The 1º Simposio de Paleontología del Noroeste Peninsular
The first scientific studies focused on fossils recovered in the northwestern Iberian Peninsula were performed at the beginning of the XX Century; though important paleontological findings had already been discovered in the 1800s. However, it was not until the 60s when there was a little growth of Paleontology in the region. At that time, several foreign geologists carried out prospections and studies in the Galician Paleozoic (Mondoñedo and O Courel-Peñalba), with special interest in the paleontology of trilobites and archaeocyathids. In the following decades, Dr. Isidro Parga Pondal – from the Laboratorio Xeolóxico de Laxe – prompted the mobilization of Spanish geologists towards the North-West of the Iberian Peninsula, whose studies and assessments let to discover new and significant fossil sites. In the 90s, the first generation of paleontologists academically formed in northwestern universities was developed, creating new research lines in paleontology of large mammals, paleoclimatology, paleoecology, and paleobotany. This expansion of the research field was introduced to the scientific community in 1997, when the first and unique paleontological meeting in Galicia was performed (XIII Jornadas de Paleontología “Fósiles de Galicia”, October 16th-18th 1997, A Coruña). The main aim of such meeting was to disseminate the fossil heritage, prompting and developing a professional core of paleontologists in the Galician region. Today, 25 years later, new paleontologists have joined the Galician University System, funded by autonomic, national, and international programs. This leads to a bloom of new groups and research lines.
From the Paleontology Area of the Universidade da Coruña, we want to take the opportunity of this 25th anniversary to organize the 1º Simposio de Paleontología del Noroeste Peninsular - PaNOP (November 16th-18th 2022), with the aim to reunite researchers and/or research groups from the Galician University System specialized in Paleontology, as well as those from other regions and countries that work or have worked in fossil sites and/or remains recovered in the northwestern Iberian Peninsula. We hope the researchers share their last findings and results with the scientific community during these three days of symposium, by means of presentations in specialized sessions of all the different geological times. The meeting will also prompt synergies among the participants, and reignite the dissemination of the Paleontological Heritage of the northwestern Iberian Peninsula.
We are waiting for you at PaNOP!
Organizing Committee
Universidade da Coruña
@UDC_gal
April, 2022