We will start each scientific session in the morning and in the afternoon with a plenary keynote highlighting one of the major topics of the congress. Duration should be 40 minutes.

 

A. THE WORLD OF STRATIGRAPHY

Dr Svetlana Nikolaeva, The Natural History Museum London

Boundaries in sections, not in research: New and old Carboniferous stratotypes of Russia

Dr Shuzhong Shen, Nanjing University

The Permian timescale: Progresses, problems and perspectives

 

B. THE WORLD OF PALAEONTOLOGY

Prof. Dr George R McGhee, Rutgers University, Piscataway/New Jersey

Carboniferous giants and mass extinction: The legacy of the Late Palaeozoic Ice Age

 

C. THE WORLD OF FACIES, ENVIRONMENTS AND BASIN ANALYSIS

Prof. Dr. Isabel P. Montañez, University of California, Davis
Understanding feedbacks between climate, pCO2, and ecosystems in the late Palaeozoic earth system

Prof. Dr. Tadeusz Peryt, Polish Geological Institute - National Research Institute, Warsaw

The origin and evolution of the North-European Zechstein Basin: a Polish perspective

 

D. THE CENTRAL EUROPEAN VARISCIDES - THE HEART OF PANGEA

Prof. Dr. Ulf Linnemann, Senckenberg Natural History Collections Dresden

Germany – the heart of Pangaea

 

E. THE WORLD OF ECONOMIC GEOLOGY

Prof. Dr. Annette E.  Götz, University of Portsmouth

Late Palaeozoic energy resources of Gondwana - Archives of climate change that power the world