The upcoming thirty-fifth International Geological Congress’s (IGC’s) local organising committee (LOC) has planned various field trips throughout South Africa and Africa as part of the seven-day conference, which will take place from August 27 to September 4, 2016, at the Cape Town International Conference Centre.

The IGC conference – which is held every four years – is used as a platform to showcase global geological research, innovations and technologies in the geosciences. It also reports on the growth of the sector, opportunities and research in the geosciences in the host country.

A number of field trips to Southern African and African geological superlatives have been arranged to take place before and after the 2016 conference, reinforcing the LOC’s aim to use the conference as a platform to showcase African geology.

IGC secretary-general Danie Barnardo says qualified guides will lead the trips over periods of between two and eight days.

Preparations for the 2016 conference started in August 2008, when it was announced at the thirty-third IGC, in Oslo, Norway, that South Africa had won the bid to host the thirty-fifth conference.

According to the IGC website, part of the reason South Africa bid to host the confer-ence is that it regarded the conference as an opportunity to showcase African geological superlatives.

The LOC maintains that the conference not only offers African geologists and geological consultancies an opportunity to showcase their work for an international audience but it also presents Africa with an opportunity to showcase the extensive mapping, exploration and mineral potential of the continent.

The conference also aims to develop geo-scientific knowledge in Africa. Barnardo says the upcoming conference will focus on three broad themes – geology in science, geology in the economy and geology in society.

The conference will also host various ses- sions where speakers from geoscientific organ-isations, the private sector and governments, as well as individuals, are expected to give presentations, display posters and host exhibitions.

The thirty-fifth IGC will mark the first congress to be held in Africa in more than 60 years. It has only been hosted in Africa twice before; the fifteenth IGC was held in Pretoria in 1929 and the nineteenth conference was held in Algiers in 1952.

Barnado says the IGC plans to accom-modate a large number of geoscientists from African and other developing countries.