IGCP
         458
         
         
Triassic/Jurassic
         boundary events: 
         
         
Mass
         extinction, global environmental change, and driving
         forces
         
         
(2001-2005)
      
   

IGCP 458 3rd Field Workshop Stará Lesná, Slovakia
October 11-15, 2003

The 3rd Field Workshop of IGCP 458 was held in Stará Lesná, Slovakia in October 2003. The local organizing committee, led by Jozef Michalík selected a superb venue, a hotel managed by the Slovak Academy of Sciences in a mountain resort on the slopes of the magnificent High Tatra Mts. The mountain weather in mid-October did hold some surprises for us, however. In the last day, a blizzard and several cm of snow on the ground made us to abandon our attempt to visit a locality at high elevation.

Following the project's established format for field workshops, the meeting consisted of three days of field excursion and one day of oral and poster presentations of current research by participating project members. The main goal of the field trips was to study Upper Triassic and Lower Jurassic sections in different tectonic units of the Higha Tatra and Fatra Mts. This allowed to gain insight to the faunal change, basin evolution, tectonic, environmental, and sea level history of a segment of the western Tethys and its European shelf during the Triassic-Jurassic transition.

During the field trips, nine localities were visited. The stops featured the best Triassic/Jurassic boundary sections in continental, peri- and subtidal, and shallow marine environments in the Tatric, Fatric, and Hronic units of the Western Carpathians.

The conference day program included 12 talks and 6 posters. The presentations were followed by lively discussions. There was ample opportunity to continue the stimulating exchange of ideas during and after dinners in an informal and relaxed atmosphere. Click here to download the abstracts of the presentations in Adobe PDF format

A business meeting of IGCP 458 was also held during the meeting, where primarily our future plans were discussed. It was decided that the main focus in 2004 will be our thematic session and a related field trip at the 32nd IGC, then a closing field conference in Hungary and Austria is scheduled for 2005.

A high-quality volume, edited by Jozef Michalík, was published for the meeting. It includes a detailed introduction to the geology, paleontology, stratigraphy, and paleogeography of the Triassic-Jurassic boundary interval in the Western Carpathians, 15 abstracts or extended abstracts of the oral and poster presentations, and a field guide. The 72-page (A4 format) volume contains 37 color and black-and-white figures and photos.

Some photos from the trip (taken by S. Hesselbo and J. Michalík)

Lunch on Day 1 on a picturesque meadow	Project leaders worrying about the imminent downpour

 

The highlight of the lunch bag	Decision made to retreat and admit the victory of mountain weather over scientific enthusiasm

Back to home