XVI INQUA Congress News Release
'Shaping the Earth: A Quaternary Perspective'

Contacts: John Doherty, DRI PIO John.Doherty@dri.edu
Reno: 775-673-7313 Las Vegas: 702-862-5414

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July 8, 2003

Leading global scientists convene in Reno to discuss the latest research concerning the development of the Earth's Surface during last 2 million years, and what it can reveal about the future.

RENO, Nev. — Some 1,100 leading scientists from around the world who study geologic formations, climate, environmental changes and human interaction on Earth over the last 2 million years will gather here later this month. Members of the International Union for Quaternary Research—called INQUA—meet every four years to share the latest findings in wide-ranging fields of scientific inquiry including anthropology, climatology, geochronology, geography, geology, glaciology, isotope geochemistry, palaeoceanography, palaeoecology, paleontology, palynology and soil science.

The XVI INQUA Congress will convene July 23 and run through July 30. A public forum roundtable slated for Monday, July 28, will feature novelist Jean Auel, author of best-selling novel "Clan of the Cave Bear"; Wall Street Journal Science Columnist Sharon Begley; Mary Bruns, director of the Center for Anthropology and Science Communications and others will discuss how science can be successfully communicated to the general public.

Nearly 100 technical and plenary sessions will span the globe and represent a broad cross-section of scientific research--from megafloods in the Taupo volcanic zone in New Zealand, to glaciers in the Japanese Alps, to the landforms in the Lower Mekong River Plain in Cambodia. Discussions will consider the implications of the three-fold increase in the Earth's population since INQUA was founded in 1928, and will consider if humanity is the most significant cause of global change. Other speakers will examine the increasing debate over the validity of the long-held Bering Straight landbridge emigration hyphothesis for the peopling of North America.

INQUA, the International Union for Quaternary Research, was founded as a professional society in 1928 by a group of scientists seeking to improve understanding of environmental change during the glacial ages through interdisciplinary research of the Quaternary (pronounced kwa-TERN-ary) Period in Earth’s history. Today, more than 35 member countries, spread throughout the world, contribute to INQUA's vitality.

INQUA's basic goal—promoting improved communication and international collaboration in basic and applied aspects of Quaternary research—is achieved mainly through the activities of its commissions and committees. Spanning about the last 2 million years of the Earth’s history, the Quaternary Period was marked by dramatic and frequent changes in global climate. Warm interglacial periods alternated with cold ice ages. Today, Earth is entering a time of unusually warm climate. Significant and potentially rapid environmental changes could pose major challenges for human habitation.

The Desert Research Institute, the environmental research division of the University and Community College System of Nevada, is the host organization and a sponsor of the XVI INQUA Congress, with direct administrative support from the DRI Division of Earth and Ecosystem Sciences. Other major sponsors include INQUA, the Geological Society of America and Gateway Computers.