IGCP 648 at Australian Earth Sciences Convention, Adelaide, 26–30 June, 2016

IGCP 648 sponsored a successful session at the Australian Earth Sciences Convention (AESC) 2016 (http://aesc2016.gsa.org.au) on “Supercontinent Cycles and Global Geodynamics”. The oral session, featuring seven invited talks and four normal talks, lasted almost a full day on Tuesday 28 June, and was very well attended. In addition, there had been numerous poster presentations from this session that were displayed throughout the meeting. The papers covered almost all aspects of IGCP 648 with a good blending between geological-oriented and geophysical (i.e., geodynamic) oriented work, and generated a lot of interest from the audience. The majority of the invited speakers were young researchers. Project co-leader Zheng-Xiang Li also engaged in discussions with a number of lead researchers regarding the Australian part of the IGCP 648 database which will be followed up during the 2nd half of the year.

Members attended conference field excursions and workshops, including the pre-conference field trip to the 1.59 Ga Gawler Range silicic large igneous province led by Dr Jocelyn McPhie from the University of Tasmania (see field photos below), and a self-organised post-conference field trip to the Neoproterozoic successions of the Flinders Ranges with Professor Paul Hoffman who delivered a keynote talk at the conference.

The project provided financial support for one member from an underdeveloped country and one female student to participate in the event.