1 INTERNATIONAL UNION OF GEOLOGICAL SCIENCES INTERNATIONAL COMMISSION ON STRATIGRAPHY CHAIR Prof. Felix M. GRADSTEIN, Museum of Natural History, Univ. Oslo, P.O.Box 1172 Blindern, N-0318 OSLO, NORWAY TEL +47-22-851663 office; +47-67-540966 home; FAX +47-22-851832; E-mail: [email protected] VICE-CHAIR Prof. Stanley FINNEY, Dept. Geological Sciences, Long Beach, CA 90840, USA TEL +1-562-985-8637 office; FAX +1-562-985-8638; E-mail: [email protected] SECRETARY-GENERAL Prof. James OGG, Dept. Earth & Atmos. Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907-1397 TEL +1-765-494-8681 office; +1-765-743-0400 home; FAX +1-765-496-1210; E-mail: [email protected] ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ International Union of Geological Sciences International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS) CONSOLIDATED ANNUAL REPORT FOR 2004 Compiled by Felix M. Gradstein, chair, and James G. Ogg, secretary-general of ICS This Consolidated Annual Report of 2004 ICS has several portions: • The executive summary, with two main parts: • Items 1 - 8 summarize the current goals and scientific activities of the Commission and its component Subcommissions. • Items 9 - 13 detail the plans for 2005 and associated budget, and a multi-year overview of achievements and future goals. • An updated list of officers of all ICS subcommissions • The detailed reports of each individual Subcommission. 2 International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS) 1. TITLE OF CONSTITUENT BODY International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS) Submitted Jointly by: Felix GRADSTEIN [ICS Chair] Museum of Natural History, University of Oslo P.O. Box 1172 Blindern, N-0318 Oslo, Norway Tel: 47-22-851663 (home tel. 47-67-540966); Fax: 47-22-851832; E-mail: [email protected] James OGG [ICS Secretary-General] Dept. Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, 47907-1397, USA. Tel: 1-765-494-8681 (off.), 1-765-494-0257 (lab); Fax: 1-765-496-1210, Home tel: 1-765-743-0400; e-mail: [email protected] December, 2004 2. OVERALL OBJECTIVES, AND FIT WITHIN IUGS SCIENCE POLICY The International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS) is a body of expert stratigraphers founded for the purpose of promoting and coordinating long-term international cooperation and establishing standards in stratigraphy. Its principal objectives are: (a) Establishment and publication of a standard global stratigraphic time scale and the preparation and publication of global correlation charts, with explanatory notes. (b) Compilation and maintenance of a stratigraphic data base center for the global earth sciences. (c) Unification of regional chronostratigraphic nomenclature by organizing and documenting stratigraphic units on a global database. (d) Promotion of education in stratigraphic methods, and the dissemination of stratigraphic knowledge. (e) Evaluation of new stratigraphic methods and their integration into a multidisciplinary stratigraphy. (f) Definition of principles of stratigraphic classification, terminology and procedure and their publication in guides and glossaries. Fit within IUGS Science Policy The objectives satisfy the IUGS mandates of: • Fostering international agreement on nomenclature and classification in stratigraphy • Facilitating international co-operation in geological research • Improving publication, dissemination, and use of geological information internationally • Encouraging new relationships between and among disciplines of science that relate to geology world-wide 3 • Attracting competent students and research workers to the discipline • Fostering an increased awareness among individual scientists worldwide of what related programs are being undertaken. In particular, the current objectives of ICS relate to three main aspects of IUGS policy: (a) Development of an internationally agreed scale of chronostratigraphic units, fully defined by Global Stratotype Sections and Points (GSSPs) where appropriate and related to a hierarchy of units to maximize resolution throughout geological time. (b) Promotion of international consensus on stratigraphic classification and terminology, which is essential for advancement of earth-science research and education. (c) Establishment of frameworks and systems to encourage international collaboration in understanding the evolution of the Earth. 3. ORGANIZATION ICS is organized in two types of constituent bodies: Subcommissions for longer-term study, and Committees for more limited, shorter-term tasks. ICS is managed by the Executive Committee, which consists of elected and appointed officers. The year 2004 structure of ICS consists of the Executive Committee, an executive task group (Stratigraphic Information Services), and 14 Subcommissions dealing with the major chronostratigraphic units, and aspects of stratigraphic classification and time scales. The reports of each Subcommission are appended to this ICS summary compilation. Subcommissions: Quaternary Neogene Paleogene Cretaceous Jurassic Triassic Permian Carboniferous Devonian Silurian Ordovician Cambrian Ediacaran Precambrian (organized 2003) Stratigraphic Classification Executive Task Group: Stratigraphic Information Services The subcommissions of ICS together have about 350 titular members. When the corresponding members of Subcommissions are added, several thousand stratigraphers worldwide participate in the activities of ICS. In addition, many countries have national stratigraphic committees, with which ICS tries to establish or maintain contacts. The members of the Full Commission (i.e. the 3 members of the Executive + webmaster and the officers of the 15 Subcommissions and task group) come from 21 countries: Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, Great Britain, Ireland, Italy, Morocco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Romania, Russia, Spain, Sweden, and USA. The voting memberships of the aggregate subcommissions include at least 30 more nations. Websites: ICS main site www.stratigraphy.org Quaternary www.quaternary.stratigraphy.org.uk Neogene www.geo.uu.nl/sns Paleogene wzar.unizar.es/isps/index.htm Lutetian GSSP task group wzar.unizar.es/perso/emolina/ypresian.html Triassic paleo.cortland.edu/sts/ Albertiana newletter: www.bio.uu.nl/%7Epalaeo/Albertiana/Albertiana01.htm Permian (newsletter) pri.boisestate.edu/Permophiles/ Link to Permian research: www.geo.ucalgary.ca/asrg Devonian sds.uta.edu/ Silurian www.silurian.cn/home.asp Previous newsletters iago.stfx.ca/people/mmelchin/SILURIAN.HTM Ordovician www.ordovician.cn GSSP discussion site seis.natsci.csulb.edu/ordstrat2/default.htm Cambrian www.uni-wuerzburg.de/palaeontologie/ISCS/index.html Stratigraphic Classification www.geocities.com/issc_arg (commercial site) Stratigraphic Information Systems CHRONOS database network www.chronos.org (concept posted at:) www.eas.purdue.edu/chronos 3a. Elected ICS Officers for 2004-2008: (1) ICS Executive For election of the new executive (below), an independent nominating committee was organized by Roger Cooper (New Zealand), which solicited nominations for all ICS voting members for Chair and Vice Chair. The present Chair and one Vice-Chair were eligible and desiring to serve a second term. The nominating committee selected two candidates were selected for each office, then a postal ballot with statements from all candidates was sent by the present Secretary General to all ICS voting members. Winning candidates must receive at least 60% approval -- the voting was unanimous for Felix Gradstein to continue as Chair, and approximately 80% for Stan Finney to serve as Vice-Chair. The results were ratified by IUGS. The officer’s terms of office officially began at the International Geological Congress (Florence, Aug 2004), and will extend until the next IGC in Norway (Aug 2008). 5 Chair: Felix Gradstein (Oslo, Norway) is serving a second and last term Vice-Chair: Stanley Finney (California, USA) is serving a second and last term Secretary (appointed by Chair): James Ogg (Indiana, USA) The next IGC organizing committee will appoint a 4th executive (Vice-Chair at large) later this year. This officer’s role is primarily to assist the ICS and its subcommissions in organizing activities, promotion and field trips associated with that International Geological Congress. (2) ICS Subcommission officers All subcommissions had changes in their officers and memberships during 2004, with new chairs being selected for the majority. Those subcommissions with re-elected chairs who will serve a second (and last) term are: Quaternary, Jurassic, Carboniferous, Silurian, Precambrian and Stratigraphic Classification. A full listing of all officers (with addresses, telephones, e-mails) is at the end of this main ICS report. The individual subcommission reports include a listing of all voting members (typically 20 in each subcommission). 4. EXTENT OF NATIONAL/REGIONAL/GLOBAL SUPPORT FROM SOURCES OTHER THAN IUGS Only a few of the subcommissions have formal financial contributions from external sources other than IUGS (through ICS), and these are listed in the individual reports. Some activities that are associated with ICS goals, such distributing charts of the Geologic Time Scale 2004 and placing this information onto public websites, receive some support from petroleum companies (e.g., GTS2004 chart printing) and the National Science Foundation of USA through its CHRONOS database consortium funding. Informally, every officer and member of ICS donates their own time, office space,