College Travel Award.

By Cristina-Ioana Balaban

European Geosciences Union (EGU) General Assembly (23-27 May 2022)

The European Geosciences Union (EGU) General Assembly is the largest yearly geoscience conference in Europe, taking place in Vienna, Austria. After 2 years of an online-only conference, the EGU General Assembly returned in 2022 (23-27 May) with a hybrid online and inperson format, focused on delivering 5-7 minutes oral presentations in all sessions. Such an opportunity is valuable for current PhD students, whose networking opportunities have been limited under the COVID-19 pandemic.

Reconstructing the extent, style, timing and drivers of past mountain glaciation is crucial in both understanding past atmospheric circulation and predicting future climate change. Unlike in highelevation mountains situated in maritime and continental climates, less is known of past glaciation in mid-altitude mountains, located in transitional climates, such as the Southern Carpathians of Romania. Despite these mountains harbouring a rich glacial geomorphology, this has never been systematically mapped according to well-established morphological criteria, nor confidently related to former styles of glaciation. Therefore, filling this gap is important for not only accurately identifying glacial extents, but also for establishing past glaciation styles and relating them to past ice dynamics and climate. We aim to understand the extent and timing of past glaciation in the Godeanu Mountains, Southern Carpathians. We present a new geomorphological map of the area, highlighting landforms associated with glaciation of the Scărișoara plateau and surrounding valleys. Using both remote (orthophotographs and Google Earth) and field mapping techniques, we describe and interpret the origins of glacial erosional landforms (icemoulded bedrock, ice-marginal meltwater channels), and of depositional discrete debris assemblages of likely glacial (moraines), periglacial (pronival ramparts, protalus lobes, rock glaciers) and paraglacial (rock slope failure) origins. We also hypothesize the relationship of these landforms with former styles of glaciation. The field study results aid the interpretation of the geomorphology in the wider mountain range. Once absolute chronological results have been produced, the mapping will be used as a spatial constraint for numerical ice-flow modelling in the Parallel Ice Sheet Model (PISM).

My presentation took place on Monday, May 23rd, 2022, at 15.24-15.30, under the GM7.3 – Mountain glaciations: Developments in geomorphology, geochronology, and palaeoclimatology’ session. Building upon my previous UKbased (online) conference experience (Quaternary Research Association Annual Discussion 2022), this was an excellent opportunity for me to share my research on the glacial geomorphology of an understudied area with an international audience. This being my first opportunity to attend a large, hybrid event with an in-person component, in the last funded year of my PhD, is paramount to my academic career. This is because it enabled me to confidently disseminate the outcome of two years’ worth of PhD research by the means of an oral presentation, which received thought-provoking questions from the audience, and encouraging feedback to boost morale for the latter stages of the PhD and beyond! Consequently, it also enabled me to forge much- needed networks over coffee breaks, and lunches/dinners, which may lead to some fruitful collaborations in the future. I also thoroughly enjoyed attending diverse conference sessions over the course of the week - a trademark for the largest geoscience conference in Europe - and exploring the vibrant cityscapes of Vienna in glorious weather! Finally, given that my PhD scholarship does not cover research expenses, such as for conferences, none of this would have been possible without funding support from the Ustinov College Travel Award, a Geography Department Postgraduate Conference Fund, as well as a Postgraduate Conference Grant from the British Society for Geomorphology, I am incredibly thankful for the opportunity!