Urbino, Italy
May 17-22, 1999

Why have to worry about fossil dinoflagellates in paradise, I thought, as I viewed the beautiful city of Urbino from the balcony of my hotel room. We (Henk Brinkhuis, Jan Willem Weegink, Erica Crouch, Tim Eype, Anja Oosting and I) had driven down the previous day from Utrecht, via Almelo, where Henk and Annemie, as always during my visits, provided me with fine food and accommodation. The trip, in a Volkswagen van, had taken 15 hours but had been fascinating because of the company and scenery.

We arrived in Urbino on Thursday, 13th May, since our plans were to look at some of the Lower Cretaceous sections that Anja would be studying for her Ph.D. Also, we needed time to review the facilities for the Course, which was being presented at the University. The hosts were Professor Rodolfo Coccioni and Dr Simone Galeotti, who had made all the local arrangements at the University. Urbino is a beautiful medieval city built almost entirely from the local stone. The University sits atop a hill a few miles outside but with a wonderful view of the city. And as with everything concerning the course, the facilities at the university were superb: we had an air-conditioned lecture hall capable of holding about 200.

How did this course happen and who should I thank? The driving force was Henk Brinkhuis, who dreamed up the idea of holding a dinoflagellate course at Urbino University where his two close friends, Rodolfo and Simone, work. Fortunately for me, Henk asked if I would help out and also invited our good friend Jonathan Bujak. It was decided that the course would cover Mesozoic-Cenozoic fossil dinoflagellates, a not inconsequential task. The difficulty of preparing for any course, especially one of six days (an endurance test of no small magnitude), is knowing what to present and what is needed for illustration purposes. We agreed that there should be a short opening session on morphology (one day), two days biostratigraphy, and two days paleoecology. To relieve the monotony, Henk wisely organized a field trip to the Contessa Valley and the Massiagno Eocene/Oligocene boundary section for the Wednesday.

An important decision concerning any course is how many species should be highlighted. This is the controlling factor regards the number of 35 mm slides needed and the size of range charts. Disregarding our better instinct, we selected 600 species and got to work with a vengeance. We decided to use a proven technique from previous courses, which necessitates using two screens, with a line drawing on the left and slides of specimens on the right. But then we went one better, or worse, depending upon one's philosophy. We used a third projector to show overall ranges of taxa in groups of ten.

Despite all our concerns regarding the popularity of such a course and being ready in time, Henk and I were standing before 26 participants on the Monday morning. The session on morphology stayed on schedule but we slowed down on the biostratigraphy, in which we were supposed to cover about 300 species (using three projectors) each day. By Tuesday evening, everyone was looking forward to a day in the field.

Wednesday dawned beautiful and sunny, a good omen for a fantastic day. The field trip leaders, Rodolfo, Simone and Henk had put together an excellent guide so that when we arrived at the spectacular Contessa section (my second visit since Simone had taken some of us there the previous Saturday), I had some idea of the geology but not how to pronounce the names. The Contessa and Bottaccione Valleys, where deep water Jurassic to Miocene rocks are exposed in superb quarry sections, have to be seen to appreciate the scale and grandeur.

Then we headed for Gubbio where we had an excellent lunch (including pasta with truffles) and examined (with great respect) the Cretaceous/Tertiary boundary site. This is one of the sections on which Alvarez et al. (1979) based their hypothesis of the iridium layer denoting a meteorite impact, responsible for the mass extinction at the K/T boundary. This location is not for weak hearts, being located on a winding road where motorcyclists can fly past, within inches of a studious geologist paying homage at this shrine.

But this exciting day was not over yet. Our last stop was at the Global stratotype section for the Eocene/Oligocene boundary at Massignano, where we saw the "golden spike". The informative signs at this 23 m section in an abandoned quarry set an example for what could be done at some other famous localities.

Thursday was back to work, when those with the stamina endured a supersonic trip through the Cretaceous and Jurassic dinoflagellates. Unfortunately, there was no time to do justice to the Triassic.

On Friday and part of Saturday morning, Henk and Jonathan gave topnotch presentations on the paleoecology of primarily Cenozoic dinocyst assemblages. Jonathan focused on the climatic changes determinable from dinocyst fluctuations in the Paleogene of the North Sea and North Atlantic. And Henk highlighted the Milankovitch cycles, global circulation, and his and his students' research on the Cretaceous/Tertiary boundary, the Miocene-Pliocene and the Quaternary.

The course also featured presentations from some of the participants on Friday afternoon and Saturday morning. All were well prepared and enjoyable.

One highlight of the week was the Friday evening banquet, which featured some memorable jokes and some interesting presentations. Henk, Jonathan and I received gifts, cunningly selected and paid for by the students. I am still using my telescope but drank all the Crodino at the banquet.

Saturday we headed back to Utrecht, taking a different route through the Swiss Alps. What we could see was magnificent but most of the mountains were shrouded in fog. After an overnight stay we arrived back in Utrecht, where Jan Willem and Tanja kindly took care of me before my return to Canada.

The course has left some indelible memories. The first was the number of slides: we used about 2000 and only had two upside down. I was impressed with the quality of the manual and the CD-ROM, both compiled largely through the efforts of Jan Willem. During the course, Jan Willem ensured that everything ran smoothly, providing round the clock transportation for all. Rodolfo and Simone were the perfect hosts tending to all our needs. This included watching the Monaco Grand Prix at Simone's on the Sunday afternoon. The participants were a great bunch and tolerated our quirky humour. Jonathan was, as always, fun to be around. And then there were my fellow travellers in the van. The journey down and back was saved by Anja, Erica, Tim, Jan Willem and Henk, plus all the Monty Python characters who accompanied us.

Lastly, there's Henk. Thanks to his imagination and drive, I had an unforgettable ten days in a country where the food and scenery are exquisite. And I learnt a lot about dinoflagellates. Perhaps, one day, I shall be lucky enough to repeat the experience with the same gang.

Graham Williams
Geological Survey of Canada - Atlantic
Dartmouth, Nova Scotia
E-mail: gwilliam@agc.bio.ns.ca
 

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  This article first appeared in CAP Newsletter 22(2):14-16, 1999.