Soil-forming processes can be observed at various spatial and temporal scales, including molecular - microscopic - pedon - landscape scales, and a similarly wide range of temporal scales. They are influenced not only by the “classical five” soil-forming factors, but also by the factor “humans”. This holds true not only for the industrial period and urbanized areas, but also for palaeopedological and archaeological contexts.

In this session, we seek abstracts on all of these aspects of “soils as records in time and space”:
- soil processes proceeding at different scales, incl. interactions across scales (both spatial and temporal)
- human-induced soil changes (incl. mechanical and chemical changes, as well as the introduction of artificial parent materials)
- advances in understanding weathering mechanisms and mineralogical changes in time and space
- linkages of spatial patterns and processes in soil landscapes over time
- processes taking place on short time scales, thereby contributing to long-term soil changes
- aeolian inputs to soils, implications for soil genesis and ecologically relevant soil properties
- palaeosols and geomorphic features as records of former environments and human activity

In the past two decades, connectivity has emerged as a relevant conceptual framework for understanding the transfer of water and sediment through landscapes. In geomorphology, the concept has had particular success in the fields of fluvial geomorphology and soil erosion to better explain rates and patterns of hydro-geomorphic geomorphic change in catchment systems. Although much progress has been made in the understanding of the physical processes that control the flows of matter through the landscape, applying this understanding across a range of scales has long hampered progress.
This session invites contributions from all areas of geomorphology (incl. soil science and hydrology) illustrating or identifying the role of connectivity for geomorphology on a local, regional or global scale. Specific themes we would like to promote are:
- advancement of the theory of connectivity, including sound and unambiguous definitions of
connectivity and related parameters,
- methodology development for measuring connectivity in field and laboratory settings,
having a special focus on experiments for conceptualizing the different processes involved,
- the development and application of suitable models and indices of connectivity,
- determining how the concept can be used to enable sustainable land and water management
The session is organized by the IAG-working group “Connectivity in geomorphology” aiming to develop an international network of connectivity scientists, to share expertise and develop a consensus on the definition and scientific agenda regarding the emerging field of connectivity in geomorphology.

Aeolian processes operate at a myriad of spatial and temporal scales both on Earth and other planetary bodies. Process and form are linked by feedback mechanisms that drive the evolution of forms and at the larger scale the landscape itself. This session brings together research traversing the spectrum of scale, from long term landscape dating and evolution modelling to small-scale process studies. It will be of interest to researchers that study wind-blown sediment (both sand and dust sized particles) and associated bedforms in a range of environments, from coastal and semi-arid regions, to hyper arid deserts and other planets. Contributions that use novel instrumentation in field or laboratory studies, remote sensing at the landscape scale, innovative numerical modelling or theoretical approaches, are encouraged, particularly those which attempt to elucidate feedback between surface properties and sediment transport.

This session is co-sponsored by the International Society for Aeolian Research (ISAR; http://www.aeolianresearch.com/). The best student presentation (oral or poster) in this session will receive two-year ISAR membership and a book prize.

During the Quaternary Period, the last 2.6 million years of Earth's history, changes in environments and climate shaped human evolution. In particular, large-scale features of atmospheric circulation patterns varied significantly due to the dramatic changes in global boundary conditions which accompanied abrupt changes in climate. Reconstructing these environmental changes relies heavily on precise and accurate chronologies. Radiocarbon dating continues to play a vital role in providing chronological control over the last 50,000 years, but advances in recent years on a range of other geochronological techniques that are applicable to the Quaternary have made available a much wider diversity of methods. In this session, contributions are particularly welcome that aim to (1) reduce, quantify and express dating uncertainties in any dating method, including high-resolution radiocarbon approaches, (2) use established geochronological methods to answer new questions, (3) use new methods to address longstanding issues, or (4) combine different chronometric techniques for improved results, including the analysis of chronological datasets with novel methods, such as Bayesian age-depth modelling. Applications may aim to understand long-term landscape evolution, quantify rates of geomorphological processes, or provide chronologies for records of climate change.

To fully diagnose the mechanisms behind the complex teleconnections of past abrupt climate transitions accurate dating and correlation is imperative. This is one of the main goals of the INTIMATE initiative. Furthermore, we aim towards a global approach to integrating climate data, by considering archives from the tropics to the poles and develop our understanding of proxy-sensitivities to different aspects of climate and environmental change (e.g. temperature, precipitation, nutrient availability, sunlight). Finally, we should test our hypotheses and challenge our ideas using models of atmosphere-ocean-biosphere processes. INTIMATE aims to provide a better understanding of the mechanisms of abrupt climate change, with a particular emphasis on the integration and interpretation of global records of abrupt climate changes during the last glacial to interglacial cycle.

Our invited speaker is Prof. Tim Jull, the Editor of the Radiocarbon Journal who will speak about
"Annual carbon-14 variability in tree-rings: Causes and Implications for the calibration curve."