Early Cenozoic tropical climate: report from the Tanzania Onshore Paleogene Integrated Coring (TOPIC) workshop

Abstract. We are currently developing a proposal for a new International Continental Scientific Drilling Program (ICDP) project to recover a stratigraphic and paleoclimatic record from the full succession of Eocene hemipelagic sediments that are now exposed on land in southern Tanzania. Funding for a workshop was provided by ICDP, and the project was advertised in the normal way. A group of about 30 delegates assembled in Dar-es-Salaam for 3 intensive days of discussion, project development, and proposal writing. The event was hosted by the Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation (TPDC) and was attended by several geologists, geochemists, geophysicists, and micropaleontologists from TPDC and the University of Dar-es-Salaam. International delegates were from Canada, Germany, India, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, United Kingdom, and United States (and we also have project partners from Australia, Belgium, and Sweden who were not able to attend). Some of the scientists are veterans of previous scientific drilling in the area, but over half are new on the scene, mostly having been attracted by Tanzania's reputation for world-class paleoclimate archives. Here we outline the broad aims of the proposed drilling and give a flavor of the discussions and the way our proposal developed during the workshop. A video of the workshop with an introduction to the scientific goals and interviews of many of the participants is available at http://vimeo.com/107911777.