Successful IGCP 648 Session at the 2016 GAC-MAC at Whitehorse, Canada, June 2016

IGCP 648 had successful thematic sessions at two recent international conferences. At the 2016 GAC-MAC meeting at Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada, we had a project-specific session on “Northwest Laurentia’s neighbors in Proterozoic supercontinents: Cratonic identifications and their geodynamic implications“, which was well presented with both oral and poster papers, and well attended. The ten oral presentations covered a broad spectrum of age intervals and continents and demonstrated the dynamic aspect of our project and the drive to learn more about the dynamics of the processes involved in supercontinent cyclicity. Despite the fact that our session was on the last afternoon, the lecture theater we were in was probably about 80% full right through the final talk. Practically all talks resulted in a number of interesting discussions during question time. In particular, congratulations should go to all student presenters.

Project co-leaders Bruce Eglington and Zheng-Xiang Li, who co-convened the session in the absence of David Evans, discussed extensively between themselves and with project members from different continents during the meeting about the compilation of the global database. Collaborative arrangements were made for comparative studies between Paleo- to Mesoproterozoic eastern Australia, northwestern Laurentia and Siberia to examine their possible connections in the supercontinents Nuna and Rodinia. Extensive scientific discussions continued to post-conference field excursions that focused on terrane analysis and mineral deposits.

Photos from post-conference field excursion “Tectonics of the Intermontane and Insular terranes, and development of Mesozoic synorogenic basins in southern Yukon: Carmacks to Kluane Lake”, led by Maurice Colpron, Steve Israel and Matt Hutchison from the Yukon Geological Survey