Hi Uwe & Klaus,

I would like to attend this meeting. When is the deadline for registration
and abstract submission?

Cheers!
Douwe


> GSA PENROSE CONFERENCE
>
> Extending a Continent: Architecture, Rheological Coupling and Heat Budget
>
> A Geological Society of America Penrose Conference, “Extending a
> Continent: Architecture, Rheological Coupling and Heat Budget” will be
> held on October 9-13, 2007, on the Island of Naxos in the Aegean Sea of
> Greece.
>
> Continental breakup and the formation of oceanic basins is a fundamental
> process in Earth Sciences. Most of our process understanding of the early
> and intermediate stages of continental extension comes from landborne
> studies of incipient or failed rifts, such as the East African Rift
> (especially the new exciting work in the Afar triangle through the EAGLE
> project), the Taupo Volcanic Zone, the Rio Grande Rift, the Rhine Graben
> and many others. Over the last two decades, there has also been a growing
> appreciation of the role of extensional tectonics in convergent orogens.
> This trend was initiated early on by the discovery of highly-attenuated
> crustal sections in the Basin-and-Range province and the recognition that
> the attenuation was caused by regional-scale horizontal extension, as
> manifested by low-angle normal faulting.
>
> The Basin-and-Range province is considered an archetypal area for
> continental extension by low-angle normal faulting. However, the dynamic
> setting of horizontal extension is complex, given that extension began
> during mid-Tertiary plate convergence, and continued to evolve through a
> transition to dextral-oblique shear. The Aegean Sea above the retreating
> Hellenic subduction zone is another well-known example of large-scale
> continental extension. Here, the dynamic forcing of crustal extension is
> better known and horizontal extension there occurs directly above the
> subducting plate and lithospheric extension is caused by slab rollback.
> Extension in the Aegean occurs from the forearc through the backarc.
> Furthermore, it is an onshore/offshore setting that allows combining land-
> and seaborne studies. Especially the latter offers convenient and fast
> marine geophysical methods that have an advantage in imaging the present
> state of the crust.
>
> An important and still not well understood topic is the nature of
> metamorphic events associated with lithospheric extension. Usually
> large-scale extension in convergent mountain belts is associated with some
> sort of `Barrovian-type' metamorphism. In many rift settings, extension is
> also associated with a temperature-dominated metamorphism but because deep
> crustal sections of modern rifts are generally not exposed our knowledge
> mainly stems from xenoliths studies. A fundamental question is what the
> mechanism driving this metamorphism is: is it mainly radioactive decay
> from upper crustal rocks now buried at depth? Or does the asthenospheric
> mantle play an important role? Closely related to this question is the
> role of magmatic processes and whether magmatism can trigger extension and
> associated metamorphism or whether it is a consequence of these processes.
>
> New theoretical and observational insights into the mechanics of
> continental extension just now coming to light through fresh approaches in
> numerical modeling and measuring active strain. Novel, fully coupled
> thermo-mechanical approaches are capable of predicting major detachments
> self-consistently, i.e. without assuming implicitly or explicitly a weak
> material layer for nucleating the detachment. This may mark a genuinely
> new direction in understanding the mechanics of continental extension and
> the rheological coupling in the lithosphere. Space geodetic techniques, in
> particular continuous GPS, are beginning to reveal the behavior of deeper
> parts of active rifts, in particular episodic tectonic and magmatic events
> indicative of non-steady-state rheological behavior below the seismogenic
> layer.
>
> Another important and controversial aspect of continental extensional
> tectonics is the possibility that extension may be responsible for
> exhuming metamorphic rocks within convergent orogens, such as onland
> thrust belts (i.e., Himalaya, European Alps, Betic Cordillera of
> southeastern Spain, Brooks Range of Alaska) and subduction-related
> convergent margins (i.e., Franciscan of California, Sanbagawa of Japan,
> Hellenic/Aegean convergent margin of western and southern Greece,
> Hikurangi accretionary wedge of northeastern New Zealand); especially in
> exposing ultrahigh-pressure metamorphic rocks. We are confronted with one
> of the most difficult questions in orogenic belts, especially in the older
> ones: What is the contribution of normal/extensional faulting in the
> exhumation of deep crustal rocks. There is growing evidence that extrusion
> wedges can accomplish exhumation of deeply buried rocks from great depth
> soon after these rocks experienced their maximum metamorphism. The normal
> fault at the top of the extrusion wedges is a geometric effect - it is not
> due to lithospheric extension of the region. Although, the tectonics
> community appears to be moving towards a general consensus that deep
> exhumation is most often a result of continental extensional processes,
> unequivocal evidence for this inference is still lacking.
>
> Within this context, we propose a Penrose Conference to examine all
> processes that contribute to horizontal extension of continental
> lithosphere and the origin of oceanic basins. We want to look at processes
> at all scales: normal faulting during early stages of plate convergence
> and the exhumation of (ultra)high-pressure rocks, lateorogenic extension
> and core-complex formation, postorogenic extension associated with an
> extensional boundary condition (i.e. rifting) and processes at
> continent-ocean transitions. At the broadest scale, the conference will
> have five distinct goals: (1) to review and synthesize our knowledge about
> continental extension processes; (2) to examine the geologic and
> geophysical evidence relevant to resolving a quantitative understanding of
> the important tectonic processes, as deduced from seismic imaging,
> metamorphic and magmatic petrology, isotopic thermochronlogy, structural
> and kinematic analysis, synorogenic stratigraphy, geomorphology, and
> paleoelevation data; (3) to examine relevant geodynamic models and their
> predictions for conditions that might trigger the onset of continental
> extension; (4) to reconcile new geodetic data and computational
> geodynamics inferences on rheological coupling within the lithosphere with
> genuine structural observation of these processes; and (5) defining new
> research frontiers for studying extension.
>
> At present, there are a number of high quality studies available for these
> areas and they have generated a diversity of interpretations and new
> ideas. While new numerical methods of continental extension are emerging
> an exciting opportunity is given to test these models against geological
> and geophysical evidence and to build new consensus on the great diversity
> of continental extension, understand the different styles of continental
> extension and find common themes.
>
> The conference will be 5 days long, including 2 days of field trips and 3
> days of presentations. The presentations will consist of 6 half-day
> sessions. Each session will have about 2-hours of oral presentations,
> including a keynote speaker, a 1-hour discussion session, and a 1-hour
> poster session. During the discussion session, individuals will be able to
> get up and show one or two slides to emphasize a point, but no formal
> presentations will be allowed. We want to avoid the typical meeting format
> with back-to-back talks, and instead focus on fleshing out old
> controversies and new ideas.
>
> Tentative session titles are: (1) Local expression of extensional
> deformation and the role and significance of low-angle normal faulting
> causing large-scale extension; (2) Tectonic implications of metamorphism
> associated with extensional deformation; (3) Geodynamic implications of
> magmatism associated with extensional deformation; (4) The influence of
> deep-seated phenomena on the geodynamic evolution of extensional
> provinces: heat input from the mantle, lithospheric delamination, slab
> rollback, and gravitational collapse; (5) Geodetic data and their
> implications for the behavior of the deep lithosphere and its coupling to
> upper crustal extension; and (6) Feedback between the brittle and ductile
> crust and the Moho on the geodynamic evolution of extensional provinces.
>
> The conference will be held on the Island of Naxos, which sits north of
> the active Hellenic subduction zone to the south. The island has
> spectacular exposures of synextensional high-temperature metamorphic rocks
> which were exhumed from depths as great as 30 km during Miocene extension.
> The field trips will be led by Olivier Vanderhaeghe (Université Henri
> Poincaré in Nancy, France). Vanderhaeghe and colleagues have developed a
> multidisciplinary study of Naxos combining structural geology, metamorphic
> petrology, geochemistry, and sedimentology in order to decipher the
> thermal-mechanical evolution of the island. Naxos records a complex
> geologic history from the genesis of blueschists attesting for burial and
> accretion under a low geothermal gradient to genesis of granites and
> exhumation of migmatites in metamorphic core complexes resulting from a
> drastic change in the geothermal gradient during time. Naxos displays the
> most complete section from bluschists to migmatites exposed in the core of
> a kilometer-scale dome.
>
> Our objective in selecting this site for the meeting is to expose
> participants, especially those from North America, to an extensional
> setting different from that of the Basin-and-Range, which would be the
> natural site of choice if the conference were to be held in the United
> States. The location will mean a slightly more expensive air fare for
> North American participants, but will otherwise encourage participants
> from Europe to attend.
>
> The conference will be limited to about 80 persons. Participants will be
> selected to ensure broad representation by nationality, by occupation
> (i.e. faculty, graduate students, industry and government scientists), and
> by research interest (i.e. structural geology, metamorphic petrology,
> isotope geochronology, sedimentology, geomorphology, and geodynamics). We
> are particularly encouraging students, early career professionals, women
> and minority participants to apply.
>
> The registration fee is expected to be about US$950 which will cover all
> costs, including food and lodging for 6 nights (October 8-14), local
> travel, and field trip expenses. Airfare is not covered. We hope to be
> able to partially subsidize the participation of some graduate students,
> early career professionals, women and minority participants.
>
> Co-conveners of the conference are: Uwe Ring, Department of Geological
> Sciences, Canterbury University, Christchurch 8004, New Zealand, PHONE:
> +64-3-364-2987 ext. 7723, FAX: +64-3-364-2769, EMAIL:
> [log in to unmask]; Klaus Regenauer-Lieb, School of Earth and
> Geographical Sciences, The University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling
> Highway, Crawley 6009 WA, Australia, PHONE: + 61-8-64368693, FAX:
> +61-8-64368690, EMAIL: [log in to unmask]; Brian Wernicke, Division
> of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology,
> 1200 East California Blvd., Pasadena, California 91125, USA, PHONE:
> +1-626-395-6192, FAX: +1-626-683-0621, EMAIL: [log in to unmask] and
> Charalampos Fassoulas, Natural History Museum, University of Crete,
> Knossou Ave, Heraklion 71409, Crete, Greece, PHONE: +30 2810 393277, FAX:
> +30 2810 324366, EMAIL: [log in to unmask]
>
> Application deadline:
>
> April 1, 2007
>
> Interested persons should send a letter of application to Uwe Ring at the
> address given above. We would like to encourage people sending their
> letters by email to: [log in to unmask] The letter should
> include a brief statement of the applicant's research interests, relevance
> of those interests to the focus of the conference, and a potential topic
> that the applicant might want to present. Note that we are planning only a
> limited number of oral presentations, but we strongly encourage poster
> presentations and comment presentations in order to ensure an informal and
> interactive conference.
>


-- 
Dr. D.J.J. van Hinsbergen
Paleomagnetic Laboratory 'Fort Hoofddijk'
Faculty of Geosciences, Utrecht University
Budapestlaan 17
3584 CD Utrecht
The Netherlands
phone: +31 30 2531676
[log in to unmask]
www.geologist.nl