Mineral Deposits Studies Group/Applied Mineralogy Group Winter Meeting Report, 5-8 January 2009

Report on “Geogenic Chemicals in Groundwaters and Soils” Session 15i at Goldschmidt 2009, held in Davos, Switzerland, June 22-25 2009

Held in association with the Applied Mineralogy Groups of the Mineralogical Society of Great Britain and Ireland, and with the FP6 Marie Actions funded AquaTRAIN Marie Curie Research Training Network.

This session attracted over 70 abstracts and as such was one of the largest non-general sessions at this year’s Goldschmidt Conference (Lead Organiser, Chris Ballentine), which itself attracted over 3000 abstracts. The session comprised 30 oral presentations on Wednesday am, Thursday am and Thursday pm on the Goldschmidt 2009 week in Davos, plus a further 30+ posters presented on Monday am. Attendance ranged from as many as 200 for the Wednesday am talks, to as few as 50 for the final Thursday pm set of talks.

The invited keynote speaker, Lex Van Geen (LDEO, Columbia University, USA), gave an outstanding account of groundwater arsenic remediation strategies being implemented in Bangladesh  - emphasizing the importance of well-switching and of effective education programmes for groundwater users.  Lastly, he presented evidence from field trials that suggested that extensive usage of deeper groundwaters were unlikely to cause widespread break through of high arsenic shallow groundwaters for at least 50 years or so because of the rate and extent of arsenic sorption on mineral surfaces. The session also included talks from the President of the Geochemical Society, Marty Goldhaber (USGS), and the winner of the International Association of Geoanalsyts Early Career Researcher Award, Adrien Mestrot (University of Aberdeen, UK).

Winners of Applied Mineralogy Group (Mineralogical Society) Awards with Session Convenors & Keynote Speaker at “Geogenic chemicals in groundwaters and soils” session, Goldschmist 2009, Davos, Switzerland, June 2009.

 Left to right: Ellen Moon (Inset) (Southampton, UK) (Joint Winner Best Student Talk) David Polya (Manchester, UK) (Joint Session Convenor), Lex Van Geen (LDEO, Columbia, USA) (Invited Keynote speaker), Cristina Jimenez (Univeristatae Babes Bolyai, Romania) (Joint Winner Best Student Poster), Linda Roberts (EAWAG, Switzerland) (Joint Winner Best Student Talk), Sonia Rodriguez (Aveiro University, Portugal and Wageningen University, The Netherlands) (Joint Winner Best Student Poster), Annette Johnson (EAWAG, Switzerland) (Joint Session Convenor).

There were some excellent presentations from a healthy representation of postgraduate students.  The Applied Mineralogy Group Best Student Poster Award was given jointly to (i) Sonia Rodriguez (Aviero University, Portugal; Wageningen University, The Netherlands) for a study of the bioavailability and potential human health impacts of Hg and As in contaminated soils near mining sites; and (ii) Cristina Jimenez (Babes Bolyai University, Romania) for a study of arsenic contaminated groundwaters in the Pannonian Basin.  The Applied Mineralogy Group Best Student Talk Award was given jointly to (i) Linda Roberts (EAWAG, Switzerland) on the remobilization of arsenic from paddy field soils in Bangladesh and (ii) Ellen Moon (University of Southampton, UK) on an XAS study of Cu(II) sorption to bacteria and bacteriogenic ferrihydrite, for two simply outstanding presentations.

All 4 award winners received 100 CHF and are being sent a Mineralogical Society / Applied Mineralogy Group logo-ed certificate.

The session was organized and chaired by Annette Johnson (EAWAG, Switzerland) and EMG’s Dave Polya.

We thank the AMG for their involvement in this meeting.