I.A.G. A.I.G. International Association of Geomorphologists Association Internationale des Géomorphologues NEWS

The second conference and field trip included paper presentations in Shanghai, Wuhan and even on a boat on the Yangtze, during the river excursion from Chongqing to Wuhan via the gorges. The conference was organised by Chen Zhongyuan of the East China Normal University, Shanghai and his colleagues.

The conference was formally inaugurated on 29 October by Huang Yuejin, the General Secretary of the Shanghai Municipality. The papers presented at this conference fell into two groups, papers on the Yangtze and papers dealing with other rivers. Speakers on the Yangtze in Shanghai were Li Jijun (Lanzhou), You Lianyuan (Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing), Yu Lizhong (East China Normal), Chen Zhongyuan (East China Normal), Chen Xiqing (East China Normal), Zhao Yan (Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan), Yoshiki Saito (Geological Survey of Japan) and Zheng Xiangming (East China Normal). Other speakers were M.G. Wolman (Johns Hopkins), Colin Thorne (Nottingham), Edgardo Latrubesse (Goiás), Elena Franzinelli (Amazonas), Oscar Orfeo (Centro de Ecologia Aplicada del Litoral, Corrientes), José Stevaux (Maringa), Alan Werritty (Dundee), Dick Marston (Oklahoma State), Andrew Marcus (Montana State), Phil Ashworth (Leeds), Jim Best (Leeds), Jack Schmidt (Utah State), Lin Ma (Leeds), Gordon Grant (US Forest Service) and Mauro Marchetti (Modena and Regio Emilia). Apart from review papers and papers on the effect of woody debris and anthropogenic changes, studies on the following rivers were presented: the Amazon, the Lower Negro, the Paraná, the Jamuna (Bangladesh) and the Deschutes.

At the end of the paper session, the group travelled to Chongqing by air and then by the boat Jiang Yu on the Yangtze. The trip from Chongqing to Yichang took two full days and traversed the three gorges, which was an unforgettable experience. The rock exposures, flood signs, slackwater deposits, marked height of the water of the future reservoir, etc. kept everyone leaning over the railings of the front deck. At Wushan, between the Qutang and the Wu gorges, the participants traversed the smaller but spectacular gorges of the Daning River, a tributary to the Yangtze, in a small boat. This was followed by a return to the Jiang Yu to travel downstream through the Wu and Xiling gorges. At the end of the second day the boat travelled past the dam under construction, and then through the locks of the Gezhou Dam to Yichang. A second set of papers was given on the boat by Olli Varis (Helsinki University of Technology), Kazauki Hori (Tokyo), Tracey Dury (Washington), Paul Grams (Utah State), Jean-Luc Peiry (Blaise Pascal) and Jean-Paul Bravard (Université Lumiere-Lyon).

Next morning the group had an official briefing on the background of the Three Gorges Dam followed by a visit to the dam site. The rest of the day was spent looking a the flood defences near Jingzhou where the Yangtze meanders across a wide flat plain, and the required dykes are more than 10 m high backed by emergency flood discharge sluices and storage areas. The experienced local chief engineer explained the past changes in the river and described the previous large floods.

The final paper session was at the Chinese University of Geosciences in Wuhan. The first paper on the Yangtze was given by Academician Yin Hongfu, the President of the University. The other speakers at Wuhan were M.G. Wolman, Yin Ruilan (Yangtze River Scientific Research Institute), Adrian Harvey (Liverpool), Tao Jianshen (Hubei Water Conservancy Office), Avijit Gupta (Leeds), David Higgitt (Durham), Wang Rushu (Environment and Cultural Relics Protection Committee), Andrew Warne (Texas), Wang Yanxin (Chinese University of Geosciences, Wuhan) and Lu Xixi (Western Ontario). Apart from the Yangtze, the other major rivers discussed were the Orinoco and the Mekong. On return to Shanghai, the group had a tour of the city, which ended at the mouth of the Yangtze.

Avijit Gupta