This interdisciplinary conference will assemble 80-100 international scientists (PhD students and more senior researchers) to present and discuss the latest results on stable metal isotope fractionation using theoretical, experimental, and field-based approaches with a focus on applications in environmental studies.
Please note that this conference takes place in the week before the
Goldschmidt 2013 conference
in Florence (Italy), which will be convenient to combine because Ascona
is located directly at the border of Switzerland to Italy.
BackgroundRecent
analytical advances (mainly involving MC-ICPMS and TIMS) now allow the
resolution of small variations in the isotopic composition of
„non-traditional” stable isotopes (e.g., Li, B, Mg, Si, Cl, Ca, Cr, Fe,
Ni, Cu, Zn, Se, Sr, Mo, Ag, Cd, Sn, Sb, Ba, Hg, Tl, U). As a result
stable isotope fractionation of metals, and its application in
environmental studies, has emerged as a promising and rapidly growing
research field. It is now clear that metal isotope signatures can
provide valuable information on sources and transformation processes in
the biogeochemical cycling of elements in the environment. Possible
applications include the tracing of anthropogenic heavy metal emissions
and the investigation of critical zone processes such as chemical
weathering and biological cycling.
Tentative list of planned sessions:
- Source tracing of pollutant elements in the environment
- Process tracing of pollutant element transformations in the environment
- Experimental studies on kinetic and equilibrium fractionation of metal isotopes
- Fundamentals of metal isotope fractionation and mass-independent fractionation effects
- Critical zone processes: chemical weathering from rivers to oceans
- Critical zone processes: soils and plants
- Analytical advances for stable metal isotope analysis
