Magellan³ Workshop: i-CREATE: Impact Crater Evolution and Terrestrial Environmental Consequences

Hypervelocity impacts are the most important planetary process across the Solar System, and fundamentally change the physical properties of planetary crust. They represent significant regional to global hazards but can also generate habitable environments that persist long after impact.

i-CREATE is a 3-day workshop in Edinburgh, with an field trip to the NW Highlands to visit the Stac Fada Member impact ejecta deposits. The goal is to develop new drilling proposals investigating buried impact craters, to test fundamental physics of impact cratering, and investigate the environmental consequences of such events.

This workshop is co-funded by the Magellan3 workshop series and the US Science Support Program.

Workshop logistics:

Where: The workshop will be held at Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, UK

When: Workshop - Monday 27- Wednesday 29 April 2026 | Fieldtrip - Wednesday 29 April - Friday 1 May 2026

Link to website and registration: Click here

The workshop will be limited to ~45 participants, so please register your interest before the 19th of December 2025. 

Funding availaible: ECORD, ANZIC and J-DESC participants will be part-funded by Magellan3, including registration costs, catering and group dinners. We also have funding to cover travel and subsistence for a limited number of early-career scientists.

US participants will be fully funded by USSSP, including both the workshop and field trip. This also includes a registration fee of $500 per participant to cover venue costs, catering and dining. Please contact Sean Gulick for more info.

Workshop Programme: Full programme can be found here: https://icreate.site.hw.ac.uk/workshop-programme/

Invited speakers: 

Gordon Osinski. Western University. Topic – Global overview of confirmed impact structures: Impact Earth

Christian Koeberl. University of Vienna. Topics- Overview of ICDP drilling in impact craters & Confirming an impact structure

Thomas Kenkmann. University of Freiburg. Topic – Structural evolution of impact craters

Sean Gulick. University of Texas at Austin. Topic – Overview of Chicxulub drilling.

Charles Cockell. University of Edinburgh. Topic – Impact hydrothermal systems and life

Gareth Collins. Imperial College London. Topic – State of the art of numerical modelling

Uisdean Nicholson. Heriot-Watt University. Topic – 3D Seismic and marine impact crater drilling

Annemarie Pickersgill. University of Glasgow. Topic – Geochronology of impact structures.

For further information or if you have any questions, please contact  the co-organizers Uisdean Nicholson (u.nicholson@hw.ac.uk) and/or Sean Gulick (sean@ig.utexas.edu)