Convener:*Madhusoodhan Satish-Kumar(Department of Geology, Faculty of Science, Niigata University), Yasuhito Osanai(Division of Evolution of Earth Environments, Faculty of Social and Cultural Studies, Kyushu University), Geoffrey H. Grantham(Council for Geoscience, P/Bag X112, Pretoria, SOUTH AFRICA), Sajeev Krishnan(Centre for Earth Sciences, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore 560 012, INDIA), Tomokazu Hokada(National Institute of Polar Research), Chair:Madhusoodhan Satish-Kumar(Department of Geology, Faculty of Science, Niigata University), Masaaki Owada(Graduate School of Science and Engineering, Yamaguchi University)