Elements: Into the Rift: The Geology of Human Origins in Eastern Africa
June 22, 2023
Spanning from the horn of Africa down to Lake Malawi, the East Africa Rift preserves a plethora of paleoanthropological sites (e.g., Olduvai Gorge, Turkana, Awash) that document our evolutionary journey spanning the last seven million years of Earth’s history. A common feature of these sites is that they are associated with volcanic–sedimentary basins intimately related to the development of the rift. Radiometric and paleomagnetic geochronology helps establish age relations between different hominin species. Geochemical studies of primary tuffs help correlate between sites and identify specific volcanic sources. Authigenic minerals formed in rift lakes can help reconstruct past climates and environments. Recent excavations at Laetoli show that this valuable site is slowly disappearing owing to diagenetic processes, and preservation of the footprints is essential and urgently needed.
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Executive Editor of GCA
June 06, 2023
The Geochemical Society and the Meteoritical Society are seeking qualified candidates to serve as Executive Editor (EE) of Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta (GCA). The appointment is for an initial 3-year term commencing January 1, 2025, with the possibility of an additional 3-year term by negotiation with the societies and the publisher. GCA publishes research papers that address fundamental aspects of geochemistry and cosmochemistry as well as articles relating to key activities of the sponsoring societies.
Consideration of applicants will begin October 1 and continue until the position is filled. Learn more
Elements: Alkaline Lakes
May 10, 2023
Alkaline lakes are incredibly dynamic, unique, and fascinating biogeochemical environments. This thematic issue will leverage the authors’ multidisciplinary insights to portray alkaline lakes’ biogeochemical, mineralogical, and geological importance for both science and society. The articles will individually explore the unique conditions leading to the formation of alkaline lakes, the distinctively productive microbial ecosystems that inhabit them, their distinguishing chemistry and mineralogy, their role as societally important economic resources, and their potential to have originated life on Earth as well as Mars. This approachable overview of the geochemical, biological, and societal aspects of alkaline lakes will establish their vital importance to the broad readership of Elements and stimulate continued explorations of these mesmerizing geological systems.
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James Bischoff (1940-2021)
March 23, 2023
It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Jim Bischoff who died at the age of 80 on February 17, 2021. Jim had battled several serious illnesses over the past couple of decades and finally succumbed while in the care of hospice with his family at his side. He is survived by his wife Marybeth, children Matthew and Lorena, and four grandchildren.
His curiosity driven life in the pursuit of science led him to a highly successful career in marine geochemistry. Recognizing the impracticality of a fantasy career in archaeology Jim obtained an undergraduate degree in geology at Occidental College and PhD in geochemistry at Berkeley in 1966 under Bill Fyfe. He carried out a two-year postdoc at Woods Hole during a time of great excitement about new discoveries in the oceans, especially about this outrageous new idea of seafloor spreading. After five years as Professor at University of Southern California, Jim joined the Branch of Pacific and Coastal Marine Geology of the USGS in 1974. He quickly built the marine geochemistry program to international acclaim.
Exploring Jupiter’s Moon Io
March 23, 2023
Jupiter’s moon Io is the best place to understand a fundamental planetary process that shaped terrestrial planets, icy ocean worlds, and extrasolar planets: tidal heating. Io is the most tidally heated world in our Solar System and may contain a magma ocean. Io’s spectacular volcanic plumes sustain the atmosphere and feed the giant magnetosphere of the Jovian system. The lavas covering its surface reflect heatpipe tectonics, which is analogous to the volcanically hyperactive youth of all rocky planets. Io is the ideal planetscale laboratory to study the intertwined processes of tidal forcing, extreme volcanism, and atmosphere–magnetosphere interactions. This issue of Elements will review our knowledge of Io, emphasizing on its composition, interior dynamics, and surface processes. We will also share perspectives for future missions.
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Shucheng Xie Named 2023 Alfred Treibs Medalist
March 02, 2023
Shucheng Xie, professor of geobiology at the China University of Geosciences, will receive the 2023 the Alfred Treibs Award. Presented by the society's Organic Geochemistry Division, the award is given for major achievements, over a period of years, in organic geochemistry. Prof. Xie is recognized for pioneering studies of geolipids for paleoclimate research, developing applications to stalagmites, paleosols, and marine sediments, and expanding knowledge of microbial activity during major evolutionary and mass extinction events in Earth history.
Boswell Wing Named 2022 John Hayes Award Recipient
March 02, 2023
Boswell Wing, associate professor of geological sciences at the University of Colorado Boulder (USA), will receive the 2022 John Hayes Award from the GS. The award is given to a mid-career scientist for outstanding accomplishments that draw together multiple fields of investigation to advance biogeochemical science. It was created in 2017 by the Organic Geochemistry Division and a group of friends, colleagues, and students of John Hayes. Prof. Wing is recognized for contributions to science and mentorship at the intersection of isotopic geochemistry, microbiology, and studies of Earth's fluid envelope that have shaped the fabric of our knowledge of Earth as a biogeochemical system. Presentation of the 2022 award was delayed following the pandemic.
Roberta Rudnick Named 2023 V. M. Goldschmidt Medalist
February 13, 2023
Roberta L. Rudnick, Distinguished Professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara (USA), will receive the 2023 Victor Moritz Goldschmidt Award this July. The Goldschmidt Award is the society's highest honor, presented annually for major achievements in geochemistry over a career. Prof. Rudnick is recognized for her contributions to understanding the composition, origin, and evolution of the continents and lithospheric mantle and developing Li isotope geochemistry.
Myrna Simpson Named 2023 C. C. Patterson Medalist
February 13, 2023
Myrna J. Simpson will receive the 2023 Clair C. Patterson Award, which recognizes an innovative breakthrough in environmental geochemistry of fundamental significance within the last decade, particularly in service to society. Dr. Simpson is Professor of Environmental Chemistry at the University of Toronto (Canada), Associate Director of the Environmental NMR Centre, and the Canada Research Chair (Tier 1) in Integrative Molecular Biogeochemistry. She is recognized for work that has reshaped our understanding of pollutant fate and anthropogenic impacts on biogeochemical cycling in both terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems.
Sarah Aarons Named 2023 F. W. Clarke Medalist
February 13, 2023
Sarah Aarons, Assistant Professor at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography (USA), will receive the 2023 F. W. Clarke Award this July. The Clarke Award honors a single outstanding contribution to geochemistry or cosmochemistry by an early-career scientist. Dr. Aarons is recognized for using novel applications of radiogenic and non-traditional stable isotope systematics to identify dust sources in dust traps and ice cores, understand mineral fractionation associated with dust transport, and unravel the processes responsible for crustal generation at the Hadean/Archean transition.