The assessment of both geochemical background and anthropogenic baseline allows us to understand the impact of chemical pollution at local and planetary scale. Geochemical data on water and soil have been collected since tens of years driving management of chemical pollution and remediation all over the world. Awareness of geochemical background and anthropogenic baseline is crucial to the sustainability of anthropogenic activities. The scientific community is doing a tremendous effort to develop effective tools for understanding fluxes among geochemical spheres, risk arising from pollutant dispersion, and the assessment of pollutants bioavailability. Regulation is now responding to research advances. This session solicits contribution on i) water and soil baseline assessment regarding natural and anthropized areas (i.e. abandoned mine sites), ii) chemical and mineral speciation of pollutants, iii) mapping geochemical background in water bodies and soils, iv) risk assessment, v) techniques and tools to measure pollutants fluxes, pathways and their impact on target, vi) regulation upgrade. Chairs: Roberto Dessì (ARPAS- Italy); Maurizio Testa (ARPAS – Italy); Newman Connor (USGS – USA)
It has now clearly been established that atmospheric contaminants affect the climate, ecosystems, and human health. Isotope geochemistry has now demonstrated its added value for both identifying the sources and characterizing the processes that control their budget. Isotope systematics usually allow to unambiguously discriminate the emission sources of distinct origins and/or to characterize the specific processes that affect their behaviors. In this session, we aim to fill gaps on the application of isotope geochemistry (including measurements of radioactive and stable isotopes ratios of trace elements and organic components) on environmental research by welcoming original contributions on studies developing applications in air contaminant characterization, pollution, environmental changes, as well as modeling or empirical studies aimed at improving our mechanistic understanding of short- and long-term chemical/isotope variations in global atmospheric systems. Submission of inter- and multidisciplinary original research and review papers is also encouraged. Chairs: David Widory (University of QUEBEC at Montreal – Canada); Sanjeev Dasari (University of Oxford – UK)
Mining operations and management of their effluents and wastes (e.g. tailing materials) pose potential threats to aquatic ecosystem, and the contaminant discharge (e.g. acid drainage, toxic elements) or failures often result in a wide range of negative environmental, social and economic consequences. Stakeholders close to mine sites are concerned about the availability of water for local use, the security of access, and the potential for serious water contamination. In most mining operations, freshwater is obtained from groundwater, rivers, streams, and lakes, and its use often leads to serious tensions. Mining operations are rapidly changing, and in many countries the potential environmental and social impacts need to be assessed and taken into account in every stage of the mine development (planning, operation, closure and post-closure). Moreover, many areas are confronted with the need to manage derelict mines and/or re-evaluate the mine tailings as potential source of elements of present-day interest (e.g. REE). Stable and radioactive isotopes of water, dissolved substances, and gases in and around mine complexes can fingerprint and trace the origin, age, flow, transport and all the complex hydrological phenomena involving water sources availability. They also contribute to understanding and quantification of water-rock interaction processes potentially affecting water quality. New isotopes (e.g. nitrate and metal isotopes) have been considered over the past years to further develop multi-tracer approaches toward a deeper understanding of the water and solute fluxes. The objective of this session is therefore to collect contributions from case studies providing a wide range of examples of isotope applications worldwide, and to foster a widespread knowledge of isotopic and geochemical approaches in mining-related studies. Chairs: Elisa Sacchi (University of Pavia – Italy), Frederic Huneau (University of Corsica, France)
The certification of food products, their authenticity and origins has become a growing priority amongst consumers and producers. Recently, the utilization of numerous isotope systematics in that field has rapidly increased due to their ability to offer accurate and reliable insights into the origin, authenticity, and quality of food products. Isotope analysis entails measuring stable isotopes like carbon, nitrogen, hydrogen, oxygen, but also non-traditional isotopic systematics such as strontium, lead, boron or neodymium, which serve as inherent markers reflecting the geographical, climatic, and environmental conditions of food production. The aim of this session is to shed more light on scientific advancements in this field, encompassing topics such as geographical origin determination, production methods, and detection of adulterants or contaminants. Chairs: Monica Rosell (University of Barcellona – Spain), Paola Iacumin (University of Parma – Italy), David Widory (University of Quebec at Montreal – Canada) Keynote Nives Ogrinc (Jožef Stefan Institute Slovenia)
Mineral nanoparticles and nanominerals are ubiquitous across the diversity of environments at the Earth’s surface. Their sheer numbers and distinct physical properties can combine to have important impacts on mass and electron fluxes during periods of (bio)geochemically and microbially driven change. This topical session will feature the latest research from the atomic to the mesoscale focused on understanding reaction mechanisms and rates occurring at nanoparticle-water or nanoparticle-microbe interfaces, how these differ from bulk mineral reaction counterparts, and how these differences scale-up to impact collective system reaction observables. Processes of interest include those that entail nanoparticle growth, dissolution, redox transformation, transport, aggregation, self-assembly, adsorption/incorporation of nutrients and elements, and reactions catalyzed by solar light absorption in nanoparticles. Laboratory experimental or field-based studies coupled to computational, mechanistic and/or atomistic modeling are particularly encouraged. Juan Liu (Peking University -China); Kevin Rosso, (PNLL- USA) ; Keisuke Fukushi (Kanazawa University -Japan)
Geochemistry is a key tool to investigate the complexity of interior, surficial and atmospheric processes of planetary bodies. This session seeks to compile a diverse array of planetary studies with a robust geological foundation. In this session, we welcome contributions of different aspects of planetary studies, including: geophysical or geochemical models for reconstructing planetary interiors, surfaces and atmospheres as well as experimental and theoretical approaches in petrology and mineralogy for the investigation of planetary bodies, analysis of meteoritic materials and their isotopic signature, astrobiology and emergence of life on planets, study and characterization of planetary analogues, and the examination of planetary surfaces through the interpretation of spectral features or structural and morphological forms observed by spacecraft or rovers. The significance of geochemical and geological research within the extended field of planetary science is indispensable for unravelling the natural evolution of solid celestial bodies, both within our Solar System and in extrasolar systems. Insights into the current and historical processes of planetary bodies are derived from data collected through remote or in situ observations, which are interpreted by comparing them with terrestrial processes and analogues, and applying geological techniques and constraints appropriately. Investigating the geology of primordial planetary bodies enhances our comprehension of the early history of Earth and of its evolution. In addition, volatiles represent a perfect link between the interior and the atmosphere of a planet. Their investigation and characterization through modelling, experiments and observations is central to analyse the evolution of the Earth and of other planetary bodies, and can thus help guide our quest to find habitable conditions or other life forms outside of our Earth. Researchers from various scientific disciplines are invited to participate in this session, fostering constructive discussions and multidisciplinary collaborations in order to provide to the community of geochemical studies new insights and perspectives for the advancements of planetary studies in different disciplines. Chairs Alessandro Pisello (University of Perugia – Italy); Gianluigi Ortenzi (INGV Catania – Italy); Mickael Baqué (DLR Berlin -Germany); Maryse Napoleoni (FU Berlin – Germany)
Organisms form minerals, or biominerals, as they inhabit their environments. Inescapably, the environment leaves signatures on the final biomineral, which can then be interpreted as proxies to reconstruct paleo-environments before, during, and after dramatically changing climates that led to mass extinctions, correlate with modern environments, or predict future responses to climate change. Speakers and listeners from the biomineralization community, the proxies-geochemistry community and the environmental and climate change communities will come together to share their separate expertise in this diverse session. We invite contribution from people working on pH, temperature, salinity, elemental or isotopic composition, crystallography, or any other geochemical observations, correlations, and proxies to reveal past, present, and future responses to climate change. Chairs Pupa Gilbert (University of Wisconsin – USA), Cristina Castillo Alvarez (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory – USA), Giovanni De Giudici (University of Cagliari – Italy)
The large scale facilities (LSF), surely including, but not limiting to, synchrotron and neutron sources, are enabling the experimental access to a number of information that can closely constrain the processes involved in the water-rock interaction. This session focuses on the recent progresses achieved both in the experimental investigation and in the computational models concerning water-rock interactions. The session is aimed to cover the application of LSF both to ambient and extreme conditions (with special focus to high temperature and high-pressure environment). The session welcome contributions ranging from the experimental studies on novel systems, computational studies, new experimental or analytical set-ups. These integrated approaches will allow us to get significant insights on processes and systems from the macroscopic down to the nanosized and atomic scale. Chairs: Francesco Di Benedetto (University of Ferrara – Italy); Carlo Meneghini (University of Rome 3 -Italy); Simone Anzellini (University of Valencia – Spain); Joel Brugger (Monash University – Australia)
Coupling between rates of water-rock reactions, solute transport, and fluid flow controls the spatial and temporal scaling of geochemical processes in natural and engineered systems. Where heterogeneity in ether mineral distribution or pathways for fluid flow are strong, quantifying and predicting rates and outcomes of geochemical processes depends more on local scale conditions than average system characteristics. This session will focus on techniques to measure or quantify local geochemical conditions at the pore, fracture, or reaction front scale in experimental and field systems to gain insight into the coupling of reaction and transport. The use of numerical reactive transport simulation is also a powerful technique to explore reactive transport at varying time and length scales and we encourage submissions where experimental or field data is integrated with models to interpret geochemical processes and rates in coupled reactive transport. Chairs: Alexis Sitchler (Colorado School of Mine – USA); Hang Deng (Peking University – China)
Interactions between geosphere, hydrosphere and biosphere are key parameters to characterize and quantify to describe and modelize the Critical Zone functionning. Isotopes are powerful tools for tracing biogeochemical cycles, cellular processes, past metabolisms, and anthropogenic effects. This session will delve into the full spectrum of isotope applications, from life-related stable isotopes (CHONS) to non-traditional and radiogenic, exploring their applications in the Critical Zone and more widely in the biosphere and environmental sciences Chair(s): Jerome Viers (Université Toulouse III – Paul Sabatier), Rich Wanty (U.S. Geological Survey), François Chabaux, Nathalie Vigier (Laboratoire d’Océanographie de Villefranche- France), Vasileios Mavromatis (University of Bern-Switzerland)