BSRG Annual General Meeting - Bangor 2009

The Annual General Meeting of the British Sedimentological Research Group (BSRG) was held at Bangor University just before Christmas 2009. One hundred and twenty two students, academic scientists, and industry representatives participated in a successful three-day programme of scientific lectures, field excursions and poster presentations. The conference was kindly sponsored by BG Group, BP, Fugro-Robertson, PESGB, Petrog, RockSource, Shell and the College of Natural Sciences of Bangor University.

Deep-water processes and environments dominated the technical programme, showing where priorities have been in science and academia in recent years. Yet, delegates from other fields of sedimentology also presented highly interesting new data, with sessions on continental and shallow-marine environments; tectonics, diagenesis and sediment routing; process modelling; stratigraphy and sedimentary architecture; climate change; and CO2 release and sequestration. This wide range of topics shows the increasingly multidisciplinary nature of BSRG-related research, and is testament to the importance of sediment and sedimentary rock in our society.

It was cold and windy during the excursions to Cwm Idwal in Snowdonia National Park (led by Prof. James Scourse from the Bangor School of Ocean Sciences) and to Palaeozoic outcrops on the Isle of Anglesey (led by Rob Crossley from Fugro-Robertson), but the superb quality of the geology at both these locations made the visits worthwhile. Prof. Scourse guided the participants past Ordovician volcanic and shallow-marine sedimentary rocks and a variety of Quaternary glacial phenomena, while Rob Crossley cherry picked carbonates, alluvial conglomerates and subaqueous volcaniclastics from the rich geology of Ynys Môn, the Welsh name of Anglesey.

The BSRG2009 conference attracted a considerable number of delegates from outside the UK, with Norway topping the list, closely followed by Germany and Ireland. There were even participants who travelled all the way from North America and New Zealand to Northwest Wales.

Download the Program and Abstracts Volume.