Newsletter 2013-2

Chairman : Prof. David Bridgland

University of Durham

United Kingdom

d.r.bridgland@durham.ac.uk

Secretary : Dr. Stéphane Cordier

Université Paris Est Créteil Val de Marne

France

stephane.cordier@u-pec.fr

flag_secretary@orange.fr

Executive members

Prof. Juergen Herget

University of Bonn

Germany

herget@giub.uni-bonn.de

Dr. Anne Mather

University of Plymouth

United Kingdom

A.Mather@plymouth.ac.uk

FLAG website :

http://tolu.giub.uni-bonn.de/herget/FLAG/

Please send to Stephane Cordier

any information (workshop, field-trips, PhD defense or report etc)

you would like to read in our next Newsletter!

Update of the FLAG-membership list

If you wish not to receive the next FLAG Newsletters please just send a “no” reply to:

flag_secretary@orange.fr

CONTENTS

- A few words of introduction from the Chairman and report of FLAG activity

- Special Issue of the FLAG 2012 in Boreas

- Report of the FLAG session at IAG 2013

- FLAG 2014: first circular

-Other meeting announcements: HEX 2014, Open PAGES Focus 4 Workshop, Sedimentary

Archives session at EGU, Geomorphological sessions during Regional Conference of the IGU

A FEW WORDS OF INTRODUCTION FROM THE CHAIRMAN

Time flies! We are about to move from a non-FLAG year to a FLAG year again, meaning that

2014 is an even-numbered year and therefore one in which a plenary meeting will take place,

this time in southern Spain, another ‘new’ destination for a FLAG biennial meeting. This will

also be the point at which my four-year term as Chair of FLAG comes to an end and I pass the

helm to a new leader and become ‘past chairman’ for another inter-FLAG two-year period. I

can claim to have achieved little except presiding over consolidation of FLAG as the organ

through which like-minded workers get together periodically for conferences and field

meetings, often disseminating the content of these by means of journal special issues and

other publications. In this period of international economic turmoil perhaps that is reason for

satisfaction, although I am not complacent when it comes to the future. I would like to see

new-blood appointments to the FLAG executive, as we need a succession that will provide the

future leaders of the group. Next year also sees Stéphane complete his term as Secretary and

his will be a hard act to follow; we hope we can persuade him to continue in a different role.

FLAG came into existence (in 1996) as a working group of the British Quaternary

Research Association (QRA). That organization celebrates its first half century in 2014. The

anniversary will be marked by the publication of a book ‘The History of the Quaternary

Research Association’, in which will appear an article by your Chairman and Peter Allen on

‘Quaternary Fluvial Systems and River Terraces’. That article charts the evolution of

understanding of fluvial archives during the last 50 years, with emphasis on Britain and on the

publications and meetings of the QRA, although there is a subsection on the contribution of

FLAG. In compiling it I realised just how much advancement had occurred during the last

few decades and the importance of fluvial sequences within the terrestrial Quaternary record.

An updated table of FLAG activity was prepared for this review, albeit somewhat in haste.

Subsequently Jef Vandenberghe has identified a few missing items and these have been added

for the version reproduced here (see below). FLAG participants are asked to alert me if they

are aware of other omissions, since this constitutes an important archive of FLAG activity as

the group approaches the end of its second decade. Indeed, in 2016, on the occasion of the

FLAG biennial meeting to be held in that year (provisionally in Poland), we should prepare to

celebrate the first 20 years of FLAG!

David Bridgland

Meeting (Location, month and year)

Published outcomes

Inaugural Discussion Meeting (Durham, UK,

December 1996)

FLAG 1997 Meeting (Arcen, Netherlands,

September 1997)

Special issue, Geomorphology (Volume 33, Issues 3–4).

The significance of fluvial archives in geomorphology

(Vandenberghe & Maddy, 2000)

FLAG 1998 Meeting (Cheltenham, UK,

September 1998)

Edited volume, River Basin Sediment Systems: Archives of Environmental Change, Balkema (Maddy, Macklin &

Woodward, 2001)

FLAG session and business meeting within 15th

INQUA Congress (Durban, South Africa, August

1999)

Special issue, Quaternary International (Volume 179). The

response of river systems to climate change (Vandenberghe

& Maddy, 2001)

FLAG 2000 Meeting (Mainz, Germany, March

2000)

Special issue, Netherlands Journal of Geosciences

(Bridgland & Sirocko, 2002)

1st IGCP 449 Plenary Meeting (Prague, Czech

Republic, April 2001)

Collection of papers, Proceedings of the Geologists

Association (Issues 2 & 4) Global correlation of Late

Cenozoic fluvial deposits (Bridgland, Tandon & Westaway,

2004)

2nd IGCP 449 Plenary Meeting (Kanpur, India,

December 2001)

Collection of papers, Current Science (Volume 84, Number

8), New Delhi, (2003)

FLAG / GLOCOPH / IGCP 449 meeting

(Wollongong, Australia, August 2002)

FLAG 2002 Meeting (Clermont-Ferrand, France,

September 2002)

Special issue, Quaternaire (Volume 15, n° 1–2) (Bridgland,

Maddy, Antoine & Pastre, 2004)

3rd IGCP 449 Plenary Meeting (Agadir, Morocco, December 2002)

4th IGCP 449 Plenary Meeting (Belem, Brazil,

June 2003) Papers in South American Journal of Earth Sciences, 2006

European Union of Geosciences (EUG) XI,

FLAG Focus 3 (Strasbourg, France, April 2001)

INQUA (GLOCOPH Commission) Project

Meeting (FLAG Focus 1 [IGCP 449] & Focus

2), Haarlem, The Netherlands, March 2001 Special issue, Quaternary Science Reviews (Volume 22,

Issue 20), Fluvial response to rapid environmental change

(Van Balen, Vandenberghe & Kasse, 2003) FLAG Focus 3, 5th International Association of

Geomorphologists IAG (Tokyo, August 2001)

International Fluvial Sedimentology Congress,

Lincoln, Nebraska, USA (FLAG Focus 1 [IGCP

449], Focus 2 & Focus 3), August 2001

FLAG Session (Fluvial Archives of

Environmental Change) within16th INQUA

Congress (Reno, USA, July 2003)

FLAG 2004 Meeting (Sienna, Italy, September 2004)

FLAG/SEQS* special issue, Quaternary International,

(Volume 181, 2008); papers published online in 2007 [* INQUA Subcommission of European Quaternary

Stratigraphy]

Meeting (Location, month and year)

Published outcomes

Final IGCP 449 Plenary Meeting (Malaga, Spain,

December 2004)

Special issue, Quaternary Science Reviews, (Volume 26,

Parts 22–24), Global correlation of Late Cenozoic fluvial

deposits (Bridgland, Keen & Westaway, 2007)

FLAG co-sponsored session atEuropean

Geoscience Union (EGU) Symposium (Vienna, April 2005)

Special issue, Geomorphology, (Volume 98, Issues 3–4,

Human and climatic impact on fluvial and hillslope morphology (Vandenberghe & Vanacker, 2008)

Conference FLAG, GLOCOPH & LUCIFS

(amongst others) 'The fluvial system: past and

present dynamics and controls', (Bonn, Germany,

May 2005)

Special issue, Geomorphology, Volume 92, Issues 3–4, The

fluvial system-past and present dynamics and controls

(Herget, Dikau, Gregory & Vandenberghe, 2007)

IGCP 518 Plenary Meeting (Şanlıurfa, Turkey,

September 2005)

Special issue, Global and Planetary Change (Volume 68,

Issue 4), Fluvial sequences as evidence for landscape and

climatic evolution (Westaway, Bridgland, Sinha & Demir,

2009)

FLAG 2006 Meeting, Izmir, Turkey, September

2006

IGCP 518 Plenary Meeting (session of

CHINQUA) and excursion to Middle Yangtze, (

Nanjing, China, October 2006)

Included within special issue of Global and Planetary

Change (Volume 68, Issue 4), Fluvial sequences as evidence

for landscape and climatic evolution (Westaway, Bridgland,

Sinha & Demir, 2009)– see above

FLAG/GLOCOPH Session within 17th INQUA Congress (Cairns, Australia, July–August 2007)

FLAG 2008 Meeting (Budapest, Hungary,

September 2008)

Special issue, Proceedings of the Geologists Association,

(Volume121, Issue 2), Fluvial records as archives of human

activity and environmental change (Vandenberghe, Cordier

& Bridgland, 2010)

FLAG 2010 Meeting (Castelo Branco, Portugal,

September 2010)

Special issue, Geomorphology (Volumes 165–166, Pages 1-

144), Techniques for analysing Late Cenozoic river terrace

sequences, 2012 (Stokes, Cunha & Martins, 2012)

FLAG/GLOCOPH Session ‘Palaeohydrological

archives,fluvial environments and surface–

groundwater flow processes‘ within 18th INQUA

Congress (Bern, Switzerland, July 2011)

Special issue, Geomorphologie: relief, processus,

environnement, (Volume 4), From fluvial geomorphology to

fluvial archives (Cordier & Bridgland, 2012)

FLAG 2012 Meeting (Remich, Luxembourg,

September 2012)

Special issue in Boreas (Volume 143, in press) Fluvial

archives from past to present (Cordier, Bridgland,

Vandenberghe & Harmand, 2014)

FLAG/GLOCOPH Session S10A within 8th International Association of Geomorphologists

(AIG), Paris, August 2013

Special issue in Quaternaire (in preparation)

FLAG 2014 Meeting, (Sorbas, Spain, September

2014)

SPECIAL ISSUE OF THE FLAG 2012 IN BOREAS

Following the recent publications in “Géomorphologie: relief, processus, environnement”

(volume 4, 2012), “Geomorphology” (volume 165-166, 2012), and “Proceedings of the

Geologists’ Association” (volume 121, 2010), we are delighted to announce the imminent

publication of the FLAG 2012 special issue in Boreas (volume 143, 2014). This special issue

was steered by Stéphane Cordier, David Bridgland, Jef Vandenberghe and Dominique

Harmand as guest editors. It includes ten papers (see list below), reflecting a wide range of

topics (fluvial response to external forcing, with special attention paid to climate and

tectonics), methods (geochronology, modelling), study areas (from Western Europe to Asia

and North America), and timescales (from the last decades until the long-term). The guest

editors would like to thank the Journal Editor, Jan A. Piotrowski, for having made this special

issue possible, and all the reviewers for their involvement in the preparation of the papers. We

wish you good reading!

Stéphane Cordier, David Bridgland, Jef Vandenberghe, Dominique Harmand

Content of the special issue:

- Fluvial archives from past to present (introductory paper) – S. Cordier, D. Bridgland, J.

Vandenberghe, D. Harmand

- Floodplain responses to contemporary climate change in small High-Arctic basins

(Svalbard, Norway) – P. Owczarek, A. Nawrot, K. Migala, I. Malik, B. Korabiewski

- Fluvial response to rapid high-amplitude lake-level changes during the Late Weichselian

and early Holocene, Ain valley, Jura, France – C.Kasse

- Fluvial system response to external forcing and human impact – Late Pleistocene and

Holocene fluvial dynamics of the lower Guadalete River in western Andalucía (Spain) –

D. Wolf, A. Seim, D. Faust

- Dating fluvial erosion: fluvial response to climate change in the Moselle catchment (France,

Germany) since the Late Saalian – S. Cordier, M. Frechen, D. Harmand

- Differential tectonic movements in the confluence area of the Huang Shui and Huang He

rivers (Yellow River), NE Tibetan Plateau, as inferred from fluvial terrace positions – X.

Wang, R. van Balen, S. Yi, J. Vandenberghe, H. Lu

- Ages and genesis of terrace flights in the middle reaches of the Yarlung Zangbo River,

Tibetan Plateau, China – S. Zhu, Z. Wu, X. Zhao, J. Li, K. Xiao

- Relation between alternations of uplift and subsidence revealed by Late Cenozoic fluvial

sequences and physical properties of the continental crust - R. Westaway, D. Bridgland

- 10

Be dating of the Main Terrace level in the Amblève valley (Ardennes, Belgium): New age

constraint on the archaeological and palaeontological filling of the Belle-Roche

palaeokarst – G. Rixhon, D. Bourlès, R. Braucher, L. Siame, J.-M. Cordy, A. Demoulin

- Fluvial archives as a framework for the Lower and Middle Palaeolithic: patterns of British

artefact distribution and potential chronological implications – D. Bridgland, M. White

REPORT OF THE FLAG-GLOCOPH SESSION AT IAG 2013

At the 8th

International Conference on Geomorphology, convened by the International

Association of Geomorphology IAG in Paris during 27-31 of August 2013, a joint session of

FLAG, GLOCOPH and PAGES-LUCIFS was scheduled. Divided into three blocks on the last

day of the conference, altogether nineteen oral and twelve poster presentations were given.

The oral presentations commenced with Jean-François Pastre’s talk on one of the longest

fluvial records in Europe: the example of the Allier River, which can be traced back to ~4 Ma

BP. David Bridgland discussed links between fluvial archives and geomorphology, especially

focusing on the development of river terraces at different timescales. Andrey Panin presented

results on the dating of respective periods of incision and aggradation by the Seim and Khoper

Rivers, located in the Central Russian Plain. Stéphane Cordier drew the attention to

discrepancies in the age of the main terraces of rivers located in the southwestern part of the

Rhenish Massif in Central Europe. Swati Sinha analysed the influence of neotectonic

movements on the sediment balance and fluvial dynamics at the Lesser Himalaya, NW India.

Kathryn Adamson presented a correlation and highlighted discrepancies of the regional

Pleistocene glaciation with fluvial dynamics in the karstic environment of Montenegro. The

<300km² megafan in the Italian southern Alps, which extended into what is now the Adriatic

Sea, was the topic of the talk by Paolo Mozzi. Cyril Castanet illustrated the complex network

of external influences, such as climate, eustasy, neotectonics and human impact, on the

development of the Oued Sebou catchment in Morocco. The multiproxy reconstruction of

fluvial dynamics in the River Loir catchment in France, carried out by Julienne Piana, allows

detailed environmental reconstruction and the determination of the onset of human impact.

Bastiaan Notebaert presented sediment budget studies in a catchment in the French Southern

Alps and found the temporal resolution too coarse to be related to climate changes. According

to Matthieu Ghilardi, a specific flood event at 3200 BC caused the change from meandering

to braided channel pattern in the Tremithos River of south central Cyprus. In the savannah

landscape in Mali, five periods of fluvial changes were determined by Aline Garnier, while

significant human impact started in the 20th

century. Laetitia Laigre presented results on

geophysical investigations in the River Rhone valley upstream of Lac Leman, which revealed

channel pattern conditions of two different river channels that were connected only during

flood stage levels of the river. From the Transylvanian Depression of Romania, Ioana Persoiu

catalogued different channel pattern changes during the last 60 ka caused by individual

occurrences of salt-related tectonic uplift. Previously misinterpreted soil formations indicating

wetter conditions in the hyperarid Negev desert environment were reinvestigated by Yehouda

Enzel. By high-resolution geochemical analysis of floodplain sediment sequences, the flood

records of Irish and Welsh River could be extended based on the investigations by Anna F.

Jones. Juergen Herget presented a new approach of the geometric analysis of fluvial obstacle

marks for hydraulic flow reconstruction. Geochemical signals e.g. in lake sediments were

analysed by Lothar Schulte and were shown to correlate with late Holocene periodicities of

alpine floods. The flood archive analysed from deposits in a Mediterranean rambla in NE

Spain correlates with climatic changes and human impact as presented by Gerardo Benito.

Further details on the contents of presentation and information about the posters with

reference to the abstracts are still available (2. Dec. 2013) on the conference homepage:

http://www.geomorphology-iag-paris2013.com/en/detailed-programme .

Continuing the run of recently published special issues (see above), the session will also lead

to a special issue planned in the journal Quaternaire, planned for late 2014-early 2015.

According to my personal impression, the joint session might be characterised as successful.

Several new faces were seen among the audience that are not well known from previous

individual meeting of FLAG, GLOCOPH or LUCIFS. Convening a session at a big

international conference allows contact to be made with colleagues who would be less likely

to participate in individual meetings of the parent groups, even if they are interested in our

work. The cooperation of several independent organisations also makes it possible to reach a

critical mass of participants more easily than through individual session proposals,

highlighting the interest of joint sessions at big conferences like IAG, InQua or EGU / AGU.

Juergen Herget

FLAG 2014 IN ALMERÍA PROVINCE (SE SPAIN) :

FIRST CIRCULAR

The next FLAG meeting in September 2014 will be in the western Mediterranean. The

meeting will be held in the Province of Almería in Andalucia (SE Spain) and will be

convened by Anne Mather (Plymouth, UK), Martin Stokes (Plymouth, UK) and Loreto Antón

López (Madrid, Spain). The proposed dates are Monday 1st for the Icebreaker, with talks on

Tuesday 2nd

and Wednesday 3rd September at the Parador in the coastal location of Mojacar.

The post conference field trip will depart on Thursday 4th

and run until the end of Saturday

6th September. The post-conference field excursion will be based inland to examine fluvial

records primarily in the Tabernas and Sorbas Basins, staying around Sorbas Town. The post-

conference trip will provide opportunities to examine river terrace archives and long term

Plio-Quaternary fluvial landscape development of a tectonically active, arid to semi-arid

landscape and critically assess the techniques applied (eg. Profile CRN dating; OSL;

Sedimentology). There will be the opportunity to examine tectonic and capture-related base-

level lowering mechanisms and climate-related variations in sediment supply on river terrace

development. Unfortunately the traditional boat excursion of recent FLAG meetings will be

unlikely due to the ephemeral nature of the drainage systems to be explored but there will be a

unique opportunity to examine subterranean drainage development in relation to the terrace

evolution via a caving expedition into the gypsum karst. The web site will be available soon.

Anne Mather, Martin Stokes (Plymouth University, UK), Loreto Antón López (UNED,

Madrid)

Parador where the conference will be hosted

Travertine terrace, Tabernas, SE Spain

Lateral accretion deposits, Rio Almanzora, SE Spain

OTHER MEETING ANNOUNCEMENTS

HEX 2014 - Hydrological EXtreme events in historic and prehistoric times

9.-15.6.2014, Dept. of Geography, University of Bonn / Germany

International conference with field presentations

At the current status of knowledge, hydrological consequences of the ongoing climatic change

can only be estimated based on assumptions of future changes. Magnitudes and frequencies of

hydrological extreme events will change from recent values. Consequently, forecasts on

future development based on recent observations and measurements and their statistical

analysis are hindered due to the non-steady conditions.

On this background a view back in time offers a significant range of observations of

hydrological extreme events based on climatic changes in different directions. From an

European perspective, the Medieval Climate Optimum and the Little Ice Age illustrate ranges

of climatic changes in historic times. From those days, reports, documents and traces of

hydrological extreme events like floods and droughts are handed down to nowadays. These

reports and traces have an untapped potential for further analysis of magnitudes, frequencies

and process mechanisms for an improved understanding of the relationships of climate change

and hydrological consequences. Due to the different duration of written historic times in

different cultures of the world – one or two centuries in North America and several millennia

considering the ancient cultures e.g. in Egypt or China – the time range of previous extreme

hydrological events of further consideration leads back into pre-historic times, consequently

back into the Pleistocene.

Based on this background, the following keywords span the range of topics for scientific

sessions during the conference:

Past hydrological events and periods related to global change

Development of refined global and regional chronologies on hydrological events and

periods

Historical perspectives of current hazards

Relevance of Pleistocene hydrological events for the presence and future

Drought analysis - an underestimated problem and future challenge

Implications of long term research in relation to forecasts and prognoses for the

future

Interpreting human impact

Estimation of previous and future damage and losses

Extreme wave events in the past and future

Extraterrestrial flows and floods

New techniques and methods of investigation (dating techniques, historical source

analysis, hydraulic interpretation of geomorphological and sedimentological

structures, …)

Key note speakers:

Victor Baker Extraterrestrial flow - why should we care?

Rudolf Brazdil 500-year floods and droughts in Central Europe based on documentary

evidence and instrumental records

Paul Carling Sedimentology of mega-flood deposits

Rüdiger Glaser Historic climate changes represented by hydrological extremes (to be

confirmed)

Ken Gregory The development of palaeohydrological research - the first sixty years

Dieter Kelletat Extreme wave events in the past

Structure / schedule of the meeting:

9.6. arrival in Bonn, first key note talk and ice-breaker in the evening

10.-12.6. oral and poster presentations in Bonn

13.-15.6. field presentations:

Historical River Rhine floods in Cologne – outburst floods by WW II dam

bombing along River Ruhr valley – Pleistocene ice-dammed lake spillway -

July 1342 millennium flood (Weser and Main River) – historic floods along

River Main – extreme droughts, floods and navigation problems in the

Middle Rhine valley

Participating organisations:

FLAG Fluvial Archives Group

GLOCOPH Global Continental Palaeohydrology

LUCIFS Land Use and Climate Impacts on Fluvial Systems during the period

of agriculture

IWHA International Water History Association

FgHW Fachgemeinschaft Hydrologische Wissenschaften

DHG Deutsche Hydrologische Gesellschaft

DWhG Deutsche Wasserhistorische Gesellschaft

AK Hydrologie Deutscher Arbeitskreis für Hydrologie

AK Geomorphologie Deutscher Arbeitskreis für Geomorphologie

DeuQua Deutsche Quartärvereinigung

Further details like important dates, registration, abstract submission are available from the

homepage of the conference at

http://web.giub.uni-bonn.de/hex2014/

If you want to contact the local organiser directly, please send an email to

hex-2014-contact@giub.uni-bonn.de

Open PAGES Focus 4 Workshop

Human-Climate-Ecosystem Interactions

Towards a more accurate quantification of

human-environment interactions in the past

University of Leuven, Belgium

February 3-7, 2014

Rationale and workshop aims

Since the introduction of agriculture, humans have profoundly impacted natural environments

through land cover change. These, in turn, caused significant changes in soil and sediment

properties as well as the functioning of aquatic ecosystems. Furthermore, long-term human-

induced land use change has been argued to be responsible for significant changes in the

global carbon cycle with feedbacks to climate, suggesting that the Anthropocene era began

long before the Industrial Revolution. However, the extent to which humans have impacted

the environment at regional to global scales prior to the modern era is still under debate.

Current estimates of regional and global land cover histories show large discrepancies. Thus

an accurate quantification is necessary to fully grasp the extent to which humans have

impacted terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems and/or climate, and to explore the feedback

mechanisms between environmental change and societal development, collapse or resilience.

Research on the past in order to better understand and manage terrestrial ecosystems in the

future is complicated by uncertainty on past human impacts.

A more detailed integration of data from both environmental sciences and humanities is

needed to resolve these issues. This requires not only the development of a forum where

scientists from a variety of disciplines can meet and share their data and ideas, but also to

critically evaluate existing approaches and to discuss methodological innovations that will

allow to incorporate data of various qualities and resolutions. This PAGES workshop aims to

provide such a platform to share data, results and ideas on how to quantify past human-

environment interactions.

Topics to be discussed include the quantification of: (i) human impact on the landscape (including population dynamics, land use and vegetation

change) at various spatial and temporal scales;

(ii) environmental response to human impact (on soils, sediments, lakes, C cycle and climate);

(iii) threshold levels and feedback mechanisms between human activities and the

environment.

Workshop structure

The workshop aims to provide a stimulating working environment in which priority will be

given to discussions on how to quantify past human-environment interactions. Next to oral

and poster presentations, sufficient time for discussion in break-out groups as well as plenary

discussions will therefore be provided. Oral sessions will be centered on specific themes

introduced by invited key-note speakers. The workshop will include a mid-conference field

trip to a key area in the region for the study of Holocene sediment fluxes, land cover

reconstructions and archaeology in Central Belgium.

We received more than 90 abstracts. In total 30 abstracts were selected for an oral

presentations (including 12 invited talks) and over 60 posters will be presented. All posters

will be introduced by a 1-minute oral presentation and two 1.5 hour poster sessions are

foreseen. A complete list of provisionally accepted presentations is provided at the end of this

circular. Acceptance is final once the presenting author has completed the registration (before

1 December). The final program with time schedule will be completed by mid-January.

Registration and costs Early-bird registration is still possible until December 1, 2013 at a cost of € 280. This fee

includes book of abstracts, lunches, welcome reception, refreshments, workshop dinner and

the mid-workshop field trip. After December 1, 2013, registration is possible at a cost of €

330. Registration will close January 5, 2014. You can register for this workshop through a

web-based registration form on the workshop webpage. Payment is possible by credit card or

bank transfer. More details on payment procedure will be provided by email after registration.

Note that registration will only be final when payment is received.

Important dates

- Early-bird registration: before December 1, 2013

- Registration deadline for presenters: December 1, 2013

- Registration closes: January 5, 2014

- Distribution of final workshop program: January 15, 2014

- Workshop: February 3-7, 2014

Location The workshop will take place in Leuven, which is conveniently and centrally located in

Belgium and Europe. A 15 minute train journey separates Leuven from Brussels Airport,

which has direct connections with over 60 cities across Europe and several cities in Africa,

Southeast Asia and North America. Regular train services (±30 minutes) link Leuven with

Brussels and Liège international railway stations with high-speed train connections to

London, Paris, Cologne and Frankfurt. The venue of the workshop is the KU Leuven

(University of Leuven), at the campus located in the town center (Blijde-Inkomststraat 21,

3000 Leuven). Founded in 1425, it is the oldest university of the Low Countries. The

university offers excellent conference facilities.

Accommodation We have agreed a special price with two hotels for the duration of the workshop:

- Ibis Leuven Centrum (http://www.accorhotels.com/gb/hotel-1457-ibis-hotel-leuven-

centrum/index.shtml): Conference prices are € 89.95 per night for a single room and € 103.95

per night for a double room. Prices include taxes and breakfast. Booking information can be

found on the workshop webpage.

- Ibis Budget Leuven (http://www.accorhotels.com/gb/hotel-6682-ibis-budget-leuven-

centrum/index.shtml): Prices will be around € 70 per night, breakfast (€ 7.5) excluded.

Detailed price information will follow in December.

A larger selection of hotels can be booked through the regular international booking sites,

including Hotel Mille Colonnes, Hotel la Royale, Theater Hotel Leuven Centrum, Novotel

Leuven Centrum, Mercure Leuven Centrum and Hotel Binnenhof.

Other accommodation options in Leuven include Guesthouse St Jacob

(http://www.stjacob.be) and Leuven city hostel (http://www.leuvencityhostel.com) which

provide dorm rooms and private rooms. In addition there is a large choice in B&B, as well as

some short term apartment rents. More information can also be found on the website of the

city of Leuven (http://www.leuven.be/en/tourism/staying/index.jsp). When booking

accommodation, take into account that the conference takes place at the city center university

campus. Accommodation located near the University Campus in Heverlee may require a 15-

20 minutes travel time by bus.

Organizing committee

This workshop is organized by LUCIFS (representing the working group on soils and

sediments of PAGES Focus 4), the Centre for Archaeological Sciences at KU Leuven (CAS)

and a Belgian Science Policy funded interuniversity research program on long-term

sustainability. The workshop is funded by PAGES and CAS.

Organizing committee:

Gert Verstraeten (Geography, KU Leuven, Belgium), Thomas Hoffmann (Geography, U

Bonn, Germany), Bastiaan Notebaert (Geography, KU Leuven, Belgium), Elena Marinova

(Archaeobotany, KU Leuven, Belgium), Andreas Lang (Geography, U Liverpool, UK), Gilles

Erkens (Deltares, The Netherlands), Hans Middelkoop (Geography, U Utrecht, The

Netherlands), Kristof Van Oost (Geography, UC Louvain, Belgium), Hanne De Brue

(Geography, KU Leuven, Belgium), Nils Broothaerts (Geography, KU Leuven, Belgium),

Jeroen Poblome (Archaeology, KU Leuven, Belgium), Frank Vermeulen (Archaeology, U

Ghent, Belgium)

Contact address Gert Verstraeten

Open PAGES Focus 4 workshop

KU Leuven (University of Leuven)

Celestijnenlaan 200 E – box 2409

B-3001 Leuven, Belgium

E-mail: pages2014@ees.kuleuven.be

Check our website: http://ees.kuleuven.be/pages/

Sedimentary archives session at EGU

Session GM 1.7.:“Non-continuous palaeoenvironmental archives: pros and cons”

The session will be part of the General Assembly of the European Geosciences Union (EGU)

taking place from 27th of April till 2nd of May 2014 in Vienna, Austria. The session details

are included below and can be accessed directly at the EGU General Assembly website:

http://meetingorganizer.copernicus.org/EGU2014/session/14744

EGU will offer some financial assistance for early-career scientists, see on the EGU congress

website:

http://www.egu2014.eu/support_and_distinction.html

Organisers:

Hans von Suchodoletz (hans.von.suchodoletz@uni-leipzig.de)

Markus Fuchs (Markus.Fuchs@geogr.uni-giessen.de)

Pierre Antoine (pierre.antoine@cnrs-bellevue.fr)

Tony Brown (tony.brown@soton.ac.uk)

Solicited speaker: Joel Roskin (Haifa/Beer Sheva): Opportunities, limitations, and

methodologies for deciphering information of late Quaternary environments from

discontinuous aeolian archives

In rare situations, clastic sediment archives (e.g. marine and partly lake sediments) represent

quasi-continuous records of past environmental conditions. In contrast, most sediment

archives like fluvial, colluvial or aeolian deposits are discontinuous in their character, mainly

due to the nature of the geomorphological processes responsible for their formation or

degradation. Since in many regions quasi-continuous archives are absent, non-continuous

sediment archives have received increasing attention for palaoeoenvironmental

reconstructions during the last years. In addition, non-continuous archives generally yield

information about states of geomorphologic activity and stability, which can be traced back to

climate change and human or tectonic activity. Breaks in sedimentation or hiatuses need

to be understood and can in themselves provide important evidence concerning thresholds. In

this context, transitions between different sedimentary phases are of great importance, and

comparisons with other archives obligatory.

This session aims to pool contributions from the broad field of earth sciences that deal

with different types of non-continuous sedimentary archives, highlighting their possibilities as

well as their challenges. Besides case studies from single archives, conceptual and

methodical contributions and those with a comparative character are

especially welcome in this session.

The deadline for submission of abstracts is 16th January 2014, 13:00 CET

Geomorphological sessions during Regional Conference of the IGU

We would like to inform about two geomorphological sessions during Regional Conference

of the International Geographical Union (http://www.igu2014.org/) which will be held in

Krakow (Poland), August 18-22, 2014:

1. Floods in mountain environments. Conveners: Zbigniew Kundzewicz (Poland), Markus

Stoffel (Switzerland), Bartlomiej Wyzga (Poland), Virginia Ruiz-Villanueva (Switzerland)

The session will focus on the occurrence of floods in mountain environments in the era of

rapid and diverse environmental changes. It is intended to gather and help exchange

experience on the influence of environmental changes and their geomorphic responses on

flood hazard and risk in mountain areas. Due to their high energy, mountain watercourses can

be highly damaging to property, infrastructure and life. At the same time, they are highly

vulnerable to environmental changes affecting their catchments and channels.

The session conveners intend to publish a special issue in a peer-reviewed, international

journal, containing material based on selected high-quality contributions to the session.

2. Rapid response of geomorphic and hydrological systems in mountain regions to

environmental change. Conveners:Thomas Parkner (Japan), David Morche (Germany)

Geomorphic and hydrological systems in mountain regions have been witnessing rapid

environmental change. This change on global scale includes changes in biodiversity, in land

use, and climate change. For some mountain regions changes in tectonic forcing and volcanic

forcing are also important. Geomorphic and hydrologic systems respond to such external –

and in addition internal - changes. The transient mountain systems exhibit threshold changes

for process initiation, variation in fluxes of sediment and water, variation of sediment storage

and sediment availability, and changes in coupling/decoupling of system components. The

potential impact of system changes in mountain regions may also affect the adjacent lowland

areas. We invite contributions dealing with rapid changes in geomorphic and hydrological

processes in mountain regions from event scale to millennia, with respect to system response

on slopes and in valleys. This includes studies focusing on quantification of sediment fluxes

and sediment budgets, conceptual approaches (e.g. paraglacial geomorphology),

methodological studies (e.g. river load measurements, LiDAR, photogrammetry, geophysics)

and modeling studies (e.g. landform evolution) are also highly welcome.

Send your abstract before January 15, 2014.

Please visit conference's Website http://www.igu2014.org/ and register your abstract.