International Symposium on Loess, soils and climate change in southern Eurasia

 International Symposium on Loess, soils and climate change in southern Eurasia Gorgan, Northern Iran, 15 – 19 October 2014, followed by Post-excursion to the Basin of Persepolis, Zagros Mountains, 20 – 22 October 2014.

The 5-day symposium will start with two days of conference including key-note lectures and scientific sessions on loess and climate change in southern Eurasia, the potential and degradation of loessderived soils and methods in loess research.

Three days of fieldtrips will be offered to the loess-covered foothills of Alborz Mountains, the so-called Iranian Loess Plateau and the alluvial plain of Gorgan River including the shore of the Caspian Sea. Due to a pronounced climatic gradient, the aeolian deposits, soils and vegetation cover are quite diverse in these forest or steppe landscapes.

A three-day post-excursion (20 – 22 October 2014) will be organised to the Basin of Persepolis located within the heartland of Persia, where we will visit interesting exposures in loess-like sediments, the beautiful city of Shiraz, and last not least, the famous palace of Persepolis.

Further information regarding the venue and topics of scientific sessions, abstract submission, accommodation and excursions will be published in the 2nd circular in January 2014.

The organizing committee include:

Eva Lehndorff (INRES-Soil Science, University of Bonn, Germany)

Martin Kehl (Institute of Geography, University of Cologne, Germany)

Farhad Khormali (Dep. of Soil Science, Gorgan University of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources, Iran)

Manfred Frechen (Leibniz Institute of Applied Geophysics, Hanover, Germany)

For further questions please contact: kehlm@uni-koeln.de; fkhormali@gau.ac.ir.

You may download the First Circular at this page below.