IGCP 491 meeting St. Petersburg
"Middle Palaeozoic vertebrates of Laurussia: relationships with Siberia, Kazakhstan, Asia and Gondwana”
in conjunction with the 6th Baltic Stratigraphical Conference
St. Petersburg, Russia, August 22-26 , 2005

FIRST CIRCULAR

Aims
The meeting will deal with any aspect of research on Middle Palaeozoic vertebrates (taxonomy, morphology, palaeogeography, palaeoecology, biostratigraphy), with a focus on the vertebrate fauna of Laurussia and its relationship to the faunas of other palaeogeographic provinces. Participants are invited to submit abstracts for both oral and poster presentations (details below). An abstract volume will be published as a Special Publication of Ichthyolith Issues.

Venue and date
The IGCP meeting and Baltic Stratigraphical Conference will be held in St. Petersburg, August 22-26, 2005 at the St. Petersburg University (Universitetskaya nab. 7/9 and 16 Liniya 29, St. Petersburg) and A.P. Karpinsky All-Russian Geological Research Institute (VSEGEI, Sredniy prospect 74, St. Petersburg). Scientific sessions, workshops, and an IGCP 491 business meeting are planned for August 23-25. Pre- and post-conference field trips are scheduled for August 19-21 (Lower Palaeozoic and Carboniferous) and August 26-28 (Devonian).

Language
	The official language of the Conference is English.

Organisers
The IGCP meeting is organised by the Department of Palaeontology, St. Petersburg University, the Baltic Stratigraphical Conference – by the St. Petersburg University and A.P. Karpinsky All-Russian Geological Research Institute. 
Organising committee of 6th Baltic Stratigraphical Conference:
Conference Chairman: Tatyana Koren’ (VSEGEI)
Secretary:		Andrey Zhuravlev (VSEGEI)
Members:		Alexander Ivanov (St Petersburg University) - for IGCP 491 participants 
Andrey Dronov (St Petersburg University)
Irina Evdokimova (VSEGEI)
Olga Kossovaya (VSEGEI)
Yuri Savitsky (St Petersburg University)
Tatyana Tolmacheva (VSEGEI)

Abstracts 
Extended abstracts should be submitted before February 10th, 2005. The text in English should not exceed four A4 pages, including line drawing illustrations and references. Text should be written using 12p Times New Roman font, the margins should be 1.5 cm at top and bottom and 2.5 cm left and right, single-spaced and not justified. Abstracts should be sent by e-mail as attachment files: text as RTF format, illustrations as TIFF or BMP format (preferably not exceeding 300 dpi). If you use special or national letters, please send a hard copy also. 
The abstract volume will be available at the meeting.

Abstract example:
NEW DATA ON OSTEOSTRACAN MICROREMAINS FROM THE SILURIAN
OF SEVERNAYA ZEMLYA, RUSSIA

afanassieva, Olga 1, marss, Tiiu 2
1 - Paleontological Institute of Russian Academy of Sciences, Profsoyuznaya str. 123, Moscow, Russia; oafan@paleo.ru
2 - Institute of Geology at Tallinn Technical University, Estonia Ave. 7, Tallinn, Estonia; marss@gi.ee

The osteostracans from the Silurian deposits of the Severnaya Zemlya Archipelago have not been adequately studied so far. Osteostracans here are represented by very rare shields or their parts, and by more abundant microfragments of the exoskeleton extracted from the rocks by acetic acid treatment. Only a single complete cephalothoracic shield of Tremataspis obruchevi Afanassieva & Karatajute-Talimaa (1998) from the Silurian Ust-Spokoinaya Formation was described. A few microfragments were preliminary identified as Tremataspis sp., Thyestes sp. and Oeselaspis sp. by Karatajute-Talimaa (Klubov, Kachanov & Karatajute-Talimaa, 1980; Karatajute-Talimaa et al., 1986).

References
Afanassieva, O. B. & Karatajute-Talimaa, V. N. 1997. New data on osteostracans from Severnaya Zemlya Archipelago. Ichthyolith Issues Special Publication 2: 10.
Afanassieva, O. B. & Karatajute-Talimaa, V. N. 1998. New osteostracans (Agnatha) from the Silurian and Lower Devonian of the Severnaya Zemlya Archipelago (Russia). Paleontologicheskiy Zhurnal 6: 60-64 [in Russian].
Karatajute-Talimaa, V. N. 1978. Telodonty Silura i Devona SSSR i Shpitsbergena [Silurian and Devonian Thelodonts of the USSR and Spitsbergen]. “Mokslas”, Vilnius, 334 pp. [in Russian].

Accommodation
40 – 100 USD per person/per night in the hotels; the student hostel will be available also. 
The medium cost of meals in St. Petersburg is ~ 5-10 USD/per day.

Field trips
Pre-conference field trip A:
Lower Paleozoic and Quaternary of Leningrad District
During the first and second days participants of the excursion will study a complete succession of the Cambrian and Ordovician rocks exposed in the region. Changes from cool water to tropical carbonates will be demonstrated and all aspects of paleontology, biostratigraphy, sequence stratigraphy, sedimentary environments and sea-level changes will be discussed in detail. All sections are located along the Baltic – Ladoga Glint, in 50 to 170km from St. Petersburg. On the third day the main features of the Quaternary history, climatic and sea-level changes of the eastern Baltics within 150 ka will be demonstrated in several sites of the Neva Lowland. All night will stay in St. Petersburg.
Pre-conference field trip B:
Lower Carboniferous of the north-western part of the Moscow Syneclise
Three-days geological excursion on the Carboniferous includes an examination of stratigraphy, sedimentology and paleontology in the key sections of the Visean and Serpukhovian marine shallow-water deposits containing abundant brachiopods, corals, ostracodes, forams, conodonts, vertebrates and plant remains. The sections to be visited are situated in 350-380 km to the south-east from St.Petersburg at the spurs of Valdai Hills. The Visean - Serpukhovian deposits will be shown in the vicinity of Borovichi town and in the middle stream of the Msta River, Novgorod District; the Lower Carboniferous bauxite formation - in the vicinity of Boksitogorsk town. All nights will stay in Borovochi town. 
Post-conference field trip C: 
Devonian of Leningrad and Pskov districts
Participants of the three-days excursion will visit the Middle and Upper Devonian outcrops of southern part of the Leningrad District and western part of the Pskov District. The field trip sections are situated in central part of Main Devonian Field, East European Platform. The Middle Devonian and Lower Frasnian sections will be shown in the Oredezh River Basin in 80-100 km to the south from St. Petersburg. The sections of Arukula, Burtnieki, Gauja and Amata terrigenous deposits contain abundant vertebrate and rare plant remains. The Lower and Middle Frasnian sections will be demonstrated in the Velikaya River Basin and in some quarries near Izborsk town, 300 km from St. Petersburg. The Plavinas, Dubniki and Daugava predominatingly carbonate deposits yield diverse invertebrate fauna, such as brachiopods, ostracodes, gastropods, conodonts, crinoids, as well vertebrates. All nights will stay in Pskov city. 
Detailed excursion schedules will be given in the second circular.

Registration fee
Payments in Euros:
Early registration and field trip payment			February 10, 2005
Late registration and field trip payment			August 22, 2005
Registration fee:                          110                                           130.
	(before February 10, 2005) 		(after February 10, 2005)
Field trip*:                                   120                                          150.
	(before February 10, 2005) 		(after February 10, 2005)
* - Field trip cost will be specified in second circular depending on a number of participants. 

Deadlines 
Registration (form included here) – October 1, 2004.
Abstract submission – February 10, 2005.

The Second circular including a bank and hotel information will be sent in November, 2004 to those respondents who have registered.

Please send correspondence to:
Dr. Alexander Ivanov 
Department of Palaeontology
St. Petersburg University
16 Liniya 29
St. Petersburg 199178
Russia
E-mail: aoi@ai1205.spb.edu
Tel.: +07 812 430 61 03

Registration form
IGCP 491 meeting and 6th Baltic Stratigraphical Conference

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I shall attend 
the IGCP 491 meeting   			
the Baltic Stratigraphic Conference	

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        Poster 
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