This message was sent to ##Email## To advertise in this publication please click here April 7, 2021 Special Welcome Message from Scott Burns and Rafig Azzam, IAEG Prof. Rafig Azzam, President, IAEG Welcome to the 148th IAEG Connector, the electronic newsletter connecting environmental and engineering geologists around the world! First, our very active YEG (Young Engineering Geologists) group is sponsoring a special webinar on April 22, 2021, on Rock Mechanics and Geoengineering. The details are below. Also, the RMEGV2021 conference in Japan has a due date for abstracts of April 9, 2021. Second, there are lots of interesting news items from our geologically active world! There was a spectacular retaining wall failure in Turkey, and a large boulder in the mountains of Austria hit a house — thank goodness no one was injured! A new fissure has opened up in Iceland next to last month's eruption of the volcano! To end with, there is an interesting story of an octopus attacking a geologist in Australia! (One of the hazards for a geologist working near the sea!) Enjoy the issue! Scott Burns, now Past President, IAEG, and editor, IAEG Connector, and Rafig Azzam, President, IAEG .IAEG NEWS 8th e-YEG webinar IAEG YEG & IAEG present the 8th "e-YEG" day with invited talks from Prof. Arindam Basu (India) & Dr. Yannis Vazaios (UK/Greece). Event Timing: April 22, 2021 at 13:00 UTC (GMT) Once you have registered, you will receive an email that includes specific join information. For any problems or questions, please contact us at iaeg.yeg@gmail.com. READ MORE EUROENGEO 3rd European Regional Conference of IAEG 07 - 10 October 2021, Athens GREECE — Announcing Two Keynote Speakers IAEG We are Delighted to introduce you two of our Keynote Speakers !! Professor Dr. D. Jean Hutchinson Department of Geological Engineering at Queen’s University, Kingston, Canada The importance of ground truthing Engineering Geology innovations for Rock Slope stability management Professor Kurosch Thuro Department of Engineering Geology, Technical University of Munich, Germany Hazard assessment and monitoring of landslide prone areas in Medellín, Colombia Submit your abstract here Register here! Congress dates 07 - 10 October 2021 Important dates Notification of selection – April 30, 2021 Early bird registration fee – June 1, 2021 READ MORE IAEG welcomes new national group for Mexico IAEG The executive committee of IAEG recently voted unanimously to welcome the application of Mexico to be a new national group of IAEG! The official vote will be taken at the next meeting of the IAEG Council. We want to thank Victor Manuel Hernandez Madrigal and Cecelia Irene Villasenor Reyes for making the application to IAEG. We also want to thank Vice President Jorge Bejerman for South America (and also Spanish speaking Central America) for making the connection and recruiting this group! We have been waiting for this day for a long time. IAEG creates its own YouTube channel for all past webinars IAEG Recently the IAEG has implemented its own communication system by creating its own YouTube channel where we have published all the webinars already present on the specific page of our site and those in progress. (IAEG YouTube channel). This is next to the YEG streaming webinar channel, which is also posted on the IAEG website. In these pandemic times, many lectures or conferences take place online. Unfortunately, the different time zones do not allow many in the world to be able to follow and learn about the interesting online lessons. In the era of globalization, it is important that more and more people, and especially young people coming from remote regions, can draw on important sources of culture. I think you have surely given some online lecture or conference that you have recorded, so I ask you to spread your knowledge all over the world, helping many people to grow, through the IAEG platform (https://www.iaeg.info/ webinar and IAEG channel on YouTube). Sure of your sensitivity towards these issues, send your webinars that you may have registered at the following address: giorgio.lollino@irpi.cnr.it. READ MORE 1st IAEG South American Regional Conference in Argentina will be virtual IAEG The Organizing Committee of the 1st IAEG South American Regional Conference and 2nd Argentine Congress of Geology Applied to Engineering and the Environment has agreed that the event will be held from 8th and 10th September 2021 as a Virtual Conference. The continuation of the pandemic has forced to cancel the physical meeting due to the uncertainties related to transportation of the assistants and the availability of places for the IAEG meetings (ExCom and Council) and the Conference itself. We are disappointed not to meet you in Córdoba and that a project that started in 2018 with so much effort cannot be carried out in person. However, as it is also known, this event represents the return of IAEG to the region after 35 years for which it was decided to go ahead with the original idea instead of postponing it. The three-day online meeting will offer the opportunity to access high quality exhibitions of multiple topics associated with applied geology and the chance to make meaningful connections no matter where you are in the world. Additionally, one possibility in the future would be that the IAEG Congress of 2026 will be held in this region, commemorating the 40 years since the V IAEG Congress in Buenos Aires, 1986. We thank you for your understanding and support, and we wish you good health. READ MORE RMEGV2021 call for abstracts IAEG On behalf of the Japanese Society for Rock Mechanics and the Japan Society of Engineering Geology, we are pleased to hold “RMEGV2021: 5th International Workshop on Rock Mechanics and Engineering Geology in Volcanic Fields.” The information on the Workshop has already been uploaded on the IAEG website. Important Dates April 9, 2021 Notification of Abstract Acceptance May 31, 2021 Proceedings Paper Submission Deadline July 30, 2021 Notification of Proceedings Paper Acceptance READ MORE Newest issue of the Bulletin is now released IAEG Click here to view the Bulletin. IAEG Newsletter Issue No. 4 IAEG Click here to view the most recent newsletter. .LINKS TO NEWSLETTERS OF OUR SISTER SOCIETIES 'Sister Society' Newsletter Links IGS (Geosynthetics) ISSMGE (ISSMGE News & Information Circular) IUGS E-Bulletin #172 IAPG - Geoethics .GEOLOGY NEWS Düzce Zonguldak: A spectacular retaining wall failure on a highway in Turkey The Landslide Blog As written by Dave Petley, "On 26 March 2021, a spectacular retaining slope failure occurred on a highway at Düzce Zonguldak in Turkey. I haven’t seen any images of this failure in the UK media, which is a shame as it is an unusual event." READ MORE Neustift in Austria: Boulder versus house, the boulder won The Landslide Blog In Neustift in Austria, a 4 metre high boulder struck a house on 2 April 2021 having detached from an adjacent slope. This image from Tyrol ORF gives an idea of the scale of the event. READ MORE Australia: Geologist beaten up by 'angriest octopus' on beach BBC News A man has been whipped by what he described as the "angriest octopus" while swimming on holiday at a Western Australian beach. In a video that has gone viral, the octopus can be seen in shallow waters lashing out at geologist Lance Karlson. READ MORE Hikers scramble as new fissure opens up at Icelandic volcano The Associated Press via Yahoo News Steam and lava spurted from a new fissure at an Icelandic volcano that began erupting in March, prompting the evacuation of hundreds of hikers who had come to see the spectacle. The new fissure, first spotted by a sightseeing helicopter, was about 500 meters (550 yards) long and about a kilometer (around a half-mile) from the original eruption site in the Geldinga Valley. READ MORE Rockfall from the lava dome on Sinabung volcano in North Sumatra, Indonesia Twitter Click here to view the photos. READ MORE The resilience of rail infrastructure: Reports from the Network Rail earthworks and weather advisory task forces The Landslide Blog On 12 August 2020 a very serious rail accident occurred at Carmont near to Stonehaven in Scotland when a fast-moving train struck a pile of debris on the track. The train derailed, with some of the set crashing down an embankment. READ MORE Avalanche coming off at Kapuche Glacier in western Nepal earlier this year Twitter Click here to see the tweet. READ MORE Science Headlines IAEG Check out what's going on in the world of geological science: Changes in ocean chemistry show how sea level affects global carbon cycle (UC Santa Cruz) Rare fossilized algae, discovered unexpectedly, fill in evolutionary gaps (Geological Society of America via ScienceDaily) Arctic methane release due to melting ice is likely to happen again (ScienceDaily) .CALENDAR OF EVENTS Date Event Location May 10-14, 2021 IFCEE Expo Dallas, Texas May 16-19, 2021 EuroGeo 7 Warsaw, Poland Aug. 16-21, 2021 36th IGC Delhi, India Sept. 8-10, 2021 1st IAEG South American Regional Conference Virtual Oct. 7-10, 2021 Euroengeo — 3rd European Regional Conference of IAEG Athens, Greece Oct. 17-20, 2021 International Conference on Scour and Erosion Arlington, Virginia Nov. 15-19, 2021 ARC 13 Singapore Sept. 14, 2022 FedIGS Chengdu, China Sept. 15-20, 2022 IAEG Congress Chengdu, China Sept. 18-22, 2022 12th International Conference on Geosynthetics Rome, Italy   IAEG Connector E-News Connect with IAEG Jason Zimmerman, Director of Publishing, Multiview, 469-420-2686 | Download media kit Katina Hernandez, Executive Editor, Multiview, 469-420-2675 | Contribute News International Association for Engineering Geology and the Environment IAEG, c/o Dr. Scott Burns, burnss@pdx.edu, Portland State University, PO Box 751610    Portland, OR 97207   503-725-3389  |  Contact Us  |  www.iaeg.info Click here to unsubscribe.  Learn how to add us to your safe sender list so our emails get to your inbox. 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