IGCP Board; 10th session; Report of the ... - unesdoc - Unesco

Summary of activities. The following international
meetings have been arranged and attended.
(a) A joint meeting of Project 158 and Holocene
Eurosiberian Subcommission of INQUA, the
Symposium on "Palaeohydrology of the temperate
zone" (Poznan, Poland, 22-28 September,
1981) was organized by Professors. Kozarski
and A. Witt (Secretary), Adam Mickiewicz
University in Poznañ and the Committee for
Quaternary Research, Polish Academy of Sciences
and attended by 37 foreign participants from
15 countries and 38 from Poland. Thirty-five
papers were presented during the meeting, mostly
national reports. Some invited speakers presented
the ways of palaeoecological, palaeohydrological,
and palaeoclimatic reconstructions
based on different evidence from fluvial, lake,
and mire environments (T. Webb, N. Hotinsky,
B. Berglund, L. Starkel, B. Frenzel, K.D. Jager,
V. Lozek and M. Geyh) and the impact of
man on the environment (K. Gregory, P, Moore).
Another 17 papers at the poster session mainly
presented results from different lake reference
sites or river systems in Poland.
During a four-day field trip, organized mostly
by the Poznañ team, led by S. Kozarski, complex
methods of studies were presented, covering
palaeochannel fills and fluvial history in the
Warta valley and later Biskupin archaeological
site, Gacno Wielkie lake (M. Hjelmroos-Ericsson),
mires and dunes with fossil forest in
Slowiñski National Park (K. Tobolski) and
Zarnowieckie lake (M. Latalowa).
A volume with abstracts of papers and an excursion
guidebook were edited by S. Kozarski. This
meeting summarized the four-year activity and
showed distinct progress both in regional studies
and in general methods and palaeohydrological
reconstructions. A Project business meeting
was organized during the symposium.
(b) The Project-sponsored meeting on the absolute
and radiocarbon chronology of varves, icecores
and Mid-Holocene tree-rings took place
in London from 30 April-1 May 1981, organized
by Dr. D.J. Schove. It was attended by 10 participants
from 7 countries. The problems of
teleconnection, absolute chronology of the lateglacial,
role of volcanic eruptions, sunspots,
geomagnetic variations, and other matters were
discussed, with examples from different parts
of Europe and America. The proceedings edited
by R. Fairbridge and D.J. Schove are expected
to be published.
(c) The International Palaeolimnological Conference
was convened in Koli, South Finland
from 1-8 September 1981 and was attended by
about 150 participants, several of whom were
connected with Subproject B. Reference sites
from different countries were demonstrated as
posters, as well as the Finnish project programme
for Subproject B (Y. Vasari). M. Ralska-
Jasiewiczowa, secretary of Subproject B, took
part in this meeting.
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Subproject A: Fluvial environment. The revised
version of the Subproject guidebook was edited in
November 1981 by J. Thornes and L. Starkel
and published by Geo Abstracts in the Technical
Bulletin of the British Geomorphological Research
Group. This new version includes a new chapter
on palaeohydrological reconstructions written by
M. Church.
Official working groups now have been organized
in Canada, Czechoslovakia, Finland, UK, Hungary,
Poland, Roumania, and Switzerland. Active
teams, or individual scientists from Belgium,
FRG, the USA, Italy, and the Netherlands, have
joined the work. Another group of countries
(France, Austria, the Soviet Union, China, Spain,
and Australia) shows an interest in the Subproject.
At the meeting in Poznañ the results of most of
the collective work were presented. L. Koutaniami
(Oulu, Finland) showed new results of the
generations of palaeochannels in the Oulanka valley.
K. Gregory (Southampton, UK) presented
the next volume with preliminary results of studies
in the Severn valley. J. Rose (London) discussed
the palaeohydrological variations in the
Gipping River Valley during the late glacial. The
Polish team gave a wide review of work mostly in
the Vistula River Basin (Es Niedziaikowska,
K. Klimek, K. Mamakowa and L. Starkel, A. Szumawski,
E. Wiániewski, A. Tomczak, E. Drozdowski,
J.E. Mojski, W . Florek) and during the
excursion in the Warta River Valley (S. Kozarski,
B. Antczak, P. Gonera, K. Tobolski, I. Okuniewska).
A close co-operation with palynologists working
in Subproject B should be stressed. The monograph
from the Wisloka valley was offered to all
participants.
J. Havlicek (Prague, Czechoslovakia) presented
the results of work in the Morawa River Valley.
A broad summary of palaeohydrological changes
based on well-dated alluvial fills in the upper
Main Valley was given by W . Schirmer (Dusseldorf,
FRG). The beginning of studies in the
Tisza and Bodrog River Valleys with a wide view
of the channel changes in the subsiding basin was
presented by Z. Borsy (Hungary). Ch. Schlüchter
(Zurich, Switzerland) showed the preliminary results
of work in the Aar River Valley in the Alps
and their foreland. I. Heyse (Gent, Belgium)
discussed the evolution of Sceldtbasin Valley
dammed by sand dunes. Of special value was the
synthetic presentation of work in the small Scottish
River Valley North Esk by I. Mairels (Aberdeen,
UK) who made the approach of using statistical
methods for full palaeohydrological reconstructions
based on studies of palaeochannels and
alluvial fills. In a summarizing paper L. Starkel
underlined the typology of river valleys of the
temperate zone, the main model of turning from
braided to meandering channels, the human impact
(this problem was discussed in detail by K.
Gregory) and the origin of many fills side-by-side
related to minor hydrological fluctuations.