Current Field Forum:
How to Build Complex Life: Understanding Ediacaran-Cambrian Environmental Change and the Emergence of Animals

University of Namibia Southern Campus | Keetmanshoop, Namibia, Africa | 25 May–2 June 2026

Overview and Objectives

Since Darwin first noted the abrupt appearance of fossils in Cambrian rocks, the causes and pace of the Cambrian Explosion have remained central questions in geobiology. Key uncertainties surrounding the Ediacaran–Cambrian Transition persist, including the nature of Earth’s earliest macroscopic life, the drivers of their extinction, the significance of major carbon isotope excursions, anomalous paleomagnetic signals, and the tempo of early animal diversification. Much of the evidence bearing on these questions comes from southern Namibia, home to critical ECT field sites. This paired conference and Thompson Field Forum will bring together an international, interdisciplinary community to examine these issues firsthand through outcrops and recent ICDP GRIND-ECT drill cores, fostering discussion and collaboration around advances made over the past five years.

Leaders

Emmy Smith, Johns Hopkins University
Catherine Rose, University of St Andrews
Francis Macdonald, University of California, Berkeley

Application deadline: 30 Jan. 2026

International Attendees

Complete and print out your Letter of Invitation

Provisional Schedule

Conference

Arrival of all participants in Windhoek

Transport from Windhoek to Keetmanshoop
Dinner and evening social gathering

Conference sessions at the University of Namibia (UNam) Southern Campus
C5G3+9F2
Keetmanshoop, Namibia

Conference closing session at UNam

Thompson Field Forum

Drive (~2 hours) from Keetmanshoop to Aus
Dinner in Aus and evening overview presentation introducing upcoming field activities
Overnight stay at the Bahnhof Hotel or campsite

Visit to Farm Swartpunt, a renowned Ediacaran fossil locality and potential World Heritage Site with exceptionally preserved body fossils
Discussion of proposed age models for the Nama Group, which contains numerous ash horizons and provides the highest-resolution age framework for the Ediacaran–Cambrian Transition
Discussion of the regional placement of the base of the Cambrian and implications for global evolutionary and geochemical change during the Cambrian Explosion
Time permitting, examination of the upper Schwarzrand Subgroup and submarine valley incisions of the Nomtsas Formation

Continued discussion of the regional placement of the base of the Cambrian
Examination of sedimentology and trace fossil records
Comparison and correlation of strata with those at Swartpunt

Drive from Aus to Windhoek
Visit to the Geological Survey of Namibia (GSN) paleontology collections and museum, featuring Namibia’s Ediacaran fossils

Morning workshop on GRIND-ECT drill cores at the GSN
Closing lunch

Applications

Application deadline: 30 Jan. 2026

Applicants will be notified of their attendance and presentation format by 20 February, and conference participants will be asked to register and submit a full abstract at that time.

There are two parts to 2026 Thompson Field Forum:
(1) the classroom-based conference with an unlimited number of participants and
(2) the field trip that will be limited to 40 participants. Venue details for these two parts are listed below.

Each participant will be expected to present at the conference (either oral or poster presentation), and to attend the full duration of the conference. Submission of an application does not guarantee acceptance, nor does it commit you to attendance.

Participants must commit to the full field conference. Group size is limited to 40 participants.

To apply, please complete the GSA Thompson Field Forum 2026 Application.

For questions, contact efsmith@jhu.edu.