Greg Botha, secretary of the 35th IGC Foundation, writes:

On behalf of the 35th International Geological Congress (IGC) organising committee, I’d like to express our gratitude for your huge input towards making the 35th IGC field trips so enjoyable and beneficial for the over 750 delegates that took part in these excursions.

In some cases the leaders of trips that were cancelled took it upon themselves to arrange private trips so that guests could still experience our spectacular geology.

I’m aware that some trip leaders were faced with more logistical issues than they were prepared to deal with, but most of these could be solved after a flurry of cell phone or email activity.

Spare a thought for Roger Gibson and the Vredefort trip which had to accommodate two groups of late arrivals or wayward participants that had to literally chase the excursion bus!

You submitted over 1 560 pages of guidebook content that was edited and formatted into the layout design before printing and distribution. That was a huge task in itself, requiring additional editors and layout artists to be roped in just before the event.

The products will serve as a useful legacy of the field trips. We have had many requests for copies of the guidebooks in digital format. The Geological Society of South Africa would like to make these guidebooks available as a long-term record of the congress.

They are all superb specialised records that fill a gap between the many journal publications referenced and popular media. Some authors reported problems with the layout and content. Please let us know where you would like corrections made or the layout improved so that diagrams are not truncated to fit.

Many of you submitted photos during the field trip and these were distributed by the congress social media team. Others have included images on their own facebook accounts.

Have a look at what the Pre16 Barberton trip team submitted. This short report replaces the field trip marketing information on the congress website, under Pre-16 Geology of the Barberton Greenstone Belt Processes of the early Earth. Please send a concise report on your trip and include photos with captions.

The positive feedback on your excursions from many satisfied participants should serve as a massive pat on the back, which you all deserve!

I hope that you will continue to derive much pleasure from the friendships made and the networking opportunities.