| International Association of Geomorphologists |
+++ Important News +++ Important News +++ Important News +++
After three Regional Conferences in Asia and Europe (1991: Ankara, Turkey; 1995: Singapore; 1996: Budapest, Hungary) the International Association of Geomorphologists is delighted to have a formal invitation of the Brazilian Geomorphology Union to host the IAG Regional Conference 1999 in Rio de Janeiro. The proposed dates of the meeting are July 17 - 21, followed by a local field trip on July 22 and post-conference excursions starting on July 23. More details regarding this meeting will be given in one of the next issues of the Newsletter.Interim reports of the IAG Working Groups
Working Group on GeoarchaeologyThe Working Group on Geoarchaeology was proposed in 1996 at the IAG Regional Conference in Hungary and confirmed in 1997 at the IAG International Conference in Bologna, Italy. The Working Group is chaired by Prof. Dr. Morgan De Dapper (Universiteit Gent, Belgium) and co-chaired by Prof. Dr. Jose-Luis Pena-Monne (Universidad de Zaragoza, Spain) and Dr. John Boardman (University of Oxford, U.K.).
The main objective of the group is the strengthening of links between geomorphology and archaeology. Indeed, geomorphology and archaeology have great overlapping interests as is demonstrated by recent developments. Archaeological studies are more and more imbedded in a broader regional geomorphological context and in turn provide dating evidence to better understand the development of geosystems through the times of human occupation.
Until now some 82 people have responded to our call to set up a network of correspondents. They are from 22 different countries including Argentina, Australia, Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Lithuania, Morocco, Poland, Romania, Slovenia, South-Africa, Spain, Switzerland, The Netherlands, United Kingdom and USA. In the near future a special effort will be done to gather more correspondents from Africa, Asia and Latin America.
By the end of the year the edition of a Geoarchaeology Newsletter will be started. We will also ask correspondents, selected for different regions, to produce a state-of-the-art on geoarchaeological research. We hope this overview will be published by IAG.
On 23 and 24 October 1998 an International Colloquium on "Geoarchaeology of the landscapes of classical antiquity - Geo-archeologie des paysages de l'antiquite classique" will be held in Gent (Belgium). This colloquium is an initiative of the Working Group on Geoarchaeology and the Department of Archaeology of the University of Gent. It is organised with the financial support of the European Union, COST Action G2 "Ancient Landscapes and Rural Structures" and the Fund for Scientific Research of the Flemish Community of Belgium. The programme includes a session with 11 invited lectures and some 30 posters and an excursion on the Roman heritage in the landscapes of Flanders. Some 120 participants have registered yet; the papers will be published by COST. In 1999 a conference will be organised in the U.K.. In 2000 a conference is planned to be held in Lerida-Lleida (Spain) in collaboration with the 'Grupo de Geoarqueologia' of the 'Associacion Espanola para el Estudio del Cuaternario'.
People who want to collaborate with the Working Group are asked to send their co-ordinates to: Prof. Dr. Morgan De Dapper, Universiteit Gent, Vakgroep Geografie, Krijgslaan, 281 (S8), B-9000-Gent, Belgium; tel.: + 32 9 264 46 90, fax: + 32 9 264 49 82, e-mail: Morgan.DeDapper@rug.ac.be
MORGAN DEDAPPER
Working Group on Geomorphological Consequences of Volcanic Events, including Hazards
The Working Group was established in September 1997 at the IAG Conference in Bologna, convenors are Jan Nossin (Enschede, Netherlands) and Jean-Claude Thouret (Clermont Ferrand, France). Right from the beginning, the intention has been to have most business done by e-mail and the world wide web. Therefore, in June 1998 a website has been opened at http://www.itc.nl/ags/volcanic. Our home page is still under construction but already has a few hyperlinks, which link visitors through to a large number of sites on volcanism. We hope to get the website in reasonable shape before August 1, 1998.
Annotated bibliographies on work done on volcanic geomorphic hazards in Indonesia and in the Philippines have been started-up by Jan Nossin. The bibliography on the Philippines can already be looked up in our website. A similar bibliography on work done in South America will be the next addition.
We have a mailing list of those who, in Bologna, expressed an interest to join this group. As soon as the website is sufficiently elaborate, a separate e-mail address will be opened to ask for contributions to these databases and to open others on work our correspondents have done or are doing. All material can be sent by e-mail and will then be transferred to the website. As it can be downloaded by anybody, there should be no protected or restricted data in it. This e-mail address will be communicated later to all those on the mailing list.
JAN NOSSIN
Working Group on Large Rivers
This group was formed at the Fourth International Meeting of the IAG in Bologna in 1997. The objectives of the group are:
About 50 geomorphologists so far have expressed willingness in joining the group and participating in the field meetings. The rivers under consideration for field visits are (with the name of the organiser in parenthesis) the Yangtze (Zhongyuan Chen), the Murray-Darling (Brian Finlayson), the Araguaia-Tocantis (Edgardo Latrubesse), the Sacramento and San Joaquin (Matt Kondolf) and the Mekong ( Avijit Gupta). This programme, however, is not entirely finalised.
- to provide a forum for discussing the complexities of large rivers with mixed environment (both rock-cut and alluvial sections),
- to arrange field visits to a number of large rivers,
- to organise a set of research publications on large rivers.
Geomorphologists interested in joining the group please contact Avijit Gupta, Convenor (avijit@foxhill.demon.co.uk). The first field meeting is expected to take place in late 1999.
AVIJIT GUPTA
Directory of Geomorphologists (3rd edition) 1997 IAG +
The third edition of The Directory of Geomorphologists has been compiled by the International Association of Geomorphologists. The Directory includes the names and addresses of over 5500 individuals from around the world.The Directory has been published in electronic format for the first time and is compatible with most PCs, database and word-processing software packages. The Directory comes on a 3.5" floppy disk and includes the following:
The cost of the Directory of Geomorphologists has been kept as low as possible. Academic staff and waged individuals: $20.00 US + $2.50 US postage and packing. Students: $10.00 US + $2.50 US postage and packing.
- Microsoft Access version 2.0 (or above) database file. With a purpose written front end to permit searches by name, country, institute etc.
- File which can be imported into most other database software packages.
- Text version of the Directory which can be read into a word processing package. The text version can be used to print the Directory in book format for those preferring a hard copy for the information.
- Purpose designed form for the printing of individual records.
- Facility to print address labels and export records to other packages.
- Instructions on how to load and run the Directory on a personal computer, interrogate the database and undertake personal searches.
For orders and further information (including commercial rates) please contact Dr. Robert J. Allison, Department of Geography, Durham University, Durham, DH1 3LE, UK. Fax: +191 374 2456; e-mail: R.J.Allison@durham.ac.uk
A Message from the Secretary General
More than 45 national associations are now fully recognised members of the International Association of Geomorphologists. Many of them have a long tradition of organising national meetings or conferences, some on a regular basis. However, it is not always easy for interested individuals in other countries to find out about the meetings and the nature of the discussions. This may be because of language barriers or uncertainty about the location of the information. This can be especially true in countries where national associations are small and have limited access to effective methods of disseminating information to outside groups.We believe that the IAG Newsletter may provide a good means of disseminating information about current activities of national bodies, geomorphology as a discipline in particular countries, hot subjects of research, publications and the like. This idea has great potential as a source to be looked to in times when such information is needed, as well as promoting awareness of the diverse nature of geomorphology. In addition, it may aid to the fulfilment of one of the principal aims of the IAG, which is to promote international co-operation. Therefore, we should like to encourage all IAG-affiliated national groups to submit brief reports from their national geomorphological conferences outlining the principal issues discussed, main outcomes and a few organisational details. We start with a report from the IV Conference of Polish Geomorphologists, submitted by the IAG Secretary General, and hope this one will open the series.
IV Conference of Polish Geomorphologists
The IV Conference of Polish Geomorphologists, organised by the IAG-affiliated Association of Polish Geomorphologists (APG), was held in Lublin on 3-6 June 1998. The Maria Curie-Sklodowska University in Lublin provided the venue for two days of sessions and symposia and two days of field trips in the surrounding Lublin Upland and Lublin Wetlands. It was the largest conference so far, attended by 139 people from all Polish universities, local branches of the Polish Academy of Sciences and the Geological Survey. More than 90 contributions in either oral or poster form were presented. In addition, guests from Ukraine attended giving talks and co-organising one of the field trips.
Besides the plenary session, there were five thematic symposia during the Conference whose subjects clearly show what is the mainstream of geomorphology in Poland. The largest one focused on Quaternary Stratigraphy and Palaeogeography. This may seem surprising but the distinction between geomorphology and Quaternary geology is rather diffused in Poland and reflects the fact that more than three fourths of Poland's territory are a lowland developed upon loose Quaternary deposits of varying origin. Problems of structural geomorphology, present-day processes, geomorphology of Polar regions and applied geomorphology were dealt with in the other symposia.
A superbly edited set of Conference Proceedings accompanied the Conference. Two volumes include extended abstracts of all contributions, some with English summaries, and the third one provides a comprehensive description of excursion stops of the conference field trips.
On 3 June the General Assembly of the APG took place. A new Executive Committee to serve for the period 1998-2002 was elected. Prof. Andrzej Kostrzewski was re-elected President of the APG and Dr. Grzegorz Rachlewicz will serve as the Secretary, both at the University of Poznan. It was decided that the next conference will be held in Torun in 2000.
Any further information about the activity of the APG can be obtained from the APG Secretary: Institute of Quaternary Research, Adam Mickiewicz University, Fredry 10, 61-701 Poznan, Poland (e-mail: grzera@main.amu.edu.pl or sgp@amu.edu.pl) or by visiting the APG website (http://hum.amu.edu.pl/~sgp).
PIOTR MIGON
Editor's Note
IAG welcomes contributions to future newsletters from any of our members.Please forward your contributions to C. EMBLETON-HAMANN, Institut fuer Geographie der Universitaet Wien, Universitaetsstrasse 7, A - 1010 Wien, Austria. Fax: (+431) 4277 9486; E-mail: christine.embleton-hamann@univie.ac.at.
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