Fifth GERM Workshop Columbia University, New York May 29-31, 2006   Conveners Steve Goldstein (Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory) Hubert Staudigel (Institute for Geophysics and Planetary Physics, SIO) Francis Albarede (Ecole Normale Superieure de Lyon) Louise Kellogg (University of California, Davis) Roberta Rudnick (University of Maryland) Bernhard Peucker-Ehrenbrink (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution) Hosted by Steve Goldstein and Hubert Staudigel		Abstract Volume GERM 2003 Previous Conference Volumes GERM Reservoir Database GERM Partition Coefficient (Kd) Database EarthChem.org Workshop Registration is Closed GERM Workshop Program GERM Workshop Abstract Volume Google Map to Columbia University Columbia Campus Interactive Map Columbia Campus Map in PDF Format Detailed Subway Map in PDF Format Simple Subway Map in PDF Format Columbia University Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory Scripps Institution of Oceanography National Science Foundation Elsevier Publishers NU Instruments Thermo Finnigan GV Instruments

GERM Initiative and Workshop Program Description

The central theme of the GERM Initiative involves characterization of the elemental and isotopic inventories of geochemical reservoirs that comprise the Earth System, and the mass balance of transfer processes between them. These cover all time scales, including controls on the crust-mantle system by long-term geological processes, and higher frequency phenomena such as those arising in the ocean and atmosphere. The study of geochemical inventories and fluxes requires inclusion of a range of geophysical, geological, and biological observations and modeling. GERM encourages integrated approaches and supports high quality databases or other Information Technology (IT) tools.

The Fifth GERM Workshop offers a range of keynotes and extended discussion periods on current GERM themes, illuminating topics from several angles, exploring the geological-geophysical-biological and geochemical constraints on our understanding of aspects of the GERM-Earth, including chemical inventory and fluxes and their uncertainties. The format of the main sessions will be presentations by keynote speakers and discussion leaders that include geochemists, geobiologists and geophysicists.

Workshop participants are encouraged to contribute to the discussions with their own overheads, and by submitting abstracts for poster presentations. The Fifth GERM Workshop will include several "breakout sessions" that will advance a variety of important geochemical science infrastructure issues. Breakout session leaders and a series of panelists will be charged with presenting the results in a plenary session. Participants who want to participate as panelists at particular breakout session should contact the Workshop organizers

There will be two GERM Modeling Short Courses and two EarthChem Workshops on May 28, 2006. Keynotes, discussions and poster sessions will run from May 29, 2006 until the early afternoon of May 31, 2006.

Meeting Location

All workshops and short courses will take place in Schermerhorn Hall, located in the northeastern part of the main campus of Columbia University (see campus map).

Time Table

Social Events

Icebreaker Reception
Sunday 5:30-7:00 PM, 28  May 2006
At Bistro Ten 18, a sidewalk cafe-restaurant-bar at 110th Street and Amsterdam Avenue. From the main campus entrance on Broadway and 116th Street head south to 110th Street, then left one block to Amsterdam Avenue. Bistro Ten 18 is on the SW corner.

New York Philharmonic Concert (Free Admission)
Monday 8:00 PM, 29 May 2006
Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine, 112th Street and Amsterdam Avenue. Xian Zheng, Conductor. Program is Verdi La Forza del Destino Overture and Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 5. Doors open at 7 PM. Seating is on a first-come, first-serve basis. Don't be discouraged by the long line, it's a big Cathedral. Additional seating will be available on the grass next to the Cathedral, and in the Synod Hall viewing room at 110th Street and Amsterdam. From main campus entrance on Amsterdam and 116th Street, head south. Cathedral is on the east side of the street.

Harbor Lights Cruise on Hudson River
Tuesday 8:00-10:00 PM, 30 May 2006
We'll board a NY Waterways boat and tour NY Harbor as the sun goes down and the city lights up. Departure from NY Waterways Terminal, Pier 78, West 39 Street and Hudson River. Instructions will be given at the conference.

Barbecue at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory
Wednesday from 4:00 PM, 31 May 2006
For those who are still around. Come celebrate Kerstin Lehnert's birthday. Instructions will be given at the conference.

Pre-Workshop Geochemical Modeling Short Courses

Two half-day geochemical modeling courses will be offered on Sunday May 28.

UserCalc: a Web-based U-series Calculator for Mantle Melting Problems
Marc Spiegelman (LDEO)
9:30am-12pm, Schermerhorn Extension, Rm. 558.

MELTS
Marc Hirschmann (U Minn) and Mark Ghiorso (OFM Research, Inc.)
1:30pm-4:30pm, Schermerhorn Extension, Rm. 558.

Mac computers will be available for those who do not have their own laptops. Space is limited. Please contact Patty Keizer to register at pkeizer@ucsd.edu.

Pre-Workshop EarthChem Meetings

Geoinformatics for Geochemistry
8am-1pm, Schermerhorn Hall, Rm. 506

This half-day workshop will provide participants with the opportunity to contribute to the design of the EarthChem system, and help prioritize the compilation of new data sets to be included in the data holdings. This is also the subject of a GERM Breakout Session that will focus on broader issues of using Geoinformatics to support Geochemistry.

Xenoliths & GeoFrame: Supporting New Science with Advanced Data and Sample Management
3pm–5:30 pm, Schermerhorn Hall, Rm. 506

The goal of this mini-workshop is to define the need and specifications for a database for xenoliths, discuss needs and options for management and archiving of xenoliths samples, and science initiatives for xenolith studies as integrated GeoFrame-USArray-EarthScope efforts. A potential outcome of the discussions could be the request for a larger/longer workshop to address xenoliths studies as part of GeoFrame and requirements for data and sample infrastructure.

Please contact Kerstin Lehnert to register at lehnert@ldeo.columbia.edu.

Workshop Program

Poster Sessions

The poster sessions will take place in Rm. 417 of Schermerhorn Hall. Posters will remain up and available for viewing throughout the entire workshop. Coffee will be available during poster sessions.

Breakout Sessions

Breakout sessions address key infrastructure issues in geochemistry, in particular, how GERM can work with the geochemistry community to help developing a geochemical network, what tools, databases or features are needed to bridge the gaps between the geochemical sub disciplines, and how to facilitate open access to all types of geochemical data. This will be done in five separate sessions.

During the final wrap-up plenary session there will be a 15 minute discussion time slot for each breakout group to discuss what has been accomplished, to ask for input from workshop participants who had to attend other sessions, and to plan future activities.

1. Generation of a Rivers Database

Convener: Bernhard Peucker-Ehrenbrink (WHOI)
Panelists: Blake, Gaillardet, Grossman, Moffett, Raymond
Room: 551 in Schermerhorn Extension

This breakout session focuses on the understanding and potential resolution of important limitations in our understanding of land-to- sea transport. Those may include infrastructure issues (lack of a database), observational limitations (lack of time-series observations) or conceptual complexities such as groundwater vs. surface runoff, physical erosion, the role of climate change, or anthropogenic effects. Our goal is to identify the most critical impediments and devise strategies to overcome these problems.

2. Geoinformatics for Geochemistry

Convener: Kerstin Lehnert (LDEO)
Panelists: Edwards, Hart, Helly, Koppers, Langmuir, Mogk, Shaw, Staudigel
Room: 506 in Schermerhorn Hall

Over the past decade, advances in information technology have created a new paradigm for conducting research. Geoinformatics is creating new research environments for the Geosciences, offering new "computational, collaborative, data acquisition, and management services that become available to researchers through high-performance networks" (Report of the NSF Blue-Ribbon Advisory Panel on Cyberinfrastructure, Atkins et al. 2003). In this breakout session, we will explore and identify opportunities, needs, requirements, and approaches to advance the application of Geoinformatics to support Geochemistry research in general and, more specifically, the GERM.

3. GERM: Planning the Next Four Years

Conveners: Hubert Staudigel (UCSD) and Anthony Koppers (UCSD)
Panelists: Hofmann, Ito, McDonough, Mogk, Shaw
Room: 555 in Schermerhorn Extension

Over the last three years, GERM has made substantial progress in improving its website and providing a wide range of computational and "Reference Data" resources that provide a widely used cyber-resource in geochemistry research and education. The GERM website developers and designers seek feedback from the science community on these developments and advice on the next priorities in GERM website development. GERM also seeks advice on its work with the geochemistry science and education communities. Such activities include, for example, the integration of GERM with other geochemistry database activities (e.g. EarthChem), its activities in GERM-related publications, the organization of workshops like this one, and how to support geochemistry education at all levels, ranging from primary and secondary schools to university-based education.

4. Geochemical Editor’s Roundtable: How Should we Publish Geochemical Data in the Future?

Conveners: Vincent Salters (Florida State) and Steve Goldstein (LDEO)
Panelists: Adkins, Brantley, Veenstra, White
Room: 561 in Schermerhorn Extension

With the rapid progress in information technology, the Geoscience community has started building a digital data system that dramatically advances the sharing and integration of data across disciplines and borders. For example, data management systems for igneous rock geochemistry have made global geochemical datasets readily accessible for broad audiences. The new opportunities for archiving, discovery, accessing and analysis of geochemical data require us to to rethink the way data is published. This breakout session will discuss how geochemical data publication should be structured in the future, to best take advantage of these new opportunities.

5. From GERM to LEPER (Library of Experimental PhasE Relations)

Conveners: Marc Hirschmann (U Minn) and Mark Ghiorso (OFM Resources, Inc.)
Panelists: Hacker, Hauri, Helly, Koranaga, Spiegelman
Room: 559 in Schermerhorn Extension

Alongside large scale databases of geochemical analyses, there is increasing need for comprehensive community libraries of data collected in experimental laboratories. This session will be an opportunity to introduce to the GERM community our initial efforts to develop LEPER, a database of experimental data pertaining to magmatic phase equilibria. This project is an outgrowth of ongoing efforts to improve the MELTS algorithm. The session will introduce the scope of data and metadata included in LEPER, as well as a prototype web interface for serving LEPER data to the community. This session may interest potential producers and consumers of data for LEPER, as well as those interested in discussing the needs and challenges for developing experimental databases. The discussion may also extend to other types of experimental data (metamorphic phase relations, trace element partitioning, hydrothermal data, thermodynamic data, transport properties, etc.) and thermodynamics data that can/should/might be incorporated into LEPER or to other future database efforts.

Workshop Registration and Abstracts

Registration for the Fifth GERM Workshop is closed. If you already are a registered user for EarthRef.org, use your username and password to log-in, and directly go to the questionnaire that you need to fill out to complete your registration. If you are new to EarthRef.org, you will first be asked to establish your own user profile, before you can proceed to the questionnaire.

The Registration Fee is $180 for professionals and $80 for students. 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:

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

The Deadline for Abstracts is May 1, 2006. Every participant in the GERM 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 (to be available for reference in the conference volume). The 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. There will be a dedicated poster session in the middle of the workshop.

Abstract format. Two pages text, 1000 words or less, with up to two pages of figures, data tables and references. All abstracts must be submitted electronically as Microsoft Word documents or Rich Text Format (RTF) files. In addition, send us electronic copies of your diagrams in either the PS/EPS or Adobe Illustrator format. This will ensure that we can reproduce your diagrams with the best quality in the workshop volume. If you cannot easily produce these formats, please send us the diagrams as high resolution bitmaps (300 to 600 dpi) in the JPEG, TIFF or GIF format.

Poster format. Poster boards will support posters up to 60 inches wide.

Travel Assistance. If you would like to participate in the GERM workshop but you don't have funding, you are encouraged to apply for partial or full travel support by emailing us at germ@igpp.ucsd.edu, in particular, students and young scientists. Travel costs will be reimbursed after travel, through the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. Deadline for requests is April 20, 2006.

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