Summary of the XVIII ICCP (Kazan 2015)

At the Congress 415 scientists were represented (165  attending in person) from 33   countries (Australia, Austria, Armenia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, Croatia, Czech Republic, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Iran, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Malaysia, Morocco, Netherlands, Norway, Russia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland, Thailand, Turkey, United Kingdom, Ukraine, and USA).

The Programme included the following sessions:

S1 Carboniferous stage boundaries, stratotype sections, and GSSPs

S2 Permian stage boundaries, stratotype sections, and GSSPs

S3 Carboniferous and Permian high-resolution stratigraphy (multi-proxy correlations)

S4 Late Paleozoic glaciations and interglacials: impact on ecosystems and sedimentation

S5 Carboniferous and Permian plate tectonics and orogenies

S6 Late Paleozoic marine macrofossils: systematics, biostratigraphy, and paleobiogeography

S7 Late Paleozoic continental biota: systematics, ecosystems, and paleobiogeography

S8 Micropaleontology: systematics, phylogeny and biostratigraphy

S9 The terrestrial late Paleozoic world: paleosols, lithofacies, and environments

S10 Sequence stratigraphy and cycles

S11 Late Paleozoic reefs, biostromes, and carbonate mounds

S12-14 Upper Paleozoic oceans and land: climate, evolution, extinctions and recoveries

S15 End-Permian mass extinction and Early Triassic recovery

S16 Carboniferous and Permian coal and mineral deposits

S17 Eurasian conventional and unconventional hydrocarbon systems

S18 Marine-Non-marine Carboniferous and Permian Correlation

One hundred and six presentations were delivered at the Congress (session 1 – 11 reports, session 2 – 6 reports, session 3 – 5 reports, session 4 – 5 reports, session 5 – 6 reports, session 6 – 8 reports, session 7 – 16 reports, session 8 – 10 reports, session 9 – 3 reports, session 10 – 3 reports, session 11 – 3 reports, sessions 12–14 – 3 reports, session 15 – 13 reports, session 16 – 6 reports, session 17 – 3 reports, session 18 – 5 reports).

The following congress excursions were organized:

A. Pre-congress excursions:

A1. Lower Carboniferous of the St. Petersburg region (north-western Russia).

A3. Southern Urals. Deep water successions of the Carboniferous and Permian. Lower Permian GSSPS.

A4. Middle Permian - Lower Triassic continental sequences in Vologda and Arkhangelsk regions (north of European Russia) and localities of flora, tetrapods, non-marine fishes and invertebrates.

B1. Mid-Congress field excursion. Permian deposits and historical-cultural sites along the Volga River

C. Post-congress excursions:

C1. Volga and Kama Region. Middle and Upper Permian.

C2. Middle Urals. Carboniferous and Permian marine and continental successions.

C3. Carboniferous reference sections: potential candidates for the base of the Serpukhovian GSSP, deep-water and shallow-water sections of the eastern slope of the Southern Urals, organic buildups.

Congress publications:

- Abstracts Volume

- Lower Carboniferous of the St. Petersburg region (northwestern Russia). A1 Field Trip Guidebook.

- Southern Urals. Deep water successions of the Carboniferous and Permian. A3 Lower Permian GSSPS. Field Trip Guidebook.

- Type and reference sections of the Permian-Triassic continental sequences of the East European Platform: main isotope, magnetic, and biotic events. A4 Field Trip Guidebook.

- Type and reference sections of the Middle and Upper Permian of the Volga and Kama River Regions. C1 Field Trip Guidebook. 

- Middle Urals. Carboniferous and Permian marine and continental successions. C2 Field Trip Guidebook.

- Carboniferous reference sections: potential candidates for the base of the Serpukhovian GSSP, deep-water and shallow-water sections of the eastern slope of the Southern Urals, organic buildups. C3 Field Trip Guidebook.

The Congress demonstrated considerable progress in the studies of candidate GSSP sections of the Carboniferous and Lower Permian stages, which have not yet obtained complete formal status in the International Stratigraphic Scale. These are primarily the Serpukhovian Stage sections (Verkhnyaya Kardailovka section in Russia and Naqing section in China). New data have also been obtained for the base of the Gzhelian (Usolka section in Russia and Naqing in China). For the Lower Permian, the Usolka section was approved as a candidate for the GSSP stratotype of the Sakmarian. It has been shown that the Mechetlino section (Kungurian) and the Dalniy Tyulkas section (Artinskian) require additional study and exposition of presently covered intervals. It has been noted that these studies are particularly urgent.

Important new data were presented on the stratigraphy, paleontology, paleoecology, tectonics, paleogeography, and paleoclimatology of the Carboniferous and Permian periods.

In particular, in the framework of IGCP 592 'Continental Construction in Central Asia', the Congress considered and approved the proposed model of the stratigraphy of the oceanic plate emphasizing its important role in deciphering the evolution of the Paleo-Asian Ocean and development of the Central-Asian Fold belt.

Congress presentations included new data on the IGCP 630 on the ecosystem changes at the Permian--Triassic boundary and reconstruction of the environment in the Early Triassic.

The Congress delegates acknowledged the initiative of Jörg Schneider's group in proposing new projects of global correlation of the marine and nonmarine of the Carboniferous and Permian systems and launching a joint working group within the Carboniferous and Permian Subcommissions of the International Commission on Stratigraphy.

The Congress was an efficient platform for the business and formal and informal scientific communication  of scientists from various countries, and facilitated discussion of further joint research and multidisciplinary studies on various problems of Carboniferous and Permian geology.  

The next (XIX) ICCP congress will be held in Cologne, Germany in 2019.

Contacts

THE SPONSORS OF THE XVIII INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS ON THE CARBONIFEROUS AND PERMIAN

Government of the Republic of Tatarstan

Federal Agency on Mineral Resources of the Russian Federation

Russian Foundation for Basic Research

Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Tatarstan

International Association of Sedimentologists

Kazan Federal University

JSC TATNEFT

OPTEC LLC

"Melytec" LLC

“Company SocTrade” LLC

GC “Pharmcontract”

“Chimmed-Povolzhye” LLC

“AdgiTek” LLC