Congratulations on success of the 1st International Palaeogeography Conference

During September 14-17, 2013, the 1stInternational Palaeogeography Conference (IPC)was successfully held by China University of Petroleum (Beijing)(CUP), in Beijing, China.

Sponsors were: China University of Petroleum (Beijing); Editorial Committee ofJournal of Palaeogeography(JoP);Lithofacies Palaeogeography Committee of the Chinese Society for Mineralogy, Petrology and Geochemistry; Petroleum Geology Committee of the Chinese Society for Petroleum; China University of Petroleum (East China); China University of Mining and Technology (Beijing); China University of Geosciences (Beijing); China University of Geosciences (Wuhan); Yangtze University; China National Petroleum Corporation; China Petroleum and Chemical Corporation; China National Offshore Oil Corporation; and Shengli Oilfield Company, China Petroleum and Chemical Corporation.

A total of 109 registered palaeogeographers and experts of related disciplines participated in this conference.They came from Ireland, the UK, Poland, the Netherlands, Germany, France, India, Australia, the USA and China.Sixteen participants came from abroad and ninety-three participants were from China.Additional participants included the staff from the Editorial Office ofJoPas well as over eighty students from the CUP.

Group photo of all attendees of the 1st International Palaeogeography Conference The first row (from left): Dechin Wang, Subir Sarkar, Xia Wang, Markus Aretz, De-Chen Su, Adam D.Woods,Luo-Fu Liu, Tadeusz Peryt, Shou-Ren Yang, Gerhard H.Bachmann, A.J.(Tom)van Loon, Ben-Pei Liu,Poppe L.de Boer, Xiong-Qi Pang, Zeng-Zhao Feng, Ian D.Somerville, Zhong-Qiang Chen, Franz T.Fürsich,Xiu-Qi Fang, Steve Kershaw, Li Guo, Bin Hu, Santanu Banerjee, You-Bin He, Wan Yang, Long-Yi Shao, Ya-Sheng Wu

Professor Xiong-Qi Pang,the Vice President ofChina University of Petroleum (Beijing)

The Opening Ceremony of the 1stIPC was held in the morning of September 14th, chaired by Professor Luo-Fu Liu.

Professor Xiong-Qi Pang (the Vice President of CUP)delivered a welcome speech on behalf of the Organizing Committee of the 1stIPC and the CUP.He expressed the warmest welcome towards all attendees.He stated the important scientific significance of palaeogeographic research and its implication in the exploration and development of natural resources.He said, “China University of Petroleum (Beijing)is the highest institution of petroleum and petrochemical in China; it is one of the characteristic professional universities among over 2000 universities in China”.“At this 60thanniversary, CUP was greatly proud to organize and hold this grand conference and invite first-class international scholars and experts to exchange their scientific research results”.

Professor Zeng-Zhao Feng (Professor of the CUP and the Editor-in-Chief ofJoP)delivered an opening speech.First, he sincerely welcomed all attendees of the conference, on behalf of the Preparation Committee for the 1stIPC,all Sponsors, and the Editorial Committee ofJoP.He mainly demonstrated the three aims and two characteristics of this conference.The three aims are:(1)to celebrate the 60thanniversary of the CUP; (2)to organize high-quality academic papers for theJoP; and (3)to promote development and innovation within international palaeogeography.The two characteristics are: (1)Fulltext manuscripts are required for submission of abstracts to the conference.Only authors who have submitted fulltext manuscripts, or have committed to submit them after the conference, were permitted to make an oral presentation at our conference.It is conformed to the principle “fewer but better”.(2)The Abstracts, Program, Forewords of mid-conference and post-conference field excursions,and the name cards of Chinese attendees, are both in English and in Chinese.This is beneficial to all attendees from China and overseas as well as readers of abstracts from the conference.This demonstrates the international nature of the conference that was organized by Chinese, and is trying to gradually make Chinese an international language.

Professor Poppe L.de Boer (Chairman of the International Association of Sedimentologists (IAS))and Associate Professor Adam D.Woods (the Associate Editorin-Chief of Editorial Committee ofJoP)addressed the audience in attendance and expressed their congratulations to this conference at the opening ceremony, respectively.

Professor Zeng-Zhao Feng,the Editor-in-Chief of Editorial Committee of Journal of Palaeogeography

Associate Editors-in-Chief Adam D.Woods,Ian D.Somerville, A.J.(Tom)van Loon (from left)concentrating on the lecture.

Attendees enjoying the lecture, and proposing positive suggestions or questions.(Questioner: Professor Long-Yi Shao)

Four winners (*)of the Awards for the Best Presentations by Young Scientists/Students and the participant experts From left: Adam D.Woods, A.J.(Tom)van Loon, Ben-Pei Liu, Ian D.Somerville, Gerhard H.Bachmann,Zeng-Zhao Feng, Zhong-Qiang Chen, Meng Li *, Markus Aretz, Jin-Xiong Luo *, Tadeusz Peryt, Xia Zhang *,Shun-Li Li *, Poppe L.de Boer, Franz T.Fürsich, Santanu Banerjee, Steve Kershaw, Zhi-Dong Bao

The Awards for the Best Presentations by Young Scientists/Students were awarded to four young attendees (among nine applicants)after a thorough assessment of the scientific significance of the study presented and the style in which they presented their materials.The affiliations of the four winners and their manuscript titles are:

Xia Zhang,Nanjing University.Sealing mechanism for cap beds of shallow-biogenic gas reservoirs in the Qiantang River incised valley,China.

Shun-Li Li,China University of Geosciences(Beijing),and University of Texas at Austin.Jurassic sedimentary evolution of southern Junggar Basin—Implication for palaeoclimate changes in northern Xinjiang,NW China.

Meng Li,China University of Petroleum(Beijing).Type,origin and hydrocarbon potential of the Lower Paleozoic dolostones in Tarim Basin,NW China.

Jin-Xiong Luo,Yangtze University.Lithofacies palaeogeography of the Late Permian Wujiaping Age in Middle and Upper Yangtze Region,China.

The above four winners were awarded the certificates and prizes.The prizes included: the newly publishedSedimentology of China(Second Edition), donated by Professor Zeng-Zhao Feng; some monographs of the IAS, donated by Professor Poppe L.de Boer;Caledonian-Early Hercynian sedimentary geology research of North Qilian orogenic belt(in Chinese), donated by Professor Yuan-Sheng Du;Geologica Belgica, donated by Professor Markus Aretz; and all five issues ofJoPpublished thus far, donated by theJoPEditorial Office.

It should be mentioned here that all young lecturers had carried out excellent researches and delivered high-quality papers.Palaeogeography is flourishing and has no lack of successors.

In the evening of September 16th, Professor Zeng-Zhao Feng chaired a joint meeting of the Scientific Committee and the Editorial Committee ofJoP.The attendees evaluated both the conference and the issues ofJoPthat had been published thus far.They discussed in detail the development ofJoP, and proposed quite a few reasonable suggestions.Professor Zeng-Zhao Feng expressed his appreciation for all these suggestions.

The Closing Ceremony was held in the afternoon of September 17th, chaired by Professor Zhi-Dong Bao (the Editorin-Chief ofJoP).Professor Poppe L.de Boer, Professor Gerhard H.Bachmann, Professor Ben-Pei Liu (China Universityof Geosciences (Beijing)), and Associate Professor Ben-Zhong Xian (CUP)commented on this conference.

Five mid- and post-conference field excursions were arranged, which were all highly commented on by the attendees.The participants were astonished by the abundant and spectacular geological phenomena during the excursions.

Professors Steve Kershaw (left)and Zeng-Zhao Feng (right)discussing phenomena within Cambrian-Ordovician carbonate rocks at Xiaweidian Section,Beijing.

A group photo was taken in the post-conference field excursion to the Proterozoic of the Jixian Section, Jixian County, Tianjin.Front (from left): Jiang-Hai Yang, Hu Huang, Santanu Banerjee;Back (from left): Hua Guo, Adam D.Woods, Huai-Kun Li, Steve Kershaw, Subir Sarkar,Poppe L.de Boer, Gargi Banerjee, Shi-Xing Zhu, Jayasri Sarkar, Bing-Wei Chen, Jin-Ying Lu

The Scientific Committee of the conference discussed and decided that the 2ndInternational Palaeogeography Conference will be held in October, 2015, in Beijing, and will be hosted by the China University of Mining and Technology(Beijing)(CUMTB).

Please look for further information, and please feel welcome to attend the 2ndInternational Palaeogeography Conference.