New September, 2020 dates for GOBEnhagen

Dear All,

The Closing Meeting of IGCP 653 in Copenhagen, scheduled for June 2020, is officially postponed to September 7th–10th, 2020.

Unfortunately, the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic has had a deep impact on nearly all countries, forcing governments to take precautionary measures. In Denmark, the government has imposed bans on gatherings of more than 10 people, closed all shops except for grocery stores, as well as schools, and universities. Even the borders are currently closed. Essentially the whole country has been in a lockdown since March 10th

Because of these bans, we initially postponed the deadline for abstract submission from March 15th to April 15th in the hopes that those extra weeks would give us time to see whether the precautionary measures had the intended effect and maybe would be lifted.

Although a positive effect is seen – the country is slowly reopening again this week – the government has decided to maintain the restrictions on larger gatherings of more than ten people until August 31st. Therefore, we have no other option than to postpone the GOBEnhagen meeting until after that date.

We are therefore provisionally moving the technical sessions of the meeting to September 7th–10th, with the pre-excursion to Öland scheduled for the 3rd–6h of September and the post-excursion toBornholm the 11th–12th of September. The dates are obviously provisional given the global situation at the moment, pending how the pandemic evolves globally.

Deadline for abstract submission and Early Bird registration, including registrations for the excursions, will be July 24th, 2020 and the late registration deadline exclusively including the technical sessions will be August 14th, 2020.

On behalf of the organizers, I wish you all the best, stay safe, and we do hope to see you all in Copenhagen in the early Autumn!

Christian Rasmussen

2018 Annual Meeting in Athens, Ohio, USA: Second Circular

The third annual meeting of IGCP 653: The Onset of the Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event will be hosted on the campus of Ohio University in Athens, Ohio, June 3-7, 2018.

The scientific sessions in Athens include a mid-conference field trip to classic Cincinnatian (Katian) sections.  The indoor sessions preceded by an excursion to late Cambrian through Ordovician outcrops of the Great Basin and followed by an excursion through Katian stratigraphy and paleontology of Kentucky.  Participants will discuss and observe sedimentological, biological, and ecological changes across the GOBE and the resulting ecosystems.

We welcome contributions on all aspects of the late Cambrian through Ordovician earth system.

The Second Circular is now available and online registration is open.

Abstract and early registration deadlines are March 15th, 2018.  Space is limited on pre- and post-conference field excursions, so please let us know if you intend to participate on either of these but plan to register later in the registration process.

More information is available on the meeting website: http://igcp653athens2018.wordpress.com

We look forward to welcoming you to Ohio.  GO BE in Ohio!

Alycia Stigall
on behalf of the organizing committee and Project 653 co-leaders