Report of Commission on Inter-Congress period 1991-1995

Four business meetings have been held between the 1991 and 1995 INQUA Congresses:

• August 1992, at International Geological Congress, Kyoto, Japan; attended by 28
  
• August 1993, at the Commission's Inter-Congress Symposium, Champaign, Illinois; attended by 60
  
• February 1994, at joint Paleopedology, Loess and Tephrochronology Commissions' Inter-Congress Meeting, Hamilton, New Zealand; attended by 15
  
• July 1994, at XV World Soils congress, Acapulco, Mexico; attended by 10
  

The Inter-Congress Symposium at Champaign, Illinois, August 8-12, 1993 was organised by L.R. Follmer (Secretary of Commission) and D.L. Johnson (University of Illinois). The 60 participants from 12 countries mainly considered fundamental problems of investigating and interpreting paleosols. Forty papers were read, describing buried soils of various Quaternary and pre-Quaternary periods, the effects of diagenesis after burial of paleosols, distinguishing grades of soil development, the steady state concept in pedogenesis, laterite formation, magnetic properties of paleosols in loess, recognition of soil sediments, etc. On August 11 the participants, divided into working groups to consider classification of paleosols, effects of diagenesis, definitions of paleopedological terms, analytical methods in paleopedology, dating of paleosols, field description, stratigraphy and horizon nomenclature. Many of these working groups are continuing with additional members not present at the original symposium. Proceedings of the symposium are currently being edited for a volume of Quaternary International, which will also include interim reports of some Working Groups. The symposium was followed by a 7-day excursion in western Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska and Iowa, to see Quaternary, Cretaceous and Carboniferous paleosols, and a guidebook for this was published by the University of Illinois. The symposium was supported by a grant of $2000 from the Soil Science Society of America.

The Symposium on Windblown Sediments in the Quaternary record, organised jointly by INQUA loess Commission and the UK Quaternary Research Association, was held at Roal Holloway, Egham, UK in January 1994. President J.A. Catt and other members of the Paleopedology Commission contributed papers which are being published in Quaternary Proceedings 4 and Quaternary Science Reviews.

At the XV World Soils Congress in Acapulco, July 1994, commission members contributed 9 oral papers and 16 poster papers; these will be published in various soils journals. At the meeting of ISSS Council, J.A. Catt submitted a proposal that the Paleopedology Working Group should be upgraded to a Subcommission. Although this was strongly supported and recommended for approval by ISSS Executive Officers, the full International Council voted against it by a narrow majority. However, the Council also accepted a report from a Standing Committee on Statutes and Structures recommending radical changes to the ISSS commission structure which means that the position of all commissions, subcommissions and working groups (including Paleopedology) will be reviewed before the next World Soil Congress at Montpellier in 1998.

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