Bernie JOYCE ebj@unimelb.edu.au (Australia), José BRILHA (Portugal), Ian GRAHAM (New Zealand), Patrick MCKEEVER (Ireland), Nickolas ZOUROS (Greece), Changxing LONG (China), Ross DOWLING (Australia) and Angus M ROBINSON (Australia)

This Symposium will examine the importance and diversity of geological heritage (geoheritage). Key topics will include the identification and quantification of geoheritage, geodiversity and geosites, the significance of geoconservation, UNESCO’s geoparks, as well as the growth of geotourism.

For more information, visit http://web.earthsci.unimelb.edu.au/Joyce/heritage/IGCGeoheritageSymposia2012.html

Keynote speakers: William WIMBLEDON (UK), Patrick MCKEEVER (Ireland), Nickolas ZOUROS (Greece) and Ross DOWLING (Australia)

Jesus MARTINEZ-FRIAS jmfrias@cab.inta-csic.es (Spain), Gary LEWIS (USA), Sarah GAINES (UNESCO), Julian THOMSON (New Zealand) and Bronte NICHOLLS (Australia)

This Symposium is an opportunity to highlight incentives and resources available for teaching earth science in primary and secondary schools in particular, but is also an opportunity to reflect on geoscience teaching at tertiary level as well.

Keynote speakers: Mary MARLINO (USA), Chris KING (UK) and Greg McNAMARA (Australia)

Hamish CAMPBELL h.campbell@gns.cri.nz (New Zealand)

This Symposium will focus on incentives and strategies for raising public awareness of the relevance of earth science to modern societies and economies. It will embrace the experience of science communicators, museums and the media.

Keynote speaker: Bob CARTER (Australia) 

Lin SUTHERLAND l.sutherland@uws.edu.au (Australia), Ian T GRAHAM (Australia), Khin ZAW (Australia) and Lee GROAT (Canada)

This Symposium will focus on all aspects of the gemstone industry from both a social science and geoscience perspective, with particular emphasis on gemstone identity, natural occurrence and abundance.

Keynote speaker: Lee GROAT (Canada)

Shrikant LIMAYE limaye@vsnl.com (India) and Afia AKHTAR (Bangladesh)

The focus of this Symposium is on highlighting experiences, in groundwater development and management, gained through work on projects/programs of providing irrigational supply and/or safe quality drinking water supply from dug wells, bore wells and tube wells, in various hydrogeological, agro-climatic and socio-economic situations in low income countries. The Symposium is connected with UNESCO-IUGS-IGCP Project 523 “GROWNET” (www.igcp-grownet.org). The Symposium invites papers on experiences in managing and conserving groundwater resources and ensuring sustainability of the quality and quantity of groundwater, for improving rural health and rural economies. 

Keynote speaker: Shrikant LIMAYE (India)

Afia AKHTAR afia@agni.com (Bangladesh), Shrikant LIMAYE (India), Sospeter MUHONGO (Tanzania) ,Gbenga OKUNLOLA (Nigeria) and Antony REEDMAN (UK)

Earth sciences have much to contribute to the reduction of risks from GeoHazards caused by natural processes and anthropogenic activities. In the 21st century, the global population will approach 10 billion people and climate change will have a significant effect on the health, safety and wellbeing of societies, especially in low-income countries and poor communities.

This is a multidisciplinary Symposium whose goal is dissemination of best practices in reducing the impact of geohazards in low-income countries and poor communities. It will focus on the hard-learned experiences in creating public awareness, capacity building in the Public Sector, and initiating actions in low-income countries. But examples from elsewhere are welcome, with the intent of providing a forum where geoscience practitioners can learn how to effectively translate science into action

Keynote speaker: Sospeter MUHONGO (Tanzania)

Nurul HASAN mn_hasan@yahoo.com (Bangladesh), Mike KATZ (Australia), Gbenga OKUNLOLA (Nigeria), Antony REEDMAN (UK) and Chris KING (UK)

It is the wish of all people to live in safe and healthy communities with a prospect of increasing prosperity. A safe supply of potable water, a sustainable food supply and a wide range of other natural resources are required to attain this ambition and ensuring their availability draws heavily on geoscientific knowledge. This Symposium seeks to expose innovative ideas and projects, working both through the formal education system and informal community networks, that seek to raise geoscience awareness amongst the people.

Keynote speaker: Mike KATZ (Australia)

Vaclav NEMEC lidmila.nemcova@quick.cz (Czech Republic), Jesus MARTINEZ-FRIAS (Spain), Nataliya NIKITINA (Russia), Niichi NISHIWAKI (Japan) and Silvia PEPPOLONI (Italy)

Abstracts are invited on the theory and practice of geoethics, which recognizes the necessity of an ethical attitude to the geosphere and of finding ways to solve ethical dilemmas primarily in connection with natural hazards (including risk of unavoidable disasters), sustainable use of Earth resources and space exploration.  Education is essential for facilitating responsible decision-making based on integration of moral and cultural values with social, environmental, technical and economic considerations.

Keynote speakers: Vaclav NEMEC (Czech Republic), Arundeep AHLUWALIA (India), Ochir GEREL (Mongolia), Jesus MARTINEZ-FRIAS (Spain), Lidmila NEMCOVA (Czech Republic), Nataliya NIKITINA (Russia), Niichi NISHIWAKI (Japan), Silvia PEPPOLONI (Italy) and Haiqiao TAN (P.R.China)

Mike KATZ mikekatz320@gmail.com (Australia), Afia AKHTAR (Bangladesh), Gbenga OKUNLOLA (Nigeria) and Nehal UDDIN (Bangladesh), Madhumita DAS (India), Ezzoura ERRAMI (Morocco), Sharon LOCKE (USA) and Antony REEDMAN (UK)

Sustainable socio-economic infrastructure of a nation is an indication of its richness in mineral resources, technological know-how, and capability in extracting and utilizing those resources in development activities. Low income countries are behind in development activities due to lack of good economic condition and properly educated human resources in geosciences. Large and wide varieties of fuel and non-fuel mineral, construction and industrial minerals are insufficient to satisfy growing demand because of substantial increase in consumption. A strong economy can be related to the growth of mineral based industries. Robust investment in this sector can become the main engine of an economy. The Symposium will attempt to formulate guidelines to address these issues.

Keynote speakers: Nehal UDDIN (Bangladesh) and Afia AKHTAR (Bangladesh)

Antony REEDMAN antony@areedman.wanadoo.co.uk (UK), Afia AKHTAR (Bangladesh), David DENHAM (Australia), Siyan MALOMOS (Nigeria) and Qincheng HE (Thailand)

Most countries have established Geological Surveys or similar organisations that are responsible for supplying the geological information required to aid the development and management of national georesources and the reduction of risks from geohazards. In many low-income countries the collection and dissemination of national geological data and information suffers from a lack of financial resources and trained personnel. This Symposium seeks examples of projects, both international and domestic, aimed at overcoming these difficulties and producing sustainable outcomes assuring the future provision of nationwide geological data and information. 

Keynote speakers: Franca SCHWARZ (Germany), Afia AKHTAR (Bangladesh) and Qingcheng HE (Thailand)

Gert J. DE LANGE gdelange@geo.uu.nl (Netherlands) and Francis JIMENEZ-ESPEJO (Spain)

High-resolution Holocene climate records are invaluable for assessing how Earth is likely to respond to projected temperature and related environmental changes during the next few centuries to millennia. In this Symposium, we seek to place the impact of anthropogenic climate change into the context of natural climate variability over the last 10,000 years.  We particularly encourage contributions that utilise multiple proxy, high-resolution approaches to the study of ice core, terrestrial and marine sediment archives.

Keynote speaker: Edouard BARD (France)

Jan HARFF jan.harff@io-warnemuende.de (Germany), Geoff BAILEY (United Kingdom) and Friedrich LÜTH (Germany)

Climatically controlled sea level dynamics has influenced human population globally since prehistoric times. Global marine regression during glacial periods converted former marine environments of the continental shelf to prime territory for human settlement during 90% of human existence on the planet, until the postglacial transgression re-submerged these paleolandscapes. This shelf region provides the key to understanding earliest human dispersal out of Africa, and subsequent dispersals to all the major land masses as well as earliest developments in seafaring and marine exploitation. Marine geologists, archaeologists and climatologists are invited to present and discuss results in this field of underwater paleoenvironmental investigation.

Keynote speakers: Nicholas FLEMMING (UK) and Jon ERLANDSON (USA)

Lionel CARTER lionel.carter@vuw.ac.nz (New Zealand), Giuseppe CORTESE (New Zealand), Rewi NEWNHAM (New Zealand) and Nancy BERTLER (New Zealand)

Palaeoenvironmental records of Late Quaternary interglacial periods are windows into a warmer world. Despite differences in temporal and spatial resolution, ice, terrestrial and marine archives of past change are invaluable for depicting how Earth is likely to respond to temperature changes projected for the next few centuries. Papers centred on environmental change during interglacial periods of the last 400,000 years are particularly welcome.

Keynote speakers: Marcus VANDERGOES (New Zealand) and Dorthe DAHL-JENSEN (Denmark)

David GREENWOOD greenwoodd@brandonu.ca (Canada), Matthew HUBER (USA) and Patrick MOSS (Australia)

The silent majority: pre-Quaternary records of climatic warmth. Ninety five percent of the Cenozoic exhibited little to no bi-polar glaciation, in part due to high CO2. Yet the lessons gleaned from this pre-icehouse climate archive have not informed discussions of the future as much as they should. Contributions are sought that identify key patterns and processes that caused, maintained, perturbed, and modulated pre-Quaternary greenhouse climate conditions.

Keynote speakers: Gabriel BOWEN (USA), Scott HUCKNELL (Australia) and Matthew HUBER (USA)

Chengshan WANG chshwang@cugb.edu.cn (China), Michael WAGREICH (Austria) and Xiaoqiao WAN (China)

As atmospheric CO2 concentrations rise during the 21st century, the Mesozoic-Paleogene “greenhouse climate” will serve as a relevant model. For example, during the mid-Cretaceous atmospheric CO2 contents were 4-8 times greater than the modern pre-industrial level. An understanding of how CO2 influenced the ocean/climate interaction will aid predictions of modern climate changes. Information on the Mesozoic-Paleogene greenhouse world comes from numerous studies of marine sediments both from continents and numerous ODP/DSDP sites. IGCP 555 examined the rapid environmental/climate change in the Cretaceous world (the so-called paradigm of greenhouse climate) and ocean-land interactions. A unique terrestrial record, extending from the Turonian to the Maastrichtian and forming the basis for the marine/terrestrial correlation and modelling data to test the climate/ocean interaction, comes from the Cretaceous lacustrine record in a 2600 m composite core in the Songliao Basin in NE China (SK-1 drilling program). The Continental Scientific Drilling Project of the Cretaceous Songliao Basin (drilling in August 2011) proposes to obtain about 4500 m of cores which, combined with the existing SK-I, and -II cores, will  form the first nearly complete Cretaceous terrestrial sedimentary record in the world and provide high-resolution climate records of the terrestrial environment from the latest Jurassic to early Paleogene. This topical Symposium will address the causes, processes, and consequences of rapid environmental changes in the Mesozoic-Paleogene greenhouse world, from both marine and terrestrial records.

Keynote speakers: Chengshan WANG (China), Michael WAGREICH (Austria),Yong Il LEE (Korea) and Helmut WEISSERT (Switzerland)

Kathleen HISTON catherine.histon@unimore.it (Italy), Vinod TEWARI (India) and Michael MELCHIN (Canada)

The Earth's severe global palaeoclimatic cycles, from global icehouse to greenhouse conditions, witnessed in the Neoproterozoic recur also throughout the Palaeozoic Era. The proposed session will explore integrated approaches to palaeoclimate reconstructions (fossils, proxies, models), correlation of the stratigraphic record of climate change, and cause-effect relationships within the ocean- atmosphere-biosphere Earth System during the Palaeozoic and Neoproterozoic.

Keynote speakers: David HARPER (Denmark) Alain PREAT (Belgium) and David RAY (UK)

Peter KÖNIGSHOF peter.koenigshof@senckenberg.de (Germany) and Thomas SUTTNER (Austria)

The Mid-Paleozoic conforms to a time interval of dynamic long-term climate change. A rapid rise of land plants during the Middle Devonian which was coupled with strongly decreasing atmospheric CO2 values during the latest Devonian was followed by a complete reorganisation of ecosystems with tremendous consequences for marine communities at global scales. We are interested in contributions related to refinement of taxomomic identification and the increase in documentation of all fossil groups indicating terrestrial, neritic and pelagic marine environments during the Mid-Paleozoic for a better understanding of evolutionary trends in biodiversity during that time interval.

Keynote speakers: Wolfgang KIESSLING (Germany), Anne-Christine da SILVA (Belgium) and
Carlton BRETT (USA)

Bernd LOTTERMOSER bernd.lottermoser@utas.edu.au (Australia) and Kirk NORDSTROM (USA)

The demand for mineral and energy resources is intensifying, yet their exploitation causes numerous environmental challenges: tailings repositories are known to fail; mine-derived contaminants may be dispersed; the quality of air, soil, sediment and water can be compromised; ecosystem, plant, animal and human health may be put at risk; and the long-term costs of mine site rehabilitation can be staggering. Over the next 100 years, an additional 2000 cubic kilometres of waste rocks and tailings will likely accumulate around the globe. This session will bring conference participants up to date with current environmental aspects of mining and highlight new frontiers.

Keynote speaker: Bernhard DOLD (Chile)

David SMITH dsmith@usgs.gov (USA), Xueqiu WANG (China) and Patrice DE CARITAT (Australia)

Documenting and understanding the current abundance and spatial distribution of chemical elements in different compartments of the Earth's near-surface environment (e.g., soils, sediments, surface and groundwater) are essential first steps in being able to recognize and quantify natural or human-induced changes in the future. This session will focus on recently completed, or ongoing, geochemical mapping studies involving any of the above sample media. Although the primary focus of the session is on national- and global-scale geochemical mapping, we also welcome contributions from studies conducted at a more local or regional scale.

Keynote Speakers: Christopher JOHNSON (UK) and Xueqiu WANG (China)

June HILL june.hill@csiro.au (Australia) and Ricardo OLEA (USA)

Applications of geomathematical analysis and modelling in the field of resource exploration. New advances and methodological challenges in the analysis of spatial, time-dependent and compositional geoscience data. Application of geostatistical and geomathematical methodologies and tools to the interpretation of geochemical data, remotely sensed data, rock anisotropy, and climate data.

Keynote speakers: Margaretha SCOTT (Australia), Roussos DIMITRAKOPOULOS (Canada),
Katsuaki KOIKE (Japan), Helmut SCHAEBEN (Germany), Juan José EGOZCUE (Spain), Michael GURNIS
(USA), Christopher SCOTESE (USA), Donald SINGER (USA), Cedric GRIFFITHS (Australia) and
Steve REDDY (Australia)

David LUMLEY david.lumley@uwa.edu.au (Australia), Kevin DODDS (USA) and John KALDI (Australia)

This Symposium concerns the long-term geological storage of CO2 in the earth’s subsurface and includes issues related to site selection; reservoir characterization; storage assessment; containment security; measurement, monitoring and verification systems; uncertainty and risk; and resource conflicts.

Keynote speakers: Charles JENKINS (Australia), Don WHITE (Canada), Michael KUHN (Germany), Susan HOVORKA (USA) and Mark TRUPP (Australia)

Anthony BUDD anthony.budd@ga.gov.au (Australia), T HARINARAYANA (India), Greg BIGNALL (New Zealand) and Klaus REGENAUER-LIEB (Australia)

This Symposium concerns the use of geothermal resources as a clean energy option, and includes issues relate to site selection; resource characterisation; geologic uncertainty and risks, monitoring systems, resource conflicts; and delivery of geothermal energy to end users.

Keynote speakers: Doone WYBORN (Australia), Greg BIGNALL (New Zealand) and Klaus REGENAUER-LIEB (Australia)

David HUSTON david.huston@ga.gov.au (Australia) and Bernd LEHMAN (Germany)

This Symposium will consider the geology and genesis of ore deposits containing metals used in technologies needed in a carbon constrained world. Although these metals, which include lithium and the rare earth elements, among others, have traditionally been niche markets, they are anticipated to become economically and strategically more important, and, hence, more attractive exploration targets. To provide a background on these important deposits, the program would include: 1) papers on the economics and metallurgy of new age metals;  2) descriptions of the geology and origin of important deposits; and 3) global and regional syntheses of the ages and geodynamic settings of these deposits.

Keynote speaker: Roderick EGGERT (USA) 

John SIEMON john@siemon.id.au (Australia), Björn SCHOUENBORG (Sweden) and Lola PEREIRA (Spain)

A Symposium considering the important industrial rock and mineral resources which allow mankind to maintain its standard of living and those which in the future may allow a sustainable standard.  Papers are invited on the following topics: 1) currently important and potential industrial rocks and minerals in Australia, New Zealand and Oceania; 2) the geology of commodities such as lithium, rare earths, mineral sands, magnesite, clays, fertiliser minerals, manganese, silica and gemstones; and 3) aspects of the usage of construction materials and building stones.

Peter STOKER pstoker@amcconsultants.com.au (Australia) and Charlotte GRIFFITHS (Switzerland)

The public reporting of Resource and Reserve estimates is undertaken under an array of codes and guidelines which vary depending on geographic location and commodity under consideration. A global movement to increase the standardisation of reporting codes is in progress. Similarly codes have been developed to guide the valuation of mineral prospects, discoveries and operations. This Symposium discusses these issues with case studies in reporting and valuation. The current status of international codes will be discussed and there will be a session on national reporting.

Keynote speakers: Michael LYNCH-BELL (UK), Deborah McCOMBE(Canada), Harry PARKER (USA), Yuri
PODTURKIN (Russia), and Jim ROSS (UK)

Roger SKIRROW roger.skirrow@ga.gov.au (Australia), Richard TOSDAL (Canada) and Zengqian HOU (China)

Major ore deposits are the products of regional to crustal scale geological systems, and leave evidence of their formation as tell-tale footprints in geological, geochemical and geophysical datasets.  However, the characteristic footprints of many types of mineralised systems are not well documented at the district to regional scales, despite years of studies of individual ore deposits.  This Symposium will consider the geological, geochemical and geophysical signatures, and their significance, of major mineralised systems from deposit through district to regional and crustal scales.  The emphasis will be on signatures of practical application in exploration, and particularly those footprints useful in exploring covered terranes.  Reports on studies of broad-scale hydrothermal effects and the associated signatures in geochemical, hyperspectral and geophysical datasets, will be welcome, as will be contributions on the structural and magmatic footprints of major mineralised systems.

Keynote speakers: David COOKE (Australia) and Rob HOUGH (Australia)

David HUSTON david.huston@ga.gov.au (Australia) and Mike HULEATT (Australia)

Over the two decades or so the mining industry has seen an apparent drop-off in exploration success. Symptoms of this problem have been a decrease in the discovery of tier one discoveries for a large range of commodities and a significant increase in the cost of discovery. The purpose of this Symposium is to document this problem and propose solutions. Topics to be considered include: 1) temporal changes in exploration success rates; 2) the role of maturity in exploration success; 3) impediments to exploration: geological and political; 4) the philosophy of resource acquisition in the mining industry; and 5) exploration into to future: can new technologies and concepts improve success rates?

Keynote speaker: Richard SCHODDE (Australia)

Dick GLEN dick.glen@dpi.nsw.gov.au (Australia), David COOKE (Australia), Reimar SELTMANN (UK) and Eduardo CAMPOS (Chile)

This Symposium is seeking contributions regarding processes and geometries that lead to the formation of porphyry and epithermal deposits, with a particular emphasis on geodynamic and structural phenomena in oceanic island arcs, continental arcs, and also collisional and post-collisional settings. Such controls vary from plate scale, such as changes in plate settings, coupling across subduction zones or even hiatuses in subduction, to the structural scale, controlling the resulting architecture of collision and thus the formation of orogen- parallel and orogen-normal magma pathways. We are also seeking contributions that evaluate the scale-dependency of these phenomena, from crustal through regional to district and deposit-scales. 

Keynote speaker: Richard TOSDAL (Canada)

Andy TOMKINS andy.tomkins@monash.edu (Australia), Iain PITCAIRN (Sweden) and Katy EVANS (Australia)

Formation of many of the Earth’s mineral deposits was intimately tied to the global sulfur cycle because their metals are chalcophile or are carried in hydrothermal fluids as sulfide complexes. In recent years there have been significant advances in understanding the global sulfur cycle and how it has changed over time, and some researchers have started to apply this to improving global tectonic models and secular models for ore deposit genesis. This session is intended to further develop this research direction and welcomes contributions that advance our knowledge of the global sulfur cycle and that show us how this has influenced mineral deposit formation and their secular distribution.

Jingwen MAO jingwenmao@263.net (China), Franco PIRAJNO (Australia) and Reimar SELTMANN (UK)

China, central Asian countries, Russia and Mongolia, and the eastern Eurasia continental margin, host a great variety of mineral systems, such as VHMS, porphyry-skarn, epithermal Au-Ag, orogenic lodes, orthomagmatic deposits in mafic-ultramafic complexes, vein-type polymetallic deposits, granite–related tin deposits. The Tethyan domain from southwestern China, westward to Iran and Afghanistan, and to southeast Asia, hosts mineral deposits comprising porphyry and porphyry–skarn Cu-Au-Mo, vein type Pb-Zn-Ag, Au and Sb lodes, and rare earth minerals in carbonatites. This session will provide a unique opportunity for geologists from all over the world to do comparative studies in the Eurasian countries.

Keynote speakers: Richard J. GOLDFARB (USA), Weidong SUN (China) and Reimar SELTMANN (UK)

Ken McQueen (Australia) ken.mcqueen@canberra.edu.au

This symposium presents studies of mineral deposits from and the regional metallogy of significant mineralised provinces in Australia (including the Tasmanides and other provinces), China, North America, Central Asia, Russia, Brazil, Africa, and Europe.  There is a particular focus on  uranium, nickel, platinum group metals, and iron ore deposits, and different types of mineralisation that complement the deposit types and commodities presented in other symposia in Theme 9. The symposium also includes studies of gold, base metal and polymetallic deposits of different types, and examines fundamental processes controlling mineralisation.

David COOKE d.cooke@utas.edu.au (Australia), PEI Rongfu (China) and Richard GOLDFARB (USA)

Giant and supergiant orebodies fascinate ore deposit researchers and explorers alike. Are these deposits formed by the same processes that generate smaller deposits? Have ore-forming processes operated at peak efficiency only at certain times and in certain locations in Earth history? How do we predict the location of giant deposits, and can we predict how many are likely to be formed and preserved? This session will review the geology and genesis of, and exploration for, the world's giant and supergiant ore deposits. We encourage explorers to provide exploration case histories on giant deposits, and academic researchers to discuss the likely causes for their formation, location and preservation.

Keynote speakers: Ross LARGE (Australia) and Karen KELLEY (USA)
 

Joan ESTERLE j.esterle@uq.edu.au (Australia)

This Symposium examines advances in our traditional thinking about what makes a coal resource, and more importantly a coal reserve, as new deposits come into the market to face the increasing demand for power and feedstocks. Topics will include novel exploration techniques and/or geological concepts that have or will assist in coal resource discoveries, and 3D-4D geophysical and geological modelling from exploration to geotechnical assessment. Predictive models for coal quality at mine scale will be examined and using geological studies to optimise mining activities from exploration through to rehabilitation.

Keynote speakers: Lawrie JORGENSEN (Australia), Cliff MALLETT (Australia) and Hua GUO (Australia)

Robert LANGFORD robert.langford@ga.gov.au (Australia)

Coal will continue to be an important part of the energy mix of many countries. This Symposium will bring together researchers to examine coal as a record of climate change and tectonism throughout geological history. Topics will include the tectonic controls on basin subsidence and coal seam architecture, and the spatial and temporal variability in coal character in response to climate change through time. Other topics will include stratigraphic modelling of coal measure systems and groundwater flow within coal measure systems and how well they are understood.

Keynote speakers: Peter McCABE (Australia), Steve GREB (USA), Lopo VASCONCELOS (Mozambique) and Ian METCALFE (Australia)

Carlos Henrique BRUHN bruhn@petrobras.com.br (Brazil) and Robert SEGGIE (Australia)

This Symposium will cover petrophysics, reservoir characterization and modelling, and reservoir management and enhanced oil recovery.

Irina BORISSOVA irina.borissova@ga.gov.au (Australia), Francois BACHE (New Zealand) and Sylvia ANJOS (Brazil)

Frontiers are in new basins, and also new concepts in old basins. Papers are invited on extending exploration into new water depths, drilling depths and stratigraphy.

Keynote speakers: Phil RICHARDS (UK) and Marina RABINEAU (France)

Ron HACKNEY ron.hackney@ga.gov.au (Australia), Jörg EBBING (Norway), Hans-Jürgen GÖTZE (Germany) and Bernd LAHMEYER (Norway)

Papers are invited on advances in the application of seismic, gravity, magnetic and electromagnetic data to basin studies and petroleum exploration, particularly the combination and joint interpretation of multiple data types.

Keynote speaker: Lucy MacGREGOR (UK)

Mohinudeen FAIZ mohinudeen.faiz@originenergy.com.au (Australia) and Romeo FLORES (USA)

Over recent years, coal seam gas has become fundamental to supplying the North American gas market and is so prevalent that in some circles it is no longer considered ’unconventional’. Elsewhere, coal seam gas is considered a significant emerging unconventional resource. In Australia, CSG development is on the verge of driving a new LNG export industry. However, many uncertainties remain. This Symposium seeks contributions on coal seam gas that address the following topics: 1) enhanced coal seam methane (CO2 injection or microbial enhancement); 2) reservoir production engineering (stimulation, multiphase flow, geomechanics); 3) resource characterisation; 4) produced water utilisation, quality, etc; 5) fugitive methane; 6) risk of regional subsidence; 7) infrastructure optimisation, environmental impact and public engagement; 8) lessons learned from North America with applications to the rest of the world; and 9) public engagement: can we do better?

Keynote speaker: Rob WILLINK (Australia)

Peter MCCABE peter.mccabe@qut.edu.au (Australia) and Colin NORTH c.p.north@abdn.ac.uk (UK)

Papers are invited on facies and stratigraphy of lacustrine, fluvial, aeolian and other continental environments as well as on the broader tectonic and climatic controls on depositional systems.

Keynote speakers: Kathryn AMOS (Australia), Chris FIELDING (USA) and Colin NORTH (UK)

Bruce AINSWORTH bainsworth@asp.adelaide.edu.au (Australia), Julien BOURGET (Australia) and Rachel NANSON (Australia)

Topics covered in this Symposium include deltas, wave- and tide-dominated shorelines and shelves as well as the role of sea-level change, sediment supply and subsidence in determining stratigraphic architecture.

Keynote speakers: Ron Steel (Austin) and Craig SLOSS (Australia)

Peter KING p.king@gns.cri.nz (New Zealand) and Greg BROWNE (New Zealand)

Papers are invited on stratigraphy and sedimentology of submarine slopes, base of slope systems, and pelagic deposits. The emphasis of this Symposium will be on evolution through the stratigraphic record.

Keynote speaker: Bret DIXON (USA)

Simon LANG simon.lang@woodside.com.au (Australia)

This Symposium will address the sedimentological aspects of reservoir architecture and performance – permeability, compartmentalisation, etc. The focus will be on oil and gas reservoirs and reservoirs for carbon storage.

Keynote speaker: Shaun SADDLER (Australia)

Kerrie BANN kerriebann@ichnofacies.com (Canada) and James MACEACHERN (Canada)

This Symposium invites papers that deal with the use of trace fossils and trace assemblages to address sedimentological, stratigraphic and exploration-related problems.

Keynote speakers: Murray GINGRAS (Canada) and Charles E. SAVRDA (USA)

Chris FIELDING cfielding2@unlnotes.unl.edu (USA)

Papers are invited on contrasting stratigraphic stacking patterns, and the abundance and nature of specific facies in icehouse and greenhouse climate settings.

Keynote speakers: Martin KENNEDY (Australia), Daniel LeHERON (UK) and Isabel MONTANEZ (USA)

Cedric GRIFFITHS cedric.griffiths@csiro.au (Australia), Jan Harff (Poland) and Daniel Tetzlaff (USA)

This Symposium will cover numerical, physical and experimental modelling of natural surface systems.

Keynote speaker: Tristan SALLES-TAING (Australia)

Chris FIELDING cfielding2@unlnotes.unl.edu (USA) and Jan HARFF jan.harff@io-warnemuende.de (Germany) 

Papers are invited on all aspects of the sedimentary responses to external forcing factors, including eustasy, oceanic anoxia, extinctions, and environmental change.

Keynote speaker: Mary KRAUS (USA)

Peter CLIFT pclift@lsu.edu (UK), Jan HARFF (Germany) and Qiu YAN (China)

River-dominated shelf sediments in Asian seas play a crucial role in understanding the interplay of tectonically and climatically induced continent-ocean particle fluxes.  These relatively thick sequences display in high resolution changes in the southern oscillation and the monsoon dynamics during the Late Quaternary and in particular the Holocene. Biogeochemical cycles on time scales from millennia to decades can be reconstructed by the application of multi-proxy concepts combined with advances dating techniques, and mapping procedures using offshore geophysical methods. The session invites sedimentologists, paleoceanographers, and –climatologists to discuss recent developments in the reconstruction of the Quaternary land-ocean-interface in Asia.

Christian HEINE christian.heine@sydney.edu.au (Australia), Peter JAPSEN (Denmark) and Simon WILLIAMS (Australia)

Contributions are invited on all aspects of numerical and computational modelling  relating to the following subjects: 1) Paleostress models and observations; 2) Linking regional plate kinematics to basin formation and evolution; 3) Advances in lithospheric extension modelling; and 4) Regional basin models – present status and future challenges.

Keynote speakers: Olivier LACOMBE (France), Malcolm ROSS (USA), Marta PEREZ-GUSSINYE (UK),
Cinthia LABAILS (Norway), Patrick UNTERNEHR (France) and Mark B. ALLEN (UK)

Francois ROURE francois.roure@ifpen.fr (France) and Kevin HILL (Australia)

Contributions are invited on all aspects of sedimentary basin formation and evolution related to the following convergent margin settings: 1) Circum-Pacific/southern hemisphere compressional basins; 2) North American Cordillera and sub-Andean basins; 3) Peri-Tethyan, circum-Mediterranean and Alpine forelands and foothills; and 4) Paleozoic compressional basins and intracratonic inverted basins.

Keynote speakers: Jean-Paul CALLOT (France), Ken McCLAY (UK-Chile), Alison ORD (Australia) and
Jean-Claude RINGENBACH (France)

Magdalena SCHECK-WENDEROTH leni@gfz-potsdam.de (Germany), Jennie TOTTERDELL (Australia), Christophe BASILE (France) and Jean MASCLE (France)

Contributions are invited on all aspects of sedimentary basin formation and evolution in rifted continental margins, including sheared (transform) passive margin settings for the following regions: 1) Atlantic and Arctic Oceans; 2) Australasia and greater Oceania region; 3) Indian and Pacific Oceans; and 4) Incipient passive margins and precursor intra-continental rifts and basins.

Keynote speakers: Gianreto MANATSCHAL (France) and Ritske HUISMANS (Norway) 

George GIBSON george.gibson@ga.gov.au (Australia) and Gianreto MANATSCHAL (France)

Contributions are welcomed on the recognition, characterisation and preservation of hyper- extended continental margins in the geological record and whether such margins only occur in younger as opposed to Precambrian orogenic belts. Two sessions are planned: 1) Exhumed mantle lithosphere and preservation of the ocean-continent transition in orogenic belts – case studies; and 2) Continental rift margins and processes through time – comparative studies of Precambrian versus modern day analogues. Contributions addressing aspects of the tectonic, magmatic, sedimentary and thermal evolution of such margins may wish to make reference to well studied modern analogues where margin geometry and thermal structure have been investigated through seismic and geophysical imaging.

Keynote speakers: Geoffroy MOHN (France) and Gwenn PERON-PINVIDIC (Norway) 

Maria SETON maria.seton@sydney.edu.au (Australia) and Giampiero IAFFALDANO (Australia)

This Symposium covers a range of topics from advances in models for relative and absolute motions of the major plates on Earth, which largely behave rigidly, and thus conform to classical plate tectonic theory, to plate- mantle interaction and long-term plate deformation. It is focused on advances in amalgamating regional and global data sets for improved constraints on plate tectonic models, as well as on recent advances that allow us to move beyond classical plate tectonics, in terms of including large-scale, long-term plate deformation into regional or global tectonic models. The Symposium also covers Large Igneous Provinces, looking at their origin, timing, and effects, as well as new insights into the driving forces of absolute plate motions.

Keynote speakers: Douwe van HINSBERGEN (Norway), Jean-Pierre BURG (Germany), Franco PIRAJNO
(Australia), Tim STERN (New Zealand), Mike SANDIFORD (Australia), Olivia LACOMBE (FRANCE) and Ray RUSSO (USA)

Andrew GLIKSON andrew.glikson@anu.edu.au (Australia), Don LOWE (USA), Vic GOSTIN (Australia) and Peter HAINES (Australia)

The regional to global effects of large asteroid impacts, including seismic, tectonic and atmospheric effects, are highlighted by studies of the Vredefort, Sudbury, Chicxulub, Morokweng, Popigai, Chesapeake Bay, Acraman and Woodleigh structures and impact ejecta units, with implications for early crustal evolution and the mass extinction and radiation of species.

Keynote speakers: Don LOWE (USA), John SPRAY (Canada), Jay MELOSH (USA),  Kathleen GREY (Australia), Adam GARDE (Denmark) and Jan SMIT (Netherlands)

Myra KEEP myra.keep@uwa.edu.au (Australia) and Wouter SCHELLART (Australia)

The aim of the Symposium is to take a multidisciplinary approach to examining the evolution and geodynamics of the Indo-Australian Plate. We aim to bring together researchers from around the world working on all aspects of the Indo-Australian Plate including those working on geographic regions from the Himalayas-Tibet, the Sunda-Banda Arc, all the way over to New Zealand.

Keynote speakers: Manuel PUBELLIER (France) and Mark CLOOS (USA)

Dietmar MÜLLER dietmar.muller@sydney.edu.au (Australia), Mike GURNIS (USA) and ZHAO Yue (China)

Recent advances in linked plate kinematic-geodynamic models, coupled with advances in using a diversity of geological and geophysical data to constrain model boundary conditions and outputs, have resulted in a growing interest in exploring the contribution that mantle convection makes to changing surface topography, driving associated erosion, sedimentation and transgressive-regressive cycles. Intriguing questions include: What are the time-dependence, spatial patterns and magnitudes of these phenomena? Small-scale convection in the upper mantle has recently been highlighted as a potential driving force of oscillations basin uplift and subsidence, but the question arises what the minimum amplitude of mantle-driven vertical surface motion is in order to leave a signal in the geological record that we can observe. Which sorts of data are best suited for extracting these signals from the geological record? Which subtle expressions of these processes in relatively flat-lying continental areas or in sedimentary basins do we need to measure to advance the observational aspects of this rapidly evolving research field?

Keynote speakers: Alessandro FORTE (Canada), Mike GURNIS (USA), Huw DAVIES (UK), Trond TORSVIK (Norway), Paul WESSEL (USA), Hans-Peter BUNGE (Germany), Wim SPAKMAN (Netherlands), Claudio FACCENNA (Italy), Clint CONRAD (USA), John TARDUNO (USA), Jean BRAUN (France), Steve GRAND (USA), Gabi LASKE (USA), Shanan PETERS (USA) and Kenni PETERSEN (Denmark) 

Patrice REY patrice.rey@sydney.edu.au (Australia), Richard GLEN (Australia), Christian TEYSSIER (USA) and Zengqian HOU (China)

This Symposium is dedicated to all orogenic styles (cordillera, accretionary, collisional) and all orogenic processes from subduction (oceanic and continental), to accretion, to collision growth and collapse. It welcomes contribution from field geologists (sedimentology, structural geology, metamorphic petrology, geochemistry, geochronology and thermochronology), to geophysicists (seismologists, geodynamicists, physical and numerical modelling etc.).

Keynote speakers: Taras GERYA (Switzerland), Louis MORESI (Australia), David STEGMAN (USA), Laurent HUSSON (France), Fabio CAPITANIO (Australia), Brad HACKER (USA), Aral OKAY (Turkey),
Olivier VANDERHAEGHE (France), Roberto WEINBERG (Australia), Ian METCALFE (Australia), Nick MORTIMER (New Zealand), Graciano YUMUL (Philippines), Ron HARRIS (USA), Richard GLEN (Australia) and Ian WITHNALL (Australia)

Craig O’NEILL craig.oneill@mq.edu.au (Australia) and Manel FERNANDEZ (Spain)

The nature of the lithosphere-asthenosphere boundary is critical to understanding the geodynamic and geochemical evolution of Earth, yet its definition is still controversial. In this Symposium we aim bring together experts in all in seismic tomography and potential-field analysis, mantle geochemistry, and numerical modelling of dynamic processes in the Earth to investigate how the lithosphere and underlying mantle have behaved through time. Integrating information from these different types of datasets, will advance discussion of the constraints that help us elucidate the character and location of the lithosphere-asthenosphere boundary in the present-day and older Earth.

Keynote speaker: David MAINPRICE (France)

Alan JONES alan@cp.dias.ie (Ireland) and Anne POMMIER (USA)

Available samples of the lithospheric mantle beneath oceans and continents bear witness to the passage of fluids, modifying the composition and the physical state of the mantle. This Symposium will be an opportunity to explore the composition, origin and effects of metasomatic fluids in the deep lithosphere, as well as their geochemical and geophysical signatures. It will also consider the nature and distribution of fluid pathways in the mantle, and the application of geophysical methods such as seismology and MT to image these pathways. Another important issue is the question of where fluids reside when they are not moving, and especially the role of nominally anhydrous minerals.

Keynote speakers: Jörg HERMANN (Australia) and Stéphane RONDENAY (USA)

Bill GRIFFIN bill.griffin@mq.edu.au (Australia), Ramon CARBONELL (Spain), Adrian LENARDIC (USA) and Norman PEARSON (Australia)

This Symposium will address the problems and the potential rewards of treating the lithosphere as an integrated system. It will investigate the degree to which the generation of the continental crust and lithospheric mantle are linked, and the effects of these linkages on the evolution of tectonic regimes through time and space. Approaches to understanding this system will include methods for dating events in the deep crust and lithospheric mantle, the geochemical evidence for the evolution of the crust-mantle system, the geophysical definition of crustal and crust-mantle boundaries, and geodynamic modelling of the distribution and location of continents through time.

Keynote speaker: Mike BROWN (USA)

Shijie ZHONG shijie.zhong@colorado.edu (USA), Julian PEARCE (UK), Leonid DUBROVINSKY (Germany) and Jingsui YANG (China)

This session ties together recent advances in imaging, high-pressure experiments, seismology and geodynamic modelling to understand the deep circulation system of the mantle. Global tomography and MT models give insights into heterogeneity and flow patterns in the deeper mantle, and laboratory work highlights the existence of the post-perovskite phase in the deepest mantle. Changes in styles of volcanism and tectonics through time also can reflect deep Earth processes. The integration of geodynamic modelling with observational constraints allows a deeper understanding of the global deep circulation systems, the interaction of fluids and chemical heterogeneities with solid-state convection, and the importance of this circulation through Earth's history.

Keynote speakers: Michael GURNIS (USA) and Matthew G. JACKSON (USA)

Michael RITZWOLLER michael.ritzwoller@colorado.edu (USA), Ling CHEN (China), Yingjie YANG (Australia) and Juan Carlos AFONSO (Australia)

Ongoing improvements in seismic observations and imaging methodologies have produced increasingly detailed images of the lithosphere and sublithospheric upper mantle, providing important information on regional tectonics, lithospheric deformation, and the physical state of the upper mantle. Ambient Noise Tomography (ANT) overcomes some limitations of earthquake-based methods and provides higher-resolution information about the lithosphere, especially the crust and uppermost mantle. ANT has been applied on its own, or combined with earthquake tomography to generate high-resolution images of the lithosphere. This Symposium welcomes contributions that use one or more seismic approaches, or multidisciplinary geophysical methods, to image the lithospheric and sublithospheric structures in various geological settings and scales. 

Keynote speakers: Donald W. FORSYTH (USA) and Brian KENNETT (Australia)

Vickie BENNETT vickie.bennett@anu.edu.au (Australia) and Tony KEMP (Australia)

This session will investigate major events and processes in early Earth history, using a range of geochemical observations from the modern and ancient rock and mineral record, as well as experimental and modeling results. Key topics include: the compositions, volumes and physical properties of the crust; mechanisms of continent formation and recycling; the evolution of volatiles and oceans; early terrestrial sedimentary environments; the persistence and influence of Hadean reservoirs in the younger geologic record; the possible role of impacts and magma oceans in creating chemical reservoirs; and new discoveries of Hadean and early Archean rocks and minerals.

Keynote speakers: Craig O'NEILL (Australia), Tsuyoshi IIZUKA (Tokyo), Oliver NEBEL (Australia) and Allen NUTMAN (Australia)

Richard BLEWETT richard.blewett@ga.gov.au (Australia) and Dorothy CLOSE (Australia)

The Proterozoic era records the amalgamation of primary building blocks of the Australian continent and episodes of continental re-organisation. Tectonic models related to this geological era are controversial. This Symposium will have geological, geophysical, and geochemical studies, at all scale, which contribute to understanding how the Australian continent was built.

Keynote speakers: Russell KORSCH (Australia) and David HUSTON (Australia) 

Martin KENNEDY martin.kennedy@adelaide.edu.au (Australia), Louis DERRY (USA) and Nicholas CHRISTIE-BLICK (USA)

The Neoproterozoic is an intriguing era of Earth history, recording the geological record of supercontinent dispersal and re-amalgamation, severe glaciations, atmospheric transitions, and the earliest fossils of multi-cellular life. This Symposium will cover all aspects of this amazing period of Earth evolution.

Keynote speakers: Shuhai XIAO (USA) and Nick CHRISTIE-BLICK (USA)

 Zheng-Xiang LI Z.Li@exchange.curtin.edu.au (Australia)   

The Proterozoic era records two supercontinent cycles. This Symposium will explore all aspects of supercontinent amalgamation, dispersal, and geodynamic processes associated with Proterozoic supercontinents.

Keynote speakers: Shihong ZHANG (China), Richard ERNST (Canada) and Bruce EGLINGTON (Canada)

Kent CONDIE kcondie@nmt.edu (USA) and Justin PAYNE (Australia)

Proterozoic magmatism has underpinned tectonic models for Proterozoic crustal evolution for decades. In this Symposium detailed geochemical studies of Proterozoic terranes and geological provinces, as well as continental and global geochemical synthesis will be presented in the context of constraining tectonic models.

Keynote speaker: Wouter BLEEKER (Canada) 

Franco PIRAJNO franco.pirajno@dmp.wa.gov.au (Australia) and Tom BLENKINSOP (Australia)

Metallogenesis in the Proterozoic era is characterised by an extremely diverse metal systems and associated geodynamic settings. This Symposium will include all aspects of Proterozoic metal system including detailed deposit studies, regional tectonic controls of mineralisation, as well as temporal and spatial metal associations.

Keynote speakers: Kurt KYSER (Canada), Simon JOHNSON (Australia) and Steffan HAGEMANN (Australia)

Sue GOLDING s.golding1@uq.edu.au (Australia), Yuri AMELIN yuri.amelin@anu.edu.au (Australia) and Igor VILLA igor@geo.unibe.ch (Switzerland)

Understanding the processes that transformed a cloud of interstellar gas into our solar system, the only planetary system that is known to sustain life, is one of the key steps in the quest for our origins. It is now known that most stars are born in complex processes that occur in clusters within giant molecular clouds, and that accreting protoplanetary disks can be influenced not only by interaction with their young central star, but also by addition of matter from nearby massive stars. The solids that formed very early in the solar nebula accretion sequence: Ca, Al-rich refractory inclusions (CAIs), millimetre-sized spherules of silicate minerals (chondrules) and igneous meteorites (achondrites), serve as time markers for the early stages of accretion, and for the processes that influenced accretion. We seek contributions on decoding thermal and chemical evolution of the solar nebula, and formation of planetesimals and planets, from state-of-the-art isotopic dating and tracing of the solar system’s early solids. These data will help to identify internal and external factors that influenced accretion and planet formation in our solar system, precisely link these processes to the absolute time scale, and deduce the likely stellar environment in which these processes have occurred.

Roberto OROSEI roberto.orosei@ifsi-roma.inaf.it (Italy) and Jani RADEBAUGH (USA)

GPR and SAR radars contribute to our knowledge of the distribution of ice on Earth and Mars, and of the geology of outer solar system planetary bodies, such as Titan. This Symposium welcomes contributions in all areas of radar technology applied to the remote observation of solar system objects. 

Keynote Speakers: Roberto OROSEI (Italy) and Ralph LORENZ (USA)

Robert PIDGEON r.pidgeon@curtin.edu.au (Australia) and Jennifer HELDMANN (USA)

Three decades after the Apollo missions ended a renewed interest in lunar research and exploration recently culminated with a host of successful missions. This Symposium welcomes contributions based on results from Kaguya, Chang’e, Chandrayaan, LRO-LCROSS, LADEE, GRAIL missions, as well as new results from the geochemical analysis of lunar samples.

Keynote speakers: G. Jeffrey TAYLOR (USA) and David KRING (USA)

Phil BLEVIN phil.blevin@industry.nsw.gov.au (Australia), Bruce CHAPPELL (Australia) and Shunso ISHIHARA (Japan)

Many processes have been proposed to account for the details of formation of granitic rocks, and the generation of compositional variation within granite suites. Source protolith compositions, and the operation of various differentiation mechanisms are also critical in establishing the chemistry and intensive parameters of magmas that control their metallogenic associations and potential, including high heat producing varieties. This Symposium will focus on developments in the understanding of the origin of granites and related rocks (including volcanics); their distribution in time and space; controls on their compositional character and variation; their role in the evolution of the crust; and the development of igneous metallogenic provinces.

Keynote speaker: Colleen BRYANT (Australia), David CHAMPION (Australia) and Phil BLEVIN (Australia)

Richard WYSOCZANSKI r.wysoczanski@niwa.co.nz (New Zealand), Monica HANDLER (New Zealand) and Colin WILSON (New Zealand)

Magmatism in subduction zones reflects processes that are central to understanding the origin and evolution of the continents throughout Earth’s history. The relative roles and importance of new crustal generation versus recycling, and the controls on magma generation and compositions with consequent beneficial aspects (e.g. economic mineralisation) and hazards (large-scale explosive volcanism) are still controversial. This Symposium covers all aspects of magmatism in subduction zones and seeks contributions that address major questions remaining in this area. We particularly welcome contributions on the subduction systems of the SW Pacific where contrasts between continental and oceanic subduction magmatism are clearly defined.

Keynote speakers: Jon BLUNDY (UK) and Richard ARCULUS (Australia) - Special session of magmatism
in the SW Pacific

Trevor FALLOON trevor.falloon@utas.edu.au (Australia) and Yaoling NIU (UK)

This Symposium will explore new advances in our understanding of magmatic compositions and processes involved in the initiation of continental rifting, leading to continental breakup and the eventual development of major ocean basins. We therefore especially invite contributions related to continental rifts, and mid-ocean ridge spreading environments. A special focus of this theme will be new understandings related to the timing of melt generation, migration, crystallization and cooling of magmatic rocks in these environments. However all aspects of magma petrogenesis are welcome.

Keynote speaker: Kenneth RUBIN (USA)

Ben COHEN b.cohen@uq.edu.au (Australia), Ian MCDOUGALL (Australia) and Godfrey FITTON (UK)

This Symposium will examine the advances in our understanding of the processes involved in the generation of oceanic and continental intraplate magmas, including kimberlites and lamproites. Of particular interest is the role, or not, of mantle plumes in the generation of intraplate magmas. Some (e.g., Hawaii) appear to require anomalously hot mantle, but evidence for high-temperature mantle is apparently lacking in most. To what extent can intraplate magmatism be explained through fertile domains in the asthenosphere or lithospheric mantle? Do mantle plumes carry a diagnostic geochemical signature? What can geochronology and paleomagnetism tell about the time-space distribution of intraplate magmatism? Submissions addressing these, and other issues relating to the petrogenesis and geochemistry of intraplate magmatism, are welcomed for this Symposium.

Keynote speakers: Anthony KOPPERS (USA) and Paul WESSEL (USA)

Scott BRYAN scott.bryan@qut.edu.au (Australia), Steve SELF (UK) and Ingrid UKSTINS-PEATE (USA)

Large igneous provinces (LIPs) represent episodic, catastrophic igneous events throughout Earth history. They are distinguished by high intensity bursts of principally mantle-derived magma to the crust and surface over geologically short timescales. LIP volcanism had a major impact on the lithosphere, atmosphere and biosphere, and consequently has been implicated as a driving factor in environmental change based on the temporal relationship with several mass extinction events through the Phanerozoic. Not only can individual eruptions pose a significant hazard through atmospheric loading of volcanic aerosols, but elevated eruption frequency and the potential for synchronous mafic ± silicic large-magnitude (>M8) eruptions mean that environmental change may be exacerbated by the cumulative effects of multiple eruptions, both direct and indirect. Over the last 10 years, proposed mechanisms for environmental change include volcanic CO2 or S emissions, gas emissions from clathrate or hydrocarbon disturbance, and Fe fertilisation of oceans from ash loading. This Symposium seeks cross-disciplinary contributions from the Earth, atmospheric, climate, and biological sciences that are investigating the lithospheric to atmospheric impact of LIPs. Contributions focusing on assessing the integrated impact and the rates and mechanisms of Earth system response to LIP magmatism are encouraged.

Keynote speakers: Sverre PLANKE (Norway) and Richard ERNST (Canada)

Katy EVANS k.evans@curtin.edu.au (Australia), Phillipe AGARD (France), Carl SPANDLER (Australia), Marco SCAMBELLURI (Italy) and Jörg HERMANN (Australia)

The compositional and rheological characteristics of altered oceanic lithosphere are a key control on element and volatile budgets delivered to subduction zones, released by slab devolatilization in forearc and subarc environments and returned to the deep mantle. High- and ultra high-pressure metamorphism, seismicity, arc magmatism, high-pressure rock exhumation and mountain building are processes allied with subduction-zone metamorphism and fluid activity. This interdisciplinary Symposium aims to bring together a wide range of research including experimental studies, modelling, and the use of oceanic and high-pressure rocks, mantle wedge materials and arc rocks as natural laboratories to elucidate the relationships between recycling processes, mass transfer and tectonics in subduction zones. Particular emphasis will be given to processes and effects related to 1) formation and alteration of the oceanic lithosphere and element cycles in oceans; 2) devolatilization and fluid escape from subducting slabs 3) the subduction zone cycle for volatiles and fluid mobilized elements and inferences for arc and within plate magmatism 4) mechanisms of fluid migration and mass transport; (v) subduction and exhumation tectonics. 

Keynote speakers: Brad HACKER (USA) and Stefano POLI (Italy)

Geoff FRASER geoff.fraser@ga.gov.au (Australia), Ethan BAXTER (USA) and Sue BALDWIN (USA)

This session is concerned with quantifying rates of natural metamorphic processes, and the duration of metamorphic and tectonic events. Contributions may include theoretical, numerical and experimental constraints on processes such as heat transfer, cation diffusion and reaction kinetics, as well as natural examples in which rates and durations are constrained by petrological, geochronological or thermochronological analyses. Contributions spanning the full range of metamorphic facies and metamorphic/tectonic settings are welcome.

Keynote speakers: Daniela RUBATTO (Australia) and Mark CADDICK (Switzerland)

Andrew PUTNIS putnis@uni-muenster.de (Germany), Lukas BAUMGARTNER (Switzerland), Bill CARLSON  (USA) and Jay AGUE (USA)

Metamorphic reactions and interactions of fluids with metamorphic rocks take place across a range of scales and may proceed by means of a wide variety of mechanisms. This Symposium will explore these mechanisms in fluid-deficient to fluid-saturated environments, in both experimental and natural systems. Contributions to any aspect of this topic are welcomed, including but not limited to investigations of: processes, kinetics, and timescales of mineral reactions and fluid-rock interaction; diffusional and advective transport of elements and fluids; methods of quantifying elemental and fluid fluxes; heat transport by fluid flow; and consequences for the interpretation of metamorphic rocks and orogenic belts.

Keynote speakers:  Håkon AUSTRHEIM (Norway) and David PATTISON (Canada)

Chris CLARKE c.clark@curtin.edu.au (Australia), Brad HACKER (USA), Yong Fei ZHENG (China) and Yasu OSANAI (Japan)

Over the past decade, there have been significant advances in our ability to extract pressure, temperature and time information from orogenic belts that culminate in high-pressure or high-temperature metamorphism. Linking reliable age information with robust P–T information enables one to define well-constrained P–T–t paths, and to quantify rates of heating and cooling, and burial and exhumation.  These data provide a framework to discriminate among tectonic models for orogenesis, particularly in relation to the mechanisms of formation and exhumation of ultrahigh high-pressure metamorphic belts and the mechanisms of heating of high-temperature metamorphic belts. This Symposium integrates field-based and modelling studies in petrology, geochemistry, geochronology and tectonics.  Of particular interest are contributions that integrate multiple techniques to understand orogenic processes involving extreme pressure or temperature.

Keynote speakers: Tim LITTLE (New Zealand) and David KELSEY (Australia)

Geoffrey CLARKE geoffrey.clarke@sydney.edu.au (Australia), Michael BROWN (USA), Bernardo CESARE (Italy) and Gary STEVENS (South Africa)

Anatexis is the most important process affecting the Earth's crust. It occurs in the deep crust of arcs along convergent plate margins, and in collisional mountain belts and orogenic plateaus, as recorded by extensive migmatite and granulite terranes now exposed at Earth's surface. As melt develops on the edges and faces of mineral grains it affects rock strength and strain rate, which has important consequences for the way the crust deforms and the style of orogenic belts. During the Phanerozoic anatexis was potentially an important component in the exhumation of rocks from ultrahigh pressure mantle conditions after continental subduction, and during the Archean partial melting of subducted or sagducted basaltic crust gave rise to granite types that are rare on Earth today. The nature of the source and the conditions under which melting occurs determine the character of the resulting melts, as exemplified by secular change in granite type and the relationship between tectonic setting and granite chemistry. The extraction and ascent of melt led to the redistribution of elements in the crust, and was responsible for the large-scale compositional and density structure that stabilized the continents over geological time. This session deals with all issues relating to anatexis, including the source of the heat responsible for widespread melting and the information that can be retrieved from mineral assemblages and microstructures in partially melted rocks. It will explore the mechanisms of melt transfer and the large-scale geodynamic consequences of partial melting in diverse settings. Contributions that use or integrate data from field observations, petrology, melting experiments, geochemistry, geophysics, and thermodynamic, numerical and analogue modelling are welcome.

Keynote speakers: Edward SAWYER (Canada), Fawna KORHONEN (Australia), Gary STEVENS (South
Africa) and Fernando BEA (Spain)

Daniela RUBATTO daniela.rubatto@anu.edu.au (Australia), Nigel KELLY (USA), Ian BUICK (South Africa), Simon HARLEY (UK) and Thomas ZACK (Germany)

Accessory minerals play a vital role in understanding metamorphic processes, as chronometers and thermometers, as sensors of fluid/rock interaction and constraints on fluid sources, as monitors of the length- and timescales of metamorphic equilibration, and in determining the extent of crustal recycling. In this session,  we welcome contributions that provide experimental, geochronological, thermodynamic, trace element and isotopic constraints on the stability and growth histories of accessory minerals across a range of metamorphic  grades and settings; their chemical  and  isotopic  partitioning with  the major metamorphic rock-forming minerals: and  the extent  to which this information is  preserved through contrasting  metamorphic  P-T-t histories.

Keynote speakers: Emilie JANOTS (France) and Steve REDDY (Australia)

Kathleen GREY kath.grey@dmp.wa.gov.au (Australia) and Malgosia MOCZYDLOWSKA-VIDAL (Sweden)

At the beginning of the Proterozoic there were few, if any eukaryotes, but by the end of the eon the first metazoan had appeared and life had begun to invade the land. This Symposium aims to cover all that happened in the interim. In contrast to the rest of the Proterozoic, there is considerable data on the Cryogenian and Ediacaran that is promising for global correlation and that will impact on decisions about stratigraphic boundaries. An overview of the Proterozoic as a whole is timely.

Keynote speakers: Emmanuelle JAVAUX (Belgium) and Joe KIRSCHVINK (USA)

Benjamin KEAR benjamin.kear@geo.uu.se (SWEDEN), Thomas RICH (Australia), David HAIG david.haig@uwa.edu.au (Australia), Stephen MCLOUGHLIN (Sweden) and Mikael SIVERSSON (Australia)

The Mesozoic vertebrates of the Gondwanan continents had a Pangaean heritage, but with the separation of Gondwana from Laurasia during the Mesozoic, the vertebrates on Gondwana developed a distinctive character.  The Mesozoic was bracketed by the two largest extinction events ever to have befallen life on earth and the modern biota still reflects the winners and losers of those events. However, there are many more subtle events within the Mesozoic, the results of which are still evident. This Symposium aims to cover all aspects of these events and this evolutionary trajectory.

Keynote speaker: Louis JACOBS (USA)

Stephen Gallagher sjgall@unimelb.edu.au (Australia) and Bridget WADE (UK)

This Symposium is designed to cover the use of palaeontological data in the understanding of palaeoceanography, palaeoecology, patterns of evolution and extinction, temperature and sea level fluctuations, as well as global ice volume.

Keynote speaker: Paul N PEARSON (UK)

Gregory E WEBB g.webb@uq.edu.au (Australia)

This session focuses on the significance of microbial carbonates for understanding long-term changes in ocean-atmosphere chemistry and carbonate sedimentation. It emphasizes recent research on the processes of formation, macro- and microfabrics, geochemistry, and sedimentary roles of microbial carbonates; in particular the factors that determine their abundance and distribution in space and time. We welcome presentations on all aspects of these topics based on present-day and ancient examples in terrestrial, fluvial, lacustrine, and marine environments - including reefs and carbonate mud mounds.

Keynote speaker:  Malcolm WALTER (Australia)

Neville EXON neville.exon@anu.edu.au (Australia) and Mike MOTTL (USA)

The Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) is the world’s largest geoscience research program and Australia and New Zealand are members. It deals with how the Earth worked, is working and will work. In recent times a number of IODP Expeditions have been in the western Pacific Ocean, including three in our region. The aim of this workshop is to report scientific results from these and other expeditions, and advanced plans for other expeditions. There is no geographic limit to this Symposium although we expect most papers to cover the Pacific or Indian oceans.

Keynote speaker: Mike MOTTL (USA) and Neville EXON (Australia)

Colin WOODROFFE colin@uow.edu.au (Australia) and Leanne ARMAND (Australia)

The oceans cover more than 70% of the Earth and understanding how they have changed in the past is critical for understanding likely changes in the future. The Symposium on palaeoceanography and sea-level records is a forum to examine marine palaeoenvironments, both in terms of their physical and biological characteristics. Sea level has changed at a series of different time scales, as a consequence of different processes, such as plate-tectonics, Quaternary ice ages, isostatic responses to loading, and steric variations related to climate change. Papers on this diversity of topics are welcomed for this session.

Keynote speaker: Eelco J ROHLING (UK)

Charitha PATTIARATCHI chari.pattiaratchi@uwa.edu.au (Australia)

Understanding physical processes governing the erosion, transport and deposition of sediments on coasts and continental shelves is of immense importance to sedimentologists, engineers and environmental managers. Waves, tides and ocean currents often operate simultaneously over different spatial-temporal scales and over a range of seabed types, making for a highly complex system for measurements and modelling. Progress has been associated with the development of new instrumentation for collecting oceanographic observations, with advances in computer modelling, seabed sampling and mapping technology. Applications are diverse and include understanding depositional environments, seabed stability associated with structures and dredging, habitat characterisation and pollution dispersal.  

Keynote speaker: Michael COLLINS (UK)

Chuck NITTROUER nittroue@ocean.washington.edu (USA) and Alan ORPIN (New Zealand)

This session aims to bring together presentations that examine sediment dispersal across the continental margin, from terrestrial origins to marine accumulation. It will explore the theoretical and observational studies that support our broader understanding of margin evolution in a range of sedimentary environments globally. In addition, studies that investigate inter-basin correlations, the transfer of material from shelf to slope and rise, event sedimentation, and the impact of high-frequency climatic and tectonic variability are strongly encouraged. Especially relevant are presentations that address these factors in the context of unravelling linkages between terrestrial and marine sedimentary processes.

Keynote speakers: John P WALSH (USA) and Peter D CLIFT (UK)

Andrew HEAP andrew.heap@ga.gov.au (Australia), Brian TODD (Canada) and Mark Alcock (AUSTRALIA)

The value of geoscience data and information for informing science priorities and policy agendas for the world’s oceans is widely recognised. Researchers are using marine geoscience data and insights to inform decisions across many sectors, including marine transportation, national security, offshore energy resources (both non-renewable and renewable), species- and spatial-based management, and sovereignty (i.e., applications under the United National Convention on the Limits of the Continental Shelf). Much of this work has been made possible through high spatial resolution geomorphic and geological mapping and sampling of the seabed from shallow continental shelves to the deep sea, and under polar ice.

Keynote speakers: Gary GREENE (USA) and Phil SYMONDS (Australia)

David CRONAN d.cronan@imperial.ac.uk (UK), Cornel DE RONDE (New Zealand) and Neville EXON (Australia)

It is an exciting and pivotal time for marine minerals and mining in Oceania. Industry is gearing up for initial mining of sea floor volcanogenic massive sulfides (VMS), initially in the western Pacific. Marine aggregates for beach nourishment and construction materials continue to be the mainstay of marine mining in the region. Pioneer Investors are positioned with the International Seabed Authority for exploration and eventual mining of manganese nodules in the international waters of the Pacific. Other organisations are looking at these deposits in the Exclusive Economic Zones of island nations in the South Pacific. Exploration and assessment continues on cobalt-rich ferromanganese crusts on oceanic seamounts throughout the region. The IGC Symposium will encapsulate recent developments in marine minerals research in Oceania and serve as a snapshot of the situation in this field.

Keynote speakers: Cornel DE RONDE (New Zealand) and James HEIN (USA)

Loic LABROUSSE loic.labrousse@upmc.fr (France) and Oleg PETROV (Russia)

This Symposium will focus on recent advances in our understanding of Arctic and sub-Arctic sedimentary basins and orogens, and implications for designing new geoscientific experiments in the Arctic region. The geological history of this isolated ocean basin has been controlled by global-scale boundary conditions such as the accretion of terranes in the North-American and Russian cordillera, the evolution of Pacific plate subduction, and the propagation of the mid-Atlantic spreading ridge. Similarly, present-day geodynamics and basin morphology have consequences for worldwide geologic and climatic processes. For these and other reasons, the unravelling of circumpolar tectonics through geological time must be considered a first-order knowledge objective for the understanding of global tectonics and the appraisal of worldwide natural resources in proper geodynamic context.

John MOREAU jmoreau@unimelb.edu.au (Australia), Racquel QUATRINI rquatrini@yahoo.com.ar (Chile) and Carol DAVIS-BELMAR (Chile)

This Symposium focusses on two areas; Biogeochemical cycling and Bioprocessing technologies. Biogeochemical cycling will explore biogeochemical reactions and the microorganisms involved in their mediation that control or constrain the cyclic flux of nutrients and trace metals across physical and chemical gradients and/or boundaries. Chemical, isotopic, microscopic, microanalytical, voltammetric, spectroscopic and molecular biological approaches to understanding and quantifying such fluxes are of particular interest. Studies of biogeochemical cycles may include (but are not limited to) “ambient” settings (e.g., forests, wetlands, marine) to more extreme environments (e.g., hot springs, acid mine/rock drainage, hypersaline lakes), and include the theoretical, observational and analytical. The symposium on Bioprocessing Technologies will focus on recent findings in fundamental research and biotechnological innovations for the industrial extraction and recovery of metals and in assisting the remediation of metal contaminated soils and waters. Highlights on Bioprocessing Technologies will include both biological and technological aspects of mineral oxidation during heap and dump bioleaching, pretreatment of precious-metal concentrates in stirred-tank reactors and bioremediation of acid rock drainage. Emerging aspects of mineral-microorganism and microorganism-microorganism interactions at contact interfaces during mineral processing will also be addressed. Several studies will also include analysis of the genomics of microorganisms involved in mineral bioprocessing. Fundamental and technological challenges will emerge as we explore bioprocessing from lab research to successful commercial applications.

Keynote Speakers: Richard BUSH (Australia), Paul NORRIS (UK) and David HOLMES (CHILE)

Lesley WARREN warrenl@mcmaster.ca (Canada), Anna KAKSONEN (Australia) and Don COWAN (South Africa)

This Symposium focusses on two areas;  Microbes and extreme environments and the Deep Biosphere. Extreme environments including the Deep Biosphere present some of the most unusual and exciting habits on Earth, exhibiting distinctive microbial communities that are highly interactive with the dynamic geochemistry of these systems.  Contributions are solicited that highlight the novel microbiology of these environments with emphasis on the use of modern high throughput sequence technologies in extremophile microbial ecology and our current understanding of the molecular adaptations responsible for life at ‘the outer envelope’; as well as those elucidating linkages between microbial ecology and geochemistry using multidisciplinary approaches, e.g., molecular microbiology, molecular geochemistry (XRF, X-ray microscopy, XANES, EXAFS, etc) and imaging.

Keynote Speakers: Gordan SOUTHAM (USA), Ken TAKAI (JAPAN) and Jill MIKUCKI (USA)

Gil ZEMANSKY g.zemansky@gns.cri.nz (New Zealand) and Ross BRODIE (Australia)

Globally, the sustainable management of groundwater resources is threatened by over-allocation, and increasing pressures from expanding populations, climate and land use change, as well as increased demands from the energy, mining and agricultural sectors. For this Symposium, we invite the submission of papers that highlight the latest science advances on groundwater resources and their sustainable management. Specific sessions will include: 1) ‘Groundwater Resources and Sustainability’; 2) ‘Climate Change, Land Use and Population Impacts on Groundwater Systems’; 3) ‘Managed Aquifer Recharge: New Opportunities for Increasing Community Resilience to Climate Change’; and 4) ‘Groundwater Management and Policy’.

Keynote speaker: Craig SIMMONS (Australia)

Chris DAUGHNEY c.daughney@gns.cri.nz (New Zealand), Uwe MORGENSTERN (New Zealand) and Bear MCPHAIL (Australia)

This Symposium will focus on the use of hydrogeochemistry and geochronology for understanding and quantifying groundwater processes. Papers are invited for specific sessions on: 1) ‘Groundwater Interactions’, with this session including papers on surface-groundwater and water-rock interactions, and the interactions between groundwater systems with soils and vegetation; and 2) ‘Groundwater Dynamics and Responses’. This session will include papers on the characterisation and quantification of groundwater processes including groundwater flow, recharge and discharge rates (including flood responses), and sustainable yields. 

Ken LAWRIE ken.lawrie@ga.gov.au (Australia), Jon CLARKE (Australia) and Malcolm COX (Australia)

A significant increase in demand from policy makers for high levels of certainty in groundwater model predictions, coupled with a need for rapid characterisation and quantification of resources, has provided an impetus for new hydrogeological research directions including multidisciplinary science approaches to hydrogeological system characterisation to improve groundwater model parameterisation. Papers are invited for sessions including: 1) ‘Geospatial and Geoscientific Mapping of Hydrogeological Systems’; and 2) ‘Hydrogeological and Hydrogeochemical Characterisation of Groundwater Systems’. The latter will include fractured rock and karstic aquifers, sedimentary basins, coastal aquifers, and alluvial and volcanic systems.

Keynote speaker: Jared ABRAHAM (USA)

Malcolm COX m.cox@qut.edu.au (Australia), Mauricio TAULIS (Australia) and Bruce GILL (Australia)

This Symposium invites papers on groundwater visualisation and predictive groundwater modelling. Case studies and papers that explore recent improvements in methods and technologies, and key challenges, are particularly encouraged. Specific sessions will include: 1) Conceptualisation of Hydrogeological Systems, including the use of neural networking approaches; and 2) Groundwater Visualisation; and 3) Groundwater Modelling.

Keynote speaker: Clifford VOSS (USA)

Anthony DOSSETO tonyd@uow.edu.au (Australia) and Arjun HEIMSATH (USA)

Landscape diversity is the result of Earth surface’s response to external forcings such as climate variability, tectonic and/or human activity. To understand this response, quantifying the rates of geomorphic processes is critical. This session explores methods that provide such quantifications, including (but not limited to) cosmogenic and uranium-series isotopes,
luminescence dating, thermochronometry, isotope geochemistry or geochemical mass-balances. The focus is brought on techniques quantifying present-day surface processes but also on methods that allow us to re-construct their past variations, such as palaeo-erosion rates or stable-isotope proxies.

Keynote speaker: Paul BIERMAN (USA)

Jianhua CAO jhcaogl@karst.ac.cn (China) and Yaoru LU (China)

This topic includes (1) fundamental research on karst, such as karst geology, hydrogeology and geochemistry and karst process monitoring techniques; (2) factors impacting karst development, such as precipitation, temperature, sea-level, glaciation and vegetation and their changes; (3) carbonate rock dissolution and carbon sequestration, carbonate deposition and (paleoenvironmental) environmental and climatic records in tufa, travertine and stalagmite; (4) karst hydrogeology, water resources exploration, contamination control, and management; (5) karst ecosystems, fragility, human impacts and environmental rehabilitation; (6) karst landscape and caves: natural heritage sites, Geoparks and educational sites; (7) karst engineering.

Keynote speaker: Zaihua LIU (China)

Brad PILLANS brad.pillans@anu.edu.au (Australia), Paul HESSE paul.hesse@mq.edu.au (Australia), Matt TELFER (UK), Paul BISHOP (UK), Chun Hui (Clayton) ZHOU chunhui09clay@yahoo.cn and John Keeling (Australia)

Ravi ANAND ravi.anand@csiro.au (Australia) and Allan CHIVAS (Australia)

Regolith hosts or hides valuable mineral deposits. In many regions, there has been a long and complex history of weathering and landscape development, commonly under climates quite different from the present. Thus, understanding regolith architecture and age, as well as the processes that act within the regolith, are essential to address the challenges of developing sampling media for mineral exploration. We seek a broad range of contributions, including (1) regolith geochronology, (2) weathering and regolith-landscape processes (3) formation of soils, ‘laterite’, calcrete, bauxite etc (4) regolith sampling media in geochemical exploration and (5) formation of secondary mineral deposits.

Keynote speaker: Bill VERBOOM (Australia)

Jason CHAYTOR jchaytor@usgs.gov (USA), Peter BOBROWSKY (Canada), Ashvin WICKRAMASOORIYA (Sri Lanka) and Diana ZAKHIDOVA (Romania)

The purpose of this Symposium is to provide a forum primarily for, but not limited to, a discussion the hazards posed by subaerial and submarine landslides across all geographical scales, from local to the regional scale. We invite abstracts based on research outcomes relevant to the following topics: (a) Understanding the causes of subaerial and submarine landslides; (b) Landslide identification, prediction, and preparedness; (c) Processes and mechanisms of landsliding pre-conditioning and triggering; (d) Behaviour and mobility of different types of landslides, from very fast events like rock avalanches to very slow events like soil creep; (e) Landslides hazards and risk assessment; (f) Socieoeconomic and environmental impacts of landslides; (g) Different methods used in management and mitigation of landslide; and (h) Landslide modelling and monitoring.

Keynote speakers: Geoffroy LAMARCHE (New Zealand) and Phil FLENTJE (Australia)

Bob CECHET bob.cechet@ga.gov.au (Australia), Graeme SMART (New Zealand) and Martyn HAZELWOOD (Australia)

Natural hazards are naturally occurring events that can have significant negative effect on people, infrastructure and the environment. This session will deal with natural hazards which could be influenced by climate change. These include climatic and atmospheric hazards (cyclones, thunderstorms, heat waves) as well as hydrological hazards (floods, tsunami, dam burst). Other more complex hazards which are a combination of a number of factors including the above, such as wildfire and disease, will also be considered.

Climate change has the ability to influence both the intensity and the frequency of extreme events. This session will present advances in our understanding of the influence of climate change on natural hazards. In particular it will address the risks posed to population centres, infrastructure and the environment.

We invite contributions that include, but are not limited to, research into the influence of climate change on hazards and their impacts, landfall impact assessment and scenario impact modelling, numerical modelling of natural hazards, risk assessment, paleotempestology and education and outreach programs.

Keynote speaker: Andrew ASH (Ausltralia)

Laura WALLACE l.wallace@gns.cri.nz (New Zealand), Phil CUMMINS (Australia) and Danny NATAWIDJAJA (Indonesia)

Subduction zones are the scenes of the most intense geological activity on the planet. They are the source of the earth's largest earthquakes and tsunamis, and some of its largest and most dangerous volcanic eruptions. High rainfall and fertile soils in many such areas support large populations. As a consequence, subduction zones are often associated with high natural hazard risk. Despite their potential impact on human society, some of the most fundamental questions about these hazards remain to be answered: what are the maximum credible events, what are their typical recurrence rates, and what are the structural, chemical and mechanical factors that control them? What is the relationship of newly discovered slow slip event behaviour to subduction thrust earthquakes? How does the occurrence of one earthquake trigger subsequent earthquake and volcanic activity? What geologic factors enhance tsunami generation? Contributions are invited aimed at answering such questions, from studies of the fundamental process driving subduction zone geohazards, to the local environmental and geological factors that determine their impacts.

Keynote speakers: Yuki SAWAI (Japan) and Gill JOLLY (New Zealand) 

Jane SEXTON jane.sexton@ga.gov.au (Australia)

Natural hazard risk assessment is an increasingly important means for society to identify the risks natural hazards pose to society and determine how to reduce them. The economic losses caused by natural disasters worldwide have increased dramatically in the last century, driven largely by rising population and economic growth. As a consequence, there is an urgent need for better tools for more effective risk management, based on risk assessments that include accurate appraisals of uncertainty, involve rigorous quantification of vulnerability, and encompass indirect (knock-on) effects such as business interruption. This Symposium invites contributions from natural hazard risk assessment practitioners in government, academia and the private sector who are developing or using new methods for risk assessment that meet some of these challenges.

Keynote speaker: John SCHNEIDER (Australia)

Phil CUMMINS phil.cummins@anu.edu.au (Australia) and Ken GLEDHILL (New Zealand)

The 21st century has begun with a string of natural disasters of seemingly unprecedented scale, including the 2004 Indian Ocean and 2011 NE Japan tsunamigenic earthquakes, the 2010 Haiti earthquake, and major floods in China, Brazil and Australia as well as bush/wildfire disasters in Australia, Russia and Israel during 2010-2011. These events have all demonstrated that our ability to monitor natural hazard phenomena has improved dramatically over the last two decades, due to a proliferation of observation platforms including real-time seismographic, geodetic and sea level networks as well as space- and air-borne remote sensing systems. While these technologies have provided a wealth of data for post-event analysis, how well do they contribute to our ability for real-time monitoring and forecasting of natural hazard phenomena? We invite presentations on novel uses of real-time environmental monitoring to help forecast natural hazard phenomena - e.g. monitoring of earthquakes and ground deformation using real-time seismographic and geodetic networks and their use in forecasting tsunamis and volcanic eruptions, real-time rainfall and other remote sensing measurements for forecasting landslides and floods, and monitoring of surface temperature and vegetation to forecast bush/wildfires. We are particular interested in presentations that combine such observations with dynamic modelling of natural hazard phenomena.

Keynote speakers: Ryota HINO (Japan), Ken GLEDHILL (New Zealand) and Andy STEVEN (Australia) 

Phil CUMMINS phil.cummins@anu.edu.au (Australia)

Earthquake and tsunami disasters over the past decade have had devastating impacts on populations throughout the world. During the same time, important advances have been made in methods and data used for hazard assessment, which is the starting point for effective mitigation of disaster impacts. This session highlights some of the recent progress made in earthquake and tsunami hazard assessment.

Keynote speakers: Phil Playford (Australia) 

Martin CULSHAW martin.culshaw2@ntlworld.com (UK)

Urban engineering geology is under a state of continual change in response to rapid urban development across the globe. This Symposium will investigate the latest challenges and will include assessments for building stone and contaminated sites.

Keynote speaker: Simon PRICE (UK)

Francisco DE JORGE francisco.dejorge@engeocons.com.br (Brazil)

Infrastructure development to keep pace with urban growth and resource expansion requires new technology and innovation to match increasing demands on space and time. This Symposium explores the role of engineering geology to provide answers including the areas of underground construction and corridor studies.

Keynote speaker: Simon LOEW (Switzerand)

Mark EGGERS mark.eggers@psmconsult.com.au (Australia)

Engineering geology is playing an increasing function in the investigation, design and operation of open pit and underground mining. The objective of this Symposium  is to illustrate the high value that engineering geology can bring to all stages of mine development ranging from conceptual studies to mine operation in the improvement of economic optimisation and safety.

Keynote speaker: Tim SULLIVAN (Australia)

Anders SOLHEIM anders.solheim@ngi.no (Norway)

Improved risk management of natural hazards is essential to reducing the occurrence and severity of disasters. Management is about anticipating and this is where engineering geology can play a major role ranging from hazard and consequence analysis through to design of mitigation measures. Climate variability and global change pose new challenges to risk management, and therefore also to engineering geology. The Symposium explores this role emphasising the responsibility of engineering geology to provide more effective risk management for all types of natural hazards.

Keynote speakers: Jordi COROMINAS (Spain), Raymond K.S. CHAN (Hong Kong)

Steve PARRY sparry@georisksolutions.com (Hong Kong)

The geological model is a fundamental basis for geotechnical design. It is required to synthesise often extremely complex geological conditions so that relatively simple geotechnical analysis can be under taken. This Symposium will particularly focus on development techniques for constructing the model and transformation of model information so that it can be integrated into engineering decision making including the incorporation of uncertainty within the model.

Keynote speaker: Jim GRIFFITH (UK)

Fred KRUSE fakruse@nps.edu (USA)

Targeting “vector” minerals (alteration mapping) associated with economic mineral systems is a significant opportunity for proximal and remote sensing technologies, especially those able to resolve diagnostic spectral features (e.g. hyperspectral sensors and VNIR-SWIR-TIR wavelengths). This Symposium welcomes successful case histories that demonstrate this potential as well as related lessons and comparisons with other exploration data.

Keynote speaker: Sandra PERRY (USA)

Carlos DE SOUZA FILHO beto@ige.unicamp.br (Brazil) and Cindy ONG (Australia)

This Symposium seeks contributions in the fields of exploration and development of energy resources, spanning from onshore/offshore hydrocarbons, uranium and geothermal resources. Emphasis is on methods and applications based on portable, airborne and/or spaceborne instruments with distinct wavelength coverage (VNIR, SWIR, TIR, microwave), spectral and spatial resolution resolutions.

Keynote speakers: Benoit RIVARD (Canada) and Eyal BEN-DOR (Israel)

Sabine CHABRILLAT chabri@gfz-potsdam.de (Germany), Alvaro P. CRÓSTA (Brazil) and Mike ABRAMS michael.j.abrams@jpl.nasa.gov (USA)

A new generation of proximal and remote sensing technologies is becoming available at local- to global-scales that enable more accurate mapping and monitoring of the Earth’s natural environment from its fresh rock geology and its superimposed geomorphology, regolith, soils and landforms to the type and health of its vegetative cover and water (surface and groundwater) systems. This Symposium invites remote sensing contributions from any/all of these areas for better understanding and managing the Earth system.

Keynote speakers: Robert GREEN (USA), Stuart MARSH (UK & GARS) and Robert WRIGHT (USA)

Jon HUNTINGTON jon.huntington@csiro.au (Australia) and David GREEN (Australia)

The Auscope National Virtual Core Library (NVCL) is a government funded initiative led by CSIRO aimed at building spectroscopic drill core logging capabilities (HyLogger™) within the State and Territory Geological Surveys of Australia. This 2nd NVCL Symposia follows the successful 1st NVCL in 2010 and invites contributions from the NVCL community on how this technology is being applied. 

Keynote speaker: Jon Huntington (Australia)

David OLDROYD doldroyd@bigpond.com (Australia)

This Symposium will focus on the people who have made significant achievements in the earth sciences throughout history. It honours Australian geologist, David Branagan, who published a major biography on TW Edgeworth David in 2005.

Keynote speaker: Léo F LAPORTE (USA)

Allan KRILL allan.krill@ntnu.no (Norway) and Homer Le GRAND (Australia)

This Symposium will focus on the history of continental drift within the earth sciences up until the development of modern plate tectonics especially with respect to Alfred Wegener’s contribution.

Keynote speaker: Allan KRILL (Norway)

Carol BACON cbacon@mrt.tas.gov.au (Australia)

This Symposium will focus on any of the vast array of significant contributions that characterised the rapid development of the earth sciences in the 20th century.

Keynote speaker: Ian McDOUGALL (Australia)

Bernie JOYCE ebj@unimelb.edu.au (Australia)

Given Australia’s partial placement in the tropics this Symposium will focus on the pioneering research of earth scientists specifically in the tropical regions of the world and with tropical emphasis.

Keynote Speaker: Silvia FIGUEIRôA (Brazil) 

Ken MCQUEEN ken.mcqueen@canberra.edu.au (Australia)

Given Australia’s extensive mining history, this Symposium will focus on resource discovery and development worldwide, including all minerals and petroleum, and the major role of earth scientists in any such developments.

Keynote speaker: Tony HOPE (Australia)

Shuwen DONG dic@cags.ac.cn (China) and Oleg PETROV (Russia)

The Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences (CAGS), A.P. Karpinsky Russian Geological Research Institute (VSEGEI), Mineral Resources Authority of Mongolia (MRAM), Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources (KIGAM) and Kazakhstan’s Scientific Research Institute of Natural Resources (YUGGEO) have been collaborating since 2002 in major initiatives on deep processes, geology and metallogeny of Central and Eastern Asia. This Symposium will present the latest results of these major studies. It will exhibit the Atlas of Geological Maps (1:2.5M), comprising the geological, tectonic, metallogenic and energy resources maps. It will also reveal the lithospheric structure, geological evolution and metallogenesis, and explore the lithospheric structure and continental dynamics of central-eastern Asia and the western Pacific continental margin through a series of geotransects and seismic profiles penetrating key geological structures and orogenic belts.

Keynote speakers: Shuwen DONG (China), Oleg PETROV (Russia), Tomurtogoo. O (Mongolia) and Sung Won KIM (Republic of Korea)

Dong SHUWEN dic@cags.ac.cn (China), Tingdong LI (China), Larry BROWN (USA) and Mian Liu (USA)

SinoProbe is a big Chinese government-funded scientific program on geosciences. It has been taking a multidisciplinary approach to study the composition, structure and evolution of the continental lithosphere beneath the Chinese continent since 2008. This session will present major scientific results of SinoProbe achieved by both Chinese scientists and international collaborators. It will mainly include four long seismic profiles across the major orogens and basins of the Chinese continent and eastern Asia, broadband seismic profile in Qiangtang block, north and southeast China, seismic refraction images, nationalwide MT array, integrated detection over major ore districts, geochemical survey of deep process, deep scientific drillings, in-situ stress monitoring deployed in key areas and geodynamic modelling results for the Chinese lithosphere.

Shanchi PENG pengshanchi@hotmail.com (China) and Loren BABCOCK (USA)

Keynote speakers: James B. JAGO  (Australia), Michael STEINER (Germany), Xingliang ZHANG (China) and Maoyan ZHU (China)

David HARPER david.harper@durham.ac.uk (UK) and Ian PERCIVAL (Australia)

Keynote speaker: Thijs VANDENBROUCKE (France)

Manfred MENNING menne@gfz-potsdam.de (Germany)

In 2011 the Devonian-Carboniferous-Permian Correlation Chart (DCP) includes some 7000 stratigraphic terms in 100 columns: 50 lithostratigraphic sections from all continents and 50 columns with biozonations around the globe, marine and continental. Most columns are well balanced with respect to each other on base of the very well balanced numerical time scale of the Stratigraphic Table of Germany 2002 (STD 2002, http://www.stratigraphie.de/std2002/download/STD2002_large.pdf). However, we have to complete and improve some correlations and the numerical calibration of parts of the 165 Ma long time span to finalize the DCP.

Keynote speakers: Manfred MENNING (Germany), Charles HENDERSON (Canada), Barry RICHARDS (UK) and Markus ARETZ (France)

Pei NI peini@nju.edu.cn (China), Ronald BAKKER (Austria) and Fanus VILJOEN (South Africa)

Fluid and melt inclusions in minerals are powerful means to obtain knowledge about the properties, behaviors and origins of geo-fluids. They have been widely used to study igneous, metamorphic and sedimentary petrology, structural and stratigraphic analysis, metal and hydrocarbon deposit genesis and exploration. Fluid inclusions may preserve direct evidence for the presence and composition of ancient fluids that have long since left the sample. Melt inclusions may provide direct samples of the uncrystallized magma including its volatile contents. This session will provide an international forum for exchange of latest research results and ideas between geoscientists from academy, government and industry focusing on studies of fluid- and silicate-melt inclusions in minerals.

Keynote speakers: Vadim KAMENETSKY (Australia) and Guoxiang CHI (Canada)

Andrew CHRISTY andrew.christy@anu.edu.au (Australia)

This Symposium focuses on the individual solid phases that are building blocks of the Earth and other planetary bodies. These phases  include crystalline minerals, amorphous mineraloids and even quasicrystals in nature. Synthetic analogue materials are also of interest.  Contributions are welcomed on topics including but not limited to the chemistry, physics, structure and stability of these materials, their occurrence, nomenclature and classification.

Dong CHOI raax@ozemail.com.au (Australia), Ismail BHAT (India) and Karsten STORETVEDT (Norway)

The session will critically examine accumulated geological and geophysical data from many corners of the globe, and on its basis discuss most plausible geodynamic systems – alternatives to plate tectonics. A wide range of topics will be included: continental rocks from ocean floors, deep Earth structure, earthquakes, Sun-Earth interaction, etc.  

Keynote speakers: Ismail BHAT (India), Karsten STORETVEDT (Norway), Dong R CHOI (Australia),
Takao YANO (Japan), Boris I. VASILIEV (Russia) and Louis HISSINK (Australia)