THIRD CIRCULAR
14TH INTERNATIONAL FIELD CONFERENCE
OF THE CAMBRIAN STAGE SUBDIVISION WORKING GROUP
Malyi Karatau Range, Southern Kazakhstan
Almaty – Karatau
24 August – 2 September, 2009
INVITATION
Dear Colleagues,
Preparations to the 14th International Field Conference of the Cambrian Stage Subdivision Working
Group, which will be carried out in the Malyi Karatau and Bolshoi Karatau ranges, Southern
Kazakhstan, are almost completed. More than 30 participants are presently kindly agreed to take a part
in the workshop and excursion. We encourage all registered participants to confirm their attendance by
the 30th of June 2009, which is important for final preparations of the field excursion. For other
colleagues who would like to attend the Field Conference it is not too late to be registered by the 30th
of June 2009. A dead line for submission of the abstracts is the 1st of July, 2009.
The Organizing Committee warmly invites you to attend the 14th International Field Conference of the
Upper Cambrian Stage Subdivision Working Group in Malyi Karatau Range, Southern Kazakhstan, on
August 24th – September 2nd, 2009. It includes a one day introductory conference/workshop, which will
be held in the K.I. Satpaev Institute of Geological Sciences, Almaty and a seven days field excursion in
the Malyi Karatau and Bolshoi Karatau ranges, which offer a study of one of the most complete
Ediacarian to Lower Palaeozoic sequences in Kazakhstan and whole Central Asia. Outcrop is
substantial throughout the region, allowing completeness of stratigraphical sequences, general
characters of sedimentological facies and their variation through time and space, and tectonic structures
to be traced across considerable distances. The sequence is characterised by diverse and abundant
faunal assemblages of trilobites, as well as various other groups of fossils. It includes the Kyrshabakty
Section, which is currently proposed as the GSSP stratotype for the yet unnamed ‘Ninth’ Stage of the
Cambrian System defined by the first appearance of the trilobite Agnostotes orientalis. If accepted, the
boundary level and point will be considered as a standard stage/age GSSP. Boundaries of the presently
ratified and approved Drumian, Guzhangian and Paibian stages are also exposed in continuous
sequence in Kyrshabakty, whereas a continuous Cambrian - Ordovician transition can be observed in
the Batyrbai section exposed nearby.
English, Russian and Kazakh are considered as the official languages of the Conference.
PROGRAMME
Please pay attention to some changes in the programme!
Day 1. 24 August. Arrive Almaty. Transport from the airport in Almaty will be provided by the
Organisation Committee. Accommodation overnight at the hotel.
Day 2. 25 August. Morning – early afternoon, Introductory Conference on Cambrian stratigraphy and
progress of Cambrian Stage Boundary programme will be held in the K.I. Satpaev Institute of
Geological Sciences (69a Kabanbai Batyr Street).
Evening, depart by train to Taraz, formerly Dzhambul (overnight).
Day 3. 26 August. Arrive at Taraz early morning – transfer by bus to accommodation in the campus
situated in the vicinity of Zhanatas.
Afternoon, Fieldwork, Aktugai River section, Ediacarian to lower Cambrian.
Day 4. 27 August. Fieldwork, Kyrshabakty Section, middle to upper Cambrian, including the proposed
Basal Boundary Stratotype and GSSP of the Suzakian Stage (Agnostotes orientalis FAD).
Day 5. 28 August. Fieldwork, Kyrshabakty Section (second day).
Day 6. 29 August. Batyrbai and Shabakty sections, middle Cambrian to lower Ordovician.
Day 7. 30 August. Fieldwork, Arpaozen Section in Bolshoi Karatau, middle Cambrian to lower
Ordovician
Day 8, 31 August. Morning, fieldwork, Koksu and Geres sections, fossiliferous lower Cambrian.
Afternoon, depart from accommodation to Taraz. Depart from Taraz by train to Almaty.
Day 9. 1 September. Arrive Almaty mid morning, transport to hotel. Afternoon, Geological Institute
(packing specimens, etc), and cultural tour.
Day 10. 2 September. Depart from Almaty. Transport to the airport will be provided.
There are no specific restrictions imposed on the fossil collecting, but some complications may be
expected due to certification of the geological sample export according to regulations of the Custom of
the Republic of Kazakhstan. The Organisation Committee is working now to ease conditions of the
sample shipment in the luggage or by post.
COSTS
The estimated cost for the complete programme outlined below is $700 U.S. [700 U.S. Dollars] for
participants and $600 U.S. [600 U.S. Dollars] for accompanying persons, to include all costs for the
Introductory Conference/Workshop, plus transport to and from and within the field areas, together with
food and accommodation in the field programme, transfer from/to Almaty airport for people attending
the conference. Fee is reduced in comparison to the Second Circular because costs of accommodation
in Almaty (one day on arrival and one day on departure, if needed) will be covered by participants. The
Organising Committee takes all responsibilities for reservation of accommodation.
Payment
Participants are encouraged to pay fee as soon as possible and prior to July 30st, 2009, which is
important for booking accommodation and transportation by the railway. In exceptional circumstances
(if transaction through the local banking system is impossible, due to the country regulations) fee can
be paid on arrival.
These also require passport data, including the name, passport number, date and place of issue and
expiring date.
Payment in U.S. Dollars is requested by electronic transfer to:
Сorrespondent bank: HSBC BANK USA, N.Y., SWIFT: MRMDUS33
Name of benificiary bank: JSC BANK CENTERCREDIT, ALMATY KZ, SWIFT: KCJBKZKX
Account: 000303488
Benificiary:
Account: 931070571
K.I. Satpaev Institute of Geological Sciences, Ltd., Almaty, Kazakhstan
Posting text: your name (important!)
Transfer costs must be covered by participants.
We will be grateful if you inform us about the date of your transfer.
We will confirm the arrival of your payment by e-mail.
All participants must ensure that they purchase travel insurance for the duration of the field trip.
TRAVEL AND VISAS
Almaty, formerly a capital of the Republic of Kazakhstan, is the largest urban settlement in the country.
It is situated in foot hills of the Zailiiskii Alatau Mountains. The Almaty International Airport is well
served daily from a number of European centres (e.g. London, Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Istambul) as well
as from Beijing, Dubai and Seoul; apart from Russian citizens, probably avoid Moscow and St
Petersburg because of potential restrictions related to shipping samples (we can provide further advice
if necessary).
Accomodation in Almaty
Lodging Almaty will be in the three star ‘Almaty’ Hotel in single or double rooms and it includes bed
and breakfast. If there is a specific participant that you would like to share a room with, please indicate
this before arrival. Accommodation costs are not included in the conference fee and reservation will be
made by the organizers. Hotel is situated in walking distance from the K.I. Satpaev Institute of
Geological Sciences. Luxury accommodation and daily allowance in Almaty are not covered by the
conference fee. Approximately, possible costs for accommodation looks as follows:
Hotel
Address
Costs in Tenge / $ per day
Single
improved
Almaty
85
room, Double
standard
Kabanbai
Batyr Street
room, Double
improved
room, Double
room,
improved
25 000 Tenge / 32 000 Tenge /
20 000
$135
Tenge/ 20 000 Tenge / $170 –
$135
$220 –
28 000 Tenge / 35 000 Tenge /
$190
$235
Registration for foreign citizens is compulsory in Kazakhstan. It can be done in the hotel. A fee of
2300 Tenge = $16 is not included into the registration fee of the Conference.
For more information on Almaty and surrounds visit: www.emap.kz.
Accomodation in the field will be provided in the local summer resort in the vicinity of the town of
Zhanatas in relative proximity from the Kyrshabakty subsection. A breakfast and a dinner will be
provided in the restaurant in the campus, food for lunch will be supplied directly on the section or from
the field campus nearby.
Prevailing weather conditions in South Kazakhstan and the Malyi Karatau Range in August – early
September are sunny, hot and dry with temperatures varying from +30°C to +40°C and maybe higher.
Therefore we highly recommend being equipped in the field with proper head cover and a light,
preferably cotton dress preventing from overheating and sun burns.
Official invitation
If you need an invitation letter, please do not hesitate to contact the organizing committee.
Visa requirements
Under the new procedure of issuing visas of the Republic of Kazakhstan, from February 15, 2004,
single entry business, tourist and private (up to one month) visas will be issued to citizens of 35
countries, without an official invitation arranged through Kazakhstanian authorities (Ministry of
Foreign Affairs/ Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan), on the basis of their
personal or companies' written statements submitted to the Consular Section of the Embassy of
Kazakhstan in London. The full list of such countries includes: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada,
Croatia, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Ireland, Iceland, Japan,
Liechtenstein, Luxemburg, Malaysia, Monaco, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland,
Portugal, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Slovakia, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, USA, United Arab Emirates.
Business visas
1. A completed visa application form (one per person).
2. A valid passport (a photocopy will not be accepted) which should have at least one blank page for a
visa. Your passport must be valid for at least six months longer than the validity of the requested visa.
3. One passport size photo of the applicant which should be stapled to the marked space in the upper
right-hand corner of the application form.
4. Payment should be done by card, cheque/ postal order payable to the Embassy of Kazakhstan (no
cash).
ORAL AND POSTER PRESENTATIONS
Oral presentations will be scheduled for a maximum of 20 minutes (15 minutes presentation
and 5 minutes discussion). The format of posters will be A0 (84 cm wide and 119 cm high).
Please indicate your preference for presentation (oral or poster) in your abstract on submission. Due to
a limited time of the Introductory Conference/Workshop in Almaty on 25th of August, 2009, a
preference will be given to presentations dedicated to the general aspects of the Cambrian stratigraphy
and stage subdivision. The final decision will be made by the Organizing Committee. Presentations
should run on Power Point version 2003 or earlier.
Special symposia or open sessions dedicated to the poster presentations will be organised during the
field excursion in the summer resort
ABSTRACTS
In order to be included in the abstract volume, authors of oral and poster presentations must submit an
abstract by July 1, 2009. Abstracts should be written in correct English or Russian. The Organising
Committee reserves the right to accept or refuse any submission. Abstracts should be submitted to the
conference e-mail addresses: svenax@bk.ru; oiniki_50@mail.ru in digital version attached to an E-mail
according to the guidelines below.
Abstracts should be prepared in 12 pt. Times New Roman and saved preferably in MS Word version
2003 or earlier. They should not exceed 5000 characters, or one and half a page in length, including
references and figures. Plates will not be accepted. The abstract must be formatted as an A4 (210 x 297
mm) 1.5 line-spaced page with a 20 mm space on the top, 20 mm on the left, right and bottom margins.
Illustrations (including tables) must be submitted separately in jpg or pdf format with resolution 300
dpi. Figure captions should be given at the end of the abstract text. Size of the figures must not exceed
A4 format. Title should be printed in the upper case, bold. Author names in the upper case regular, their
affiliation and e-mail address from a new line.
Abstract example:
ADVANCES IN CAMBRRIAN STRATIGRAPHY OF RUSSIAN ARCTIC
PETROV, IVAN К.1 and SIDOROV, PETER, I. 2
1
Institute of Geological Sciences, Magadan, 111111, Russia; petrov@yahoo.com
2
East Siberian Geological Survey, Magadan, 222222, Russia; sidorov@yandex.ru
The Kharaulakh Range in South Kazakhstan exhibits one of the finest Middle to Upper Cambrian
sequences in the world. The section is unique in the abundance of various groups of fossils including
diverse assemblages of trilobites (Petrov, 1980, 2006; Petrov and Sidorov, 2001a; 2001b).
Work on global standards for the Cambrian System and definition of GSSPs for its Series and
Stage boundaries is a major task within current activities of the International Subcommission on the
Cambrian System (IUGS). At present, the lower boundaries of the Drumian Stage, defined by the FAD
of Ptychagnostus atavus, and of the Furongian Series (Upper Cambrian) and the Paibian Stage at the
base of the Glyptognostus reticulatus Biozone (Fig. 1) are the only internationally approved
stratigraphical boundaries within the System (Peng et al., 2004).
References
Abaimova, G. P. 1983. Conodonts and other problematic fossils from the Middle and Upper Cambrian
of Malyi Karatau, 96-104. In Apollonov, M. K., Bandaletov, S. M. and Ivshin, N. K. (eds.).
Stratigrafiya i paleontologiya nizhnego paleozoya Kazakhstana [Stratigraphy and palaeontology of the
Lower Palaeozoic of Kazakhstan]. Nauka, Alma-Ata. Academy of Sciences of the Kazakh SSR, 176 pp.
[In Russian.]
Apollonov, M. K., Dubinina, S. V. and Zhemchuzhnikov, V. G. 1988. Batyrbai Section, South
Kazakhstan, U.S.S.R. - potential stratotype of the Cambrian – Ordovician Boundary. Geological
Magazine, 125, 445-449.
Ergaliev G. K. 1980. Middle and Upper Сambrian trilobites from Malyi Karatau. Nauka, Alma-Ata.
208 pp. [In Russian].
Lu, Y. 1964, Cambrian trilobites. In: Wang, Y. (ed.), A Handbook of Index Fossils of South China,
Science Press, Beijing, p. 26–39. [In Chinese.]
For additional information, if needed, please write to G.Kh. Ergaliev [svenax@bk.ru] or Olga I.
Nikitina [oiniki_50@mail.ru], or call by telephone +7 727 2913994.
SPONSORS
The organising committee of the 14th International Field Conference of the Cambrian Stage
Subdivision Working Group would like to thank the following sponsors:
International Subcommission on Stratigraphy of the Cambrian System (IUGS);
K.I. Satpaev Institute of Geological Science;
Commettee on Science of the Ministry of Science and Education of the Republic of Kazakhstan;
Centre of Earth Sciences, Metallurgy and Ore Dressing.
On behalf of the Organising Committee
Almaty:
Dr Gappar Kh. Ergaliev (Chairmen of the Organising Committee)
Dr Olga I. Nikitina (Secretary of the Organising Committee)
Dr Bulat M. Rakishev (Director, Institute of Geological Sciences)
Dr V. (Slava) G. Zhemchuzhnikov
Cardiff (UK), consulting group:
Prof. Michael G. Bassett
Dr Leonid E. Popov
Application/Registration Form
1. Full name and Title –
2. Postal Address –
3. E-mail Address –
4. Male or Female –
5. Please tick one of the following options:
A. I will definitely attend –
B. I will definitely not attend –
C. At present I am uncertain whether I can/will attend or not: (if you choose this option
initially, then please see Item 6, below) –
PLEASE ANSWER EITHER A, B, or C HERE ______________________
6. Please note that the closing date for ALL APPLICATIONS to attend the meeting will be 30
JUNE, 2009.
7. For those who will definitely attend we will require a deposit of $100 in advance of the meeting.
At the same time we will require details of your passport etc in order to organise internal travel
within Kazakhstan.
Please note that you will also require a Visa to enter Kazakhstan.
DETAILS OF THESE REQUIREMENTS WILL BE SENT TO YOU WHEN YOUR
REGISTRATION OF ATTENDANCE IS RECEIVED.
8. A Third Circular will be sent to all registered participants in the meeting at least one month before
it starts.
REGISTRATION/REPLIES
In submitting your Application/Registration as a response to this form, please send it by e-mail to all
three of the following addresses:
svenax@bk.ru
vgzhem@geostan.kz
mike.bassett@museumwales.ac.uk