Geological Society of America 2009 Conference

HOORC scientist Dr. Sorcha Diskin recently attended the Geological Society of America conference in Portland, Oregon, from (18th – 21st October 2009), where she presented a paper entitled "Geochemical and mineralogical indicators of stratigraphy and provenance of the Karoo supergroup in Southern Botswana" in the Geochemical Approaches to Sedimentary Provenance Studies session. The conference was attended by over 6000 delegates, mostly international representatives and held 160 topical sessions. Professor Sue Ringrose and Philippa Huntsman-Mapila were also represented in two other papers presented in the “Phanerozoic Paleoenvironmental Evolution of Africa” session. These were “Changes in biological productivity in response to tectonic and climate processes recorded in the sediments of paleolake mababe, northwestern Botswana ” and “Environmental change driven by tectonic processes and climate shifts as recorded in the sedimentary record of paleolake Mababe, Northern Botswana. Dr. Sorcha stated "the sessions were very interesting and informative and have given me ideas for work that could eventually be carried out here, both in the traditional geological sciences and in applied geological sciences (e.g. geoarchaeology).