Journal of

GEOsciences

  (Formerly Journal of the Czech Geological Society)

Editorial

Bertotti, Karel Schulmann

Foreword

Journal of the Czech Geological Society, volume 45 (2000), issue 3-4, 204 - 277

The present special issue of the Journal of Czech Geological Society hosts the abstracts of the papers presented at the (UN)COUPLED2000 Meeting “Continental Collision and Tectonosedimentary evolution of Forelands: Mechanics of Coupling and far-field Deformation”. The Meeting which takes place in Amsterdam from Agust 31 to September 2, 2000, is part of a series of Topical Conferences of the European Geophysical Society.
Earth Sciences are increasingly moving towards the integration of different approaches, scales and objects. Phenomenological relations are discovered among phenomena previously considered as unrelated. (UN)COUPLED2000 has set at the centre of its attention the mechanics of plate collision. This has allowed us to propose new “bridges” among different geological domains from the orogen to the foredeep basin and the far foreland. Traditionally, such domains have been investigated by different groups with different methods, however, with little integration.
Major advances have been made in the last years in the understanding of orogens, flexural basins and foreland deformation both in observational and modelling terms. The increasingly widespread application of numerical modelling techniques has encouraged earth scientists to take an always more quantitative approach. The time is now mature for an integrated analysis of the entire system and of the interrelations between the composing objects. The philosophy behind (UN)COUPLED2000 is one which traverses traditional barriers between disciplines such as high temperature deformation and formation of sedimentary basins in the foreland.
(UN)COUPLED2000 is also an attempt to decrease the distance between basic and applied research. Indeed, processes taking place in the orogen, traditionally considered of purely academic interest are of profound importance for the development of foreland sedimentary basins which have obvious applied interest. Viceversa, phenomena occurring in the foreland can be indicative of processes affecting the collision zone itself. The very name of the Meeting, (UN)COUPLED2000, has, in fact, been chosen on one side to mark the mechanical interactions between colliding plates, but also to underline the importance of interplay between geological processes.
The response to our call has been a very positive one with papers being presented on a very wide range of topics and disciplines and by contributors from a wide variety of countries. We have particularly appreciated the attempt made by the participants to calibrate their contributions to the topic and philosophy of (UN)COUPLED2000. We are confident that this will ensure an homogenous set of papers of broad interest to all participants.
(UN)COUPLED2000 is the second “Stephan Müller” Topical Conference, organised under the auspices of the European Geophysical Society. This reflects the increased effort of the Society to broaden its activities moving from its traditional geophysical background towards coverage of the entire spectrum of earth sciences. Needless to say, this goes hand in hand with the recognition of the importance of disciplines such as structural geology, petrology, basin analysis and sedimentology.
In the organisation and preparation of (UN)COUPLED2000 we have been helped in various ways by numerous people and Institutions. Sierd Cloetingh (former EGS President) was not only the initiator of the “Stephan Müller” Topical Conference Series, but was a constant source of ideas, suggestions and support. Vladimir Tolar was the person taking care, among several other things, of the Conference Site on the web and made electronic registration possible. The Netherlands Research School of Sedimentary Geology (NSG), the Integrated Research Centre for Integrated Solid Earth Studies (ISES), the Netherlands Royal Academy of Sciences (KNAW) provided financial support to the Meeting which is gratefully acknowledged. The Faculty of Earth Sciences of the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and the Charles University of Prague have been always prepared to provide technical help and support. The Czech Geological Society is thanked for hosting the Conference abstracts.
It is however clear that the success of (UN)COUPLED2000 has been made possible by the quality of participants. We appreciate your efforts, ideas and creativity. Amsterdam with its beautiful historical centre will provide a perfect background for the activities taking place during (UN)COUPLED2000. We wish everybody a pleasant stay in Amsterdam and a fruitful participation to the Meeting.