IGCP 652

Major events punctuated the Paleozoic: ecological crises and diversifications, shifts in ocean chemistry, climatic changes, etc. One of the key-obstacles in understanding these events lays in the difficulty of providing precise estimates of the duration represented by a sequence of Paleozoic sedimentary rocks. This lack of temporal precision severely hampers the evaluation of forcing mechanisms and rates of climatic, ecological or biogeochemical changes in the Paleozoic. It is therefore essential to first improve the Paleozoic timescale to then unravel the history of the Paleozoic Earth system.

Cyclostratigraphy is a powerful chronometer, based on the detection of the Milankovitch cycles in the sedimentary record. Those cycles result from periodic variations in the Earth-Sun system, affecting the distribution of solar energy over the Planet influencing Earth’s climate on time scales between 104 and 106 years. Through the integration of this astronomical time scale with biostratigraphy and radio-isotopic dating, this project intends to document the environmental evolution during the Paleozoic with a focus on the Ordovician to Devonian (485 – 359 million years). It gathers participants (> 200) from all over the world (36 countries) and promotes the participation of young scientists and scientists from developing countries.

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IGCP 653

The ‘Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event’ (GOBE) comprises the rapid diversification of marine organisms during the Ordovician Period. It is now clear that this adaptive radiation started for some organisms already in the late Cambrian and continued for others beyond the end of the Ordovician, making the GOBE the sum of a number of diversifications that completely modified marine food webs and that, for the first time in geological times, established modern marine ecosystems. The project focuses on interdisciplinary investigations, including case studies from international sites, involving specialists from the fields of palaeontology, sedimentology, stratigraphy, geochemistry, palaeooceanography, palaeoclimatology, etc., in collaboration with the Subcommission on Ordovician Stratigraphy (SOS). The results of the project will contribute to the understanding of the triggering causes of the establishment of modern marine ecosystems, but also to the identification of the reasons of the first collapse of these environments during the Late Ordovician mass extinction. The project will involve scientists from all over the world, and through the organization of dedicated workshops, will integrate graduate and doctoral students, in particular from developing countries.

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Société Géologique de France

L’Association, dite Société Géologique de France (SGF), reconnue d’utilité publique, a pour objet de concourir au développement des Sciences de la Terre et des Planètes, tant en lui-même que dans ses rapports avec l’industrie, l’agriculture, l’environnement et l’éducation.

La Société porte une attention particulière à :

• une meilleure représentativité et défense des disciplines et professionnels des Sciences de la Terre auprès des pouvoirs publics ;

• la promotion des métiers vers les jeunes et les milieux professionnels ;

• la diffusion des connaissances dans les différents domaines des Sciences de la Terre.

Pour ce faire, les moyens d’action de la Société sont l’organisation de réunions scientifiques, de débats et conférences ; la réalisation et l’édition de publications ; la distribution d’encouragements et de prix et la création de fondations. La société gère une bibliothèque mise à la disposition de ses adhérents.

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