During May a group from the Yokoyama lab visited Taipei to attend the first conference on Pan-Pacific Anthropocene. This conference explored the Pan-Pacific realm, rich with civilizations but which has been experiencing severe environmental pollution and ecological crisis, associated with swift regional economic development over the past decades. APPA proposes “future possible trends and related countermeasures for the international community through multidisciplinary academic studies, such as climate observation and simulation, proxy and historic records, anthropogenic geohazards, topography and geomorphology, biodiversity, environmental pollution, and archaeology and civilization” (http://www.gl.ntu.edu.tw/rcfe/appa.html).
The conference was incredibly interesting due to its wide range of disciplines including: climate observations and simulations; historical records; terrestrial and marine proxy records; anthropogenic geohazards; topography and geomorphology; biodiversity; and, technology and civilisation.
Several members of the lab presented their research via oral or poster presentations: Prof. Yokoyama presented on Antarctic Ice Sheet Stability and Sea Level; Dr. Sproson presented a study of osmium isotopes in macroalgae and its relation to pollution in Tokyo Bay; Mr. Ota presented Abalone radiocarbon data from Otsuchi Bay, Japan; Ms. Behrens presented beryllium isotope data from east Antarctica and its relation to ice sheet history during the Holocene; and, Mr. Fukuyo presented late Holocene sea-level and environmental reconstructions using radiocarbon dating of shellfish in Tonga.
After the conference the Taiwanese Geological Society provided a banquet for guests at the conference including music and dance performances by the university students.
After the conference a fieldtrip to Yehliu Geopark and Jingushi was organised. The rock landscape of Yehliu Geopark is one of most famous wonders in the world. The coastal line stretches in a direction that is vertical to structure lines where waves, weathering and earth movement have all contributed to the formation of a rare and stunning geological landscape. Jingushi is famous for its vast gold mine which was running in the 19th to early 20th century. The mining site now has become a part of the “Gold Ecological Park”, which exhibits the history of the gold rush period. There are other attractions within the area including the Museum of Gold, Shinto Temple and Golden Waterfall.
