Dear Colleagues,
 
We would like to remind you that the registration and abstract submission deadline for the Geodynamics Through Time symposium as part of the Geocongress of the Geological Society of South Africa to be held in Johannesburg in July is fast approaching (31 March). There are still places on the Barberton and Limpopo Belt postconference field excursion - a provisional itinerary has been posted on the conference website (address below, Excusion ST5) to whet your appetites.
 
We hope to see you in July.
 
Roger Gibson, Mike Brown & Hassina Mouri.
 

The Tectonics Division of the Geological Society of South Africa (TDOGS) will be hosting a SPECIAL SYMPOSIUM to celebrate its 20th Anniversary, entitled

 

THE BIRTH AND GROWTH OF CONTINENTS – GEODYNAMICS THROUGH TIME

 

as part of the 2004 Congress of the Geological Society of South Africa, to be held in Johannesburg, South Africa, from 12-16 July, 2004

 

This 4-day symposium aims to bring together structural geologists, igneous and metamorphic petrologists, geodynamicists and geophysicists to examine the processes responsible for the formation and growth of continents, and their subsequent modification. Siting of this meeting on the Kaapvaal craton will provide participants with the opportunity to evaluate at close quarters the large database available for one of the largest fragments of ancient continental crust, including the deep lithospheric and mantle geophysical results from the recently completed Kaapvaal Craton Project. Delegates will have the opportunity to participate in a variety of other symposia during the conference, which is expected to attract ~500 delegates (see www.wits.ac.za/geoscienceafrica/ for details).

 

Contributions are invited on the following specialist themes:

  1. Continental lithosphere growth through time
  2. Anatomy of shear zones – upper to lower crust
  3. Transpression/transtension
  4. Rates of metamorphism and exhumation of high-grade metamorphic terranes
  5. Phase equilibria, reaction textures and reaction kinetics
  6. Anatexis, melt migration and emplacement mechanisms
  7. Ultra-high-temperature metamorphism
  8. Fluids and low-pressure metamorphism

 

Confirmed keynote speakers: John Dewey (UC Davis), Simon Harley (Edinburgh), Neil Mancktelow (ETH Zurich), Tracy Rushmer (Vermont), Ed Sawyer (Quebec) and Mark Schmitz (Carnegie), Trond Torsvik (Geological Survey Norway), Richard White (Melbourne).

 

The symposium will be followed by a seven-day post-conference excursion (17-23 July, 2004) through the Early Archaean supracrustal sequences of the Barberton Greenstone Belt, the mid-crustal TTG-suite batholiths, and the deep-crustal granulites of the Archaean-Palaeoproterozoic Limpopo Belt. Numbers will be limited to ~30, on a first-come-first-served basis. The excursion itinerary will be posted on the website in February. Other excursions that may be of interest to delegates are listed on the website.

 

Convenors: Roger Gibson (University of the Witwatersrand, [log in to unmask]), Hassina Mouri (University of Pretoria, [log in to unmask]), Mike Brown (University of Maryland, [log in to unmask])

 

Deadlines are:

Registration and abstract submission: 31 March, 2004

Notification of acceptance of abstracts: 14 April, 2004

 

For any further queries, please contact Roger Gibson.