In August, the International Workshop on Mesozoic-Palaeogene Hyperthermal Events and the 5th IGCP 739 Workshop were held at the University of Nanjing, China, to explore periods of intense global warming in geological history. IGCP 739 (2021-2025) is an international geoscience programme under the auspices of UNESCO and the IUGS that studies the triggering mechanisms of hyperthermal events, their environmental consequences and biological responses.

At the invitation of the organisers, the workshop was also attended by Dr Tea Kolar Jurkovšek from GeoZS, who presented her research on conodonts from the Himalayan orogen. The scientific part of the event consisted of 52 thematic contributions in the fields of sedimentology, stratigraphy, geochemistry, palaeoecology and palaeontology, complemented by palaeoclimatic models at regional and global scales.

The conference was followed by an eight-day field excursion in southern Tibet, focusing on profiles recording environmental responses to hyperthermal events from the Triassic to the Palaeogene. The excursion also sampled the youngest Triassic sediments for further conodont research currently underway at the Beijing Institute. The event provided an opportunity for participants to exchange the latest scientific knowledge, establish new professional links and further collaborate on research into global climate change in the geological past.