Exploring the Pleistocene-Holocene Boundary in the Americas: From Molecules to Continents

Mark your calendar for the American Quaternary Association Biennial Meeting to be held 12-15 August, 2010, at the University of Wyoming in Laramie, Wyoming. Additional field trips are scheduled on 12 August and 16-17 August, with the Teachers' Workshop on 10-11 August. The meeting is hosted by the American Quaternary Association and the Roy J. Shlemon Center for Quaternary Studies at the University of Wyoming. 

American Quaternary Association (AMQUA)
AMQUA is a professional organization of North American scientists devoted to studying all aspects of the Quaternary Period, the last 2 million years of Earth history. The Quaternary Period is significant because the Ice Age environmental changes associated with the growth and decay of continental glaciers were the backdrop for global changes in floral and faunal communities, including extinction of diverse megafauna, and for the evolution of modern humans and their dispersal throughout the world.

AMQUA Biennial Meeting
2010 Theme: Exploring the Pleistocene-Holocene Boundary in the Americas: From Molecules to Continents
The 2010 AMQUA Program will focus on the Pleistocene-Holocene transition in the Americas, exploring the causes and consequences of the dramatic environmental changes of that transition.  Plenary talks will address this period from a variety of perspectives, and present new results and advances in age estimation, paleoclimate and paleoenvironmental reconstruction, ancient and modern DNA studies, societal patterns, and landscape dynamics.
The meeting program is designed to be of broad interest to Quaternary scientists, encompassing global climate change, marine and terrestrial ecosystems, geological and geochemical processes, and human cultures.  Plenary talks have been solicited from experts in their respective fields, and focus on exciting and topical developments in the science.  A dedicated poster session is open to all registered meeting participants.  Posters on any aspect of Quaternary science are welcome.  AMQUA meetings have a tradition of being large and diverse enough to be of broad appeal, yet small enough to ensure high-quality and casual social interactions among participants.

Dates to Remember
Student Travel Awards Student Travel Awards deadline: 15 April, 2010
Application submission deadline to attend the Teaching Climate Change Workshop: 30 June, 2010
Abstract submission deadline: 30 June, 2010
Early-registration deadline:  30 June, 2010    
Teaching Climate Change workshop, 10-11 August. Registration deadline: 30 June, 2010.
The workshop will be held on the University of Wyoming Campus.
Room Block Drop Dates

Pre-Meeting Field Trip:  Laramie Basin and Snowy Range (12 August).  The registration deadline is 30 June, 2010.
Post-Meeting Field Trip:  North Park and Middle Park, Colorado (16-17 August).  The registration deadline is 30 June, 2010.

Who Should Attend?
Attendance is open to all and university students are particularly encouraged to register. 
The meeting is interdisciplinary in focus and scientists, educators, and those interested in a wide variety of disciplines such as oceanography, limnology, paleoclimatology, glaciology, ecology, geomorphology, stratigraphy, paleopedology, paleontology, paleoecology, archaeology and anthropology are strongly encouraged to attend.

Scientific Program Chairpersons:
Rolfe Mandel
Kansas Geological Survey and
University of Kansas
(785) 864-2171
mandel@kgs.ku.edu|

David Meltzer
Department of Anthropology
Southern Methodist University
dmeltzer@smu.edu

Local Organizing Committee:
Stephen T. Jackson (Chair) – Department of Botany and Program in Ecology, University of Wyoming  (jackson@uwyo.edu)
Stephen T. Gray – Wyoming Water Resources Data Service and State Climatology Office
Marcel Kornfeld – Department of Anthropology and George C. Frison Institute for Archeology & Anthropology
J.J. Shinker – Department of Geography
Bryan Shuman – Department of Geology & Geophysics