Link to SG2PS Software now available from Software Download

SG2PS is a free software for field (and well) data processing. For field data, you can plot in batch all of your measurements on stereonets / rose diagrams, separated by outcrops and different data types, and export the results in vector graphics format. Stress field calculation (after Angelier 1990, Fry 1999, Shan et al. 2004 and other methodologies), weight point statistics for fractures, as well as k-means clustering and tilting test are available.

TecTask Microtectonics Course

18-21 of February 2013

Course costs are 300 euros for students , and they have to cover their own accomodation

see: www.microtectonics.de

Prof. Dr. Cees W. Passchier

Henk Zwart

It is with great sadness that we have been informed of the death of one of the pioneers of modern structural geology, Henk Zwart.

Henk studied geology in Leiden and did his PhD work in the St Barthelemy Massif, French Pyrenees, supervised by Prof. de Sitter. During and after his PhD work, he became interested in the relationship between metamorphism and deformation. For several years, he cooperated in a large mapping program that covered the central Pyrenees, supervised by de Sitter, with a large number of PhD students. His supervisor, Prof. de Sitter, forbade him to work on the metamorphic rocks since, he said, they were too difficult to understand. This was of course a challenge to Henk Zwart, who concentrated all his efforts on the metamorphic rocks. He cut numerous thin sections, but could indeed not make much progress. At the time, it was standard practice to cut thin sections normal to the lineation. One day, the thin section maker in Leiden made a mistake and cut some of the metamorphic rocks in the Pyrenees parallel to the lineation: in these sections, Henk Zwart for the first time saw the pre-syn and postkinematic interference patterns of foliation and porphyroblasts with which we are now all familiar. He then brought all his rocks back to the thin section maker, and from then on all sections were cut parallel to the lineation, in Leiden and abroad. This was probably Henk's most lasting discovery in structural geology: serendipity indeed...

After the Pyrenees work with de Sitter, Henk worked some time in Denmark before he obtained the position as Professor in structural geology in Leiden. He had this chair till the department moved to Utrecht in the beginning of the 1980s. Besides his work in the Pyrenees, Henk is famous for fundamental work on the difference between "Variscan type" and "Alpine type " orogenies. He supervised large mapping projects in Scandinavia and in the Pyrenees, and was active in several leading scientific organisations, notably in the construction of the maps of the European Variscides.

Henk was chairman of ComTect, the predecessor of TecTask. In 1976 he organised a meeting at Leiden in collaboration with Richard Lisle, Gordon  Lister and Paul Williams from the Geologisch  en Mineralogisch
Instituut  der  Rijksuniversiteit,  that went on to become the Deformation Mechanisms Rheology and tectonics conference series..

Henk was an extremely capable and successful scientist, and one of the founders of European structural geology and metamorphic petrology.

On a more personal level, Henk was also a mountaineer, climbed the Matterhorn with Rudolph Trouw, and was famous for being a rather "silent " person. He could bring students to despair by not saying anything during an entire dinner or evening together...

HJ Zwart and P. Floor in Galicia in 1971

Cees Pascchier, November 2012

Biennial Meeting of the Specialist Group in Tectonics and Structural Geology of the Geological Society of Australia

2-8 February 2014, Thredbo, NSW, Australia

http://sgtsg.gsa.org.au/events/index.html

International meeting on Precambrian evolution and deep exploration of the lithosphere

7-9 October 2013, Beijing, China

email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ; This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

DRT 2013

16-19 September 2013, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium

http://ees.kuleuven.be/drt2013/about/index.html

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The 24th Colloquium of African Geology

http://www.cag24.org.et/

The Colloquium of African Geology (CAG) is a major biennial meeting organized under the auspices of the Geological Society of Africa (GSAf). Since the first colloquium in 1965, this Colloquium has been hosted by several European and African countries. The African countries that had a chance to organize this event were Swaziland, Zimbabwe, Morocco, Mozambique, Tunisia and South Africa. Based on the decision of the Geological Society of Africa (GSAf) General Assembly held on 14 January 2011 at the University of Johannesburg, South Africa (during the 23rd Colloquium), the organization of the next Colloquium of African Geology (CAG24) as well as the 14th Conference of the Geological Society of Africa and the 40th Anniversary of the Geological Society of Africa (1973-2013) was assigned to Ethiopia. This will be conducted at the United Nations Economic Commission Conference Center (UNECA) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia from 8 to 14 January 2013. The CAG24 will be organized by the Ethiopian Geosciences and Mineral Engineering Association (EGMEA) in cooperation with governmental and non-governmental organizations under the auspices of the Geological Society of Africa (GSAf). The Theme of the Conference is: “40 Years of GSAf (1973-2013): Earth Sciences Solutions to African Development Challenges”.

Tectask Grows Up !!

The IUGS has recently upgraded the status of TecTask from a Task Force to a full Commission, in recognition of our continued growth in membership, and of our ongoing activities. In the medium term we will be calling on members to vote on future activities.  In particular we want to increase our activities and outreach particular into developing countries and to young scientists.

Tectask Grows Out !!

TecTask  We have recently passed the barrier of one thousand members at the TecTask web site. We have noticed that the surges in membership correlate directly with the introduction of new software packages available from our site, so any members that would like to use TecTask to store or advertise their (free or low cost) structural geology and tectonics related software, please contact us.

The Changing Faces of Africa: Elements of African Geology

TecTask has supported the production of the Commission for the Geological Map of the World's (CGMW) latest publication, which provides an overview of African Geology, suitable for undergraduate-level teaching, which comes in French and English, with a CD containing high resolution images of all content. This work is available for €15 from the CGMW website. Researchers based in Africa can get a free copy by contacting This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

3D Structural Geophysics Modelling Tool

TecTask is pleased to be able to provide to its members, at no cost, the Noddy 3D structural and potential-field modelling system. This tool was originally designed for teaching purposes, which is still its main use. For further infomation and the download link, see here.

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Damage to Outcrops

Geological sites are permanently threatened, many times even if they are included in protected sites. This can be due to the fact that protection rules are often only based on ecological criteria, showing the lack of effective tools to take actions to prevent destruction of geological heritage.

Unfortunately, geologists are sometimes the first to damage geological sites, such in the case of Aiguablava (Costa Brava, NE Spain), where some unique outcrops have recently been damaged by drill sampling.

Click here for further information

Outcropedia

The Outcropedia is a new initiative of TecTask. The aim is to make a central, public database of all important and beautiful outcrops in the World. The main aim is to record where beautiful deformation structures are to be seen, but other outcrops can also be submitted. The setup will be similar to Panoramio and other sites to share photographs, but in this case the accent will be on structural geology only, and contain more detailed descriptions. The Outcropedia will presently be accessible to members of TecTask only. If you click here you can see the Bons/Drueget Cap de Creus example (requires a plugin).

Virtual Seismic Atlas

A new Virtual Seismic Atlas is available through a industry-academia partnership involving University of Leeds and Aberdeen, the Geological Society, National Surveys and many partners from exploration industry.

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A great opportunity for teachers and researchers to access a large amount of stunning sub-surface imagery, most were acquired and processed by modern technology (3D seismic, pre-stack migration).

Teaching Geoscience Through Fieldwork

The ‘Teaching Geoscience through Fieldwork’ guide has been launched this week. Prepared by Professor Rob Butler, University of Aberdeen, the guide sets out the academic and professional rationale for geoscience fieldwork but also explores a number of key practical issues relating, for example, to fieldwork design, location, assessment and resourcing. The text also provides useful information on health and safety issues.

You can download the Teaching Geoscience through Fieldwork guide. Additional hard copies can be obtained by contacting This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Microdynamics Simulation

New Springer book on the numerical simulation of microstructures: Microdynamics Simulation see Elle Home Page for further details...The windows version of the code may be downloaded from here