This message was sent to ##Email## To advertise in this publication please click here December 16, 2020 .IAEG NEWS Special Welcome Message from Scott Burns and Rafig Azzam, IAEG Prof. Rafig Azzam, President, IAEG Welcome to the 132nd IAEG Connector, the electronic newsletter connecting environmental and engineering geologists around the world! This past week we finally had the meeting of FedIGS. I have summarized the main items discussed in this three-hour zoom meeting in all time zones. We offer a few new updates to events already listed. We have added the "real times" for the YEG special lecture on December 18, 2020, and not just the Greenwich Mean Time. We also have links to the latest sister society newsletters from ISSMGE and IGS. Interesting news items this week: The 16th 100+ carat Lucapa diamond was found in Angola this week. The stability of the Antarctic Ice Sheet also has a link, and there is a link to precursors to landslides based on research in Tibet. Happy Holidays for all of you around the world as many religions celebrate this time of the year! We will have a revised schedule for the next two weeks of our newsletter. There will be no IAEG Connector on December 23, and on December 30 we will have a short version giving a summary of the top 10 geology news items in our newsletter downloaded for the past year. On January 6, 2021, we will resume our normal newsletters. Enjoy the issue! Scott Burns, now Past President, IAEG, and editor, IAEG Connector, and Rafig Azzam, President, IAEG FedIGS meets December 7, 2020 IAEG FedIGS is the Federation of International Geo-Societies. It is composed of the President, Past President and Executive Director of the four large geo-societies: IAEG, ISSMEG (Soil Mechanics and Geoengineers), ISRM (rock mechanics) and IGS (International Geosynthetics Society). We were to have met in Poland earlier in the autumn, but the meeting was cancelled because of COVID-19. We had a meeting virtual this week. I have included a summary of what occurred at this very successful meeting. All members were present. READ MORE Link to the YEG Lecture: "Risk Assessment and Management for Geological Engineering Projects" Click here to view past talks on the official YouTube channel. The 4th e-YEG webinar can be found here. READ MORE YEG & IAEG present the 5th "e-YEG" day on "The use of Innovative Solutions for Slope Modelling and Monitoring" with invited talks from Dr. Daniele Giordan (Italy) & YEG's Chair Mr. Stratis Karantanellis (Greece) IAEG Event Timing: December 18th, 2020, 14:00 UTC (GMT) Grab your seat! Register here Chile becomes newest national group to join IAEG! IAEG The IAEG Executive Committee has unanimously voted to accept Chile as the newest national group or IAEG! This decision will be officially ratified at the next IAEG Council meeting. Special thanks to Vice President for South America, Professor Jorge Bejerman of Argentina, who has been recruiting national groups in South America. More good news is that we are close to having another national group from Bolivia! Thank you Vice President Jorge too!!! Free lectures on large landslides from iRALL iRALL Look back the lectures here. You can also watch the lectures by scanning the QR code. Click here to view the lecturers and topics. For more information, please visit: SKLGP Website http://en.sklgp.cdut.edu.cn/ iRALL Website http://irall.sklgp.cdut.edu.cn/ Newest issue of the Bulletin is now released IAEG Click here to view the Bulletin. ARC13 call for abstracts IAEG The 13th Asian Regional Conference (ARC13) of the International Association for Engineering Geology and the Environment (IAEG) is calling for abstract for both industry and academic presentation submissions. The conference theme is “Engineering Geology for Sustainable Resource and Infrastructure Development.” The conference will be in Singapore from November 15-19, 2021. We are seeking papers that will provoke debate, stimulate discussion, and offer new ideas, learning and the dissemination of research findings. Submissions from industry professionals are encouraged on current or future projects, methodologies and technologies. We are encouraging academic submissions based on research outcomes and developments. ARC13 organizers intend for ARC13 to adopt an in-person meeting format. However, this cannot be promised because attendee safety is top priority and in view of restrictions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. If the situation does not improve, the meeting may take the form of online presentations. Once decided, an announcement will be made and the registration fees informed accordingly. READ MORE 3rd EUROENGEO2020 is postponed until spring 2021 IAEG The 3rd European Regional Conference of IAEG will be hosted in Athens, Greece, by the IAEG National Group of Greece. The conference will be postponed until spring 2021. A European regional conference of IAEG was decided in the last council in South Korea. The activation again of the IAEG regional conference in Europe is a fundamental action for our region. Unfortunately, since the regional conference of IAEG in Europe has been inactive for almost 12 years, we do not have the chance to meet in our region often (the last was five years ago in Torino). Considering that almost half of the members and National Groups (NGs) of IAEG are from European region, we hope that the initiative will become a stable event, involving the scientific and professional community of the same area. The conference will be organized with the collection of extensive abstracts in order to reduce the complexity of the event due to the limited time. More details about the 3rd European Regional Conference will be available in few days on the conference website. It is our pleasure also to announce that the Executive Office and Council of IAEG for 2020 will be hosted in the occasion of the conference in Athens. The next Richard Wolters Prize competition for 2020 will be moreover presented by IAEG at the occasion of the conference. READ MORE IAEG Newsletter Issue No. 3 IAEG Click here to view the most recent newsletter. .OTHER CONFERENCES 1st IAEG South American Regional Conference in Córdoba, Argentina, Sept. 6-10, 2021 IAEG The 1st IAEG South American Regional Conference will take place in the city of Córdoba in coincidence with the 2nd Argentine Congress of Geology Applied to Engineering and the Environment. The event will take place Sept. 6-10, 2021, within the Córdoba Regional Faculty of the National Technological University. The activity marks the return of IAEG to the region after 35 years, so we trust that the initiative will be a pleasant moment for its participants, involving the scientific and professional community of the region. Click here to view more details on the English website. Click here to view more details on the Spanish website. READ MORE .LINKS TO NEWSLETTERS OF OUR SISTER SOCIETIES 'Sister Society' Newsletter Links IGS (Geosynthetics) ISSMGE (ISSMGE News & Information Circular) IUGS E-Bulletin #171 .GEOLOGY NEWS Landslide potential this winter? Satellite images of the wildfire areas of western USA The Landslide Blog The 2020 wildfire season in the western part of the USA has burnt over 33,000 square kilometers of land, killing at least 37 people. These fires, which have been associated with record-breaking heat, have had a devastating effect. READ MORE Crews begin dangerous clean up after catastrophic landslides in Haines, Alaska Alaska Public Media Heavy equipment operators have been clearing mudslides off roads in Haines, Alaska. The work has been particularly dangerous along Lutak Inlet, where slides swept through homes and left residents stranded without electricity for multiple days. READ MORE Lucapa 100-carat diamond bonanza continues Australian Mining Lucapa Diamond Company has recovered the 16th 100-plus-carat diamond from the Lulo alluvial mine in Angola, Africa. The 127-carat gem-quality white stone is the third 100-plus carat diamond delivered this year. READ MORE Mindu in Tibet: Detecting precursors of an imminent landslide The Landslide Blog With the possible exception of some landslides triggered by earthquakes, large slope failures generally develop strain (movement) prior to failure. The failure process involves the progressive deformation of the slope — a shear surface may form in the base of the landslide, tension cracks form, lateral scarps develop, etc. READ MORE Science Headlines IAEG Check out what's going on in the world of geological science: Researchers discover life in deep ocean sediments at or above water's boiling point (University of Rhode Island via ScienceDaily) Chaotic early solar system collisions resembled 'Asteroids' arcade game (The University of Tennessee, Knoxville) How stable is the Antarctic ice sheet? (University of Heidelberg via ScienceDaily) .CALENDAR OF EVENTS Date Event Location Feb. 22-26, 2021 13 International Symposium on Landslides Cartagena, Colombia March 5-7, 2021 1st Geoengineering, Climate Change and Sustantinable Development Conference Bangladesh April 8-12, 2021 Euroengeo — 3rd European Regional Conference of IAEG Athens, Greece May 10-14, 2021 IFCEE Expo Dallas, Texas May 16-19, 2021 EuroGeo 7 Warsaw, Poland June 14-18, 2021 Cities on Volcanoes 11 Heraklion, Crete, Greece Aug. 16-21, 2021 36th IGC Delhi, India Sept. 6-10, 2021 1st IAEG South American Regional Conference Córdoba, Argentina 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 Dennis Hall, Director of Publishing, MultiView, 469-420-2656 | 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, Portland State University, PO Box 751   |  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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