Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
June 4-6, 1990 and June 8-9, 1990

The first joint meeting of the Canadian and American Quaternary Associations was attended by about 235 participants, including at least 16 CAP members. The conference theme, "Rapid Change in the Quaternary Record", was examined in 36 oral and 79 poster presentations. Most attention was focussed on the Late Quaternary, notably the transition from late glacial to post-glacial conditions and especially the Younger Dryas event, examined by R. J. Mott and R. R. Stea ("Rapid late-glacial climatic fluctuations in Atlantic Canada") and J. Macpherson ("The Younger Dryas in eastern Newfoundland"), for example. An invited paper by S. Lehman on the likely impact of cold glacial meltwater discharge into the North Atlantic at about 15,000 yr BP was particularly interesting. However, other times and places were not neglected. Palynological-related presentations ranged from post-glacial tree-migration in the Great-Lakes St. Lawrence watershed (P. J. H. Richard) to a Holocene pollen record from the Cypress Hills, southern Alberta-Saskatchewan (D. J. Sauchyn and S. C. Porter).

During the meeting the CANQUA W. A. Johnston Medal was presented to Jaan Terasmae (Brock University, St. Catharines, Ontario). This award is made to a distinguished Quaternarist for life-time achievement in the discipline.

Kitchener-Waterloo cuisine has a distinctly Germanic flavour, sampled at the Conference BBQ, which was also memorable for the unconventional music and dancing.

Among post-conference field trips was a cruise on Lake Ontario from CCIW (Canadian Centre for Inland Waters), led by Paul Karrow and L. D. Delorme, aboard CSS Limnos. The sun blazed, the lake was calm, and Toronto glittered on the horizon. The trip's purpose was to see various sampling and coring devices in operation. All worked perfectly, making coring look easy!

This trip was followed by a new innovation for CANQUA and AMQUA - a choice of three different short courses. During "Biological Techniques in Palaeoenvironmental Interpretation" about a dozen participants examined diatoms, ostracodes, plant macrofossils, beetles and molluscs, with the guidance of H. C. Duthie, L. D. Delorme, N. G. Miller, Alan Morgan and B. B. Miller respectively. The small group format gave plenty of time for questions and opportunities to examine samples in a relaxed atmosphere.

All the local organizing committee, field trip leaders, and short course instructors merit congratulations on a most enjoyable and informative meeting.

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  This article first appeared in CAP Newsletter 13(2):18, 1990.