Nordic Research Board
Network on Impact Research (NIR)
is offering a compact course to take place in Denmark, September 2006
Signatures of an Impact
– the K-T boundary in Denmark
Background
Long standing controversies concerning the K-T boundary were revived when Nobel-prize winning chemist Luis Alvarez and his team of co-workers around 1980 brought back an extraterrestrial impact as the driving force behind the well-known faunal turn-over at the Mesozoic-Cenozoic boundary. Over the quarter century of intensified research accumulated since then, positions have changed rapidly, with a mounting preference for an impact model (Chicxulub crater) and with excessive volcanism (Deccan Traps) as the most prominent alternative. Most recently detailed biostratigraphic studies of the timing of the Chicxulub impact in relation to the K-T boundary has brought renewed momentum into the debate.
The Danish Basin provides a unique opportunity to identify and study long distance signatures of this impact due to:
- stratigraphic completeness,
- shallow water setting,
- extreme benthos richness,
- basin-to-margin coverage,
all within a single, comprehensive basin.
Course description
Level: Research students and young post-graduates. 10 ECTS credits.
Time: Monday Sept. 18th to Monday Sept. 25th
Price: Participants from NIR participating countries register for free.
Prospective participants from outside the NIR region may be considered for vacant seats
No of participants: 15
Application: The application should include name, age, address of home institution, e-mail address and phone number along with title of thesis and name of supervisor. In addition a short description (max. 200 words) expressing scope of interest and current projects. The total application should not be larger than one page and sent (e-mail) to Henning Dypvik (henning.dypvik@geo.uio.no) no later than June 24th 2006
Venue: Geological Institute, Copenhagen: Monday Sept. 18th to Thursday Sept. 21st;
Northwest Jutland (Jylland): Friday Sept. 22nd to Sunday Sept. 24th.
Organizers: Eckart Håkansson, Geological Institute, Copenhagen University and Claus Heinberg,
TekSam, Roskilde University Center
Schedule:
Monday Sept. 18th: Arrival and registration, Geological Institute, Copenhagen – ‘get-together-party’
Tuesday – Wednesday: ‘In-house’ lectures & work-shops, Geological Institute, Copenhagen
- Impacts in general – local & long-distance features
- Global aspects of the K-T boundary impact
Wednesday night: Public mini-symposium by course instructors – under the auspices of the
Geological Society of Denmark – reception
Thursday: Stevns Klint – basin margin aspects, original K-T boundary type locality
- ‘In-house’ lecture – overview, background, history
- Field-work – detailed logging of four selected sections, representing the complete N – S variation
Thursday night: ‘In-house’ work-shop – ‘putting Stevns Klint together’
Friday: Change of venue to Nykøbing Mors, Jutland (Jylland)
- én route field-work in Vokslev, Jutland (Jylland) – intermediate basinal aspects
Saturday – Sunday: Northwestern Jutland (Jylland) – basin center
- ‘In-house’ lecture – geology of The Thisted Dome
- Field-work – detailed logging & sampling in Nye Kløv & Kjølby Farm (Gård).
- ‘In-house’ work-shop – comparison along the basin axis.
Monday Sept. 25th: Return to Copenhagen for home-bound flights
Monday Oct. 9th: Deadline for course reports