abstracts, 3rd Workshop of the IGCP/UNESCO
Project No. 442, 27-29 September 2000, Eggenburg,
Austria, pp 1-29.
Scientific papers
– Farkas̆, Z.; Hovorka, D. 1999. Isolated Cases of
Jadeitite and Jasper-opal Polished Implements in
Slovakia. Materialia Archaeologica Slovaca, tomus
II, pp. 75-80, Nitra.
– Gunia, P. 1999. 1st and 2nd UNESCO/IGCP 442
Project Workshops, Bratislava, Slovak Republic, June
21-23 1999, and Veszprem, Hungary, October 11-
131999. Geologica Sudetica, 32, 2, p. 165, Wroclaw.
– Hovorka, D. 1999. Raw Materials of the Neolithic
Artefacts. New Interdisciplinary IGCP/UNESCO
project accepted: IGCP/UNESCO Project No. 442.
Geologica Carpathica, 50, 2, p. 192, Bratislava.
– Hovorka, D. 2000. Medzinárodný Interdisciplinárny
Projekt Geovedcov a Archeológov. IGCP/UNESCO
442. Informátor Slovenskej archeologickej spolo
nosti, XVI, l, pp. 8-9, Nitra.
– Hovorka, D. 2000. New Interdisciplionary/Inter-
sectorial Scientific IGCP/UNESCO No. 442 Project
‘Raw Materials of the Neolithic/Aeneolithic Polished
Stone Artefacts: Their Migration Paths in Europe’,
approved. Archeologické rozhledy, LII, pp. 114-7, Praha.
– Hovorka, D.; Korikovsky, S.; Soják, M. 2000.
Neolithic/Aeneolithic Blueschist Axes: Northern
Slovakia. Geologica Carpathica, 51, 5, pp. 1-8,
Bratislava
– Schléder, Zs.; Biró, K. T. 1999. Petroarchaeological
Studies on Polished Stone Artifacts from Baranya
County, Hungary. A Janus Pannonius Múzeum
Évkönyve, 43, pp. 75-101, Pécz.
– Starnini, E.; Szakmány Gy. 2000. The Lithic Industry
of the Neolithic Site of Szarvas and Endrod (South-
Eastern Hungary): Techno-typological and Archaeo-
metrical Aspects. Acta Arch. Acad. Sci. Hungaricae,
50, 98, pp. 279-342.
Activities planned
Meetings
Based on an agreement concluded during the 3rd work-
shop in Eggenburg, the 2001 workshop will be organised
in Udine, Italy.
General goals
• To activate corresponding members and working
groups of the project.
128
• To publish reviews on raw material types used by
the Neolithic populations in individual countries.
• To distribute raw material samples from type local-
ities to corresponding members of the project as
etalons of raw material types
No. 448 – World Correlation on Karst Ecosystem
(200-2004)
Y. Daoxian, The Institute of Karst Geology, CAGS, 40
Qixing Road, Guilin, Guangxi, China 541004, e-mail:
dxyan@mailbox.gxnu.edu.cn
C. Groves, Hoffman Environmental Research Institute,
Department of Geography and Geology, Western
Kentucky University, Bowling Green, KY 42101, United
States
G. Messana, C.N.R., Centro di Studio per la Faunistica
ed Ecologia Tropicale, Via Romana 17, 50125 Firenze,
Italy, e-mail: messana@csfet.fi.cnr.it
Description: The ecosystem in karst regions is fragile;
therefore, a better understanding of the mechanism
governing its formation and of differences around the
world is essential for sustainable development in karst
regions. The main goal of this project is to compare the
karst ecological systems in tropical, subtropical, boreal,
arid, semi-arid, Mediterranean, Gondwana and other
regions, in order to understand how karst is formed in
each case. The project will also compare the microscopic
karst ecological system under different geochemical
conditions and for different phases of carbonate rocks,
especially the impact of this background on species
selection and biodiversity. Also, methods for the reha-
bilitation of karstlands will be proposed. The subter-
ranean ecological systems of karst will be compared
from both a geographical and geological perspective as
well as their influence on the evolution of troglobites,
troglophiles and trogloxene species, and the relation
between surface species and the karst environment. The
interrelation of karst ecological systems, human health
and human activities will be studied, including agricul-
ture, urbanisation, timbering and mining. The societal
aspects of the project include environmental protection
strategies and health aspects. Altogether, 110 scientists
are participating in this project.
Website of the project
http://ww.glnet.edu.cn/KDL
Participating countries
(* indicates countries active this year)
Albania*, Australia*, Austria*, Belgium*, Bosnia
Herzegovina*, Brazil*, Bulgaria*, Canada*, China*,
Croatia*, Cuba, Czech Republic*, France*, Germany*,
Greece, Hungary*, Indonesia*, Iran*, Ireland, Israel*,
Italy*, Japan*, Kenya, Lithuania*, Macedonia, Mexico,
New Zealand*, Norway*, Poland*, Romania*, Russia*,
Slovakia*, Slovenia*, South Africa, South Korea*,
Spain*, Switzerland, Turkey*, Ukraine*, United
Kingdom*, United States*, Viet Nam*, Yugoslavia*.
Summary of major past achievements of the project
IGCP 448 is a successor project of IGCP 299 ‘Geology,
Climate, Hydrology and Karst Formation’ (1990-1994)
and 379 ‘Karst Processes and the Carbon Cycle’ (1995-
99). Previous works related to karst ecosystem are
summarised in the 92- page first issue of IGCP 448
Newsletter (2000), and are available on the project’s
website http://www.gxnu.edu.cn/KDL.
1. World comparison of karst ecosystems
From the experiences of the United Kingdom,
Mediterranean realm, Middle East, South China, South-
East Asia and Central America, it is generally accepted
that the karst ecosystem is fragile. This is the result of
soluble rock dissolution, which brings about the devel-
opment of an underground drainage system, and thus
shortage in soil and water on the surface. In some parts
of the world’s karst regions, the area of rock desertifi-
cation is expanding. However, such fragility is differed
in different parts of the world with different geological,
climatic, and vegetational background. For instance, in
some boreal or temperate humid karst regions the
presence of an underground karst system is beneficial
for agriculture because it drains away excess water in
wetlands, and the carbonate rocks can buffer the acid
water of bogs. On the other hand, the effect of Eucalyptus
forests on the hydrogeoecology in the karst regions of
South-East Australia is not to increase the water storage
in the aquifer, but rather to mitigate the problem of soil
salinization by lowering the groundwater table through
its strong evapo-transpiration. Because of all these
different settings, it is necessary to carry out systematic
comparison on world karst ecosystems, so as to enlighten
our knowledge of the mechanism of different types of
karst ecosystem, and benefit through a more reason-
able treatment of ecological problems and sustainable
development in karst areas.
2. Geological background of karst vegetation
It has been recognised that karst vegetation is charac-
terised by Petrophile, Xerophile and Calciphihe in those
areas where the soil cover is very thin, and the under-
ground drainage system is well developed. In this case,
the biodiversity is limited. On the other hand, many
petrophile species are of great value. Plants such as the
Lonicera hypoglauca Miq, Nervilia fordii (Hance) Schltr.
and Eucommia ulmoides are herbal medicines, but grow
only in areas of particular geochemical background and
the presence of certain trace elements. Karst vegetation
is also affected by lithological features of the carbonate
rocks, e.g. the old phase (pre-Triassic) hard compact
carbonate rocks in mainland China is less favourable to
the formation of the soil and water detention than those
young-phase (Tertiary) porous soft carbonate rocks in
Central America and South-East Asia, hence the ecolo-
gical problem of the former is worse than the latter.
There are also plant invasion problems in karst regions,
such as the bracken in Yorkshire, United Kingdom; the
Eupatorium adenophorum in South China, and the Kudzu
Vine in the Appalachian, United States, which are
spreading over the karst regions, and restraining the
growth of other useful plants.
3. Subterranean ecological system
The geographical distribution of subterranean ecosystem
research in karst is uneven and generally more advanced
in Europe and North America. Thousands of cave-
dwelling species from about 82 caves in the United
States have been studied. In Europe, the Société inter-
nationale de Biospéologie was founded in France about
a hundred years ago. The link of IGCP 448 with this
Society and its current Chairman Dr Giuseppe Messana
co-leader of the project, and its newly edited
Encyclopaedia Biospeologica will enhance interdiscipli-
nary study in this direction. In China, cave fishes in
more than 20 caves in the central and western part of
the Guangxi Province were studied systematically in
early 1980s. In recent years, more studies were carried
out on the threats to the cave ecosystem. It is consid-
ered that the most important threats to cave habitat are
changes in water and nutrients, and, to a lesser extent,
the presence of toxic chemicals, oxygen loss, as well as
the more direct impacts such as collecting, mining, and
caving. Some special cave fishes, Typhlobarbos mudi-
ventris; and Triplophysa geijuensis in the Jianshui
county, Geiju county of the Southern Yunnan Province
are endangered because of over extraction of water from
caves. The Sinocyclocheilus hyalinus in the Luxi county,
Yunnan province is endangered because of tourism
boating on the underground stream.
Cave flora and fauna are used for karst environmental
and hydrological studies. For instance, the cave sala-
manders Typhlomolge rathbuni and Typhlomolge robusta
can be used to distinguish different pools of the
Cretaceous Edward Karst Aquifer, Texas, United States.
The composition of hypogean and epigean species is
used to study the structure of karst aquifer in typical
sites of Southern and Eastern France. The microflora
indicated by Total Viable Counts (TVC) is used to trace
the type of percolation (swallet, conduit or fissure) into
the G. B. Cave, Somerset, United Kingdom. These
studies show a great potential in this direction.
4. Mutual impacts between man and karst ecosystems
Previous research dealt with the interaction between the
karst ecosystem and land use. The development of under-
ground drainage system and geochemical features of
limestone can restrict the biodiversity on karst. The flood
in karst depressions limits the forest and agriculture; for
instance, only early-maturing wheat can be grown in
Gubeng Polje, Xichou County, Yunnan, South China
129
because it is flooded in the summer by an underground
stream. A lot of research is also carried out on the impact
of human activities (quarrying, mining, agriculture,
timbering, urbanization, water conservancy, etc.) on the
karst ecological system. A great challenge remains, how
sustainable development in karst can be achieved while
mitigating geohazards, especially karst collapse.
Achievements of the project this year
The suggested new themes on karst ecosystems include
tropical, subtropical, temperate, and Mediterranean
types, protected or deteriorated. A conceptual model of
karst ecosystem was worked out as a basis of method-
ologies for world correlation. It includes the structure,
driving force and function of a karst ecosystem. Concrete
achievements of the project this year as reflected in the
presentations of symposia, field workshops and reports
from National Working Groups are summarised below.
World comparison of karst ecosystems
Field correlations were undertaken this year in North-
West Romania, a Mediterranean karst system and Lagoa
Santa Karst in Eastern Brazil, and a Gondwana sub-
tropical karst system. Moreover, the Vietnamese Working
Group reported about a tropical karst ecosystem in the
Cuc Phuong National Park, and the Slovenian Working
Group reported about the Skocjanske Jama world
heritage site, another Mediterranean karst ecosystem.
In North-West Romania, seven caves were visited at the
Bihor Mountain karst site which includes an ice cave
(Scarisoara) containing a big block of permanent ice;
the longest cave in Romania, the Vantului (wind) cave
(48 km long); and the Ursilor cave, a scientific reserve
cave with late Pleistocene-Holocene bear fossils (Ursus
spelaeus). The vegetation on the Bihor Karst is in general
very good compared to many other karst regions of the
world; nevertheless, anthropologic impacts in some parts
are very strong, especially in the areas of timbering,
grazing and mineral deposit prospecting.
The Lagoa Santa Karst in Eastern Brazil is a typical
karst landform. Since it is developed on the bases of
Proterozoic carbonate rock, a stable Gondwana land
surface, and under a subtropical climate (the annual
mean temperature is 23°C, and the annual rainfall is of
1,380 mm), it exhibits some special features: (1) a long
period of denudation on a stable low relief land has
resulted in a generally thick red soil cover (more than
10 m); (2) there exists numerous limestone cliffs at the
bottom of dolines, with frequent occurrences of lakes at
their base; (3) there also exists lakes showing a complex
hydrogeological behaviour; (4) there are caves showing
evidence of paragenetic development, and numerous
phases of sediment input and removal. Moreover,
heliotropical stalagmites are usually seen on their
entrances. The vegetation of Lagoa Santa Karst is
130
characterised by subtropical and Gondwana types and
can be classified into the Savannah (Cerrado) vegetation
type occupying originally most of the area, and having
been replaced by grasslands suitable for cattle farming.
Cerrado vegetation is nowadays restricted to isolated
pockets in the area and Semideciduous forest occurs
associated with dolines and limestone cliffs.
The Cuc Phuong National Park is located in the Ninh
Binh Province of Viet Nam and covers an area of 22,220
ha, underlain by Middle Triassic pure limestone (800 m
thick). The annual mean temperature is 23°C, with
annual mean rainfall of 2,000 mm. The elevation ranges
between 200 and 640 m and is featured by typical
tropical karst landform, the peak cluster-depression. The
vegetation present is a combination of indigenous species
and migrant species from the Himalayas, South China,
Malaysia and Pacific Islands. The park has a rich faunal
and floral biodiversity.
The world heritage site Skocjanske Jama is located in
the Classic Karst of Slovenia. The region is underlain
by Cretaceous-Tertiary limestone with typical karst
features, such as poljes, dolines and big cave systems.
The ecological system of the karst surface is in good
condition, with a vegetation cover of up to 45%. More-
over, this karst setting has a strong impact on human
life, which is different in Triassic dolomite or in
Cretaceous-Tertiary limestone regions, and also in the
low land of polje area or on a karst plateau. The history
of vegetation recovery in the region during the past
century is a good example for world correlation on karst
ecosystems. By investigating the sedimentation layers in
typical dolines of the Divaca Karst in Western Slovenia,
Andrej Mihevc reconstructed the course of human
impact on the karst environment back to 5000 years BP,
and classified it into several stages: burning down of
forest at the beginning and then experiencing an artifi-
cial flattening of the doline bottom and cleaning rock
from its slope in Roman times. He found that the human
activities were intensified after the 10th century and
reached a maximum in the 18th century.
Geological background
of karst ecosystem and vegetation
In the Misid brook karst region of North-West Romania,
the general HCO3-Ca-Mg water changes into Ca-SO4
water with a PH value up to 3 because of the local oxida-
tion of pyrite by percolating water. Chinese collabora-
tors found that the water-bearing capacity of a carbonate
rock surface can increase remarkably when reformed by
Crustose lichens. This process is quite favourable to
ecological rehabilitation of a rock-desertified karstland.
Brazilian collaborators found from a study in the karst
region of Mid-Southern Minas Gerais State that the
lithofacies formed by calcarenite is more liable to
develop a secondary porosity and karstification, and can
thus create a more favourable hydroecological condition.
Under the long-term denudation of the stable Gondwana
land under a subtropical humid climate, karst features
including dolines, collapsed valleys, kamenitzas, karren
and sinkholes are well developed in Phanerozoic sand-
stones and Proterozoic quartzites of Cratonic covers and
fold belts. There are 170 mapped caves in the siliceous
rock of Brazil, ranging from several metres to 3.5 km
long. Some contain opal speleothems, including drip-
stone, flowstone, rim stone dams and crust.
Subterranean Karst ecosystem
New achievements in this field include microbiology in
cave and its impacts on weathering and depositional
processes; behaviour of underground animals such as
beetles, and some vertebrates; and description of cave
fauna. It was reported that the karst ecosystem in Movile
cave, Southern Romania, is a system that contains a
higher trophic level, which is entirely dependent on
chemoautotrophic micro organisms. This makes it an
excellent place for studying the ecology of a sulphur-
based ecosystem, i.e. better than deep-sea vent or deep
groundwater aquifers for its better accessibility.
Moreover, the methane concentration in the Movile cave
is approximately 1% (V/V). Regarding the characteri-
sation of methanotrophic bacteria in caves, some
research indicates that there is a considerable diversity
in the populations of sulphur-oxidizing bacteria living
in karst system, and their metabolic activity can have a
significant impact on cave formation. By means of
Mitochondrial DNA sequence analysis, the phylogeo-
graphy of cave beetles from Romania was studied
concerning their population structuring, speciation and
evolutionary history, and a cave cricket Troglophilus
neglectus was recorded in South-West Germany. Others
studied the changes in the behaviour of cave vertebrates
(fishes and amphibians), including their diurnal activity,
alarm, aggressive, and sexual behaviour. By hybrid
studies, it was found that the differences between cave
and surface forms are genetically based. During a Sino-
British Cave Expedition in Guangxi Province, some cave
fishes from Linyun county and Yangsuo county were
identified as parasilurus cochinchinensis (Cuvier et
Valenciennes) and Parasinilabeo assimlis Wu et Yao. The
former is a Stygobite with very long whiskers, while the
latter relies on algae on rock surface and is called by
local people ‘oil fish’ because it is fatty.
Human impact on karst ecosystem
The karst ecosystem of the Lagoa Santa region is at
present under heavy pressure of human activities, being
probably the most endangered karst area in Brazil. Rapid
urban expansion into the karst terrain, coupled with the
ever-increasing mining for cement plants represents a
major threat to the region. Groundwater, soil and vege-
tation are under severe stress. Some karst lakes and
rivers are polluted and unsuitable for human use. Human
activities in this region are industrial and domestic waste
recharge into lake, airport construction, and limestone
quarry and deforestation. Mining and quarrying have
direct impact on karst ecosystem. For instance, the Idrija
Mercury deposit of Slovenia has been exploited since
the year 1500 and used to be the second biggest mercury
mine in the world (after the Almaden Mine in Spain).
A total of 147,000 tons of mercury were extracted from
there, which represents more than 13% of the world
production. The Deposit was formed along a major,
hundreds of kilometres long regional over thrust in
north-west direction, with wall rocks of Carboniferous
beds being overturned on Triassic dolomite. Because
of the sublimate nature of mercury, the mine has
brought about serious environmental problems to the
area. About 20 kg of mercury per day are emitted into
the atmo-sphere, giving rise to endemic diseases. The
mine is being gradually shut down because of environ-
mental awareness, the declining use and price of mercury
as well as the impoverished ore deposit, although some
14,000 tons of mercury production still continues. The
Limestone Quarry near Koper is the third largest quarry
of Slovenia. Its annual production is about 500,000 m3
for use as aggregate or wave-broken stone in harbours.
It exploits Pliocene limestone on a major nappe struc-
ture with an elevation between 420 and 340 m. One of
the main environmental concerns is that it is situated on
the catchment area of several karst springs, which are
the source of water supply for local people. Moreover,
it is located on the world renowned Classic Karst. The
expanding of the quarry will inevitably destroy some
karst features (macrospically or microscopically). In
addition, the quarry has exposed some cave systems
with unique sediments, which have particular scientific
significance for the reconstruction of palaeoclimatic
change up to 1.7 million years.
Meetings
– Joint meeting of IGCP 448 and Friends of Karst
(United States) 'Karst Studies and Problems: 2000
and Beyond', Cluj, Romania, 14-23 July 2000. 70 people
from 15 countries took part in the symposium.
– Symposium 20-6 'Processes in Karst Terrains' at the
31st International Geological Congress, Rio de
Janeiro, Brazil, August 2000. 28 scientists from
11 countries took part in the symposium.
– International Symposium and field seminar on
'Present State and Future Trends of Karst Studies',
17-20 September 2000, Marmaris, Turkey. 70 people
from 20 countries took part in the symposium.
Most important publications
– C. Linan Baena, C.; Andreo Navarro, B.; Carrasco
Cantos, F.; Vadillo Perez, I. 2000. Consideraciones
Acerca de la Influencia del CO2 en la Hidroquimila
de las Aguas de Goteo de la Cueva de Nerja
(Provincia de Malaga), Geotemas, 1(3), pp. 341-4.
– Liu, Z.; Zhao, J. 2000. Contribution of Carbonate
Rock Weathering to the Atmosphere CO2,
Environmental Geology, 39(9) pp.105-1058,
Springer-Verlag.
131
– Liu, Z.; Yuan, D.; He, S.; Zhang, M. 2000. The
Geochemical Characteristics of Geothermic CO2-
H2O-Carbonate System and the Source of its CO2.
Science in China, Series D, 30(2), pp. 209-14.
– Xie Yunqiu and Yao Changhong (eds.) 2000 IGCP
448 Newsletters, Karst Dynamic Laboratory, Guilin,
China, 92 pages. Available also on the project
website: http://www.gxnu.edu.cn/KDL
Activities planned
General goals
The second year of the project will concentrate on the
comparison of karst ecosystems in the subtropical humid
monsoon area of South China, and the temperate humid
area of Southern Germany. In South China, karst eco-
systems present on different geological background
(carbonate rocks from Cambrian dolomite to Triassic
limestone), different elevation (500-2,200 m), will be
studied, together with the impact of population pressure
on karst system, the relation between environment and
underground ecosystem and the experiences of rehabil-
itation. In Southern Germany, the leakage of the Danube
River at Tuttlingen through underground karst system to
Aach Spring, the use of geothermal water in covered
karst, and example of re-injection of treated wastewater
in the karst area (Franconian Alb) will be examined.
No. 449 – Global Correlation of Late Cenozoic
Fluvial Deposits
D. Bridgland; Department of Geography; University of
Durham; South Road; Durham DH1 3LE; United
Kingdom; e-mail: D.R.Bridgland@durham.ac.uk
Description: The sedimentary deposits left by rivers
represent considerable databanks of palaeoclimatic and
palaeo-environmental information concerning responses
in the land domain to changes in the atmospheric,
oceanic and ice-sheet domain. In recent decades,
substantial progress has been made in the description
and interpretation of Late Cenozoic, and especially
Quaternary fluvial systems and their evolution. This
project is timely in the light of these recent advances.
The major aim of this research is to compile and dis-
seminate a data collection of long fluviatile sequences.
As stated, those sequences are of significant importance
in that they can potentially provide frameworks for
Cenozoic sequences on land. First of all, a methodology
and a strategy for the study will be agreed upon, and
fluvial sequences will be recorded. A database of well-
dated Late Cenozoic fluvial sequences from all parts of
the world will then be compiled. The best of these
regional fluvial stratotypes will be designated for
comparison with less well-dated sequences, partial
sequences and sequences from other environments. The
132
fluvial sequences are correlated with the global marine
record by whatever means possible and with emphasis
on a multi-proxi approach. This project requires a multi-
disciplinary approach and calls for a team of specialists
dealing with a wide range of techniques such as
lithostatigraphy, biostratigraphy, palaeobotany, geo-
chronology and archaeology. The project has started in
2000 with 104 identified participants from 33 countries.
Website of the project
http://www.qra.org.uk/FLAG/IGCP449.htm
Participating countries
Argentina, Australia, Bangladesh, Belgium, Brazil,
Canada, China, Czech Republic, France, Germany,
Hungary, India, Indonesia, Italy, Jordan, Korea (Rep.
of), Lithuania, Moldova, Morocco, Netherlands, New
Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Poland, Romania, Russia,
South Africa, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine,
United Kingdom, Uruguay, United States.
Achievements of the project this year
The following reports were received from co-ordinators:
Regional Reports
(i) Long fluvial sequences in the Northern Black Sea
area: potential of existing data, future advances,
suitability for meetings.
(ii) Progress in Central France.
(iii) Progress in Russia.
(iv) Uruguay.
Thematic Reports
(i) Report on Mammalian biostratigraphy from fluvial
sequences: Phase 1 area of IGCP 449.
(ii) Progress with molluscan biostratigraphical work
on fluvial sequences: phase 1 area (North-West
Europe).
(iii) Fluvial archives from the continental shelf.
(iv) Archaeology from fluvial sequences in the phase 1
area.
(v) The World’s highest fluvial archive, from the
Yangtze and Yellow River terraces on the Qinghai-
Tibetan Plateau.
General scientific achievements
Reports from the mammalian and molluscan working
groups show that progress towards completion of phase
1 area coverage (North-West Europe) has been good.
There is also satisfactory progress towards establishing
an archaeological sub-theme, with abundant work of
relevance to the project identified.
Pierre Antoine reports from France on a new CNRS
programme that he will be co-ordinating: EOLE: ‘the
record of the aeolian events during the Last Climatic
Cycle in Europe’. He emphasizes that loess sequences
can be of great importance in terrace studies. Quaternaire
will publish a synthesis on the River Seine in 2001, with
six papers mainly on the stratigraphy and palaeontology.
From beyond the phase 1 area, there are encouraging
signs of activity. The group of Czech workers is
preparing for 2001 a study of ‘Holocene flood plains
and Pleistocene analogies and discrepancies’, with a
contribution to IGCP 449 as a goal. They will be able
to present information on this project at the meeting in
Prague in April 2001.
Peter Beaumont reports on work on the Plio-Pleistocene
fluvial sequence of the Vaal-Orange River. In September
2000, panels describing the sequence and its archaeo-
logical content were opened at the Canteen Koppie
Palaeolithic site and at the nearby new Barkly West
Museum. Work for the coming months will include
palaeomagnetic sampling of Vaal sediments.
Valentina Drouchits (Russia) is preparing a study of the
Pliocene-Quaternary drainage system of the Issyk-Kul
depression.
Sampat Tandon reports on the work of his doctoral
student M. Jain, whose thesis, nearing completion, is
about the responses of the Luni fluvial system to climate
change in the Thar desert through the last 100,000 years.
Jain's work has yielded data on the field sequences,
petrography of sandstones, petrography of calcretes, clay
mineralogy, stable isotopes and EPMA chemistry of
calcretes, and OSL dating. Tandon's own research now
includes preliminary work on the sequences of the
Ganga Plain.
IGCP 449 co-leader Liping Zhou reports that his OSL
dating facility in Beijing is now operational. This facility
can make an important contribution to the project both
in directly dating fluvial sediments and in dating wind-
blown overburden, which can provide a minimum age
for fluvial deposits.
Meetings
FLAG meeting, Mainz, Germany, 19-23 March 2000. A
special issue of the Netherlands Journal of Geosciences
is planned as an outlet for papers from the conference,
several of which will be contributions to IGCP 449,
edited by D. Krzyszkowski and K. Kasse.
The meeting included the following sessions:
1. Global correlation of Late Cenozoic fluvial
sequences
2. Fluvial activity and crustal instability
3. Fluvial response to rapid environment change during
the last glacial-interglacial cycle
4. Holocene fluvial system response to frequent and
rapid periods of environmental change: identification
and modelling of forcing factors
Publications
Note that it is too early in the project for publications
to appear carrying acknowledgements to IGCP 449.
However, the following publications by project parti-
cipants appeared during the year and were submitted
for inclusion in this report on the grounds that they are
relevant to the aims of the project.
– Antoine, P.; Fagnart, J.-P.; Limondin-Lozouet, N.;
Munaut, A. V. Le Tardiglaciaire du Bassin de la
Somme. Quaternaire (1)-2, pp. 85-98.
– Antoine, P.; Lautridou, J.-P.; Laurent, M. Long-term
Fluvial Archives in NW France: Response of the
Seine and Somme Rivers to Tectonic Movements,
Climate Variations and Sea-level Changes.
Geomorphology, 33, pp. 183-207.
– Antoine, P.; Rousseau, D. D.; Lautridou, J.-P.; Hatte,
C. Last Interglacial-Glacial Climatic Cycle in Loess-
palaeosol Successions of N-W France. Boreas, 28,
pp. 551-63.
– Benito, G.; Gutiérrez, F.; Pérez-González, A.;
Macado, M. J. Geomorphological and Sedimento-
logical Features in Quaternary Fluvial Systems
Affected by Solution-induced Subsidence (Ebro
Basin, NE Spain). Geomorphology, 33, pp. 209-24.
– Blum, M. D.; Guccione, M. J.; Wysocki, D.; Robnett,
P. C. Late Pleistocene Evolution of the Mississippi
Valley, Southern Missouri to Arkansas. Geological
Society of America Bulletin, 112, pp. 221-35.
– Blum, M. D.; Tornqvist, T. E. Fluvial Response to
Climate and Sea-level Change: A Review and Look
Forward. Sedimentology, 47 (Supplement), pp. 1-48.
– Bourillet J. F.; Lericolais, G. Morphology and
Seismic Stratigraphy of the Manche Palaeoriver
System, Western Approaches Margin in E. Com-
munity (eds.) ENAM/STEAM Atlas.
– Bridgland, D. R. River Terrace Systems in North-
West Europe: An Archive of Environmental Change,
Uplift and Early Human Occupation. Quaternary
Science Reviews, 19, pp. 1293-303.
– Dodonov, A. E.; Tchepalyga, A. L.; Mihailescu, C.
D.; Zhou, L. P.; Markova, A. K.; Trubikhim, U. M.;
Sunakova, A. N.; Konikov, E. G. Last-interglacial
Records from Central Asia to the Black Sea
Shoreline: Stratigraphy and Correlation. Netherlands
Journal of Geosciences, 79, pp. 303-11.
– Gao, C.; Keen, D. H.; Boreham, S.; Coope, G. R.;
Pettit, M. E.; Stuart, A. J.; Gibbard, P. L. 2000. Last
Interglacial and Devensian Deposits of the Great
Ouse at Woolpack Farm, Fenstanton, Cambridge-
shire, UK. Quaternary Science Reviews, 19, pp. 787-
810.
– Howard, A. J.; Keen, D. H.; Mighall, T. M.; Field,
M. H.; Coope, G. R.; Griffiths, H. I.; Macklin, M.
G. 2000. Early Holocene Environments of the River
133
 Ure, Near Ripon, North Yorkshire, UK Proceedings
of the Yorkshire Geological Society, 53, pp. 31-42.
– Juyal, N. et al. Chronology of Late Pleistocene
Environmental Changes in the Lower Mahi Basin,
Western India, Journal of Quaternary Science, 15
(5), pp. 501-8.
– Krzyszkowski, D.; Przybylski, B.; Badura, J. The
Role of Neotectonics and Glaciations Along the
Nysa-Klodzka River in the Sudeten Mountains
(South-Western Poland). Geomorphology, 33,
pp. 149-66.
– Macklin, M. G.; Taylor, M. P.; Hudson-Edwards, K.
A.; Howard, A. J. Holocene Environmental Change
in the Yorkshire Ouse Basin and its Influence
on River Dynamics and Sediment Fluxes to the
Coastal Zone. In: I. Shennanand J. E. Andrews
(eds.) Holocene Land-Ocean Interaction and
Environmental Change around the North Sea.
Geological Society Special Publication, 166, pp. 87-
96.
– Maddy, D.; Bridgland, D. R. Accelerated Uplift
Resulting from Anglian Glacioisostatic Rebound in
the Middle Thames Valley, UK: Evidence from the
Terrace Record. Quaternary Science Reviews. 19,
pp. 1581-8.
– Maddy, D.; Bridgland, D. R.; Green, C. P. Crustal
Instability and the Development of Certain English
Rivers. Geomorphology, 33, pp. 167-81.
– Meijer, T.; Preece, R. C. 2000. A Review of the
Occurrence of Corbicula in the Pleistocene of North-
West Europe. Netherlands Journal of Geosciences,
79, pp. 241-55.
– Mol, J.; Vandenberghe, J.; Kasse, C. River Response
to Variations of Periglacial Climate in Mid-latitude
Europe. Geomorphology, 33, pp. 131-48.
– Plakht, J.; Patyk-Kara, N. G. Gorelikova, N. V. Terrace
Pediments in Makhtesh Ramon, Central Negev,
Israel. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms, 25,
pp. 29-39.
– Preece, R.C.; Parfitt, S. A. The Cromer Forest-bed
Formation: New Thoughts on an Old Problem. In: S.
G. Lewis, C. A. Whiteman. and R. C. Preece, (eds.)
The Quaternary of Norfolk and Suffolk. Field Guide,
Quaternary Research Association, London. pp. 1-27.
– Rose, J.; Moorlock, B. S. P.; Hamblin, R. J. O.
Lithostratigraphy and Palaeoenvironments of. Pre-
Anglian Sand and Gravels of East Anglia. In: S. G.
Lewis, C. A. Whiteman, and R. C. Preece (eds.) The
Quaternary of Norfolk and Suffolk. Field Guide,
Quaternary Research Association, London.
pp. 35-45.
– Sidorchuk, A. Yu.; Borisova, O. K. Method of
Paleogeographical Analogues In: Paleohydrolo-
gical Reconstructions. Quaternary International. 72,
pp. 95-106.
– Sinha, R.; Brahmankar, D. B. Hydrological,
Morphological and Sediment Transport Characteris-
tics of Wainganga River, Central India. Journal of
the Indian Association of Sedimentologists. 18 (1),
pp. 1-14.
134
– Straffin, E. C.; Blum, M. D.; Stokes, S. Alluvial
Stratigraphy of the Loire and Arroux Rivers,
Burgundy, France. Quaternaire. 10, pp. 271-82.
– Tchepalyga, A. L.; Mihailescu, C. D.; Zhou, L. P.;
Markova, A. K.; Trubikhin, V. M.; Simakova, A. N.;
Konikov, E. G. Last-interglacial Records from
Central Asia to the Northern Black Sea Shoreline:
Stratigraphy and Correlation, Geologie en Mijnbouw/
Netherlands Journal of Geosciences, 79, pp. 303-11.
– Vandenberghe, J.; Maddy, D. The Significance of
Fluvial Archives in Geomorphology. Geomorpholgy,
33, pp. 127-30.
– Veldkamp, A.; Van Dijke, J. J. Simulating Internal
and External Controls on Fluvial Terrace
Stratigraphy: A Qualitative Comparison with the
Maas Record. Geomorphology, 33, pp. 225-36.
– White, M. J. The Clactonian Question: on the
Interpretation of Core and Flake Assemblages in
the British Isles. Journal of World Prehistory, 14,
pp. 1-63.
– Winguth, C.; Wong, H. K.; Panin, N.; Dinu, C.;
Georgescu, P.; Ungureanu, G.; Krugliakov, V. V.;
Podshuveit, V. Upper Quaternary Water Level History
and Sedimentation in the North-Western Black Sea.
Marine Geology, 167, pp. 127-46.
– Zhou, L. P.; Van Andel, T. H.; Lang, A. A
Luminescence Dating Study of Open-air Palaeolithic
Sites in Western Epirus, Greece. Journal of
Archaeological Science, 27, pp. 609-20.
Activities planned
General goals
Once criteria for data compilation are established at the
Prague meeting, it is anticipated that much effort in year
2 will be expended in making progress with the data-
base. Contributors will be asked to submit material in
a suitable format for inclusion in the database and will
be shown their database entries for verification and
correction.
It is intended that the North-West European fluvial
archive will be extensively covered by presentations at
this meeting, with a view to achieving the aim of having
this area of the project's coverage largely completed by
the end of year 1. It is hoped that data will be available
at this early phase of the project ready to be fed into
the database early in year 2, subject only to any modi-
fications necessary in the light of decisions taken at
the Prague meeting on database protocols. It will be
important to have the core North-West European data in
place so that it can serve as an exemplar for later phases
of the project.
Meetings
– The first official IGCP 449 Project meeting will take
place 21-24 April 2001 in Prague, Czech Republic.
 This will be a three-day meeting with two days of
presentations and discussion followed by a field trip.
The latter will provide an opportunity to view the
fluvial sediments of the Vltava and Labe Rivers.
Specific aims of this meeting are to:
(i) establish criteria for the compilation of database
material
(ii) discuss and guide the future progression of the
project
(iii) allow presentation of data already compiled
(iv) identify, amongst the data presented, exemplary
material for the guidance of future contributors.
It is hoped that such material will appear on the
IGCP 449 website soon after the Prague meeting.
– The second IGCP 449 Project meeting will take
place in August/September 2001, in China. It will
include lecture and poster sessions and workshops,
together with field excursions. It is hoped that the
last will include the Yellow River.
– Prof. Dariusz Krzyszkowski (Eastern European
Co-ordinator) is exploring the possibility of running
an IGCP 449 session at a planned INQUA Sub-
commission of European Quaternary Stratigraphy
(SEQS) meeting to be held in Kiev during the period
11-20 September 2001. No project funds would be
used to support this session, but it presents an oppor-
tunity to promote IGCP 449 and to establish inter-
activity with work in the key Black Sea area. The
possibility of an appended excursion to the fluvial
sequence of the Dnjepr is also under investigation.
IGCP 449 will be also represented at the following meet-
ings:
– 7th International Conference on Fluvial Sediment-
ology, (6-10 August) Nebraska, United States. This
will include sessions sponsored by FLAG (Fluvial
Archive Group) that will include IGCP 449 con-
tributions. Provisional titles for these sessions are
‘Fluvial system response to climate change through
time’ and ‘Alluvial and tectonic system interactions’.
– 5th International Conference on Geomorphology
(International Association of Geomorphologists),
Tokyo, 23-28 August 2001. This is a symposium
organized by the IAG and GLOCOPH Working
Group on Large Rivers (S6: Large Rivers) at the
5th IAG in Tokyo. It is planned that IGCP 449 will
be represented. The 2nd IGCP 449 meeting in
China will be timed to allow participation in both
meetings.
Publications
FLAG/IGCP 449 special volume in Geologie en
Mijnbouw/Netherlands Journal of Geosciences. This
arises from the FLAG meeting in Mainz, Germany,
20-23 March 2000 and will contain papers that are
contributions to IGCP 449, including a brief review of
its baseline position (by D. Bridgland and D. Maddy).
No. 450 – Proterozoic Sediment-hosted Base
Metal Deposits of Western Gondwana
S. S. Iyer, Department of Physics and Astronomy,
University of Calgary, Calgary T2N 1N4, Canada;
e-mail: iyer@ucalgary.ca
A. Misi, Centro de Pesquisa em Geofisica e Geologia,
Universidade Federal da Bahia, Rua Caetano Moura, 123
(Inst. de Geociencias), 40210-340 Salvador, Bahia,
Brasil; e-mail: misi@ufba.br
A. F. Kamona, Geology Department, University of
Namibia, Private Bag 13301 and Windhoek, Namibia,
e-mail: afkamona@unam.na
J. Cailteux, Département Recherche et Dévelopment,
c/o GFI-EGMF, Entreprise Générale Malta Forrest
(EGMF), Parc Industriel, 22, av. Kigoma, Lubumbashi,
Democratic Republic of Congo, e-mail: jyc.egmf@
forrestgroup.com
Description: The project aims to correlate the mineral
deposits through large areas of South Africa and South
America. Recent studies on the Proterozoic base metal
deposits on either side of the Atlantic indicate many
common sedimentological, structural, geochemical and
isotopic characteristics, probably arising from a common
geological evolution. The study will begin by preparing
a database of sediment-hosted base metal deposits in
Western Gondwana. The data acquired will raise the
awareness of the mineral potentials of Gondwana
sequences on both sides of the Atlantic and subsequently
contribute to the development of genetic models for
Proterozoic sediment-hosted base metal deposits of
South America and Africa. The preparation of a mineral
deposit map of sediment-hosted base metal deposits
of Western Gondwana is planned. Specific aspects of
the study are the structural and stratigraphical control
of the mineralisation, the timing of the mineralisation
and age of host rocks, the sources of metal and sulphur
and the temperatures of deposition, the palaeogeothermal
gradient during the emplacement of the deposits, the
nature of the ore-forming fluids and the radiogenic and
stable isotopic signature. Therefore, this project involves
the application of many scientific disciplines and knowl-
edgeable researchers.
Participating countries (all active)
Argentina, Australia, Botswana, Brazil, Cameroon,
Canada, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ecuador,
Germany, Namibia, Paraguay, South Africa, Uruguay,
United States, Zambia.
135
Achievements of the project this year
General scientific achievements
Scientific achievements on Proterozoic
sediment-hosted base metal deposits of South America
In South America, Brazil has the largest exposure of
Proterozoic sediments, which hosts the majority of the
known base metal deposits of South America. Thus,
many of the scientific activities are centred in Brazil.
The São Francisco Craton is one of the most important
geotectonic units hosting some of the most important
Proterozoic sediment-hosted base metal deposits
(Boquira, Vazante and Morro Agudo) of South America
and is a major focus of the IGCP 450. Integrated studies
carried out in 2000 involving geological, isotopic and
fluid inclusion data on the deposits and the sediments
have resulted in a better understanding of the metal-
logenic evolution of these deposits. Some of the
important conclusions are:
1. The major sources of metals and sulphur are from
basement rocks and sediments respectively.
2. The highly radiogenic character of the sulphides is
due to the radioactively enriched nature of the upper
crust necessitating the modelling of craton specific
lead isotope evolution curves for the São Francisco
Craton. Such a modelling is in progress.
3. Fluid inclusion data demonstrate the participation of
relatively high temperature hydrothermal solutions
with moderate salinity.
4. Origin of the ore deposits is related to a focused
hydrothermal release of metal bearing fluids along
fractures and fault zones during basin evolution and
before deformation.
The copper province of Rio Grande do Sul State is
located at the eastern border of the São Gabriel Block,
and contains the main known Cu and Pb-Zn deposits at
the Camaquã and Santa Maria Mines and the base-metal
prospects of the Precambrian Sul-Riograndense Shield.
Rocks of different ages, compositions and structures
host these deposits. The Camaquã Cu (Au-Ag) Mines
are the principal Cu deposits in the province, and are
hosted by volcanosedimentary sequences of the Bom
Jardim Group with an estimated age of 594 ±5 Ma. The
Camaquã Cu (Au, Ag) and Santa Maria Pb-Zn (Cu, Ag)
deposits are the largest base-metal deposits discovered
so far in the sedimentary clastic sequences of the
Neoproterozoic Camaquã Basin. The Camaquã Basin
was formed during the Neoproterozoic to Ordovician
period at the end of the Brasiliano Cycle. The volcano-
sedimentary rocks in the basin were deposited in rifts
in the Precambrian basement of Rio Grande do Sul
State. The Sul-Riograndense Shield is the southernmost
extension of the Mantiqueira Province.
Our understanding of the metallogenic evolution of these
deposits has improved considerably due to integrated
studies involving geology, isotopes and geothermometry
136
on the deposits and the regional rocks. Some of the
important conclusions are:
1. Mineralisation is fracture-controlled and distal
magmatic-hydrothermal in origin rather than strati-
form syngenetic or diagenetic.
2. The temperatures of deposition of the main ore
minerals were 210 to 300°C.
3. Deposit-scale ore-mineral zonation crosscuts the
stratigraphy.
4. Hydrothermal alteration of wall rocks is represented
by chloritization, silicification, sericitisation and
carbonation.
5. The δ34S values of sulphides from the deposits (close
to 0‰) indicate an external magmatic-hydrothermal-
related source of sulphur.
6. Pb isotope composition of sulphides from the
deposits suggests that the metals were derived from
a largely crustal source with very primitive Pb at the
end of the Brasiliano Cycle.
7. The age of mineralisation is interpreted to be ca. 594
Ma, as constrained by U/Pb SHRIMP determinations
(Sensitive High Resolution Ion Micro-Probe) on
zircons of the Lavras Granite.
Review of the research achievements
on the Proterozoic sediment-hosted base metal
deposits of Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay
Though many of the activities in South America on
Proterozoic sediment-hosted base metal deposits are
centred on the deposits of Brazil, new studies are
emerging from the neighbouring countries. The
Geological Survey of Argentina is compiling and clas-
sifying the mineral deposits of the country and has
updated information, which is being processed.
In Paraguay, the new 1:250,000 geological map along
with structural and geochronological studies (whole rock
Rb-Sr and U-Pb dating of zircons) on the southern
Precambrian should help in the correlation of the sedi-
mentary basins of neighbouring regions and exploration
of base metal deposits.
In Uruguay thick sedimentary and metasedimentary
sequences of Palaeo- (San José, Montevideo and Arroyo
Grande Belts), Meso- (Basal Complex of the Nico Pérez
Terrane) and Neoproterozoic (Arroyo del Soldado,
Lavalleja and Rocha Groups) ages occur. Yet, only minor
occurrences of base metal mineralisation have been
discovered. This is mainly due to lack of detailed geo-
logical mapping. In 2000 two occurrences of base metal
mineralisations considered to be of probable volcano-
sedimentary origin were studied:
1. Neoproterozoic Lavalleja Group consisting of
Cu-Pb-Zn mineralisations (5% Pb, 4% Zn and
1.5% Cu).
2. Palaeoproterozoic San José Belt (ca. 2100 Ma)
hosting Cu mineralisation associated with phyllites
and interstratified rhyolites.
Another focus of the investigation was the large
carbonate platforms of Mesoproterozoic, Neoproterozoic
and Vendian-Cambrian. These units are being explored
for the possibility of Mississippi Valley Type minerali-
sation and some mineral prospects have been unearthed.
The nature of the investigation involves:
1. Biostratigraphic dating of Proterozoic (Meta) sedi-
mentary sequences by means of organic-walled
microfossils and skeletal fossils.
2. Inter and intra- continental correlation of Neoprote-
rozoic sequences of Uruguay with those of other
regions of South America and South/South-West
Africa using litho-, bio- and chemostratigraphy.
Mineral deposit database for Proterozoic
sediment-hosted base metal deposits of South America
In IGCP 450 the primary objective was stated as ‘raising
the awareness of the mineral potential of Gondwana
sequences on both sides of the Atlantic by preparing a
database of sediment-hosted base metal deposits of
Western Gondwana in one readily available form’. To
fulfil this objective a Geographic Information System
(GIS) is being developed where the databases of all the
deposits will be incorporated. A preliminary GIS project
designed by Dr Washington Rocha of the Federal
University of Bahia, Brazil, is being tested and refined
using the database of the deposits from the São Francisco
Craton, Brazil. Some of the information to be included
in the GIS database is given for the African deposits
(Table 1). The GIS format will be a major point of
discussion in the forthcoming Field Workshop to be held
in 2001 at Vazante-Morro Agudo, Minas Gerais, in
Brazil.
Scientific achievements on Proterozoic
sediment-hosted base metal deposits of Africa
On the African side, the African co-leaders (Kamona
and Cailteux) are currently reviewing the data related to
the copper belt of Central Africa (Zambia and Congo)
and the Kalahari copper belt (Namibia mainly and to
some extent Botswana). The major review covers the
carbonate-hosted base metal deposits found in various
orogenic belts such as the Neoproterozoic Damaran-
Lufilian, the West Congolian, the Magondi and the Kheis
belts.
Preliminary tonnage and grade compilations show that
the Central-Southern African region was a major centre
of Cu-Co-(U) mineralisation with several billion tons of
ore at 3% Cu, 0.1-0.2% Co and occasional by-product
U, Ni, Au, Ag and PGE. A major focus of IGCP 450
will be the development of a metallogenic model for
this mineralisation, because of its bearing on exploration
for similar deposits elsewhere in Western Gondwana.
The preferred working model envisages Cu porphyry
protores in the basement as the ultimate source of the
metals. Ongoing research involving geological mapping,
isotopic and fluid inclusion studies will contribute new
data as part of IGCP 450.
Similar tonnage and grade compilations for carbonate-
hosted Cu-Pb-Zn mineralisation indicate several millions
of tons of massive high-grade ore concentrated in a plat-
form carbonate environment and associated with both
syntectonic and post-tectonic orogenic phases. The
Tsumeb Pb-Cu-Zn deposit with more than 25 million
tons of ore and average grades of 11.0% Pb, 4.7% Cu
and 3.7% Zn in Namibia is a major example.
In Botswana, the scientists from the Geological Survey
of Botswana and members of the Geology department
of the University of Botswana collected sulphide and
carbonate samples from the carbonate sedimentary rocks
of Aha Hills (Botswana), which contain sub-economic
Pb-Zn mineralisation. These samples will be analysed
for their stable isotopic signatures at the University of
Calgary, Canada. A sampling exercise has also been
conducted in the Matchless Belt at the now closed
Matchless Cu mine, Central Namibia, in collaboration
with the University of Zimbabwe. The samples collected
are to be analysed for sulphur isotopes at the University
of Calgary in Canada in order to compare the isotopic
signature of this volcanogenic deposit with sediment-
hosted base metal deposits in the region.
Mineral deposit database
The project officially began in 2000 with the prepara-
tion of a database on sediment-hosted base metal
deposits in Western Gondwana, a summary of which
is given in Table 1 for Central and Southern Africa.
The deposits have been tentatively classified into three
main groups based on host rock and presumed mode of
formation. Thus, stratiform/stratabound Cu-(Co)-(Ag),
carbonate-hosted Pb-Zn-(Cu), and SEDEX Zn-Pb-(Cu)-
(Ag) deposits are recognized. Two broad tectonic settings
associated with these deposits are the intracontinental
rift basins for the stratiform/stratabound and SEDEX
deposits, and the shallow marine continental platform
for the carbonate-hosted deposits. The timing of the
mineralisation is still being investigated, but it varies
from syngenetic through diagenetic to epigenetic in
these deposits. Similarly, the grade of metamorphism
varies from low green schist facies to high-grade amphi-
bolite facies. The database is being developed further to
include grade and tonnage data as well as geochemical
data relating to fluid inclusions and isotopes. Correlation
of ore deposit occurrences will be made once the data
has been compiled for the various regions.
Meetings
– Inaugural meeting at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on
15 August 2000. The inaugural meeting took place
during the 31st International Geological Congress,
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 7 to 17 August 2000. About
40 participants from 16 countries attended the meeting.
– General Symposium 11-1 ‘Pre-Atlantic Metallogeny
of West Africa and Eastern South America’ held
137
 during the 31st International Geological Congress at
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (7-8 August 2000).
List of most important publications
South America
– Cunha, I. A.; Coelho, C. E. S.; Misi, A. 2000. Fluid
Inclusion Study of the Morro Agudo Pb-Zn Deposit,
Minas Gerais, Brazil. Revista Brasileira de
Geociências, 30 (2), pp. 318-21.
– D'agrella-Filho, M.; Babinski, M.; Trindade, R. I. F.;
Van Schmus, W. R.; Ernesto, M. 2000. Simultaneous
Remagnetization and U-Pb Isotope Resetting in
Neoproterozoic Carbonates of the São Francisco
Craton, Brazil. Precambrian Research, 99, 1 pp. 79-
196.
– Gaucher, C. 2000. Sedimentology, Palaeontology and
Stratigraphy of the Arroyo del Soldado Group
(Vendian to Cambrian, Uruguay). Beringeria 26,
pp. 1-120; Würzburg, Germany.
– Gomes, A. S. R.; Coelho, C. E. S.; Misi, A. 2000.
Fluid Inclusion Investigation of the Neoproterozoic
Lead-Zinc Sulfide Deposit of Nova Redenção, Bahia,
Brazil. Revista Brasileira de Geociências, 30 (2),
pp. 315-7.
– Meinhold, K. D.; Cubas, N.; Garcete, A. 2000. Note
on the Southern Precambrian Complex of Paraguay.
Zbl. Geol. Paläont. Teil I, 1999, H. 7/8, pp. 709-22.
– Misi, A.; Iyer, S. S.; Coelho, C. E. S.; Tassinari, C.
C. G.; Franca-Rocha, W. J. S.; Gomes, A. S. R.;
Cunha, I. A.; Toulkeridis, T.; Sanches, A. L. 2000.
A Metallogenic Evolution Model for the Lead-Zinc
Deposits of the Meso and Neoproterozoic
Sedimentary Basins of the São Francisco Cráton,
Bahia and Minas Gerais, Brazil. Revista Brasileira
de Geociências, 30 (2), pp. 302-5.
– Monteiro, L. V. S.; Bettencourt, J. S.; Spiro, B.;
Graça, R.; Oliveira, T. F. 2000. The Vazante Zinc
Mine, MG, Brazil: Constraints on Fluid Evolution
and Willemitic Mineralization. Exploration and
Mining Geology (Special Issue on South American
Mineral Deposits), Vol. 8.
– Remus, M. V. D.; Hartmann, L. A.; McNaughton, N.
J.; Groves, D. I.; Reischl, J. L. 2000. Distal Magmatic-
hydrothermal Origin for the Camaquã Cu (Au-Ag)
and Santa Maria Pb, Zn (Cu-Ag) Deposits, Southern
Brazil. Gondwana Research. Vol. 3 (2), pp. 155-74.
– Remus, M. V. D.; Hartmann, L. A.; McNaughton, N.
J.; Groves, D. I.; Fletcher, I. R. 2000. The Link
Between Hydrothermal Epigenetic Copper
Mineralization and the Caçapava Granite of
Brasiliano Cycle in Southern Brazil. Journal of South
American Earth Sciences, Vol.13, pp. 191-216.
Africa
– Kampunzu, A. B.; Armstrong, R. A.; Modisi, M. P.;
Mapeo, R. B. M. 2000. Ion Microprobe U-Pb Ages
on Single Detrital Zircon Grains from Ghanzi Group:
Implications for the Identification of a Kibaran-age
Crust in North-Western Botswana. Journal of African
138
Earth Sciences, Elsevier, United Kingdom, Vol. 30,
No. 3, pp. 579-87.
– Kampunzu, A. B.; Tembo, F.; Matheis, G.; Kapenda,
D.; Huntsman-Mapila, P. 2000. Geochemistry and
Tectonic Setting of Mafic Igneous Units in the
Neoproterozoic Katangan Basin, Central Africa:
Implications for Rodinia Break up. Gondwana
Research, Vol. 3, No. 2, pp. 125-53.
– Mapeo, R. B. M.; Armstrong, R. A.; Kampunzu, A.
B. 2000. Ion Microprobe U-Pb Zircon Geochrono-
logy of Gneisses from the Gweta Borehole, North
East Botswana: Implications for the Paleoproterozoic
Magondi Belt in Southern Africa. Geological
Magazine, (In press.)
– Mapeo, R. B. M.; Armstrong, R. A.; Kampunzu,
A. B. 2000. Ages of Detrital Zircon Grains from
Neoproterozoic Siliciclastic Rocks in Shakawe Area:
Implications for the Evolution of the Proterozoic
Crust in Northern Botswana. South African Journal
of Geology, (In press.)
– Ramokate, L. V.; Mapeo, R. B. M.; Corfu, F.;
Kampunzu, A. B. 2000. Protorozoic Geological
Evolution of Western Botswana: Evidence from the
Ghanzi-Makunda Area. Journal of African Earth
Sciences, Elsevier, United Kingdom, Vol. 30, No. 3,
pp. 453-66.
Western Gondwana
– Iyer, S. S.; Kamona, A. F.; Misi, A.; Cailteux, A. J.
2000. Proterozoic Sediment-hosted Base Metal
Deposits of Western Gondwana (IGCP Project 450)
Gondwana Research, 3, p. 556.
Activities planned
General goals
As the project’s activities are spread over many
countries and the results of the study from each country
have to be integrated to achieve the main objectives of
the project it was decided during the inaugural meeting
to assemble a national co-ordination committee consist-
ing of members from each participating country or
region. The national co-ordinators will co-ordinate the
activities in their country and will form the major link
to the project leaders. Three Co-ordination Committees
will help to select members of the sub-committees:
(a) metallogenic map
(b) data bank
(c) field work
(d) internet, and
(e) post-graduate research.
Scientific goals
1. Update the geochemical, isotopic and fluid inclusion
database of the Proterozoic sediment-hosted base
metal deposits on either side of the Atlantic and
attempt regional correlation of the deposits and their
host rocks using the GIS database.
2. Publication of metallogenic models of Neoprotero-
zoic sediment-hosted Cu-Pb-Zn deposits of Western
Gondwana.
3. Drafting of preliminary metallogenic maps.
4. Refine the Craton-specific Pb-isotope evolution
model for São Francisco Craton and model similar
curves for other cratons of Western Gondwana.
5. Organize post-graduate student seminars in the
universities involved in the project.
6. Publication of the Special volume of Ore Geology
Reviews.
7. Geochemistry, fluid inclusions, detrital zircon geo-
chronology focusing on rocks hosting base metal in
these Neoproterozoic basins are under investigation.
8. Stable isotope analyses of carbonates and sulphides
from the carbonate sedimentary rocks from Aha Hills
(Botswana) which contain sub-economic Pb- Zn
mineralisation
9. Publication of the book ‘Origin of sediment-hosted
base metal deposits: evidence from the Central Africa
Copper belt’ (editors: Kampunzu and Binda) as a
major contribution to IGCP 450.
Meetings
As the project involves countries on either side of the
Atlantic in the inaugural meeting at Rio de Janeiro,
Brazil, it was decided that annual meetings should be
held alternately in South America and Africa, and the
meetings should preferably be held as Field Workshops.
Prof. Misi (one of the Project Leaders) suggested that
the first Field Workshop be held in 2001 and could take
place at Vazante-Morro Agudo, Minas Gerais, Brazil,
late September 2001. The Neoproterozoic carbonate
sequences of the Bambui Group, together with the
correlative Vazante Formation in the Brasilia fold belt,
cover more than 300,000 km2 and form an integral part
of the important geotectonic unit known as the São
Francisco Craton. These Neoproterozoic units host the
majority of the sediment-hosted Zn-Pb deposits in Brazil.
Only two of the known deposits – Vazante and Morro
Agudo, in Minas Gerais State – are being mined at
present. Vazante has 8 million tons of ore with 23% Zn
whereas Morro Agudo is estimated to have 12 million
tons of ore with 6,4% Zn and 2,2% Zn.

Table 1: Summary of main deposit provinces in Central and Southern Africa

(synthesised from diverse sources)

Country/Region Major Deposits Deposit Type / Province Tectonic Setting Host Rock(s)
Congo (DR) Kolwezi, Tenke- Kakanda, Stratiform Continental rift basin, Neoproterozoic allochtonous
Kambove Cu-Co-(U, Ni), Lufilian mobile belt dolomite
Zambia-Congo (DR) Musoshi, Konkola, Stratiform Continental rift basin, Neoproterozoic shale,
Nchanga, Nkana, Cu-(Co), Copper belt Lufilian mobile belt quartzite
Mufulira, Baluba
Botswana-Namibia Klein Aub, Lake Ngami Stratabound Cu-(Ag), Continental rift basin, Meso- to Neoproterozoic
Kalahari Copperbelt Klein Aub-Ghanzi belt siltstone, sandstone
Zimbabwe Mangula, Norah, Stratabound Continental rift basin, Palaeoproterozoic quartzite
Shackleton, Cu-(Ag), Lomagundi Magondi mobile belt
Copper Queen
Congo (DR) Kipushi, Lombe, Carbonate-hosted Continental platform, Neoproterozoic dolomite,
Cu-Pb-Zn, Lufilian mobile belt shale
Congo (Brazzaville) M’Passa Carbonate-hosted Continental platform, Neoproterozoic dolomite
Cu-Pb-Zn, Niari Basin West Congolian
mobile belt
Zambia Kabwe Carbonate-hosted Continental platform, Neoproterozoic dolomite
Pb-Zn-(Cu) Lufilian mobile belt
Namibia Tsumeb, Kombat, Carbonate-hosted Continental platform, Neoproterozoic dolomite
Berg Aukas Pb-Cu-Zn-(Ge)-(Ag), Damaran mobile belt
Otavi Mountainland
South Africa Pering, Bushy Park Carbonate-hosted Zn-Pb, Continental platform, Mesoproterozoic dolomite
Griqualand West Kheis mobile belt
Namibia Rosh Pinah, Skorpion SEDEX Zn-Pb-Ag, Continental rift basin, Neoproterozoic quartzite,
Gariep Damaran mobile belt argillite, dolomite
South Africa Copperton, Aggeneys, SEDEX Cu-Pb-Zn-Ag, Continental rift basin, Mesoproterozoic schist,
Gamsberg Namaqualand Namaqua-Natal quartzite
mobile belt
South Africa Prieska SEDEX Zn-Cu, Kheis Continental rift basin, Mesoproterozic gneisses
Kheis mobile belt

139
No. 454 – Medical Geology
O. S. Selinus, Geological Survey of Sweden, P.O. Box
670, SE-75128 Uppsala, Sweden
P. Bobrowsky, B. C. Geological Survey Branch, P.O. Box
9320, Station Provincial Government, Victoria, British
Columbia, Canada V8W 9N3
Description: ‘Medical Geology’ is defined as the science
dealing with the relationship between natural geological
factors and health problems in man and animals,
including the understanding of the influence of ordinary
environmental factors on the geographical distribution
of such health problems (epidemiology). Therefore,
Medical Geology is a broad and complex subject that
requires interdisciplinary contributions from several
different scientific fields if the problems are to be under-
stood, mitigated and resolved. There is a paradox in
studies within Medical Geology. For instance, industri-
alised countries should be well suited for such studies
given good public health records and detailed geolog-
ical information. However, today citizens of these coun-
tries are rarely dependent on locally grown food and, in
many cases, do not even depend on local drinking water.
In addition, municipal drinking water is often treated.
Therefore, the most suitable areas for this type of
research lies in the developing countries. Most research
on particular medical conditions has been carried out in
the developing countries. In particular, China has been
very active, as evident with their problems related to the
Keshan and Kashin Beck diseases, but Sri Lanka and
Kenya have also done pioneering work.
Website of the project
http://home.swipnet.se/medicalgeology
Participating countries
Austria, Australia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Cameroon, Canada,
Chile, China, Czech Republic, Finland, Germany,
Greece, India, Kenya, Mexico, Netherlands, Norway,
Poland, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Slovak Republic,
South Africa, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Tanzania, Ukraine,
United Kingdom, United States, Yugoslavia, Zambia,
Zimbabwe.
Project aims
The primary aim of the project is to bring together, at
the global scale, scientists working in this field in devel-
oping countries with their colleagues in other parts of
the world, all the while stressing the importance of
geoscientific factors that affect the health of humans and
animals. The project is potentially capacity-building,
involving transfer of training as well as mutual exchange
of information and experience. The developing world
will provide considerable case study and research
140
potential. For their part, the developed countries will
offer their advanced techniques and research skills
with appropriate transfer of medical knowledge and
methodology. This initiative provides, for the first time,
the opportunity for leading scientists from developing
countries to come together in a truly international and
interdisciplinary way (involving geoscientists, medical
doctors and veterinarians) to identify and tackle real
problems of the geoenvironment and health.
The project intends to focus on a number of geo-
environmental topics including the human and animal
life requirements of various elements (metals, minor and
trace elements) the ultimate source of which is the earth.
The concept of dose-response relationship, that too little
and too much are equally detrimental; hence, disease
deficiency (I, Se, Zn, Mg), interactions (Cu/Mo) and
toxicity (Cd, Hg, Fe). The role of essential elements such
as the structure of proteins and enzymes (Mn, Cu, Zn),
catalytic properties (Mn, Cu, Zn) and differences
between plants and animals (B, Mo) is equally vital.
Sources of pathways from air (Rn) to water (As, F, Mg)
to food/soil (Cu, Mo) should also be determined.
Examination of the environment and transport mecha-
nisms will also be carried out: natural environment (F,
Se, Pb, Cu-Mo, P), disturbed environment (Zn – Poland,
Africa and South America), transported material,
Chernobyl, traffic (Pb, Zn, V, Ni).
Other main points of concern that the project will
address are:
• Arranging joint interdisciplinary technical meetings
to address issues of mutual concern amongst geo-
scientists and other disciplines concerned with
medical geology.
• Producing and distributing a medical geology
newsletter to disseminate information on medical
geology to geoscientists, medical doctors, veterinarians,
planners and industry.
• Encouraging geological surveys, universities and
geological societies to take a more active role in pro-
viding useful information on geological conditions
in medical geology.
• Encouraging the development of local working
groups of multi-disciplinary medical geology experts.
• Encouraging research with a view to producing more
effective methodologies for the study of geological
factors in environmental medicine.
• Providing training lecture sessions at annual meet-
ings using keynote speakers as a means of updating
collaborators as well as providing up to the minute
ideas and methodological approaches to younger
scientists in developing countries.
• Appropriate interactive contact with other projects,
ICSU-linked bodies and UNESCO intergovern-
mental programmes with a view to maximizing the
utility of the products of the project, including
advice on the optimisation of its social relevance and
application.
Most important refereed publication during the first year
of the project
Selinus, O.; Frank, A. 2000. Medical Geology. In: Möller
(ed.), Environmental Medicine, pp 164-83. Joint indus-
trial Safety Council, No. 333.
Achievements in 2000
Meetings
– IGCP meeting at the 31st International Geological
Congress in August 2000 (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil).
– IGCP Workshop in September 2000 (Uppsala,
Sweden), with the aim to present the state-of-the-art
and recent scientific advances in medical geology, as
well as to plan future activities.
Scientific summary of the workshop
The workshop in Uppsala included a two-day seminar.
The seminar brought together hydrologists, soil scien-
tists, mineralogists, geochemists, geologists, geogra-
phers, physicians, dentists, pathologists, epidemiologists,
veterinarians, plant physiologists and others from many
countries, including many from developing countries.
The discussions covered many aspects of the environ-
ment that affect plant, animal and human populations
locally, regionally and globally. Though study of the rela-
tionships between soil, water and rock chemistry and
animal and human health goes back many years, and
even to the very early days when the connection between
salt and diet was first realised, current concerns and
research progress are helping to re-establish the linkages
between the earth and medical sciences. These build on
an extensive knowledge base especially in geochemistry.
The first theme concerned ‘external pathways – geo-
chemistry and geology’ with a broad overview of natural
(‘geogenic’) contaminants and toxicity problems asso-
ciated with the groundwater-soil-plant-animal-human
continuum. Research concentrated on the source, release
and transfer of As and Se from native minerals to plants
and humans via water and soil in South Asia. A broad
overview of large-scale patterns of air, water and soil
chemistry resulting from land use changes in Britain was
given. It was shown how rivers are still dispersing indus-
trial contaminants released over a century ago today, and
decried the general lack of monitoring of organic
contaminants in surface and groundwater. A fascinating
story of how Cu has been recycled between rocks, water
and plants since the Precambrian was presented as ‘life
in a copper province’.
Pointing out that wildlife all over Africa have to survive
on ancient (naturally degraded) soils commonly poor in
nutrition, particularly where animals enclosed in parks
and reserves cannot browse more widely, on-going
studies were described to investigate this situation in
Kenya. Levels of essential and toxic elements in animals
living in rivers draining the Zambian copper belt were
reported. The studies described the effects of deficien-
cies in soil nutrients in relation to joint disease and
dwarfism in Maputo Land.
In reviewing geophagy, the practice of eating clay or
soil, it was pointed out that, in addition to obvious bene-
fits (e.g. reduction of stomach acidity), there were also
harmful effects including mineral deficiency, toxicity,
and excessive tooth wear. Archaeological work on an
ancient mining and smelting site in Jordan provides
evidence of the absorption of copper in the skeletons
of Byzantine metal workers, and the effect is felt even
today as bioaccumulation of metals in local plants,
people and animals. Other topics included were the
effect on pneumoconiosis in Asia of the common and
widespread dust storms, and the mobilisation of As and
its tragic effect on health in the Bengal Delta.
Extensive studies on the geochemistry of urban environ-
ments in the United States were reviewed, and in
particular the effect on the health of children of Pb
from paints, gasoline and, more recently, from tire wear.
The biogeochemical cycling from sea to land of I and
Se in Southern Norway was discussed and it was shown
how human influences might be distinguished from
natural inputs such as those from atmospheric transport
from coastal to inland areas. The effects of asbestos
and other fibrous minerals on human health were also
presented. Local problems in Greece were caused by the
application of crushed tremolite used in household
whitewash, and in Turkey inhabitants of cave dwellings,
who excavated into tuffs rich in fibrous and porous
zeolites had high incidences of lung cancer.
The second day of the seminar on ‘internal pathways –
biochemistry and biology’ began with an overview of
the biogeochemistry of bones and teeth. The way was
reviewed in which specialised cells, enzymes and
hormones record living conditions in the bones and teeth
– rather like coral and tree growth rings. Considerable
progress can be made using the kind of mineralogical
approaches unfamiliar to medical doctors in investi-
gating dentine and enamel, and minerals in bones such
as apatite, hydroxyapatite and whitlockite. Likewise,
extensive studies on mineralisation of human blood
vessels were summarised. Hope was expressed that a
means could be found to dissolve these minerals, thereby
clearing the circulatory system of some obstructions.
In the review of the connection between metals in the
environment and the etiology of human diseases the
various internal pathways – absorption, ingestion, inhala-
tion, were described. Though most of the seminar
focused on the harmful health effects of metals and
ions, participants were reminded that some metals are
essential, for example as catalysts in cellular functions
or as forming an integral part of important enzymes.
The startling conclusions were described from careful
141
study of the relationship between cancer and environ-
mental conditions especially in China and Japan. There
was much evidence for links between risk of breast and
prostate cancer and the presence of long-lived endocrine-
disrupting chemicals (EDCs) such as pesticides and
dioxins. One major published conclusion was that there
is an especially strong link between EDCs and dairy and
other products from animals fed with growth hormones.
Another researcher reviewed the principles of metal
biology, stressing the importance of organic chemistry.
The pathways from the environment through food into
the body are well illustrated by direct links between coal
use and human health in China. Here, some 3000 people
have been severely poisoned through the consumption
of chili peppers dried over fires burning high-As coal.
More than 10 million people suffer dental and skeletal
fluorosis due to eating corn dried over burning briquettes
made from high F coals and high F clay binders.
GIS techniques applied to the study of ground radon
shows that the risk of leukaemia in children is higher
where radon exposure is higher. The relatively high
number of Swedes complaining about metal dental
fillings seemed to reflect metal intolerance in those
people. However, removal of dental amalgam did cor-
relate in reduced Hg content of plasma and red blood
cells. A Romanian researcher described the search for
causes of a kidney disease apparently restricted to
Croatia, Serbia and Romania. Despite the spatial associa-
tion with Pliocene lignite deposits being mined, there
was still doubt as to the source of the toxins involved.
At the end of the seminar, there was discussion about
the name of this interdisciplinary field of research. Much
work has already been done under the rubric of environ-
mental geochemistry and environmental medicine, and
the consensus was that the term ‘geomedicine’ would
not be accepted by the medical profession and that
‘medical geology’ was a better term. The time was ripe
now to push forward, with environmental concerns much
in the public eye and in view of concern over large-scale
issues such as the As poisoning in Bangladesh. It was
pointed out that there was already some co-operation
between geochemists, biologists and veterinary scientists,
142
but that it was difficult to get the doctors to join. Clearly,
it would be important to show medical practitioners
how information from medical geology would benefit
patients. Medical schools in Sweden are beginning
to include environmental medicine as a standard com-
ponent of the syllabus. An important tool in the search
for connections between disease and rock/water/soil
chemistry was regional geochemical mapping, and its
co-Chair, Jane Plant, invited contributions to the IUGS
Global Geochemical Mapping project.
Activities planned
Meetings
– One main meeting will be held in Lusaka, Zambia
in June 2001. A workshop on Medical Geology is
planned as well as a short course on Medical Geology.
– A Forum on Medical Geology cosponsored by the
IEE-GSA, IUGS, USGS and the US Armed Forces
is planned for the Annual Meeting of the GSA in
Boston, MA, United States, in November 2001.
Publications
One objective of IGCP 454 is to publish an interdisci-
plinary book on medical geology covering most aspects
of this subject. No such book has so far been published
and it therefore fills a substantial gap. It will prove useful
as a textbook in both developing and developed coun-
tries. Although there are a few books of high standard
published on geomedicine, mainly by Professor Lag in
Norway, they are purely scientific and are therefore
not easily understood by non-geoscientists. The book
will be written so as to stake a claim to be adopted as
a primary source for university and college courses in
Medical Geology for geoscientists, medical doctors, and
veterinarians. Currently, no such ‘primer’ exists.
A series of short papers from the seminar in Uppsala
are to be published in 2,001 in the Special Paper series
of the Geological Society of America.
Two newsletters will be published.
 New IGCP Projects accepted and starting in 2001
Project No. 447 – Proterozoic Molar-tooth
Carbonates
Full title: Microsparites of the world during the
Precambrian: the global significance
of Molar-tooth structures in Protero-
zoic carbonates, including origin, and
Palaeoenvironmental, depositional, bio-
geochemical, tectonic and stratigraphic
significance
Proposers: Professor Meng Xianghua (Leader,
China); Professor Darrel G. F. Long,
(Co-leader, Canada); Professor Robert
Bourrouilh (Co-leader, France)
Address: Professor Meng Xianghua, Institute of
Sedimentary Basins, China University
of Geosciences, 29 Xueyuan Road,
Beijing 100083, China.
E-mail: meng 2000@bj163.com
The project (a successor to IGCP 319) aims to investi-
gate the origin and structures of Mid-Late Precambrian
microsparites and to assess global correlation of Molar-
tooth carbonates stressing depositional, Palaeoenviron-
mental, biogeochemical, tectonic and stratigraphic
significance (e.g. used as depth and slope indicators).
Molar-tooth carbonates are specialised and peculiarly
named early diagenetic sedimentary features. Their name
originates from their tapered, ptygmatically folded
texture comparable to an elephant's tooth. Molar-tooth
structures (MTS) have a specified time range of 1900
to 550 Ma (Mesoproterozoic to Neoproterozoic), – even
if some similar structure is reported occasionally from
the Mesozoic. To try and solve the origin of these enig-
matic structures and their possible use in correlation is
a significant object of research. Consensus does not yet
exist on the actual origin because there are no modern
analogues.
Much of the significance of the MTS lies in their
marking key Precambrian biological and geochemical
events, especially their demise in the Neoproterozoic
when there was a marked increase in carbon levels. They
might be a link to the revolutionary changes in the bio-
sphere, which heralded the appearance of the complex
multi-cellular animals of the Late Precambrian.
This project will undertake a thorough survey of the
carbonates in North China (Liaoning and Jilin Province),
Arctic Europe (Spitsbergen), Russia (South Siberia) and
North America (Mackenzie Mountains/Victoria Island).
Ultimately the project may help to understand the early
history of Earth and perhaps the role of bacteria in
shaping the just Precambrian explosion of life. The
societal benefits of the project include, among others,
improving understanding of seismic, storm, tsunami
and biological processes on carbonate mud-dominated
environments. The duration of the project is five years.
Project No. 455 – Basement Volcanoes Interplay
and Human Activities
Full title: Effects of basement, structural and stra-
tigraphic heritage on volcano behaviour
and implications for human activities
Proposers: Alessandro Tibaldi (Leader, Italy);
Mariano García, (Co-leader, Spain);
Alfredo M. Lagmay (Co-leader,
Philippines); Vera Ponomareva (Co-
leader, Russia)
Address: Professor Alessandro Tibaldi, Università
degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca, Diparti-
mento Scienze Geologiche e Geotecno-
logie, Piazza della Scienza 4, 20126
Milan, Italy.
E-mail: alessandro.tibaldi@unimib.it
The project is based on new concepts of the role of base-
ment lithologies for the gravitational stability of large
volcanic structures. An important aspect is the studying
of volcanism and associated geohazards, especially the
mitigation of volcanic collapses, eruptions, landslides
and earthquakes. Techniques and skills to mitigate the
effects of volcanic eruptions will be developed and
disseminated. The results of the project will include: a
database with a view to performing the statistical analysis
of selected geotechnical, petro-geochemical, and
geochronological techniques, which are usually scattered
among different local groups of research; investigation
of recent and active volcanic areas, as well as older,
deeply eroded volcanic remnants in the circum-Pacific
plate converging zones, East Africa rift, oceanic and
143
continental intra-plate volcanic regions of the Atlantic
and Asia, Antarctica, and plate boundary complex sectors
in the Mediterranean region; and hazard maps in densely
populated target areas. The project will develop a cata-
logue of standardised observations related to the evalu-
ation of basement-volcano stability, which could be used
as a reference for less well studied volcanoes. Societal
aspects of the project embrace also applications useful
to geothermal energy, and mineral and water resource
exploration. The duration of the project is five years.
Project No. 457 – Seismic Hazard and Risk
Assessment in North Africa (SHRANA)
Full title: Probabilistic and deterministic seismic
hazard for North African countries
(Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Libya and
Egypt) and risk assessment in selected
cities
Proposers: Dr Djillali Benouar (Leader, Algeria);
Dr Giuliano F. Panza (Co-leader,
Italy); Dr Abdelkader Attia El-Sayed
(Co-leader, Egypt); Dr Tadilli Benaissa
(Co-leader, Morocco); Dr M’Hamed
(Co-leader, Tunisia); Dr Suleiman
Abdennur (Co-leader, Libya)
Address: Dr Djillali Benouar, Directeur, USTHB/
Civil Engineering Institute, Buildings
into the Environment Laboratory, BP. 32
El-Alia, Bab Ezzouar, Algiers, Algeria.
E-mail: dbenouar@hotmail.com
Based on the previous results of projects IGCP 382 and
414 ('Seismotectonics and Seismic Hazard Assessment
in the Mediterranean Basin' and 'Realistic Modelling of
Seismic Input for Megacities and Large Urban Areas'),
and using regional structural models, past seismicity, and
the seismotectonic regime of the region, the project will
generate a set of synthetic seismograms covering the
whole of North Africa. Seismic hazard maps are useful
tools for serving civil engineering, as well as land
management and urban planning purposes. At the same
time, seismic hazard assessment may help to mitigate
the impact of earthquakes on human lives and property.
The realization of the project may improve the method
of assessing seismic hazard and risk and human living
conditions. Objectives comprise providing earthquake
hazard maps for North Africa, which may help to
mitigate the threat of earthquakes on human lives and
property. Besides assessing the seismic hazard itself,
the study of regional active faulting and tectonic stress
fields may enhance our knowledge of the seismic source.
The results, coupled with vulnerability analysis, will
help respective governments, earthquake engineering
and disaster mitigation planning communities to take
specific practical preventive measures to reduce earth-
quake risk. The duration of the project is five years.
144
Project No. 458 – Triassic/Jurassic Boundary Events
Full title: Triassic/Jurassic boundary events: mass
extinction, global environmental change,
and their driving forces
Proposers: Dr József Pálfy (Leader, Hungary);
Dr Stephen P. Hesselbo (Co-leader, United
Kingdom); Dr Christopher McRoberts
(Co-leader, United States of America)
Address: Dr József Pálfy, Hungarian Natural
History Museum, Deparment of Geo-
logy and Palaeontology, POB 137,
Budapest, H-1431, Hungary.
E-mail: palfy@paleo.nhmus.hu
The project consists of an integrated approach (palaeon-
tology, stratigraphy, sedimentology, geochemistry,
geochronology, palaeomagnetism, and mineralogy) to
the study of the Triassic/Jurassic boundary at a global
scale. The Triassic/Jurassic boundary period corresponds
to a major mass extinction event, which coincided with
an unusual volcanic episode, sudden change in sea level,
and extreme climate warming. However, this event is
poorly understood and is certainly the least well known
among the five major Phanerozoic biological crises.
Several areas of study will be prospected:
• To characterise the pattern and process of the biotic
crises by the study of several taxonomic groups and
to extend the research already gained in specific
areas towards new significant areas.
• To analyse the pronounced isotopic excursions, which
generally occur during periods of major extinction and
which are poorly documented for the end of the Triassic.
• To build up a reliable numeric time frame for a better
assessment of the timing, duration, and tempo of the
extinction event as well as isotope anomalies and
global environmental changes.
• To address the question of the possibility and the
manner in which volcanism of the Central Atlantic
Magmatic Province contributed to global change and
mass extinction.
• To solve the question of a possible extraterrestrial
impact and its biotic consequences at the end of the
Triassic.
• To use magnetostratigraphy as a tool for global
correlation of diverse facies including marine and
terrestrial sedimentary rocks and volcanics.
• To characterise sea level history at the Triassic/
Jurassic transition in various sections in order to
identify driving force and biotic response.
• To reach a consensus for the choice of a Global
Stratotype Section and Point by more detailed studies
at candidate sections for the base of the Jurassic.
This project concerns a critical period of the Earth
history that needs a pluridisciplinary and global approach
as is proposed. Its societal relevance lies in the possible
comparison of modern, man-induced climate and other
environmental change and concomitant loss of bio-
diversity with similar events that occurred in the distant
geological past. Parallels between volcanic greenhouse
emissions, climate change, and extinction at the Triassic/
Jurassic boundary and the present-day greenhouse gas
release via fossil fuel burning and global warming will
be emphasised. Field research will concern Europe,
North, Central and South America, Asia, and New
Zealand. The duration of the project is five years.
Project No. 459 – Terrestrial Carbon Cycle
Full title: Carbon Cycle and Hydrology in the
Palaeo-terrestrial Environments
Proposers: Dr Jean-Luc Probst (Leader, France);
Dr Louis François (Co-leader, Belgium);
Pr Pedro Depetris (Co-leader, Argen-
tina); Pr Jefferson Mortatti (Co-leader,
Brazil).
Address: Dr Jean-Luc Probst, Laboratoire des
mécanismes de transfert en géologie
(LMTG), Centre national de recherche
scientifique-Université Paul Sabatier
(CNRS/UMR n° 5563), 38, rue des
36 Ponts, 31400 Toulouse, France.
E-mail: jlprobst@cict.fr
This is a proposed continuation of IGCP Project
No. 404 'Terrestrial Carbon in the Past 125 Ka', which
was completed in 2000. Compared to the former
IGCP 404, it will focus more on the terrestrial hydro-
systems and ecosystems, with a special emphasis on
the soil reservoir. The time scale will be expanded from
105 to >106 years. The main objective will be to couple
the water cycle and carbon cycle to study the different
terrestrial carbon reservoirs and the mass transfers
between these reservoirs, but also between terrestrial
reservoirs and atmospheric and oceanic reservoirs. Key
questions include: Where is carbon stored in ancient envi-
ronments? What are the impacts of human activity and
of hydro-climate change? What is the impact of forma-
tion and destruction of terrestrial carbon on atmospheric
carbon dioxide content? Societal benefits are a better
preservation and management of natural resources. New
databases on palaeohydro-climatology and vegetation
distribution will be further extended from previous data-
bases. The duration of the project is five years.
Project No. 464 – Continental Shelves
during the Last Glacial Cycle: Knowledge
and Applications
Full title: Palaeoenvironmental evolution of Conti-
nental Shelves during the Last Glacial
Cycle with particular reference to the
Last Glacial Maximum
Proposers: Professor Francesco L. Chiocci (Leader,
Italy); Professor Allan R. Chivas
(Co-leader, Australia)
Address: Professor Francesco L. Chiocci, Dipar-
timento Scienze della Terra, Università
di Roma “La Sapienza”, Piazzale Aldo
Moro, 5, 00185 Roma, Italy.
E-mail: francesco.chiocci@uniromal.it
The project will focus on continental shelves during
the last glacial cycle and will carry out comparisons
around the world and establish workshops to train
people in modern shelf surveying techniques such as
fibre-optic cable route surveys. A compilation of
various styles of shelves will be established, and a
common terminology defined. Accumulated expertise
from IGCP Project 396 'Continental Shelves in the
Quaternary' is available, which has just completed its
fifth and last year. The project will also address under-
standing of the geometry and palaeogeography of
shelves, of palaeoclimate and sea surface palaeotem-
peratures, in particular in tropical areas; investigation
of the imprint of higher frequency climatic events on
continental shelves; application of seismic methods to
identify the palaeomorphology of shelf deposits and
the testing of sequence stratigraphic methods/models
from ancient materials to younger sediments.
The project will seek access to non-confidential indus-
trial data (e.g. cable or geotechnical surveys) espe-
cially in developing countries. Data acquisition by
surveying and mapping will result in a ‘world map’
of the extent and character of continental shelf sedi-
ments (particularly at 20 ka BP), and a compilation
of the geotechnical properties of shelf sediments. A
synthesis of the results will be published during all
the project, which will provide: (1) an understanding
of the various styles of relict and modern continental
shelf deposition and change, especially in relation to
the nature and frequency of climate change, (2) an
estimate of the carbon budgets and storage of carbon
at the Last Glacial Maximum that will be compared
to modern shelves, and (3) an aid in economic and
resource development, coastal engineering and
management, understanding of the history of human
activity on continental shelves, and in legal issues
under the Law of the Sea Convention. There are a
number of other facets of this proposed research that
will likely provide new insight into related scientific
questions, and a substantial database will be provided
for future research. Among the societal benefits are:
training of participants from less developed countries;
studies of the resource assessment and genesis of
shallow marine placer deposits and sand; and defini-
tion of the cultural heritage of climatic/eustatic events.
The project will last five years.
145
 IGCP projects active in 2001
(O.E.T. – on extended term)

No. Title, Project leader(s), Duration No. Title, Project leader(s), Duration

373 Correlation, Anatomy and Magmatic- 413 Understanding Future Dryland Changes
Hydrothermal Evolution of Ore-Bearing Felsic from Past Dynamics
Igneous Systems in Eurasia D. Thomas (United Kingdom), A.K. Singhvi
R. Seltmann (Germany), R. Grauch (United (India)
States), A.A. Kremenetsky (Russia) 1998-2002
1997-2001
414 Seismic Ground Motion in Large Urban Areas
386 Response of the Ocean/Atmosphere System to G.F. Panza (Italy)
Past Global Changes 1997-2001
H. Strauss (Germany), D.M. Banerjee (India),
L.A. Derry (United States), Z. Sawlowicz 415 Glaciation and Reorganization of Asia’s
(Poland), L.R. Kump (United States) Drainage
1996-2000, O.E.T. in 2001 J.T. Teller (Canada), R. Vaikmae (Estonia)
1997-2001
393 Neritic Middle-Upper Eocene
E. Caus (Spain) 418 Kibraran Events in Southwestern Africa
1996-2000, O.E.T. in 2001 R.M. Key (United Kingdom), R. B. Mapeo
(Botswana)
405 Anthropogenic Impact on Weathering 1997-2001
Processes
P. Sulovský, J. Zeman (Czech Republic) 419 Foreland Basins of the Neoproterozoic Belts
1996-2000, O.E.T. in 2001 in Central-to-Southern Africa and South
America
406 Circum-Arctic Palaeozoic Vertebrates M. Wendorff (Botswana), P.L. Binda (Canada)
M.V.H. Wilson (Canada), T. Märss (Estonia), 1998-2002
P. Männik (Estonia)
1996-2000, O.E.T. in 2001 420 Phanerozoic Crustal Growth
Bor-ming Jahn (France), N.L. Dobertsov (Russia)
408 Rocks and Minerals at Great Depth 1998-2002
and on the Surface
F.P. Mitrofanov (Russia), D.M. Guberman 421 North Gondwanan Mid-Palaeozoic
(Russia), H.-J. Kümpel (Germany) Biodynamics
1998-2002 R. Feist (France), J.A. Talent (Australia)
1997-2001
410 The Great Ordovician Biodiversification
Event 425 Landslide Hazard Assessment and Cultural
B.D. Webby (Australia), F. Paris (France), Heritage
M.L. Droser (United States) K. Sassa (Japan), P. Canuti (Italy), P. Carreno
1997-2001 (Peru)
1998-2002
411 Geodynamics of Gondwanaland-derived
Terranes in E & S Asia 426 Granite Systems and Proterozoic Lithospheric
S. Hada (Japan), I. Metcalfe (Australia), Processes
J.H. Kim (Korea), Tran Van Tri (Viet Nam), J. S. Bettencourt (Brazil) O. T. Rämö (Finland),
Jin Xiouchi (China) W. R. Van Schmus (United States)
1998-2002 1998-2002

146
No. Title, Project leader(s), Duration
427 Ore-Forming Processes in Dynamic Magmatic
Systems
C.M. Lesher, S.-J. Barnes (Canada),
H.M. Prichard (United Kingdom)
1998-2002
428 Climate and Boreholes
V. Čermák (Czech Republic), H. N. Pollack
(United States), C. Clauser (Germany)
1998-2002
429 Organics in Major Environmental Issues
J. Pašava (Czech Republic), J. Jeník (Czech
Republic)
1998-2002
430 Mantle Dynamics and Natural Hazards
M.F.J. Flower (United States), V.I. Mocanu
(Romania), R.M. Russo (United States), Nguyen
Trong Yem (Viet Nam), Ma Zongjin (China)
2000-2004
431 African Pollen Database
A.M. Lezine (France), A. Sowunmi (Nigeria)
1998-2002
432 Contourites, Bottom Currents
and Palaeocirculation
D.A.V. Stow (United Kingdom), I.N. McCave
(United Kingdom), J.-L. Faugeres (France)
1998-2001
433 Caribbean Plate Tectonics
M.A. Iturralde-Vinent (Cuba), E.G. Lidiak
(United States)
2000-2004
434 Land-Ocean Interactions
during the Cretaceous in Asia
H. Hirano (Japan)
1999-2003
436 Pacific Gondwana Margin
R.J. Pankhurst, (United Kingdom),
J.D. Bradshaw (New Zealand),
L. Spalletti (Argentina)
1999-2003
437 Coastal Environmental Change
during Sea-Level Highstands
C.V. Murray-Wallace (Australia)
1999-2003
440 Rodinia Assembly and Breakup
C. McA. Powell (Australia) deceased 2001,
S. Bogdanova (Sweden), H. Kampunzu
(Botswana)
1999-2003
No. Title, Project leader(s), Duration
442 Raw Materials of Neolithic Artefacts
D. Hovorka (Slovak Republic), G. Trnka
(Austria)
1999-2002
443 Magnesite and Talc-Geological
and Environmental Correlations
M. Radvanec (Slovak Republic), W. Prochaska
(Austria), A.C. Gondim (Brazil), Cai Kequin
(China)
2000-2004
447 Proterozoic Molar-tooth Carbonates
X. Meng (China), D.G.F. Long (Canada),
R. Bourrouilh (France)
2001-2005
448 World Correlation on Karst Ecosystems
Yuan Daoxian (China), C. Groves
(United States), G, Messana (Italy)
2000-2004
449 Global Correlation of Late Cenozoic
Fluvial Deposits
D. Bridgland (United Kingdom)
2000-2004
450 Proterozoic Sediment-Hosted Base Metal
Deposits of Western Gondwana
S.S. Iyer (Canada), A.F. Kamona (Namibia),
A. Misi (Brazil), J. Cailteux (DR Congo)
2000-2004
453 Modern and Ancient Orogens
J.B. Murphy (Canada), J.D. Keppie (Mexico)
2000-2004
454 Medical Geology
O. Selinus (Sweden), P. Bobrowsky (Canada)
2000-2004
455 Basement Volcanoes Interplay and Human
Activities
A. Tibaldi (Italy), M. Garcia (Spain), A.M.
Lagmay (Philippines), V.V. Ponomareva (Russia)
2001-2005
457 Seismic Hazard and Risk Assessment
in North Africa
D. Benouar (Algeria), G. Panza (Italy),
A. El-Sayed Attia (Egypt), T. Benaissa (Morocco),
M. Chadi (Tunisia), S. Abdennur (Libya)
2001-2005
458 Triassic/Jurassic Boundary Events
J. Pálfy (Hungary), S.P. Hesselbo (United
Kingdom), C. McRoberts (United States)
2001-2005
147
No. Title, Project leader(s), Duration No. Title, Project leader(s), Duration

459 Terrestrial Carbon Cycle 464 Continental Shelves During the Last Glacial
J.-L. Probst (France), L. François (Belgium), Cycle: Knowledge and Applications
P.J. Depetris (Argentina), J. Mortatti (Brazil) F.L. Chiocci (Italy), A.R. Chivas (Australia)
2001-2005 2001-2005

Funded projects: 37
O.E.T.: 4
Total: 41

148
 Members of the IGCP Scientific Board 2001

Prof. Ian W. Dalziel Dr Petr JakeÎ (Chair WG 3)

University of Texas at Austin Faculty of Science
Institute for Geophysics Charles University
4412 Spicewoods - Springs Road 12843 Praha 2
Building 600 - Austin Texas 78759 Albertov 6
U.S.A. Czech Republic
Tel.: 1 512 471 0431 or Tel.: 4202 21952426
1 512 471 6156 Fax: 4202 296084
Fax: 1 512 471 8844 e-mail: jakes@natur.cuni.cz
e-mail: ian@utig.ig.utexas.edu
Prof. Dr Sospeter M. Muhongo
Prof. Edward Derbyshire Department of Geology
Chairman IGCP Scientific Board University of Dar es Salaam
Number Four P.O. Box 35052
79 The Drive - HOVE Dar es Salaam
East Sussex - BN3 3PG Tanzania
United Kingdom Tel.: +255-22-2410013/2410500-8
Tel.: 44 1273 820283 Fax: +255-22-2410481/2410078
Fax: /Answerphone: 44 1273 748919 e-mail: muhongo@udsm.ac.tz
e-mail: 100666.1577@compuserve.com
Dr Isabelle Niang-Diop
Dr Max Deynoux Département de Géologie
Ecole et Observatoire des Sciences de la Terre (EOST) Faculté des Sciences et Techniques
1, rue Blessig Université Cheikh Anta Diop
67084 Strasbourg Cedex Dakar Fann - Senegal
Tel.: 33 3 88 35 85 89 Tel.: (Off.) 221 825 0736
Fax: 33 3 88 36 72 35 (home) 35 62 73
e-mail: mdeynoux@illite.u-strasbg.fr Fax: 221 824 63 18
e-mail: isabelle@enda.sn
Prof. Maurizio Gaetani (Chair WG1)
Università di Milano Dr Victor A. Ramos
Dipartimentato di Scienze della Terra (Chair WG 4)
Via Mangiagalli 34 Diaz Vélez 820 - La Lucila
20133 Milano 1636 Buenos Aires
Italy Argentina
Tel.: 39 02 23698229 Tel.: 54 (11) 4701 69 47 (off.)
Fax: 39 02 70638261 4790 9873 (home)
e-mail: maurizio.gaetani@unimi.it Fax: 54 (11) 47016947
e-mail: andes@gl.fcen.uba.ar
Dr Alexander Gliko
Deputy Director Dr Edward Robinson
Institute of Physics of the Earth Department of Geography & Geology
Academy of Sciences University of the West Indies
123810 - B. Gruzinskaya str. 10 Mona Campus - Kingston 7
Moscow - Russia Jamaica
Tel.: 7 (095) 254 30 44 Tel.: 1 876 927 2728
Fax: 7 (095) 255 60 40 Fax: 1 876 977 6029
e-mail: gliko@uipe-ras.scgis.ru e-mail: tedrob@cwjamaica.com

149
Dr Nozar Samani
Department of Geology
Shiraz University
Shiraz 71454 - Iran
Tel.: 98 71 245 72
Fax: 98 71 200 27
e-mail: samani@geology.susc.ac.ir
Prof. Nobutaka Shimada
Dept. of Earth & Planetary Sciences
Kyushu University - Hakozaki 6-10-1
Fukuoka 812-8581 - Japan
Tel.: 81 92 642 2516
Fax: 81 92 642 2684
e-mail.: nshimada@geo.kyushu-u.ac.jp
Prof. James T. Teller (Chair WG2)
University of Manitoba
Winnipeg - Manitoba - Canada R3T 2N2
Tel.: (1-204) 474 9274
Fax. (1-204) 474 7623
e-mail: tellerjt@MS.umanitoba.ca
Dr Susan Turner
Queensland Museum
P.O. Box 3300
South Brisbane - QLD 4101 Australia
Tel.: 617 3840 7677
(H) 617 3878 1066
Fax: 617 3846 1918
e-mail: SueT@qm.qld.gov.au
Dr Gerhard Wörner
Geochemisches Institute
University of Göttingen
Goldschmidstr. 1
D-37077 Göttingen - Germany
Tel.: 49 551 39 39 71
e-mail: gwoerne@gwdg.de
150
Prof. Zhenyu Yang
Institute of Geomechanics
Chinese Academy
of Geological Sciences
11 Minzuxueyuan South Road
Beijing 100081
P.R. of China
Tel.: +86-(10)-6842-2365
Fax: +86 (10)-6842-2326
e-mail: yangzy@public3.bta.net.cn
IUGS Representatives
Prof. Attilio C. Boriani
Secretary General IUGS
Dip. di Scienze della Terra
Univ. Degli Studi di Milano
Via Botticelli 23
1-20133 Milan
Italy
Tel.: 39 2 236 98 310
Fax: 39 2 706 38 681
e-mail: boriani@10.terra.unimi.it
Dr Ed F.J. de Mulder
President of IUGS
NITG TNO & Technical Universty
P.O. Box 6012 2600 JA
Delft
The Netherlands
Tel.: +31 23 530 0292
Fax: +31 23 526 2709
e-mail: emulder@wxs.nl
 IGCP National Committees
(03 November 2001)

AFGHANISTAN Institute für Geophysik

A-8700 Leoben, Austria
Dr Ebrahim Hamid e-mail: http://www.oeaw.ac.at/mathnat/foprog/igcp.html
Secretary
Afghan National Committee of Geology AZERBAIJAN
Geology & Mineral Survey Dept.
Micro-Rayon Dr A.D. Ismail-Zadeh
Kabul, Afghanistan Executive Secretary
AzNCG
ALBANIA Geology Institute
H. Gavid pr., 29-A
Dr Aleksander Cina 370143 Baku, Azerbaijan
President, IGCP National Committee e-mail: gia@azdata.net
Blloku “Vasil Shanto”
Tirana, Albania BARBADOS

ALGERIA Mr Leslie Barker

Chief Geologist - Energy Division
Dr Mohammed Tefiani Ministry of Finance
Institut des Sciences de la Terre 2nd floor - National Petroleum Corp. Building
Université des Sciences et de la Technologie Wildey - St. Michael, Barbados
B.P. No. 9
Dar El Beida, Algerie BANGLADESH

ARGENTINA Md. Khurshid Alam

Chairman, IGCP National Committee
Dr C. Cingolani Director-General,
Presidente Geological Survey of Bangladesh
Centro de Investigaciones Geológicas 153 Pioneer Road - Segunbagicha
Calle 1 n° 644 Dhaka 1000, Bangladesh
1900-La Plata, Argentina
e-mail: ccingola@cig.museo.unlp.edu.ar BELARUS

AUSTRALIA Academician R. Garetsky

Chairman
Dr Cec Murray Belarus National Committee for IGCP
Chairman, Chairman, IGCP National Committee Academy of Sciences of Belarus
Geological Survey Kuprievich str. 7
Queensland Department of Mines and Energy 220141-Minsk, Belarus
G.P.O. Box 194 e-mail: garetsky@igs.ac.by
Brisbane QLD 4001, Australia
e-mail: cmurray@dme.qld.gov.au BELGIUM
http://www.oeaw.ac.at/mathnat/foprog/igcp.html
Prof. L. Dejonghe
AUSTRIA Geological Survey of Belgium
13 Jenner street
Prof. Dr Franz Weber B-1000 Brussels, Belgium
Chairman, IGCP National Committee e-mail: leon.dejonghepophost@eunet.be

151
BENIN CANADA

M. Aliou Moriba Djibril Dr N.W Rutter

Président, Comité national du PICG Chairman
Directeur général de l'Office béninois des Recherches IGCP National Committee
Geologiques et Minieres Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences
Ministère des Mines, de l'Energie et de l'Hydraulique University of Alberta
B.P. 249 Edmonton - Alberta, Canada
Cotonou, Bénin e-mail: Nat.Rutter@ualberta.ca

BOLIVIA CHAD

Ing. Antonio Saavedra Muñoz M. O.A. D'Babeh

Presidente, Comité Boliviano de Correlación Président, Comité national du PICG
Geológica Doyen - Faculté des Sciences
Academia Nacional de Ciencias Université du Tchad
Avn. 16 de Julio No. 1732 B.P. 1027
Casilla - 5829 La Paz, N'Djamena, Tchad
Bolivia
CHILE
BRAZIL
Dr E. D'Etigny Lyon
Prof. D.A. Campos President,
Chairman IGCP National Committee
IGCP National Committee National Commission for Scientific
DNPM/Paleontologia and Technological Research
Av. Pasteur 4O4, urca CONICYT
22290-240 Rio de Janeiro R.J., Casilla 297 V
Brazil Santiago 21, Chile
e-mail: dac@abc.org.br
CHINA
BULGARIA
Prof. Liu Dunyi
Prof. Dr Platon Tchoumatchenco Chairman,
Président - Comité national pour le PICG IGCP National Committee
Institut géologique - Académie bulgare des sciences Institute of Geology
Acad. Gheorghi Boncev Str. Chinese Academy of Geological
Block 24 1113 Sofia, Sciences (CAGS)
Bulgaria 26 Baiwanzhuang Road
e-mail: ptchouman@geology.bas.bg Beijing 100037, China
e-mail: igcp-china@cags.cn.net
BURKINA FASO http://www.cags.cn.net/igc-china
http://www.cags.cn.net/igcp-china
M. Wenmenga Urbain
Maître Assistant COLOMBIA
Départment des sciences de la terre
Université de Ouagadougou Sr. Ricardo Escobar Reyes
Faculté des Sciences et Techniques Presidente, Comité Nacional del PICG
03 B.P. 7021 INGEOMINAS
Ouagadougou 03, Diagonal 53 No. 34-53
Burkina Faso Aptdo. Aéreo 4865
Santa Fé de Bogotá, Colombia
CAMEROON
CONGO
Prof. F. Tchoua
President, Comité national du PICG Comité National du PICG
Chef du Départment des sciences de la terre c/o Commission Nationale pour l'UNESCO
Université de Yaoundé B.P. 14
Yaoundé, Kinshasa/Gombe G.C.
Cameroun République Démocratique du Congo

152
COSTA RICA DENMARK

Lic. Teresita Aguilar Alvarez Dr Agnete Steenfelt

Director Chairman
Presidente Danish National Committee for Geology
Comité Nacional para el PICG c/o Geological Centre Institute
Escuela Centroamericana de Geología Oster Voldgade 10
San Pedro Montes de Oca DK 1350 Copenhagen K, Denmark
San José,
Costa Rica EGYPT
e-mail: aaguilar@cariari.ucr.ac.cr
Prof. M. Lotfi Abdel-Khalek
CÔTE D'IVOIRE Department of Geology
Cairo University
Dr Issiaka SAVANE Giza, Egypt
PICG point focal
Ministère de l'Enseignement Supérieure FINLAND
et de la Recherche Scientifique
08 BP 101 - Abidjan 08 Prof. Jorma Kangas
Côte d'Ivoire Chairman
Sodankylä Geophysical Observatory
CROATIA FIN-99600 Sodankylä, Finland
e-mail: Jorma.Kangas@sgo.fi)
Prof. Josip Tišljar
Faculty of Mining, Geology and Petroleum FRANCE
Engineering
Pierottijeva 6 Dr Denis Vaslet
HR-10000 Zagreb, Président
Croatia Comité national pour le PICG
e-mail (secretary): gdurn@rudar.rgn.hr BRGM - Avenue de Concyr
BP 6009-45060 Orléans,
CUBA France
e-mail: d.vaslet@brgm.fr
Dr Nancy García Lamadrid
Chairman, IGCP National Committee GERMAY
Oficina Nacional de Recursos Minerales
Ave. Salvador Allende No. 666 Prof. Dr Fritz Steininger
La Habana 10300, Chairman
Cuba IGCP National Committee
Forschungsinstitut Senckenberg
CYPRUS Senckenberganlage 25
D-60325 Frankfurt-am-Main,
Dr G. Petrides Germay
Director, Geological Survey Department e-mail: fsteinin@sng.uni-frankfurt.de
Ministry of Agriculture http://www.geokommission.de/arbgru/NCIGCP.html
Natural Resources and Environment
1415 Nicosia, GHANA
Cyprus
e-mail: gsd@cytanet.com.cy Geological Survey Department
Ministry Branch Post Office
CZECH REPUBLIC P.O. Box M. 80
Accra, Ghana
Dr J. Pas̆ava
Chairman - Czech IGCP National Committee GREECE
Geological Survey of Prague
Klárov 131 Mr G. Gekas
11821 Praha 1, General Director
Czech Republic Institute of Geology and Mineral Exploration
e-mail: pasava@cgu.cz 70 Messoghion Street
http://www.gli.cas.cz/igcp) Athens 11527, Greece

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GUYANA ISRAEL

Ms Karen Livan Dr Amos Bein

Manager Chairperson, IGCP National Committee
Geological Services for Commissioner Director, Geological Survey of Israel
Guyana Geology and Mines Commission 30 Malkhei Yisrael Street
Upper Brickdam 95501 Jerusalem
P.O. Box 1028 e-mail: bein@mail.gsi.gov.il
Georgetown, Guyana
ITALY
HUNGARY
Prof. Cavazza
Dr Károly Brezsnyánszky Secretary, IGCP National Committee
Chairman Department of Geological Sciences
IGCP National Committee University of Basilicata
Geological Institute of Hungary (MAFI) Macchia Romana
H-1143 Budapest 85100 Potenza,
P.O.B. 106 Italy
Stefánia út 14, Hungary e-mail: cavazza@geomin.unibo.it
http://www.mafi.hu
JAMAICA
INDIA
Dr Larence Henry
Shri Ravi Shanker Chairman, IGCP National Comittee
Chairman Director
IGCP National Committee Geological Survey Division
Director-General P.O. Box 141
International Division Hope Gardens
Geological Survey of India Kingston 6, Jamaica
27 Jawaharlal Nehru Road
Calcutta 700 016, India JAPAN
e-mail: gsi@gems.vsnl.net.in
Prof. R. Tsuchi
ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF IRAN Chairman
IGCP National Committee
Dr Abdolazim Haghipour Shizuoka University
President, Geological Survey of Iran Miyatake 1-9-24
Azadi SQ - Ave Meraje Shizuoka 422-8035,
Tehran Japan
Home 28 Ave. Miremade e-mail: rtsuchi@mvibiglobe.ne.jp
15879, Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran
e-mail: Haghipou@accit.com JORDAN

IRAQ Mr K. Jreisat
Chairman
Dr Yahya Tawfik Al-Rawi IGCP National Committee
Chairman, IGCP National Committee Director-General
University of Babylon Natural Resources Authority
P.O. Box 4 - Hilla P.O. Box 7
Babylon, Iraq Amman, Jordan

IRELAND KAZAKHSTAN

Mr Ralph Horne Mr Khalel Abdulkhakovich Bespaev

Chairman, Chairman
Irish National Committee for Geology & IGCP IGCP National Committee
Geological Survey of Ireland Institute of Geological Sciences
Beggars Bush Kabanbai batyr st., 69-a
Haddington Road 480100 Almaty,
Dublin 4, Ireland Kazakhstan

154
KENYA P.O. Box 11110
Jalan Tun Razak
Mr D.R.O. Riaroh 50736 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Chairman, IGCP National Committee
Ministry of Energy MEXICO
P.O. Box 30582
Nairobi, Kenya Sr. Diego Cordoba
Comité Nacional del PICG
KOREA Instituto de Geología - Universidad Nacional
Apdo Postal 07296 - Delegación Coyoacán
Prof. Dr Yong Ahn Park México D.F. 04510
Chairman, IGCP National Committee
Department of Oceanography MONGOLIA
Seoul National University
Seoul 151-742, Korea Dr Rinchen Barsbold
Chairman - IGCP National Committee
LIBERIA Geological Institute
Ulaanbaatar 51, Mongolia
Dr Beauford O. Weeks
Director, Liberian Geological Survey MOROCCO
Ministry of Lands and Mines
P.O. Box 10-9024 Monsieur M. Bensaid
Monrovia, Liberia Président, Comité national marocain du PICG
Ministère de l'énergie et des mines
LITHUANIA Direction de la géologie
Rabat, Maroc
Dr Gediminas Motuza
Director of the Geological Survey MYANMAR
Konarski 35
Vilnius 232600, Lithuania Myanmar National Committee for IGCP
Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise
LUXEMBOURG P.O. Box No. 1049
74/80 min Ye Kyaw Swa Road
Comité national du PICG Yangon, Myanmar
Attn: Monsieur R. Maquil
Service géoloque du Luxembourg NEPAL
43 Bd. G.D. Charlotte
1331 Luxembourg Mr Madhab Raj Pandey
Senior Seismologist
MACEDONIA Chief, National Seismological Centre
Department of Mines & Geology
Prof. D.R. Risto Stojanov Lainchaur - Kathmandu, India
President, IGCP National Committee
Faculty of Mining and Geology NETHERLANDS
ul. Goce Delcev 89
Stip 92000, Macedonia Prof. Dr J. Menlenkamp
Chairman, IGCP National Committee
MADAGASCAR Institute of Earth Sciences
Mail Box 80021 Enschappen
Président du Comité national malgache pour le PICG 35087a Utrecht, Netherlands
Chef du Service des mines et de la géologie
B.P. 280 NEW ZEALAND
Antanarivo, Madagascar
Assoc. Prof. V.A. Neall
MALAYSIA Chairman, IGCP National Committee
Massey University
Mr Yin Ee Heng Institute of Natural Resources
Chairman, IGCP National Committee Private Bag 11222
Director-General Palmerston North, New Zealand
Geological Survey of Malaysia e-mail: V.E.Neall@massey.ac.nz

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NICARAGUA PERU

Dr Mauricio Darce Rivera Dr J. Macharé

Chairman, Nicaraguan Mining Institute Soc. Geol. del Perú
Department of Geology P.O. Box 2559
P.O. Box 195 Lima 100, Perú
Managua, Nicaragua
POLAND
NIGER
Prof. Jerzyt Fedorowski
Monsieur B. Ousmane Chairman, IGCP National Committee
Secrétaire, Comité national pour le PICG Institute of Geology
Ministère de l'Enseignement Supérieur Adam Mickiewicz University
de la Recherche et de la Technologie ul. Maków Polnych 16
B.P. 628 – Niamey, Niger 61-686 Poznan, Poland
e-mail: jerzy@amu.eu.pl
NIGERIA
PORTUGAL
Dr O.M. Ojo
Director, Geological Survey Department Executive Secretary
Federal Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources National Commission of Portugal for UNESCO
P.M.B. 12844 Coordinator - CNU Liaison Group for IGCP
Federal Secretariat Av. Infante Santo 42/5
Ikoyi – Lagos, Nigeria Lisboa 1300, Portugal

NORWAY REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA

Dr David Bruton Dr C. Frick

Secretary, IGCP National Committee Chairman, IGCP National Committee
Universitetet Oslo Chief Director, Geological Survey
Paleontologisk Museum Private Bag X112
Sars Gate – N-0562 Oslo 5, Norway Pretoria 0001, Republic of South Africa
e-mail: cfrick@geoscience.org.za
PAKISTAN http://www.geoscience.org.za

Prof. Dr Shafeeq Ahmad ROMANIA

The Institute of Geology
University of the Punjab Prof. M. Sandulescu
Quaid-e-Azam Campus Chairman, IGCP National Committee
Lahore 54590, Pakistan Romanian Academy
Calea Victoriei 125
PAPUA NEW GUINEA Bucuresti 1, Romania

Dr R. H. Findlay RUSSIAN FEDERATION

Chairman, IGCP National Comittee
Senior Regional Geologist Prof. V.A. Zharikov
Geological Survey Division Chairman, IGCP National Committee
Department of Mining and Petroleum Geological Institute of the Russian Academy
Private Mail Bag of Sciences
Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea Pyzhevsky per. 7
Moscow Zh-7 109017, Russian Federation
PARAGUAY e-mail: igcpcrus@geo.tv-sign.ru

Dr J.H. Palmieri A. SAUDI ARABIA

Presidente, Comité Paraguayano para el PICG
Instituto de Ciencias Básicas Dr Mohammad A. Tawfiq
Universidad Nacional del Asunción Acting President
Ciudad Universitaria Saudi Geological Survey
Casilla de Correo 1039 P.O. Box 54141
Asunción, Paraguay Jeddah 21514, Saudi Arabia

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SENEGAL
Professor O. Dia
Department de Géologie
Faculté des Sciences
Université Cheikh Anta Diop
Dakar-Fann, Sénégal
SIERRA LEONE
Mr Smart Kamara
Chairman, IGCP National Committee
Geological Survey Division
Ministry of Mines
New England
Freetown, Sierra Leone
SLOVAK REPUBLIC
Prof. RNDr Dusan Hovorka
Chairman, IGCP National Committee
Faculty of Sciences
Comenius University
Mlynská dolina
842 15 Bratislava, Slovak Republic
e-mail: dubikova@fns.uniba.sk
SLOVENIA
Prof. Dr S. Pirc
Chairman, IGCP National Committee
University of Ljubljanaiences
Department of Geology
Askerceva 12
1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia
SPAIN
Professor Marcos A. Lamolda
Chairman, IGCP National Committee
Facultad de Ciencias
Universidad del País Vasco
Campus de Lejona
48940 Lejona, Spain
http://www.ehu.es/~gpplapam/PICG
SRI LANKA
Mr Nimal S. Ranasignhe
Chairman, IGCP National Committee
Director
Geological Survey Department
48 Sri Jinaratana Road
Colombo, Sri Lanka
SURINAME
Dr H.R. Pollack
Chairman, IGCP National Committee
HWO Consultants n.v.i.o.
Mining, Forestry, Agriculture
Construction Real Estate
Borretstraat 3
Paramaribo, Suriname
SWEDEN
Prof. John S. Peel
Chairman, IGCP National Committee
Dept. of Earth Sciences,
Uppsala University
Norbyvägen 22
SE-752 36 Uppsala,
Sweden
e-mail: john.peel@pal.uu.se
SWITZERLAND
Dr Katharino von Salis
President, IGCP National Committee
Geologisches Institute ETH
CH-8092 Zurich, Switzerland
SYRIA
Dr Eng. I.I. Yussef
Chairman, IGCP National Committee
The General Establishment of Geology
& Mineral Resources
P.O. Box 7645
Damascus, Syria
TANZANIA
Prof. A. Mruma
Chairman, IGCP National Committee
Department of Geology
University of Dar Es Salaam
P.O. Box 35052
Dar es Salaam,
Tanzania
e-mail: geology@udsm.ac.tz or
abdulmruma@hotmail.com
THAILAND
Mr Somsak Potisat
Chairman, IGCP National Committee
Deputy Director-General
Department of Mineral Resources (DMR)
Rama 6rd
Bangkok 10400, Thailand
TOGO
Monsieur Père B. N'Zonou
Président, Comité national pour le PICG
Directeur général adjoint
B.P. 356
Lomé, Togo
157
TURKEY VENEZUELA

Prof. Dr Ergün Akay Rosario Bajo de Osuna

President IGCP National Committee Chairperson, IGCP National Committee
MTA GENEL MUDURLUGU INGEOMIN
Jeoloji Etutleri Dairesi Piso, 5, Torre Oeste, Parque Central
06520 Ankara, Caracas, 1010, Venezuela
Turkey
e-mail: mta@mta.gov.tr VIET NAM
http://www.mta.gov.tr (in Turkish language)
Prof. Dr Tran Van Tri
UGANDA Chairperson
IGCP National Committee
Director Geological Survey of Viet Nam
Department of Geological Survey and Mines 6 Pham Ngu Lao
P.O. Box 9 Hanoi, Viet Nam
Entebbe 22, Uganda e-mail: gsvbdvn.vnmail.vnd.net
e-mail: gsv@bdvn.vnmail.vnd.net
UKRAINE
YEMEN
Academician V.N. Semenenko
Chairman, IGCP National Committee Dr Mohamed Fara
Institute of Geological Sciences Chairman, IGCP National Committee
National Academy of Sciences Sana'a University, Department of Geology
Gonchara str. 55b P.O. Box 11431
252601 Kiev, Ukraine Sana'a, Yemen

UNITED KINGDOM YUGOSLAVIA

Ms R. Cooper Prof. Dr St. Karamata

Secretary, IGCP National Committee Chairman, IGCP National Committee
The Royal Society Rudarsko-geoloski fakultet
6 Carlton House Terrace Djusina 7
London SW1Y 5 AG, 11 000 Belgrade, Yugoslavia
United Kingdom
ZIMBABWE
URUGUAY
Mr H. Munyanyiwa
Dr Julio César Jaureguy Coordinator, IGCP National Committee
Director Nacional University of Zimbabwe
Dirección Nacional de Minera y Geología Geology Department
Hervidero 2861 P.O. Box MP 167
C.P. 11800 Mount Pleasant
Montevideo, Uruguay Harare, Zimbabwe

158
 IGCP Contact Addresses
(December 1999)

BURUNDI LEBANON

Dr Audace Ntungicimpaye M. El Soufi

Direction générale de la géologie et des mines Conseil national de la Recherche scientifique
Ministère de l'Energie et des mines B.P. 11-8281, Beyrouth
B.P. 745
Bujumbura LESOTHO

CONGO Dr Konka Chakela

(DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF) The National University of Lesotho
P.O. Roma 180
Professor Boneza T. Rumvegeri
University of Burundi LIBYAN ARAB JAMAHIRYA
Department of Earth Sciences
P.O. Box 2700 Bujumbura Mr Yousef Shagrouni
Burundi Head of Geological Mapping Section
Industrial Research Centre
ETHIOPIA Geological Research and Mining Department
P.O. Box 36310
Mr Amenti Abraham
Head, MALAWI
Regional Geology Department
Ethiopian Institute Mr F.R. Phiri
of Mines and Energy For: Chief Geologist
P.O. Box 23O2 Geological Survey Department
Addis Ababa P.O. Box 27, Zomba

FIJI MALI

Mr R. Rodda M. Mory Kane

for Director of Mineral Department Ministère des Mines de l'Hydraulique et de l'Energie
Mineral Resources Department Direction nationale de la géologie et des mines
Private Mail Bag B.P. 223, Bamako
Suva
MAURITANIA
INDONESIA
Mr Mohamed Salem Ould Sabar
Mr P. Prijosoesilo Chef département Géologie
Indonesian Association of Geologists I.S.S. B.P. 5026
Jl. Diponegoro 57 Nouakchott
Bandung
OMAN (SULTANATE OF)
LAO P.D.R.
M. H. Kassim
Mr S. Duang Aphaymani Dir. Gen. of Minerals
Chief of Technical Division Ministry of Petroleum and Minerals
Department of Geology and Mines P.O. Box 551
Vientiane Muscat

159
PANAMA SWAZILAND

Sr. Julio Merida Dr Maphalala

Colegio Panameño de Geólogos (COPAGE) Geological Survey
Cámara Minera de Panamá (CAMIPA) and Mines Department
Apartado 10068 P.O. Box 9
Panamá 4 Mbabane

PHILIPPINES UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Dr Raymundo S. Punongbayan Dr Paul Hearn

Chairman U.S. Geological Survey
National Committee on Geological Sciences National Center 917
c/o Bureau of Mines and GeoSciences Reston, VA 20192
Pedro Gil St. - Malate
P.O. Box 1595 ZAIRE
Manila
Professor Kanda Nkula
QATAR Directeur
Centre de Recherches
Dr I.A. El Kassas Géologiques et Minières
Head, Remote Sensing Project (C.R.G.M.)
University of Qatar Ministère de la Recherche Scientifique
Scientific & Applied Research Centre (SARC) B.P. 898
P.O. Box 2713 Kinshasa I
Doha
ZAMBIA
RWANDA
Mr John Tether
M. Marc Rugenra Director
Minister of Crafts Geological Survey Department
Mining and Tourism P.O. Box 5O135
P. O. Box 2378 Ridgeway
Kigali Lusaka

160