Landscapes into Rock - Part 4

This post ends my summary of the Landscapes into Rock conference that took place in London, September 21-23, 2010.  Click here for previous posts.

Theme three – Landscapes into Rock – was obviously the central theme of the Conference. It was chaired by Sebastien Castelltort (ETH – Zurich) and Emma Finch (University of Manchester), it had eleven oral presentations and featured a very insightful “keynote of the keynotes” by Mike Leeder (University of East Anglia). Of interest for me was the research by Alex Whittaker et al using regional grain-size trends to derive information on the dynamics of the sediment routing system.

The high-point of the session was the keynote address by Mike Leeder. Mike put forth many interesting and provocative ideas:

• the need to fully utilize the sedimentary record to test the landscape evolution models; 
• the recent advances in speleothem and calcisol research that may provide the ability to isolate climate/vegetation forcing of the eroding landscape; 
• the understanding of the link between the rate of tectonic evolution and how they induce major changes in the landscape; 
• teleconection – the link between the eroding landscape and the downslope deposcape.

The fourth (and last) theme – Integrative studies of sediment routing systems and the petroleum systems - was organized by Ian Lunt (Statoil) and Mike Blum (ExxonMobil), and featured two presentation and two keynote speakers – Ole Martinsen (Statoil) and Peter Burgess (Shell and Royal Holloway University of London). For me, the highlight of this session was Peter’s overview of stratigraphic forward modeling in hydrocarbon exploration. Peter noted that stratigraphic forward models (SFM) are more mature but still have a limited predictive power. SFM prove most useful in their ability to quickly create multiple scenarios, to test hypotheses and ideas, to devise numerical experiments that illustrate how depositional systems work and through that to develop new plays and concepts.

On a less-formal side, the conference ended each day with a social hour, which involved a lot of discussion of the ideas presented during the day, accompanied by wine, of course.  The discussions were less formal, but certainly not less technical.  They were less flashy than the gathering that took place at Dolce & Gabbana one evening, just down the street from the Burlington House (picture below), but the social hour at the Landscapes into Rock conference were certainly more intellectually stimulating -- for me :)