2025 EDITION
VARIABILITY, SEASONALITY, EXTREMES (PARIS, 6 NOVEMBER 2025)
The specialized SGF session organized by AFEQ–CNF INQUA was held in Paris at the SGF headquarters on Thursday, 6 November 2025. The conference focused on past climate changes, with particular attention to their variability, seasonality, and extreme events—topics identified as priorities in the White Paper “Paleoclimates/Paleoenvironment”.
The event brought together the “paleo” community through scientific presentations, including short oral talks, posters, and invited speakers, with a strong emphasis on projects currently being carried out in France. Early-career researchers and students were highlighted through short oral presentations and posters.
The day included several invited lectures:
- Pascale Braconnot: Introduction to the White Paper “Paleoclimates and Paleoenvironment”;
- Matthieu Casado: Separating the climate signal from archival noise in Antarctic ice-core records;
- Emilie Dassié: Seasonal-to-centennial reconstructions of climate variability using coral records;
- Myriam Khodri: Model–data convergence for a better understanding of natural climate variability over the last two millennia;
- Antoine Souron: Mammal teeth as archives of seasonal and interannual climatic variations.
At the beginning of the afternoon, an AFEQ General Assembly was held to present the association’s activity and financial reports, as well as key information on upcoming scientific events and the journal Quaternaire.
Several events to note:
- The next AFEQ field trip, “The Upper Seine in the Pleistocene and Holocene: Interactions between fluvial landscapes, climate, and human occupations in southern Seine-et-Marne”, will take place on 26–28 May 2026 in the Fontainebleau region;
- The Q15 conference in Toulouse, 15–19 June 2025;
- The 2026 AFEQ Day will be organized by X. Boës (INRAP) and C. Tribolo (Archéosciences Bordeaux) on geoarchaeology.
The day concluded with a panel discussion on the theme “Variability, seasonality, and extreme events”, chaired by Valérie Masson-Delmotte—a topic at the heart of current societal concerns, to which paleo-science provides essential insights for IPCC reports.
The program is available here.
More details can be found on the AFEQ–CNF INQUA / SGF event website.
2022 EDITION
60 YEARS OF QUATERNARY STUDIES:
THE PAST HAS A FUTURE! (PARIS, 18 NOVEMBER 2022)
In 2022, the association celebrated its 60th anniversary. To mark the occasion, the Association Council decided to take charge of the traditional specialized session, usually organized annually in partnership with the Geological Society of France. In 2020, the event could not take place due to the health crisis, and in 2021, it was canceled following the withdrawal of the intended organizers. With great enthusiasm, the Association Council team undertook the organization of the 2022 edition, which focused on 60 Years of Quaternary Studies – The Past Has a Future!
We chose to highlight the diversity of research topics and approaches among French Quaternary scientists, as well as the intergenerational nature of our community. Twelve researchers were invited to present their work—six considered “senior” and six “junior.” In addition, a call for student posters resulted in seven poster presentations.
The session took place on November 18, 2022, at the Maison de la Géologie in Paris. It brought together around fifty participants and proved to be as rich as it was scientifically engaging. A catered lunch on site, followed by a poster session, also provided an opportunity for convivial exchanges across disciplines and generations.
Participants of the AFEQ – CNF INQUA / SGF Day, November 18, 2022.



