Applied Geochemistry,Vol.
3. p. 421, 1988
0883-2927/88 $3.00 + .0(~ Pergamon Press pie
Printed in Great Britain
V. M. Goldschmidt Conference BRIAN HITCHON Alberta Research Council, Edmonton, Alberta T6H 5X2, Canada
A CONFERENCE tO mark the centennial year of the birth of V. M. Goldschmidt was held in Hunt Valley, MD, U.S.A., 11-13 May 1988. The conference was organized by The Geochemical Society, with cosponsorship by the American Chemical Society, the Association of Exploration Geochemists, the European Association of Geochemistry, the International Association of Geochemistry and Cosmochemistry, the Mineralogical Society of America and the Society of Environmental Geochemistry and Health. It is the intent of the participating societies that there should be a continuing series of annual conferences under this distinguished name; even numbered years in North America and odd numbered years in Europe. Such a series is a fitting tribute to the founder of the science of geochemistry. The first Goldschmidt Conference was attended by 463 geochemists from 21 countries, with the U.S.A. (355), Canada (45), and western Europe (42 from 11 countries) providing 95% of the delegates; the balance of the attendees came from Japan, Australia, Venezuela, People's Republic of China, Israel, Republic of South Africa, Mexico and Kenya. About 71% of the delegates were from universities and university institutes, 22% from government, and 7% from the private sector. The three-day technical program included a wide variety of sessions covering many aspects of geochemistry and cosmochemistry. Topics ranged from Cosmogenic Radionuclides and Earth-scale fields such as Lithosphere-Asthenosphere Interactions and Mantle Mineralogy and Petrology to a symposium on a proposed program for International Geochemical Mapping. There were two sessions on Crystal Chemistry, and three general sessions on Mineralogy and Petrology, Geochronology and Radioisotopes, and Low Temperature Geochemistry. Trondhjemites and Granitoids formed the subjects of two special interest hard-rock sessions. The l l t h Symposium on Geochemical Cycles, and sessions on tlae Geochemistry of Sulfur, the Archean Environment, and Paleoatmospheres and Oceans
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allowed those attending to learn about geochemical changes which have taken place in the Earth's outer shells. Nor were the more applied aspects of geochemistry forgotten, with one topic being Environmental Geochemistry and four addressing Mineral Deposits, Hydrothermal Solutions, Oreforming Processes: Source Regions and Transport Metals, and the Platinum-group Elements. Organic geochemistry was covered in a general session titled Organic Geochemistry and in a special session on Diagenesis of Humic Substances. Indeed, there was something here for everyone--and it should be noted that V. M. Goldschmidt published significant papers in most of the topics! Unfortunately, only selected sessions will be published. Poster sessions and postsymposium field trips rounded out the conference. A special event was the inaugural lngerson Distinguished Lecture, sponsored by the International Association of Geochemistry and Cosmochemistry (IAGC). This lecture series is funded from a generous donation made to I A G C by Professor F. Earl lngerson, who was the prime mover of events that led up to the founding of I A G C and who was its first President. He was also first President of The Geochemical Society. In addition to a Festschrift in his honour (Applied Geochemistry 1, Nos I-3, 1986), there is now a mineral, ingersonite (Ca3MnSb4OH) named after him (American Mineralogist 73, 4(15412, 1988). The inaugural Ingerson Distinguished Lecture was attended by effectively all conference participants, who heard Prof. A. E. Ringwood (Australian National University, Canberra ACT) deliver a stimulating address on the "Constitution of and Evolution of the Earth's Mantle". Organization of this first V. M. Goldschmidt Conference was under General Chairman H. L. Barnes (The Pennsylvania State University) and he and the other members of the Organizing Committee arc to be congratulated on a well run, interesting and memorable meeting. The geochemical community looks forward to the next Goldschmidt Conference.