Workshop Announcement Geochemical Earth Reference Model (GERM) March 6-9, 2001 Venue Cecil H. and Ida M. Green Institute for Geophysics and Planetary Physics Scripps Institution of Oceanography University of California, San Diego La Jolla, CA 92093-0225 USA Conveners Hubert Staudigel, Bill McDonough, Lou Derry, Henry Shaw and Al Hofmann Don Anderson, Francis Albarede and Alan Zindler		GERM Reservoir Database GERM Partition Coefficient (Kd) Database Detailed Program Abstract Volume Pre-Conference Short Courses Final Report in Geochemical Newsletter Rock Archiving Proposal Keynote Summaries

Meeting Description

The Geochemical Earth Reference Model (GERM) initiative has the goal of establishing a community consensus on a chemical characterization of the Earth, its major reservoirs, their geochemical history, and the fluxes between them. A GERM workshop will be held in La Jolla, CA, USA from March 6-9, 2001 to promote such a consensus and to aid in the establishment of a GERM. The workshop will follow a format of a small number of invited keynote addresses on major reservoirs and fluxes, with long discussion periods and poster presentations. The La Jolla GERM meeting is planned as a scientific meeting, with an emphasis on discussions, innovative contributions and reviews that illuminate controls of GERM inventories and fluxes.

Discussion Leaders and Keynote Speakers

Confirmed speakers and discussion leaders include C. Allegre (Paris), D. Anderson (CalTech), L. Derry (Cornell), T. Elliott (Bristol), S.R. Hart (Woods Hole), J. Gaillardet (IPG France), J. Helly (San Diego SuperComputer Center), A. Hofmann (MPI Mainz), G. Masters (Scripps), W. McDonough (U. Maryland), W. Moore (U. S. Carolina), D. Schrag (Harvard), J. Severinghaus (Scripps), M. Spiegelman (LDEO), A. Spivack (Scripps), E. Stolper (CalTech), W. White (Cornell) and B. Wood (Bristol).

Group Sessions

For group sessions, the conference will split up into smaller groups including a range of experts to discuss specific scientific topics and practical aspects of GERM and its geochemical data bases. The themes and discussion topics are flexible and there will be the possibility to respond to input by the conference participants. We invite suggestions for such themes and topics (by email to germ@igpp.ucsd.edu or during the registration process). In addition to leading representatives of major sub disciplines in geochemistry and geophysics, we also have invited representatives of publishers (editors and managers), funding agencies, information technology and database experts.

In an initial and concluding plenary session, we will present a new GERM web site, discuss the role of GERM and other data bases in advancing Earth sciences. Below find some related discussion topics:

► How is the Earth best divided into reservoirs? What further do we need in order to provide the basis for a complete mass balance for the Earth? Can this set of reservoirs be consistently defined for all global models, ranging from carbon mass balances in the critical zone to the REE balance in the solid Earth?

► What types of data are required to further our understanding of major geochemical reservoirs or particular Earth system phenomena? What can GERM and data bases do to help us forward? 

► Geosciences are at the beginning of a digital revolution, but almost none of the geochemistry data are in any form to be properly digested into digital data bases. What needs to be done to bring geochemistry into the information age? What data formats and metadata requirements are needed in digital data bases? Can we define uniform data formats to publish geochemical data in electronic journals so they can be downloaded directly into data bases?

► How should original data sources be referenced when data bases like GERM are cited? Electronic data publication allows, in principal, for simultaneous ingestion into large data bases. This is very convenient for the user of this digital data but it bears the potential that original references to particular papers may never be referenced in the literature. Albert Hofmann will lead a discussion with publishers, editors, authors and data base analysts to find consensus between publishers and data base managers in how to provide proper reference to the analyst's data.

Time Table

Registration Information

Registration fee is $150 (US Dollars) for professionals and $75 for students (includes coffee, lunches, a reception, conference dinner and the abstract volume). Conference facilities will limit the total attendance to about 80 participants. Therefore, the conference fees are only due following the mailing and receipt of the acceptance letters. For now please use the Registration Form or submit all registration information by normal mail to:

Hubert Staudigel / Patty Keizer
UCSD-IGPP 0225
La Jolla CA 92093-0225 USA

Please pay your registration fee by personal check or US $ bank draft payable to "The Regents of the University of California". Send your check to the address above. There are limited funds for financial assistance helping with the registration fee and partial travel funds for students. Please apply to H. Staudigel. Note for Travelers from abroad ... re-imbursements for any expenses can be made only to travelers entering the US on a B1 visa. This type of visa can be obtained for most nationalities upon entry into the US.

Housing and Transportation

Sea Lodge On La Jolla Shores Beach
8110 Camino Del Oro
La Jolla, CA 92037-3108

For reservations, call +1-800-237-5211 (or +1-619-459-8271), before February 1, 2001.

The Sea Lodge has reserved fifty rooms for us at a rate of $159 per night per double room ($20 for each additional person) for exclusive use by the GERM workshop participants. The hotel is very comfortable and is located on the beach front, within 20 minutes walking distance to the conference.

Rooms should be reserved in the name of one person, but the charges of a double room can be split up into two bills at payment. Please make reservations directly with the Hotel.

The following 4 maps zoom in from San Diego Airport to IGPP site.

San Diego Airport to IGPP
La Jolla to IGPP
SIO Campus
IGPP Site

Abstracts and Publications

The deadline for abstracts is January 10, 2001. Every participant in the Workshop is invited to contribute an abstract to the conference volume. These abstracts may be given as a discussion contribution, as a poster, or by title (so it is available for reference in the conference volume). The La Jolla GERM Workshop will feature keynote talks, with extended discussions, where participants will have the opportunity to make short relevant presentations during the discussion periods. These contributions may include up to two overheads. We will also provide space for posters. Abstracts may include original scientific contributions, suggestions about the contents or formats of GERM, and reviews. Please submit abstracts electronically to:

Hubert Staudigel / Patty Keizer
UCSD-IGPP 0225
La Jolla CA 92093-0225 USA
germ@igpp.ucsd.edu

Abstract format. Two pages text, 1000 words or less, with up to two pages of figures, data tables and references. All abstracts have to be submitted electronically in PDF format. Please follow the AGU abstract format for title, addresses and text.