Paleonet: Call for Papers: April 2007 meeting in Lawrence, Kansas

Alycia L Stigall stigall at ohio.edu
Mon Jan 1 16:11:16 UTC 2007


Dear PaleoNet Member,  (please excuse cross postings)

This spring, the North Central and South Central sections of the Geological 
Society of America are meeting jointly for their sectional meetings in 
Lawrence, Kansas April 11 to 13, 2007.   A number of excellent 
paleontological symposia, theme sessions, field trips, and a short course 
have been proposed.  Session descriptions of the sessions are listed below. 
There are a wide range of topics proposed, and this promises to be an 
excellent meeting for paleontologists.  I hope that you and/or your 
students will submit an abstract and join us this spring for a great 
paleontology meeting in the classic Paleozoic rocks of the North American 
Midcontinent.

THE ABSTRACT DEADLINE IS JANUARY 23, 2007. Further information about the 
meeting and abstract submission are available on the conference website at: 
<http://www.geosociety.org/sectdiv/Northc/07nc-scmtg.htm>.  Please contact 
me if I can be of any assistance.

I hope to see you in Lawrence!

Best wishes,
Alycia Stigall
2006-2007 North-Central Session Chair for the Paleontological Society


SYMPOSIA
1. Roger L. Kaesler  Scientist and Editor: His contributions to 
paleontology through research and the Treatise on Invertebrate 
Paleontology, Jessica Cundiff (Harvard) and Bruce S. Lieberman (Univ. 
Kansas).  Roger Kaesler has had a long and illustrious career as a 
paleontologist at the University of Kansas; he recently announced his 
retirement after more than 40 years of work there.  This symposium will 
focus on his paleontological studies, which spanned the Phanerozoic and 
focused on evolutionary and ecological patterns in ostracods.  In 
particular, he was among the pioneers in the use of morphometrics and 
multivariate statistics to study fossils, and he also used geochemical 
techniques.  His contributions to paleontology as an editor of the Treatise 
on Invertebrate Paleontology are extremely important (for these he recently 
received GSA's Distinguished Service Medal) and will also be the subject of 
this symposium.

2. Mixed-Up Conodonts:  Extracting Useful Information and Solving Geologic 
Puzzles Using Stratigraphic Leaks and Redeposited Faunas, James Miller 
(Missouri State University) and Stephen Leslie (Univ.of Arkansas at Little 
Rock), also sponsored by the Pander Society. The session theme will stress 
the special geological information that can be extracted from conodonts 
that were deposited, eroded, and redeposited into younger strata.  Examples 
could be from strata above unconformities, karst deposits, turbidites and 
debris-slides, and deposits associated with impact structures.  However, 
papers dealing with any topic related to conodont research are welcome.

THEME SESSIONS

1. Fossils and Modern Analogs: Using Modern Organisms to Improve 
Paleontological Interpretations, Daniel I. Hembree (Ohio Univ.), Brian F. 
Platt (Univ. Kansas), Jon J. Smith (Univ. Kansas). The study of modern 
organisms is invaluable to the understanding of ancient life and 
ecosystems.  Modern analog studies allow paleontologists to assess a range 
of questions from the behavioral and environmental significance of 
ichnofossils to the locomotion styles of vertebrates.  This session will 
cover a broad range of experimental research of modern organisms and their 
application to paleontologic problems.  Topics include organism-substrate 
interactions, taphonomy, morphology, organism behavior, functional 
morphology, biomechanics, and kinematics.

2. Paleontologic Deviates:  Taphonomy versus Pathology, Bruce Rothschild 
(NE Ohio Univ. College of Medicine) and Larry D. Martin (Univ. Kansas). The 
characteristics we utilize to distinguish species must be interpreted in 
light of normal variation, taphonomic influences and pathologic 
alterations.  Some pathologies may even represent species 'identifiers,' 
given their selective high frequency.  This program addresses 
fossilization, invertebrate and vertebrate paleopathology and taphonomic 
processes.

3. Sequence Stratigraphy and Biostratigraphy of Pennsylvanian-Lower Permian 
Cyclothems in the North American Midcontinent, Gregory P. Wahlman (BP) and 
Philip H. Heckel (Univ. Iowa).  This session will present recent 
developments and advances in sequence stratigraphic and biostratigraphic 
analyses of the classic Pennsylvanian-Lower Permian cyclothems of the North 
American midcontinent. It will further provide the opportunity to integrate 
the new information into a more comprehensive picture of the stratigraphic 
history and correlation of the cyclothems, and to observe and compare the 
effects of high frequency sealevel fluctuations on the evolution and 
distribution of various fossil groups.

4. Systematic Paleontology in the 21st century: Analyzing evolution, 
diversity, and beyond, Alycia L. Stigall (Ohio Univ.) Specimen-based 
research provides the framework for theoretical advances in paleontology. 
This session will emphasize modern uses of specimen-based data for 
analyzing evolutionary patterns in the history of life including 
phylogenetics, morphometrics, biogeography and diversity studies.

5. Traces of Life: Micro- to Macroscopic Evidence of Past and Present 
Biogenic Activity and their Implications for Marine and Continental 
Settings, Stephen T. Hasiotis, Jennifer A. Roberts, and David Fowle (Univ. 
Kansas) Ichnofossils preserve a range of behaviors produced by organisms 
from microbes to plants and animals (including humans), resulting in 
borings, stromatolites, root patterns, tracks and trails, burrows, and 
nests in continental and marine deposits.  These vestiges preserve evidence 
for biotic occurrences that otherwise are not represented by body fossils 
for those rocks or period of time.  The ichnofossils also provide insights 
into the nature of organism-media interactions and processes in the 
physicochemical environment in which they were generated.  We look for 
submissions that use microbial to human behavioral data to address 
questions pertaining to biodiversity, taphonomy, environment, soil 
formation, ecology, hydrology, and climate in the geologic record.

6. Strategies for Success in Bridging the Gap between Culture, Religion, 
and Science in the Geoscience Classroom, Sadredin C. Moosavi (Walden Univ.) 
and Elizabeth Heise (Univ. Texas, Brownsville).

7. The Legacy of Raymond Cecil Moore (1892-1974): The 20th Century's 
Paleontologist-Stratigrapher Laureate, Daniel F. Merriam and Paul Enos 
(Univ. Kansas).

FIELD TRIPS

1. Sequence Stratigraphy, Biostratigraphy, and Chronostratigraphy  of  the 
Virgilian Stage, northern Midcontinent.  April 9-10, Darwin Boardman 
(Oklahoma State Univ.) In addition to the  sequence stratigraphic analysis 
of the Virgilian Stage, this field  trip will examine the 
Missourian-Virgilian boundary and it  relationship with the global 
Kasimovian-Gzhelian boundary based on  conodonts, fusulinids, and 
ammonoids.  Additionally, the field trip  will focus on the often proposed 
need for further subdivision of the  Gzhelian to include an  upper 
Bursumian (Orenburgian).  The field  trip will start on April 8 in 
Lawrence, Kansas and end up in Lawrence  on April 11.

2. The Weaubleau and Decaturville Impact Structures in West-Central 
Missouri:  Sorting Out Their Ages Using Redeposited Conodonts and Crinoids 
in Breccias, April 13-14, James Miller and Kevin Evans (Missouri State 
Univ.), also sponsored by the Pander Society.  Visit undisturbed Lower 
Ordovician and Mississippian deposits near Osceola and Humansville, 
megabreccias and marine resurge breccias associated with the Weaubleau 
Impact Structure, and fallback breccias associated with the Decaturville 
Impact Structure.  Trip emphasizes conodonts and other fossils found in 
impact-related breccias and age of impacts.

SHORT COURSE

Recognizing Continental Trace Fossils in Outcrop and Core, April 14, 
Stephen T. Hasiotis (Univ. Kansas) also sponsored by SEPM. We discuss 
fundamental concepts of continental ichnology by examining lifecycles of 
organisms in modern depositional systems.  We discuss shortcomings in the 
current philosophy of ichnology, andelaborate on differences between 
continental and marine organisms and resultant traces.  Examples of modern 
and ancient trace-making organisms and their traces will be used to 
illustrate how the controls on behavior and distribution of continental 
organisms can be applied to define continental environments.  An 
ichnological framework for continental systems is presented that is based 
on analogy to specific environmental controls operating in modern 
terrestrial and freshwater environments.  Modern and ancient trace fossils 
in hand samples and rock-sectioned specimens will be used to facilitate 
learning.



***************************
Alycia L. Stigall
Assistant Professor
Department of Geological Sciences
Ohio University
316 Clippinger Laboratories
Athens, Ohio 45701
(740) 593-0393
stigall at ohio.edu
http://oak.cats.ohiou.edu/~stigall/
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: text/enriched
Size: 9022 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <https://lists.paleonet.org/pipermail/paleonet/attachments/20070101/5768fd3c/attachment.bin>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://lists.paleonet.org/pipermail/paleonet/attachments/20070101/5768fd3c/attachment.htm>


More information about the Paleonet mailing list