Field Symposium on Quaternary Geology and Geodynamics in Belarus

May 20 - 25, 2002

Another field meeting of the Peribaltic Group, INQUA Commission on Glaciation and Friends of Baltic Quaternary was held in May 20-25th 2002. The organising institutions were the Institute of Geological Sciences, the Academy of Sciences of Belarus and the Belarusian National Committee of INQUA. The Symposium was co-ordinated by Irina Pavlovskaya.

The main aim of the Peribaltic Group annual field symposia is to bring together earth scientists in order to discuss current problems of the Quaternary geology in the Peribaltic area, mainly in the field, as well as to promote a multidisciplinary co-operation and exchange of recent results in Quaternary studies. This year’s symposium took place in western Belarus in the Grodno region and gathered 52 scientists from 8 countries, which demonstrates an increasing interest in our meetings. Many young scientists were able to attend this meeting due to the financial support of INQUA and the Fund of Scientific Investigations of Belarus. The holiday inn “Praleska” located amidst the beautiful forests was the residence place of the symposium.

17 oral presentations and 33 posters were presented. The 4 days’ field excursion was an interdisciplinary trip focused on the Middle and Late Pleistocene, evolution of the Neman river valley, glaciotectonic features, as well as the maximum limit of the last Pleistocene glaciation in the Neman Lowland and the Grodno Highland. In this area, the most interesting stratigraphical and geological objects of the Belarusian Quaternary are located. During the field trip, participants visited 11 key sections with Holsteinian, Eemian, Saalian and Weichselian interglacial and interstadial sediments, as well as examined impressive glaciotectonic structures with disturbed Cenozoic and Cretaceous rocks.

Participants could see that the Quaternary structure of the area is really complicated and the interpretation of the Middle-Late Pleistocene geological and geomorphological evidence in the Middle Neman area is a difficult task. This provoked lively discussions in the field, which sometimes became really boisterous at the points, concerning the geological position of demonstrated profiles, chronostratigraphy of the Middle and Late Pleistocene sequence and the maximum extent of the last Pleistocene ice sheet. To examine these questions, participants came to the conclusion that there is a need to establish collaborative research projects devoted to a geological correlation of the Quaternary within the adjacent areas of Belarus, Lithuania and Poland. Discussions continued in the evenings, during informal sessions at the bonfire.

Among other evening events there was a business meeting of the Peribaltic Group where the future INQUA structure and state-of-art of some current international INQUA and non-INQUA projects were discussed. Evening activities included also the international basketball competition. Three national teams were playing with a great enthusiasm inspired by cheer fun and whistle of fans. Led by Albertas Bitinas, the joint Latvian-Lithuanian team won and was awarded a special prize.

The participants express their sincere thanks to the organisers, especially Irina Pavlovskaya, for their efforts and skills that made this meeting a true success.