The Association
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Upcoming Meetings:

 Student Travel Grants Available

10th CAVEPS and Quaternary Extinction Symposium
March 29 - April 2, 2005
Naracoorte, SA, Australia

CANQUA June 5-8, 2005
NOTICE: The server to the Winnipeg CANQUA abstract submission site has been periodically down for the past day or so. Please try again if you've been rebuffed; the format and address can be found on the meeting web site <http:www.umanitoba.ca/canqua>. We are extending the deadline until next week.

2^nd International Congress
“The World of Elephants”
Hot Springs, South Dakota, USA September 22-25,  2005

Special Report:
    Vision for Geomorphology &
    Quaternary Science

The Quaternary Times
    Current Newsletter
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Ask an AMQUA Expert

Directory of Quaternary Scientists

Friends of the Pleistocene

2005 Northeastern Friends of the Pleistocene meeting

Quaternary-Related Journal Discounts

Quaternary Job Opportunities

Quaternary-Related Abstracts

Quaternary-Related Links

Society of American Archaeology Fellowship Announcement

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AMQUA's Mission

The American Quaternary Association (AMQUA) is a professional organization of North American scientists devoted to studying all aspects of the Quaternary Period, about the last 2 million years of Earth history. Studying the Quaternary is critically important because it has been a time of frequent and dramatic environmental changes, exemplified by growing and decaying continental ice sheets and mountain glaciers. Beyond understanding the forces that shaped our modern environment, studying the Quaternary Period is significant because the "Ice Age" environmental changes were the backdrop for global changes in floral and faunal communities, including extinction of a diverse megafauna, and for the evolution of modern humans and their dispersal throughout the world.
AMQUA was founded in 1970 primarily to foster cooperation and communication among the remarkably broad array of disciplines involved in studying the Quaternary Period. Major academic and applied disciplines represented by the AMQUA membership include anthropology, archaeology, botany, climatology, ecology, geochemistry, geochronology, geography, geology, geomorphology, geophysics, hydrology, limnology, meteorology, neotectonics, oceanography, paleontology, palynology, soil science, and zoology.
Quaternary scientists seek answers to questions concerning past and present interactions among atmospheric, oceanic, and terrestrial systems, physical and biotic, during the time when the record is best preserved. Issues in Earth and human history addressed by Quaternary scientists include: the causes of the ice ages and rapid local and global environmental changes; the timing of changes in plant and animal communities; the environment and climatic modeling of ice-age and deglacial times; the history and causes of sea level changes; human paleoecology; paleogeographic and paleoenvironmental constraints on the peopling of the New World; and evaluating natural hazards such as volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, tsunamis, and landslides.
Research by Quaternary scientists also involves managing and conserving the natural environment and embraces an array of environmental issues. Humans are an integral component of the Quaternary environment, they live on and utilize Quaternary landscapes, and in recent millennia humans have had a significant impact on that environment and landscape. Quaternary scientists are trying to understand those impacts and how humans have been affected by natural and human- induced environmental

changes and may be affected by future change. Quaternary investigators identify and assess resources important to human existence such as deposits that support agriculture, that are a source of sand, gravel, and groundwater, and that serve as waste repositories. Quaternary scientists also address human alterations of these resources such as water contamination and soil erosion.
AMQUA also encourages participation in the worldwide activities of the International Union for Quaternary Research (INQUA). INQUA's mission parallels that of AMQUA, but on a worldwide scale, namely to encourage interdisciplinary study and to facilitate international cooperation on problems of the Quaternary Period. AMQUA members are prime candidates for the U.S. National Committee for INQUA, which oversees official U.S. participation in INQUA Congresses, held every four years.
AMQUA meets its goals by sponsoring meetings, field trips, and publications. AMQUA's biennial meeting is built around a symposium topic with broad interest to as many constituent groups within AMQUA as possible. Theme topics have included "Hot and Cold Deserts During the Last Glaciation," "The Ice-Free Corridor and the Peopling of the New World," "Seasonal Climatic Responses in the Quaternary," "Rapid Change in the Quaternary," and "Global Warming: Interglacials, Interstadials, Climatic Optima, and Other Events." The
meetings therefore draw together individuals from various disciplines who have an interest in the topic or time
period. Efforts are made to make the program of invited speakers and discussions truly interdisciplinary and integrative. During the meetings members can present posters on their Quaternary investigations unrelated to the
meeting theme. Field trips are also a regular part of the meetings. AMQUA meetings are open to the general public.
AMQUA publishes a newsletter, The Quaternary Times, twice yearly. The newsletter contains information about AMQUA activities, as well as news from the membership, publications and meetings, and any other news pertaining to Quaternary research. Quaternary Research, the premiere journal for Quaternary studies, is an unofficial publication outlet for AMQUA.
For more information about AMQUA and its governing body, visit the AMQUA www site at: www.usu.edu/ ~amqua/