Tibetan Plateau Workshop: Exploring aspects of uplift, climate change, glaciation, denudation and landscape evolution and dynamics in mountains
One of the most recently expanding and exciting research areas in geomorphology and landscape dynamics is the examination of the links between climate change, glaciation, denudation, tectonics and landscape evolution. This project aims to examine key issues pertinent to these links by exploring the relationships between climate, glaciation, tectonics and landscape evolution. To achieve this, leading researchers have been invited to summarize the main topics of interest and develop a research agenda. These researchers will join an international workshop in Tibet during September 2006. The main workshop is organized as part of an International Program of NSF and an INQUA funded project, in association with the Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research and the Qinghai Institute of Salt Lakes of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the INQUA Working Group on Quaternary Glaciations and Chronology in Monsoonal Asia. This workshop focuses on examining the timing and nature of mountain glacier advances during the last glacial cycle. The workshop will consist of: 3 days of working sessions (including a day focused on the links between glaciation, denudation and tectonics); and a 5-day traverse of the Tibet to examine key field sites. The organizing committee includes Glenn Thackray (Idaho State University), Lewis Owen (University of Cincinnati), Chaolu Yi (Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences), Shangzhe Zhou (South China Normal University) and Ma Haizhou (Qinghai Institute of Salt Lake, Chinese Academy of Sciences). The workshop will include >50 participants from the USA, China, UK, Australia, Germany, New Zealand and India. This project will enhance the main workshop by allowing participants at the workshop to examine the complex links that control landscape evolution. Furthermore, it will help stimulate new research and collaboration between researchers in the USA, China and elsewhere, and will provide a synthesis of the current knowledge on these topics.
