Alluvial Fans 2007 |
Scientific Meeting |
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Alluvial Fans 2007 |
Scientific Meeting |
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A Reminiscence
of Alluvial Fans 2003
at Sorbas, Spain
by
Gary Nichols
Department of Geology
Royal Holloway, University of London
www.gl.rhul.ac.uk/staff/gjn.html
(from a report to his department; used with permission)
| It probably
did not escape everyone's notice that I contrived to
be on leave of absence during June [2003] whilst there were
important events in the departmental calendar such as
examiners' meetings, unloading of a truck from Luton, and
so on. Blame lies with the convenors of an international
meeting on Alluvial Fans who invited me to give a keynote
address and run a field trip after the conference. I
thought long and hard before accepting the invite
(possibly over 30 seconds), given that it meant spending
the 4 days of the conference in southern Spain and the
field trip in the Spanish Pyrenees – I knew it was
going to be tough. The conference itself was held in a small village in Almeria Province (Sorbas, for those who know the area), utilising the local cinema as a conference hall, the village square for poster sessions and a bar for coffee breaks and lunches. With just over 50 delegates from 10 countries around the world in such a setting, the tone of the conference was inevitably informal, assisted by having two of the conference days out in the field looking at recent alluvial fans (in the Tabernas and Cabo de Gata areas for Almeria aficionados). In terms of effectiveness of exchange of ideas and the opportunity to discuss science, this was probably the best conference I have ever been to: it confirmed my view that small, focussed, informal conferences knock the socks off mega-jamborees with multiple parallel sessions and thousands of delegates held at great expense in professional conference venues. It has to be admitted, though, that the accommodation at a farm and field centre a couple of kilometres out of Sorbas contributed to my enjoyment by virtue of the bar open to somewhat later in the morning than I would care to say (even if I could remember). |
So what was
so good about this meeting? The delegates were a mixture
of people from different disciplines: sedimentologists,
geomorphologists, hydrologists, oil company geologists,
even somebody who worked for the Canadian Forestry
Service, who all had an interest in cones of sediment
formed at mountain fronts (which is what an alluvial fan
is, for the uninitiated). The 20 or so speakers provided
the basis for discussion which was productive because it
was so cross-disciplinary, and I am sure that we all
learnt a lot. For me the opportunity to show a group of
'experts' around my southern Pyrenean field area was
particularly valuable, if a little sobering to discover
that I need to do quite a lot of re-evaluation of my
interpretation of sedimentary processes from sandstones
and conglomerates deposited by Tertiary alluvial fans at
the Ebro Basin margin. Cue for more fieldwork in Spain. When immersed in a specialist, and possibly somewhat arcane area of geology, at a meeting like this, it is reassuring to be reminded that there is a real, useful purpose to it all. The final talk was by an Iranian geologist who was using an understanding of alluvial fan sedimentology and geomorphology to provide recharge into aquifers in an arid part of his country, hence providing local people with a regular water supply which helped them survive. We may have had a week of cerebral discussions (or perhaps not so cerebral by the end of the evening) and a lot of fun (I rediscovered my inability to play table football), but at least somebody, somewhere was actually benefiting from our science. |
