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9th Swiss geoscience Meeting 2011 in Zurich

Swiss Geoscience Meeting 2011 at the ETH Zurich
Swiss Geoscience Meeting 2011 at the ETH Zurich

The 9th edition of the Swiss Geoscience Meeting focused on the latest advances in research in geosciences. It was held 11th to 13th November 2011 in Zurich.

The Department of Earth Sciences of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH Zurich) and the Platform Geosciences of the Swiss Academy of Sciences (SCNAT) cordially welcomed the 693 participants in the 9th Swiss Geoscience Meeting held on 11th to 13th November 2011 in Zurich.

On Friday 11th, keynote presentations focused on this year's theme "Life and Planet Earth".

  • Alex Halliday from Oxford University started with a presentation on the birth of planet Earth,
  • Lee Kump from Penn State University and author of the book “The Earth System” traced the co-evolution of life and the physical environment,
  • Norman MacLeod from the Natural History Museum in London focused on major biotic extinctions in Earth history,
  • Antje Boetius from the Max Planck Institute in Bremen discussed how microbes survive in extreme environments. The last speaker of the plenary session,
  • Dieter Imboden, President of the Research Council of the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) focused on sustainability, life and planet Earth in the 21st century.

On Saturday 12th
About 185 talks were given and 186 posters were presented in 19 scientific symposia that covered the diverse spectrum of current research in geoscience, encompassing the lithosphere, the hydrosphere, the cryosphere, the biosphere, the atmosphere and the anthroposphere.

On Sunday 13th, a special symposium was held in honour of the 75th birthday of Daniel Bernoulli, Professor emeritus ETH Zurich and Albert Matter, Professor emeritus Bern University. Most of the invited speakers were former students or collaborators of Dani Bernoulli and Albert Matter. The symposium provided an overview of the state of the art both in sedimentology and sedimentary tectonics, especially with regards to the Alps and Molasse basin, as well as in paleoclimatology and paleoceanography in general.

The SGM offers an ideal environment to also foster informal contacts and discussion between scientists: Such opportunities occur at the Swiss Geoscience Party on Friday evening, or during the poster session on Saturday. Special time slots are allocated to two poster sessions, at which the authors are present.