The GeoCanada 2000 event was Canada's millennium conference of the major geoscience societies, including the Geological Association of Canada, and was held on the University of Calgary campus, during May 29 - June 2 2000. Taking place during glorious spring weather, with the campus looking its best, the meeting was large and diverse. More than 5100 delegates representing thirty countries attended a full slate of more than 1100 presentations, arranged in about fifty sessions (Godfrey Nowlan, pers. comm., November 30 2000). As part of this meeting, CAP sponsored a one-day symposium, featuring both oral and poster presentations, on "Palynology and Micropaleontology in Canadian Geoscience: New Frontiers and Applications". The session spanned the afternoon of June 1 and the morning of June 2. It was co-convened and co-chaired by me, Alwynne B. Beaudoin, and Martin J. Head.

We chose this symposium theme to try to display the diversity of Canadian research in this area. Palynology and micropalaeontology contribute to many branches and aspects of geoscience: biostratigraphy, palaeoecology, vegetational history, maturation studies, evolution, past biodiversity, isotope studies, limnology, oceanography, and many others. Indeed, presentations in the symposium did capture the Canadian scene. Contributions reflected many localities within Canada and overseas and spanned geologic eras from the Paleozoic to the Cenozoic. The CAP symposium featured presentations on many microfossil groups, including conodonts, arcellaceans, dinoflagellates, foraminifera, and pollen. It comprised eighteen presentations, of which four were posters. The oral presentations were arranged in geochronologic order beginning in the Silurian and concluding with several focussed on the Holocene.

Thursday afternoon began back in the Silurian with David Jowett discussing conodonts recovered from the Cape Phillips Formation on Cornwallis Island in the Canadian arctic. He described a thick sequence of deposits recording a transition from off-shore (graptolites abundant) to near-shore (conodonts abundant) conditions. The biostratigraphy provides the opportunity to link marine and littoral sequences at a time of falling sea-levels across the Ordovician-Silurian boundary. Shunxin Zhang then took us forward to the Early Silurian and looked at conodont assemblages from Anticosti Island in the Gulf of St Lawrence. She hypothesized that shifts in the assemblage composition might reflect changing sea levels, perhaps related to glacial events. Both abundance and diversity appear to be influenced by environmental fluctuations. I found this interesting in view of similar arguments that have been advanced for biodiversity changes in the Quaternary.

Being in Calgary, of course, the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin is a local geological feature of great interest. Sonny Baxter’s presentation highlighted this feature by looking at Mississippian conodont stratigraphy. He noted regional similarities and differences between zonation in the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin and sequences from the mid-continent. In particular, he described the conodont stratigraphy from several sections in southwestern Alberta.

Charles Henderson moved us to the Permian and examined conodont assemblages from south China and arctic Canada. He was interested in the contrasts, including number of biozones, between the assemblages in these two regions. Differences, which may reflect environmental setting, may have implications for correlation. He continued this theme later at the poster presentation. Niranjala Kottachchi described her work with foraminiferal assemblages recovered from Jurassic strata on the Queen Charlotte Islands, off the west coast of Canada. The focus of the study was to assess palaeolatitudes as the Wrangell terrane, of which the Islands are part, moved north through the Mesozoic.

The final paper of the afternoon featured a "tag team" presentation by Dale Leckie and Claudia Schröder-Adams, which returned us to the local scene in Alberta. They examined the regional expression of the Fish Scales Formation (lower Cenomanian) and what its occurrence, compositional variation, and thickness can tell about palaeogeographic and palaeoenvironmental reconstructions. Their transect from the Crowsnest area (SW Alberta) to Birch Mountains (central NE Alberta) showed a consistent pattern of fining northeastwards, implying a topographic high to the southwest acting as an erosional locus.

Following the seven afternoon presentations, participants adjourned to the Olympic Oval to look at the four posters that also formed part of the symposium. Posters are always interesting because of the opportunity to talk to the presenters and ask additional questions in a more informal setting. One challenge was simply in finding the symposium posters! The Oval was crammed with hundreds of posters and the commercial exhibits associated with the meeting.

At the poster session, Martin Head changed hats from convenor to presenter and showed us dinoflagellates from the Pliocene Coralline Crag and Walton Crag Formations of eastern England. Martin used data from several deep-sea cores in the eastern Atlantic to erect biostratigraphic zonation that he found useful for the chronologic assessment of these shallow marine sediments from the North Sea margin. Charu Sharma showed details on her work from cores obtained from the Mekong delta in the South China Sea, probably the most far-flung study area discussed in the symposium. Her focus was on using the biostratigraphy to infer Late Pleistocene sea-level changes and delta development. I enjoyed discussing with Charu the macroremains retrieved from the cores.

Moving to the Holocene, Konrad Gajewski showed some intriguing data from northern Québec linking changes in lake geochemistry with the arrival of spruce in the watershed. The implication is that acidification of soils as a consequence of spruce arrival is sufficient to affect the lake’s water chemistry, and hence produce a distinct geochemical signature. Turning the observation around, this suggests that the geochemical signal might act as a proxy for the local occurrence of spruce, perhaps allowing a more precise chronologic estimate than pollen percentage values can.

The eight presentations on Friday morning were concerned with records from the Cenozoic. The session began with Grace Parsons looking at palynology of Beaufort Sea sediments (Late Cretaceous - Tertiary) exposed in the Caribou Hills, Mackenzie Delta. She discussed both terrestrial indicators, such as pollen and fungal spores, and aquatic indicators, primarily dinoflagellates. These varied assemblages reflect the diverse habitats recorded in the sediments, as conditions changed from marine or littoral, to freshwater, perhaps lacustrine. Arun Kumar highlighted another microfossil group, by outlining the potential of arcellaceans as proxy palaeoenvironmental indicators. He reviewed the biology, taxonomy and occurrence of this group. He noted that the different morphotypes produced as a result of environmental stress make them especially attractive as pollution indicators.

Francine McCarthy discussed the taphonomy of palynomorph assemblages, containing both marine and terrestrial components, recovered from marine sediments. She pointed out that the assemblage could be influenced by preservation factors. Analysts also need to assess exactly what gets into the sediment. The contribution of the terrestrial component, for example, will be influenced by distance from shore. As sea levels change, the relative contribution of the terrestrial component will vary. Models that are attempting to track shoreline position, therefore, need to consider these factors.

Dermot Antoniades turned our attention to diatoms in the High Arctic and their usefulness as indicators of ice cover on lakes. The diatom assemblages change in response to the amount of open water. Hence, changes in diatom assemblages can monitor intra-seasonal changes in ice cover. This also provides a proxy climate indicator. However, because this is an annual cycle, high-resolution (annually laminated) sediments are required.

Topical themes (El Niño, west coast salmon stocks, and commercial fishing) appeared in the next presentation, by Trecia Schell. She discussed how changes in foraminiferal assemblages in Effingham Inlet, southern Vancouver Island, can be used to track palaeoceanographic conditions, and therefore provide surrogate information on fish stocks. Her presentation demonstrated the contribution that micropalaeontology can make to topics that are of immediate public concern.

Taking up a theme advanced in Dermot Antoniades’ presentation, Konrad Gajewski drew our attention to the detailed reconstructions that can be made by examination of high-resolution records. In particular, he noted that climatic and environmental perturbations on century or decadal scales are best detected through fine-spaced high-resolution sampling and analysis. Such studies are especially necessary when attempting to assess the frequency of events such as forest fire and are needed for linking climatic events identified from instrumental records and proxy palaeoenvironmental data sources.

Rolf Mathewes took us on a tour of the west coast of British Columbia, exploring Late Quaternary offshore deposits, with a particular eye to the implications for archaeology and human history. He described some fascinating and significant results that are being obtained from sediments of "drowned lakes" retrieved by off-shore drilling programs. These lakes were formerly on shore but have been drowned by rising sea-level and so are now on the continental shelf. Pollen stratigraphy of late glacial sediments from these locales is being compared to equivalent deposits from Vancouver Island and Gwaii Hanaas (Queen Charlotte Islands) to provide a more complete picture of Late Pleistocene environments. He noted that well-vegetated and productive landscapes occupied the continental shelf before submergence, indicating the potential for human occupation. Because of my own interests in human-landscape interactions, this presentation certainly stood out as a highlight for me.

Rolf gave the final presentation of the session too, looking at Late Pleistocene climate events recorded in the Mike Lake core, southern British Columbia. The pollen assemblages and radiocarbon dates suggest two intervals of cooling, the older of which may correlate to the Sumas glacial advance, and the younger of which correlates to the Younger Dryas. If this is the case, then the Younger Dryas cold event cannot be the driving mechanism for the Sumas advance. I found this interesting because it helps clarify the expression and effect of the Younger Dryas cold interval in western North America.

As a convenor, I felt the CAP symposium was a resounding success. The audience was small, about forty people at most, but there were some good questions and discussions after many papers, showing keen interest and enthusiasm. All the speakers did a fine job of presenting their material, and most had abundant and attractive slides. The posters were colourful, well designed, and interesting. I was especially pleased to see several outstanding presentations by graduate students. Each presenter received a bonus from the symposium in the form of a copy of a limited edition print by a local Calgary artist, Dennis Budgen, as a souvenir. Martin and I thank the presenters for their efforts and the audience for their attention in making this a truly memorable session.

Several themes stood out strongly for me from the range of presentations. One pervasive theme was the attempt to reconstruct palaeogeography at a regional scale, whether in the Paleozoic or the Cenozoic. This was reflected in a focus on regional reconstructions and correlations rather than site-specific studies. This integration of data made for some interesting and thought-provoking presentations. Other presenters highlighted the usefulness of multiple indicators in palaeoecological reconstruction. Finally, several presentations showed how high-resolution samples, closely spaced in both time and location, can be used to investigate short-term fluctuations in records. These may be of great regional and stratigraphic significance, even though they appear only as "blips" in a longer record. When sample variability is at almost the same scale as these small features, closely-spaced and highly analyzed samples are the only way to distinguish a true signal from noise.

The GeoCanada 2000 meeting included several features that I have not encountered in previous meetings, and some innovations reflecting the impact of the Internet and digital technology [see Godfrey Nowlan (2000) "GeoCanada 2000: An Organizers’s Personal Perspective", Geolog 29(3): 23-24]. Organizers asked authors to submit their abstracts on-line in PDF (portable document) format. This gave rise to a few technical problems but generally the procedure worked. These abstracts were then included as part of the conference program and abstracts volume that was produced as a CR-ROM. Authors were encouraged to produce "extended" abstracts, which could be up to four pages in length and include diagrams, images, and references. These background statements certainly gave authors an opportunity to provide much more detail of the studies and results than the traditional 200 - 300 word abstract format. They act, indeed, almost as "mini-publications". The abstracts produced for the CAP Symposium are lengthy and informative. My main concern about this format is the availability and longevity of the CD-ROM. On balance, for ease of use and portability, I still prefer the "dead-tree" version!

Besides the CAP Symposium, the GeoCanada 2000 meeting included many other Technical Sessions, Short Courses, and Symposia. Because I was only able to attend the last two days of the meeting, my opportunity to sample the spectrum of events was limited. However, I did find time to wander around the Olympic Oval, looking at the diverse array of posters and displays by corporate entities, government agencies, publishers, and other organizations. My overwhelming impression was that "hard rock" geology, mining, oil and other industrial interests dominated the conference. Other aspects of Canadian geoscience, such as Quaternary science, geomorphology, and environmental geoscience, had a much lower profile. There were some palynological presentations in other technical sessions, but the greatest concentration was in the CAP Symposium.

The Nickle Arts Museum, on the University of Calgary campus, was the venue for several geoscience displays during the meeting. These formed the "GeoTreasures" exhibit, on view from May 26 to June 24. Touring this exhibit was a busman’s holiday for me, since I work in a Museum, but I always like to see what other institutions do with their displays! The most striking feature of the GeoTreasures exhibit was a huge mammoth skeleton. Posed as though sinking to the ground in death, this was a cast of the Hebior mammoth, found in 1994 in Wisconsin. The bones were associated with stone tools, suggesting people killed and butchered the mammoth (Hall, 1995, Mammoth Trumpet 10(2):5-8). The exhibit also comprised several fine displays of gemstones and minerals (including some from the Geology Collection at my institution, the Provincial Museum of Alberta). However, I especially enjoyed the display of fossils from the Burgess Shale, mainly because I had never seen these "for real" before. The specimens, from the Royal Ontario Museum collections, included an array of surreal creatures, some with feathery-looking appendages, others with peculiar body morphologies. Truly fascinating. While at the Museum, I explored the other exhibit areas. I was intrigued by a fine exhibit called "Women in Profile" that highlighted women depicted on coinage through the ages. Not a palynologist among them!

Following the success of the CAP symposium and the enthusiasm of the participants, Martin approached the editors of the journal Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology with a proposal to compile a Special Issue of papers from the meeting. This proposal was accepted, and we are now in the process of receiving papers for inclusion. This issue should stand as a significant statement on the status of Canadian micropalaeontology at the turn of the millennium. We will announce any developments on this initiative in future Newsletters.

List of presentations

David M. Jowett and Christoper R. Barnes "High-Resolution Lower Silurian Conodont Biostratigraphy: Integrating Traditional Paleontological Data"

Shunxin Zhang and Christopher R. Barnes "The Post-Extinction Evolutionary Radiation, Biofacies Partitioning, And Response To Eustatic Changes Of Early Silurian Conodonts, Anticosti Basin, Quebec"

Sonny Baxter "Conodont Biostratigraphy for Mississippian Rocks of the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin"

Charles M. Henderson and Shilong Mei "Permian Correlation between Equatorial South China and Temperate Northwestern Pangea: Difficulties and Possible Solutions"

Niranjala Kottachchi, Claudia J. Schröder-Adams, James W. Haggart, and Howard W. Tipper "Jurassic Foraminiferal Biostratigraphy and Paleoenvironments of the Queen Charlotte Islands, British Columbia: A New Piece in the Cordilleran Puzzle"

Dale A. Leckie, Claudia J. Schröder-Adams, and John Bloch "Understanding the Fish Scales and Barons Formations - The Efffect of Paleotopography on the Late Albian and Cenomanian Sea-Level Record"

Marion Grace Parsons and Geoffrey Norris "Palynology and Ecostratigraphy of Paleogene Terrestrial, Freshwater and Marine Floral Assemblages from the Caribou Hills, Mackenzie Delta"

Arun Kumar and R. T. Patterson "Arcellaceans (Thecamoebians) As Proxies for Chemical Pollution and Remediation in Lakes"

Francine M. McCarthy, Peta J. Mudie, Andre Rochon, Kevin E. Gostlin, Elisabeth Levac "Taphonomic Problems In Marine Palynology And Possible Solutions"

Dermot M. Antoniades, M. S. V. Douglas, John P.Smol, D. S. S. Lim, and N. Michelutti "Applications of Diatoms To Assessing Paleoenvironmental Change In The Canadian High Arctic"

Trecia M. Schell "Holocene Paleoproductivity in the Northwestern Pacific Determined by Foraminiferal Assemblages in Some Fjords of Vancouver Island, British Columbia"

Konrad Gajewski "High-Resolution Pollen Analysis from Lake Sediments: Review and Current Directions"

Rolf W. Mathewes "Paleoecology of a Lost World: Postglacial Environments and Biogeography of the Continental Shelf of Western Canada"

Marlow G. Pellatt, Rolf W Mathewes, and John J. Clague "Implications of the Mike Lake Pollen Record for the Glacial and Climatic History of the Fraser Lowland, British Columbia"

Alain Grenier and Konrad Gajewski "Comparison Of Lake-Sediment Chemistry and Pollen Analysis at Treeline in Northern Québec" (Poster)

Martin J. Head and Geoffrey Norris "Pliocene Dinoflagellate Cyst Stratigraphy of the Western North Atlantic, and its Applicability to Shallow Marine Deposits Of Eastern England" (Poster)

Charles M. Henderson and Shilong Mei "Permian Correlation Between Equatorial South China and Temperate Northwestern Pangea: Difficulties and Possible Solutions" (Poster)

Charu Sharma "Paleoenvironmental Reconstruction of the Quaternary Mekong-Molengraaff River Deltas on the Sunda Shelf, South China Sea" (Poster)

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This article first appeared in CAP Newsletter 23(2)25-29, 2000.

The special journal issue was completed. It included ten papers and has been published as:

Head, M. J., and A. B. Beaudoin (editors) (2002) New Frontiers and Applications in Palynology and Micropaleontology: A Canadian Perspective. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 180(1-3):1-251