Just over 600 national and international participants attended the GeoMünster 2019 conference, titled “Earth! Past, Present, Future,” with students making up a significant portion of the attendees at 175. GeoMünster 2019 offered a diverse program featuring approximately 500 presentations across 50 different sessions covering 13 scientific topics. In addition, a pre-conference short course on “Accretionary prisms in subduction earthquake cycles” was offered on Saturday, as well as two field excursions on Sunday focusing on the Quaternary and Cretaceous formations of the Münsterland region.

GeoMünster 2019 opened on Sunday evening with an icebreaker party in the tent in front of the University of Münster’s castle. In a relaxed atmosphere and with late-summer temperatures, numerous participants gathered inside and outside the tent. The rest of the conference also took place mostly in good weather, so the automatic umbrella dispenser provided by the organizers was hardly needed.

The scientific program began on Monday morning with individual presentations in eight parallel sessions and continued after the coffee break with presentations in ten parallel sessions. Due to renovations at the castle, the conference was unfortunately spread across five buildings, which made moving between sessions difficult. This was regrettable, as presentations on similar topics often overlapped, and the large number of renowned international and national keynote speakers made it desirable to move more easily between sessions. After the lunch break, the official opening was conducted by Prof. Dr. Heinrich Bahlburg (WWU Münster), followed by the plenary lecture by Marin K. Clark (University of Michigan, USA) on the topic “Building Earth’s highest topography: lessons learned from the Indo-Asia mega-orogeny.” In her presentation, Marin K. Clark shared new insights into the processes of mountain formation using the Himalayas as an example, insights gained through detailed fieldwork and extensive petrographic and geochronological analyses. The first day of the conference concluded with a poster session in the tent, accompanied by refreshments and appetizers. The well-attended poster session sparked further scientific discussions and provided an opportunity to exchange ideas with national and international colleagues. Posters had already been put up that morning and could be viewed during both the coffee breaks and the lunch break; nevertheless, the just under one and a half hours allotted for the poster session seemed to be just enough time to make one’s way through the crowded tent to the various posters and talk with the presenters. Following the scientific program, a Science Slam—organized by the student organizers from GeStEIN e.V.—took place on Monday evening, along with a guided tour of the historic city of Münster. The scientific program continued on Tuesday with interesting presentations in ten parallel sessions. In the afternoon, Craig Manning (University of California, Los Angeles, USA) presented his plenary lecture titled “Fluids in the Lower Crust: Deep Is Different,” explaining how observed anomalies in conductivity in the lower crust can be accounted for by changes in the composition of multicomponent fluids. The public evening lecture by Prof. Colin Devey (GEOMAR, Kiel), titled “And Then an Ocean Disappeared—How Earth’s Geological History Enables Our Civilization,” provided an overview of current topics in the geosciences and rounded out the second day of the conference. Wednesday morning and afternoon were also packed with interesting topics and presentations. The well-attended morning plenary lecture by Jim Head (Brown University, USA), titled “50 Years Since Apollo: The Earth in the Context of Solar System Exploration,” provided an overview of the Apollo missions and the insights gained from them, and concluded to great applause. The conference concluded on Wednesday afternoon with the closing ceremony in the castle’s auditorium, during which the DGGV poster awards were presented, thanks were extended to those who helped behind the scenes, and an overview of upcoming conferences was provided. During the conference, the general meetings of the DMG and DGGV also took place following the poster sessions on Monday and Tuesday evenings and, together with the award ceremonies, provided insight into the activities of these two important geological societies in Germany.

GeoMünster 2019 offered an interesting and comprehensive program that was well-rounded by the plenary lectures and the public evening lecture, showcasing the diversity of the geosciences both in Germany and internationally. The size of the conference fostered scientific exchange and discussions of current research findings, and provided the ideal setting for young researchers to receive feedback and inspiration for their own research.