Carly Faber, McGill University, TSG AGM 2020, Hull.

I am very grateful to TSG for awarding me a TSG Early Career Researcher travel bursary to attend the TSG 2020 meeting. The TSG 2020 meeting was held in Hull, UK from 7-9th January, and included an excellent variety of high-quality talks and posters. It was interesting and informative to hear about the broad spectrum of research being presented, and it was great to meet the TSG community for the first time, and also to visit the UK for the first time. It was enjoyable to get to hear about a broad array of topics; from mud to metamorphism and everything in between, and of course to be able to finally try a proper British scone and experience a proper British pub.

At the meeting, I gave an oral presentation describing some of the work from my postdoctoral research over the last 2 years with Professor Christie Rowe at McGill University, Canada. The talk was titled “Deformation and metamorphism in lawsonite eclogites from the Yukon-Tanana Terrane, Yukon Territory: rheological behaviour during subduction and exhumation”, which described our discovery of lawsonite in eclogites in the Yukon Territory, Canada, and presented microstructural data describing subduction-related microtextures and deformation mechanisms.
The work uses a combination of P-T path estimation (phase equilibrium modelling), microstructural observations and electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD). These eclogites are the oldest subduction-related eclogites in the Cordillera, and the work is of particular significance because it allows for more specific constraints on the subduction dynamics during the early Cordilleran history prior to orogeny. As someone who has mainly worked with the topic of metamorphism, it was really nice to gain more exposure to a wider community, including more structural geologists. The discussions that resulted from presenting my work at TSG 2020 have been exciting, interesting and very beneficial to the work as I work towards publishing it, and I am grateful to TSG for providing that opportunity.

The meeting itself was very well organised, so thank you to the organizers. The shiny new conference venue at the University of Hull was impressive, and the social events were excellent. The conference dinner, held at Tapasya@Marina in the charming Hull Marina area, was a highlight, with excellent Indian food and wine, and a good opportunity for lots of discussion. I would like to thank TSG for supporting my attendance at the meeting, and thereby for supporting the development of my career in science. TSG is a fantastic, friendly, and welcoming community and I look forward to future meetings.

carlyfaber1@gmail.com | @carlyfaber