Geological Society meeting in New Zealand

[Katherine HARLE]

Posted for David Lowe
For more information, please reply to him at 
dlowe at mailserv.waikato.ac.nz 
Geoscientists to hit town and rocks in November
The Geological Society of New Zealand is holding its annual conference at
the University of Waikato in Hamilton in November, 2001. Being organised
mainly by staff and senior students of the University's Department of Earth
Sciences, the conference has the theme 'Advances in Geosciences 2001'. This
theme was chosen to reflect a basic aim of university, government and
industry geoscientists to advance and disseminate knowledge and to apply
that knowledge to solving problems in New Zealand for the benefit of the
nation. 

The conference will comprise a combination of poster and oral presentations,
together with invited plenary speakers, over three days (27-29 November).
Part of the conference is to be held in the new WEL Energy Trust 'Academy
for the Performing Arts' building on the Waikato campus.

Eight field trips are also being run as part of the conference. Six one-day
trips on offer will examine the active Rotorua geothermal system,
environmental impacts of large-scale explosive eruptions in central North
Island, coastal geology and hazards of the western Bay of Plenty, the
Hauraki goldfields, ancient 150 million-year-old fossils of the Kawhia
region, and geotechnical risk management in coal mining. A three-day trip
will examine how Tongariro and Ruapehu volcanoes evolved over the past
quarter of a million years and another three-day trip will examine 5
million-year-old sequences of sedimentary deposits in central Hawkes' Bay.
A wide range of topics will be presented and discussed during the
conference. These include studies on how climate in New Zealand has changed
over the past few hundred thousand years and how such changes relate to
those in the rest of the world, how sedimentary rock sequences and potential
oil-bearing deposits are analysed, how ancient earthquake patterns in New
Zealand are being examined and interpreted, the physical nature and societal
impacts of geological hazards in New Zealand, future directions of
palaeontological research in New Zealand, the nature and origin of New
Zealand's many volcanoes and their wide-spread explosive products, marine
geology in New Zealand's huge offshore 'economic zone', education in the
Earth sciences for schools, and how geological uncertainty in mining may be
assessed and managed.

The convenor of the conference, Associate Professor David Lowe (Department
of Earth Sciences, University of Waikato), said that the conference had lots
on offer for New Zealand and other geoscientists and that the organisers
were looking forward greatly to a postive and interesting meeting in
November. He said it was the first time the Society's conference had been
held in Hamilton since 1988. Around 200 or more participants were expected
to attend, mostly from New Zealand but with some from overseas. Associate
Professor Lowe said that graduate research students would be especially
welcome at the conference because it introduced them to the professional
geological community of New Zealand and provided the first opportunity in
their career pathways to present findings from initial research projects.
Support for travel costs, reduced registration fees, and prizes for 'best
paper' presentations (both oral and poster) would be available to help
encourage student attendance at the conference. An active social and
networking programme was also planned, including a barbecue and the annual
conference dinner at the Hamilton Gardens. As a bonus, a lunchtime concert
by the internationally acclaimed Turnovksy Trio would be provided free for
all registrants.

Registration, abstracts and bookings for field trips are due by 28 September
at the latest. Further information on the conference and details regarding
how to register and submit registration are available at the GSNZ Web site
www.gsnz.org.nz/gsco.htm <http://www.gsnz.org.nz/gsco.htm> or the Convenor
(d.lowe at waikato.ac.nz <mailto:d.lowe at waikato.ac.nz>) or the Conference
Manager Janet Simes (organiser at conferences.co.nz
<mailto:organiser at conferences.co.nz>).