The Department of Environmental Sciences of the University of Basel and and the Platform Geosciences of the Swiss Academy of Sciences (SCNAT) cordially invite you to participate in the 22nd Swiss Geoscience Meeting to be held on Friday, 8 November and Saturday, 9 November, 2024 in Basel.

We look forward to meeting you at our stand.

The theme of this year’s Plenary Session on Friday afternoon is:
“The Anthropocene – Past, Present and Future”:
Since its formation around 4.5 billion years ago, planet Earth has experienced many major transformations in consequence of processes and events such as plate tectonics, meteorite impacts and mass extinctions. With the appearance of modern humans around 250,000 years ago, a new force began to alter the planet. In recent decades, human activities have culminated in massive modifications of our world that may be visible in rock layers, and the geological indicators preserved in these layers, for several hundred thousand years into the future. The term “Anthropocene” is now frequently used to highlight our profound influence on climate, biodiversity, habitat destruction, pollution and alterations to the Earth’s surface. Geoscience plays a pivotal role in revealing how our actions have impacted the Earth’s systems during the Anthropocene from the past to the present, in addressing potential future impacts, and to propose options to mitigate our influence into the future.