CH-QUAT: Schweizerische Gesellschaft für Quartärforschung

Zusammenfassung

The Swiss Society for Quaternary Research (CH-QUAT) is an interface for scientists and professionals from different research and applied fields dealing with the Quaternary period (the last 2.6 Ma of Earth History), in particular the aspects concerning humans, the environment and climate. At our annual meetings and excursions, we offer a platform to promote an exchange of knowledge, ideas and contacts between students, scientists, professionals from both governmental institutions and private companies and the greater public. In winter 2018, the annual meeting took place in the Institute of Geological Sciences at the University of Bern and focused on interdisciplinary issues with the theme "Natural Hazards". In the summer of 2018, we took an excursion through "Ötzi-land". During the year, we supported students and early stage researches (ESR) in their research fields to present their results at different conferences and encouraged them to contribute to the CH-QUAT session at the 16^thSwiss Geoscience Meeting in Bern.  

Tagungen / Kurse

1. The annual meeting and general assembly of CH-QUAT took place on Saturday 17.3.2018, at the Institute if Geological Sciences at the University of Bernfocusing on interdisciplinary issues with the theme "Natural Hazards". The program featured a series of invited speakers presenting a variety of natural disasters topics and their effects as well as the importance of geological communications with the public through outreach events. In addition, students (BSc/MSc/PhD) and young scientists presented their ongoing research in a poster session.

2. At the 16^thSwiss Geoscience Meeting 2018 in Bern on November 30^thto December 1^st, CH-QUAT had an open session with the topic "Quaternary environments: landscapes, climate, ecosystems, human activity during the past 2.6 million years". A total of 14 talks were given and 34 posters were presented during this session. 

Internationale Aktivitäten

The CH-QUAT has a substantial number of members from abroad and is strongly networking on an international level. We maintained contact with partner organisations in neighbouring countries by supporting, participating and co-organising different international events. Activities where board members and members also participated include the "10^thInternational Geochronology Summer School" in Klosters Dorf from 2^nd- 7^thSeptember 2018 organized by the University of Zürich and the Eidgenössische Forschungsanstalt Wald, Schnee und Landschaft (WSL). In addition, the session organized by CH-QUAT at the Swiss Geosciences Meeting, which is regularly attended by many international participants, promoted further international exchange and networking possibilities. CH- QUAT also supported students in fieldwork, conferences and workshops that endorse international networking.

Nachwuchsförderung

In 2018, five students were financially supported by CH-QUAT for their fieldwork and their active participation at different conferences or workshops. The balanced number of women and men we could support is satisfying. For more detail about their ongoing work, please consult our homepage (https://naturwissenschaften.ch/organisations/ch-quat/support/2018_).

LacCore Continental Scientific Drilling Summer School at the University of Minnesota:

• Ronald Lloren(PhD Thesis at the Department of Earth Sciences, ETH Zürich, Switzerland and EAWAG - Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology, Dubendorf, Switzerland) attended summer school to learn new coring techniques, sediment data analyses and management planning.

Fieldwork in the Schober Group Mountains in the Eastern Alps of Debant Valley:

• 10 Be Surface Exposure Dating and reconstruction of the glacial retreat in the Debant Valley (Eastern Alps), Austria in the Lateglacial and Holocene.Tanja Frei(Master's Thesis at the Department of Earth Sciences, ETH Zürich, Switzerland)

Fieldwork in the safety of aggregate mining in the gravel pit in the northern Alpine Foreland (Iff AG, Niederbipp):

• A geotechnical safety analysis in aggregate mining. Sibyl Rebmann(Master's Thesis at the Institute of Geological Sciences, Bern, Switzerland)

Arbeitsgruppe Alpenvorland - Quartär, May 10^th- 12^thBad Waldsee, Southern Germany:

• Revisit Deckenschotter sites as well as previously studied ones in order two produce knowledge on: (1) the timing of Early and Middle Pleistocene glaciations in the Alps; (2) patterns of erosion; and (3) the landscape evolution in the Northern Alpine Foreland. Catharina Dieleman(PhD Thesis at the Institute of Geological Sciences, Bern, Switzerland)

Workshop of Archaeological Soil Micromorphology - Brussels, Belgium August 1st - 3rd:

• Theoretical and practical experience with Micromorphology to presentThe Mithraeum at Kempraten (Rapperswil - Jona, Switzerland) - First results of a geoarchaeological study. Sarah Lo Russo(Master's Thesis in Prehistorical and Natural Archaeology, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland)

Forschungsunterstützende Informations- und Koordinationsaufgaben

CH-QUAT regularly informs its members about current events such as meetings, excursions, events from other associations or projects relative to national and international Quaternary research. It also provides a platform for the electronic exchange of information and coordinates external requests. In addition, the current and future events are continuously uploaded to our homepage on the SCNAT- portal.

Dialog mit der Gesellschaft

In order to bring science closer to the general public, CH-QUAT has supported the following events:

1. "Ice Age Panorama: Leben in der Schweiz vor 15 000 Jahren". Two members of CH-QUAT (Denise Leesch and Werner Müller) accomplished this project which was supported by the SNF (Agora). The aim of this project was to present the life of the former people of the Magdalenian during the end of the Ice Age closer to the public. The travelling exposition has been shown in various large commercial malls in different cities in Switzerland. Due to its wide spread support, the exhibit was also extended. CH-QUAT supports the publication of an accompanying booklet of the exposition that will be published in 2019.
2. CH - QUAT also established a twitter account, @ChQuat, in an effort to reach out to the public and support and promote the latest research and events related to the Quaternary.https://twitter.com/ChQuat

With our annual excursions, which are also open to a broad public, we try to bring the Quaternary closer to the people. This year the field trip brought us to the Alps in Unterengadin and South Tirol to see Özi the mountain man, where we had a great introduction to the Neolithic Foundation of the Rhine Valley