[Aqualist] IAG2011 Call for papers - Quaternary environmental changes in Australasia

[Barrows, Timothy]

Call for papers for the Institute of Australian Geographers Conference, University of Wollongong, July 3 to 6, 2011

Quaternary environmental changes in Australasia

Session organisers: Colin Murray-Wallace and Gerald Nanson, University of Wollongong

The Australasian region has experienced profound environmental changes during the past 2.6 million years and modern landscapes are in part a legacy of these changes.  Successive glacial cycles have periodically exposed the continental shelves to subaerial processes, created land bridges for the dispersal of biota and seen major shifts in the position of coastlines.   Interglacials warmer than the current Holocene interglacial have been characterised by higher sea levels and the wider spatial distribution of warm water marine faunas.  In the terrestrial realm major changes in the effectiveness of fluvial and aeolian processes are also evident within successive glacial cycles and have left a major imprint on landscapes.  Throughout the Quaternary, the trend of increasing aridity is apparent but questions remain particularly concerning the status of the Last Glacial Maximum.  Major contrasts in neotectonism are also evident within the Australasian region with subtle neotectonic processes occurring in Australia and dramatic active tectonism in New Zealand and New Guinea.

This session provides a timely opportunity to review the current level of understanding about the nature of environmental changes in the Australasian Quaternary record based on studies of a range of palaeoenvironmental proxies.  Papers are sought from all fields of Quaternary science that can inform our understanding of the Quaternary history of this region.  Review papers as well as papers presenting the results of newly acquired data sets are welcome.  If sufficient high quality papers are presented for this session, it is proposed to produce a special issue of Quaternary Science Reviews.

Abstract submission process:

1.       In the first instance please submit your abstract of approximately 250 words to Colin Murray-Wallace  cwallace at uow.edu.au<mailto:cwallace at uow.edu.au>  by the 1st March 2011.

2.       Once the IAG Conference online abstract submission system is functioning, please submit your abstract ticking the session for which you wish to present your paper.

An e-mail message will be circulated on the IAG e-mail listserver informing when the abstract submission system is functioning.

Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions about the appropriateness of a particular topic for this session.

We look forward to seeing you in Wollongong.

With best wishes,

Colin


Colin V. Murray-Wallace
Professor and Head of School
Editor-in-Chief, Quaternary Science Reviews

School of Earth & Environmental Sciences
University of Wollongong
NSW 2522 AUSTRALIA

tel: :+61-2-4221- 4419
fax: +61-2-4221-4250

E-mail address: cwallace at uow.edu.au<mailto:cwallace at uow.edu.au>


"When the work of the geologist is finished and the final comprehensive report is written, the longest and most important chapter will be upon the latest and shortest of the geological periods."

Grove Karl Gilbert, 1890