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The 1st International Symposium on Ostracoda (ISO) was held in Naples (1963). The philosophy behind this symposium and the logical outcome of what is now known as the International Research Group on Ostracoda (IRGO) are here reviewed, namely ostracodology over the last 50 years is sociologically analysed. Three different and important historic moments for the scientific achievements of this domain are recognised. The first one, between about 1963 and 1983, is related to applied research for the oil industry as well as to the great interest in the better description of the marine environment by both zoologists and palaeontologists. Another important aspect during this period was the work by researchers dealing with Palaeozoic ostracods, who had their own discussion group, IRGPO. Gradually, the merger of this latter group with those dealing with post-Palaeozoic ostracods at various meetings improved the communication between the two groups of specialists. A second period was approximately delineated between 1983 and 2003. During this time-slice, more emphasis was addressed to environmental research with topics such as the study of global events and long-term climate change. Ostracodologists profited also from the research “politics” within national and international programmes. Large international research teams emerged using new research methods. During the third period (2003–2013), communication and collaborative research reached a global dimension. Amongst the topics of research we cite the reconstruction of palaeoclimate using transfer functions, the building of large datasets of ostracod distributions for regional and intercontinental studies, and the implementation of actions that should lead to taxonomic harmonisation. Projects within which molecular biological techniques are routinely used, combined with sophisticated morphological information, expanded now in their importance. The documentation of the ostracod description improved through new techniques to visualise morphological details, which stimulated also communication between ostracodologists. Efforts of making available ostracod information through newsletters and electronic media are evoked.

Granulated copper slag is a waste residue of copper smelting activities. Copper slag is mainly composed of a ferro-silica matrix (Fayalite) embedded with numerous, submicron sulfide particles of various metals originating from the parental copper ore. In Wollongong, some 120,000 to 150,000 tonnes of slag produced annually by a local smelter has been disposed of in landfills. A large quantity of granulated copper slag has been emplaced within the Windang Peninsula’s unconfined sandy aquifer since 1945. A portion of the emplacement, situated within the fluctuating water table zone (unsaturated zone of the aquifer), exhibits intensive biological and/or chemical weathering, resulting in the release of soluble metals such as zinc, copper and cadmium into the aquifer. Groundwater quality data recorded from 1993 to 2003 suggests that in the aquifer beneath the slag emplacement, zinc occurs totally in the soluble form. Concentrations of zinc in groundwater beneath the emplacement rise after each rainfall event and gradually decrease in dry weather due to diffusion and dispersion processes. The pulsative nature of metal discharge into the aquifer is partially due to continuous biological and chemical reactions in the unsaturated zone in dry weather and the lack of advection forces in the Windang Peninsula’s sandy aquifer. Continuous oxidation of sulfides in slag produces iron and silica oxy-hydroxides which coat slag granules or precipitate in the inter-particle pore space. Ferrous oxyhydroxides act as a temporary trap to adsorb metal ions, solubilized in the sulfide oxidation process in dry weather. In the next wet period, the infiltrating rainwater removes these adsorbed metals and drives them through the unoxidised mass of slag below the water table, into the deeper part of the aquifer.