34 Conference reports

The 15th Caribbean Geological Conference Kingston, Jamaica June 29-July 2, 1998

Earth scientists with a professional interest in the Caribbean area have been meeting roughly every three years since December 1955 when they first got together in the paradise island of Antigua, now more than 40 years ago. The conference is organized by a Permanent Standing Committee PSC, a very casual type of organization that is conformed by the organizers of all previous conferences. The present chairman of the PSC, Dr Grenville Draper, has indicated that the Caribbean Conference is the longes t-l asting regional geological meeting in the area still active .

The 15th Conference, an outstanding anniversary by itself, was held in Kingston, Jamaica, at comfortable suites in the Le Meridien Jamaica Pegasus Hotel, from June 29th till July 2nd, chaired by Dr Trevor Jackson. from the University of West Indies Department of Geography and Geology. This is the second time that Jamaica hosted the conference, as the 3rd was held in Kingston back in 1962.

An important component of these events are the field trips, as well as special symposia. In thi s opportunity four field trips were organized as well as the final meeting of the UNESCO/lUGS IGCP Project 364 and the Landslide Hazard Workshop.

The Jamaican conference was attended by nearly a hundred geoscien­tists from the Caribbean (Jamaica, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago), the nearby continents (Canada, USA, Mexico, Venezuela) and Europe (Italy, Slovakia, England, Germany, Switz-erland and Denmark); underlining once more that the Caribbean has always interested scientists from broader geographical areas in the world.

It is difficult to review the nearly 100 scientific presentati ons given, both orals and posters, so I will refer here just to fe w of them with the unique purpose of giving you a taste of the meeting.

Quaternary Geology and Geohazards were heavil y covered in several sessions, with papers on mudflow, landslide and seismic risk. In this line. a remarkable effort to prevent the natural causes of death and damage due to unexpected volcanic eruption was the improved volcano eruption-forecasting program dubbed ERUPTION, presented by R.B. Trombley (swvrc@usa.net). Important discussion concerned landslide hazard, an unfortunate common cause of catastrophes in South America, Dominican Republic and even in Jamaica, where Kingston, for example, has grown toward the mountain area, a site of frequent landslides.

Basic science was also well covered during the meeting. Several papers described new invertebrate fossils and evaluated their impor­tance to improve our understanding of biodiversity, extinctions, pale­oenvironments , paleoclimates and paleogeography. R.W. Porter and his colleagues posted evidence of the unprecedented discovery of a Lower Eocene North American land vertebrate-a primitive rhinoc­eros-in the Greater Antilles. This finding has not only paleobiologi­cal implications, but also is a clear indication that western Jamaica was a t some time a land area ph ysically connected with North America. These new findings, within a heavily explored area, also underline the unquestionable need for continued research in basic geoscience.

Several papers about paleontology, stratigraphy, geochemistry and petrology of igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic rocks were presented within the scope of the IGCP Project 364 (Geological Correlation of Caribbean Ophiolites and Volcanic Arcs). An important contribution to improve the correlation of the Cretaceous sections in the Greater Antilles by means of rudists was presented by P. Skelton and R. Rojas. They found evidence of ?Hauterivian-to-Maastrichian-

Geoscience and Development No 6 May 2000

age limestone intercalations within the volcanic arc suites. Volcanic, plutonic and metamorphic rocks within the Greater Antilles where also the subject of geochemical comparison; and this was demon­strated by the presence of IAT, CA and HA volcanic arc series of Cretaceous age , while mostly CA and HA in those of Paleocene through Eocene age. This project had the last business meeting during the conference and the agreement was reached to publish the final report as part of the Caribbean Conference Transactions.

Some papers and posters were presented concerning Caribbean plate-tectonic evolution and related issues, and the new evidence is in many ways contradictory with the most widely accepted plate models. During the active and usually hot discussions, the concept was grown that a special workshop ought to be organized- Penrose Conference style-in order to present available and new hard data, discuss the implications of this information, review different ways of interpreting these results, and launch into the 21st century a coordinate Caribbean Plate Tectonic Research Project (CARIBP), probably under the UNESCO/IUGS-IGCP umbrella. The idea was discussed again during the business lunch by the Permanent Standing Committee, and M. Iturralde Vinent (Museo Nacional de Historia Natural, Obispo no. 6 1, Plaza de Armas, La Habana Vieja 10100, Cuba; mnhnc@ceniai. inf.cu; fax (537)-62 0353) was assigned the task of organizing the special workshop and preparing the project proposal. Those interest­ing in participating in both the workshop and CARIBP project are

. kindly requested to send a supporting letter and suggestions to me, the sooner the better.

Part of the scientific program of the meeting was the launch the book Jamaica Underground, edited by Alan G. Fincham (alanfinc@ zygote.hsc.usc.edu) and published by the University Press of UWI. This is the second revised and improved edition of this text, which contain a lot of useful information including history of exploration, biospeleology, hydrology, Jamaican karst geomorpholo.gy and a catalog to Jamaican caves with many maps and cross-sections.

One major task of the Permanent Standing Committee is to ensure the continuity of the conferences. For thi s reason, the idea was evaluated the proposal of having the year 200 I meeting in Costa Rica, located on one active edge of the Caribbean plate. Grenville Draper was named the PSC ambassador for Central America, in order to contact local geologists and create an organizing committee for the 16th conference. Back-up places selected for the conference were Barbados and Venezuela.

Concerning the Caribbean Conference Transactions, several important points were di scussed by the PSC. First, to give Dr T. Jackson the assignment of editing and publishing the Jamaican con­ference transactions, including a special section devoted to the IGCP 364 final results. Second, we learn that the transactions of the 14th Conference, held in Trinidad & Tobago, will be available August 1998. Contact Winston Ali (739, Quail Valley Drive, Palmiste, San Fernando, Trinidad, T & T; aliwvs@tstt.net.tt, or imceam s­ttinmar_mstmarOl _aliwm @texaco.com; fax 868-648-2519) organizer of that meeting, if you are interested in a copy, or if you attended the conference and your address has changed. Third , and of ex treme interest to all Caribbean geoscientists, is the great news that Fred Nagle (Depa1tment Geological Sciences, University of Miami, Coral Gable FL 33124; geology@umiami.ir.miami.edu; Fax 305-284-4258) is compiling a set of CDs with all the Conference transactions. Thank you Fred for this invaluable initiative.

An important output of the organizing committee for the 15th con­ference was the compilation of the UWI Mona #3 Contribution to Geology issue including an overview of Jamaican geology by G. Draper, field guides to the geology of eastern, central and southeast Jamaica, and the physical environment and geohazards in Kingston, St Andrew a nd StThomas, and a list of publications of the Department of Geology, UWI, Mona, 1961-1996 and the conference

Geoscience and Development No 6 May 2000

abstracts. This and other Jamaican publications are available upon request from Department of Geography and Geology, University of West Indies, Mona, Kingston 7, Jamaica.

In this kind of review, it is polite to remark that the conference was well organized and that business went smoothly. In thi s case, to report in such words would be unfaithful, because actually the organizing committee of the 15th Caribbean Geological Conference did much more. They chose an excellent location for the meeting, the support­ing team did a big job with audiovisuals and other issues, the presen­tations and posters ran according to the schedule, and every collateral ac tivi ty was organized with great care. A moment I will always remember is the taste of the strong Jamaican coffee, served free within every meeting room. But we also enjoy Kingston and its environs, and were delighted by the excellent Jamaican musical interlude interpreted by the University Singers.

Last, but not least, we learned a great deal participating in the field trips and through informal conversations with colleagues coming from different corners of our planet The 15th Caribbean Geological Conference is over, but the organizing committee now have to deal with the publication of the transactions. Thanks Trevor, Stephen and Ted, see you and all colleagues in Costa Rica in 2001.

Manuel A. lturralde-Vinent Permanent Standing Committee

Conference reports 35