BSRG Annual General Meeting - NOCS 2010

The 49th British Sedimentological Research Group (BSRG) Annual Meeting was held at the National Oceanography Centre, Southampton from 19-21 Dec 2010. The convenor was Russell Wynn of NOCS, supported by Vikki Gunn and Jane Goswell. From 150 registrants there was an 80% attendance rate, which is a fantastic effort given the various travel and health problems that people had to overcome (mostly due to snow and flu). About half of the registrants were postgraduate students, with 40% academic researchers and 10% industry geoscientists.

The first day (19 Dec) comprised a field trip to examine the Wealden Group of the Isle of Wight, led by Jim Hendry, Gary Nichols, Steve Sweetman, Dave Martill and Arjan Reesink. Despite icy roads and cold temperatures, a good time was had by all attendees. There was also a core workshop at NOCS, looking at modern deep-water cores stored at the British Ocean Sediment Core Facility (BOSCORF). This was led by Russell Wynn, with assistance from Doug Masson, James Hunt, Chris Stevenson and Giuseppe Malgesini. An icebreaker reception at NOCS in the evening was a good way to end the day, with guest speakers Phil Weaver (NOCS), Gill Apps (BP Houston) and Jeff Peakall (Leeds) providing introspective and highly entertaining talks on various aspects of sedimentology.

The next two days comprised a series of talks and poster sessions, including 15 keynote speakers from the UK, Ireland and Canada. Financial support for keynote speakers was provided by a number of BSRG sponsors, including BG Group, BP, ExxonMobil, Maersk Oil, Marine Studies Group, Rocksource and Shell. Oral sessions included 1) Deep-water processes, 2) Shallow-water and coastal processes, 3) Fluvial processes, 4) Glacial processes, 5) Sedimentary processes, 6) Tectonic and climatic influences, 7) Carbonate and diagenesis and 8) Oil and gas. The abstract book (download pdf here) gives a fuller flavour of the meeting's contents. The conference dinner was held at Beaulieu Abbey in the New Forest.

Russell Wynn

Go to the conference website.