2009 Annual Meeting of the Clay Minerals Group

14–16 December 2009, Newcastle University, UK

Registration has now closed. If you would still like to attend the meeting, please contact Maggie White who will arrange on-site registration for you.

REGISTER (paper form)

Book your own accommodation (list of recommended hotels, and prices)

Abstracts should be submitted at the time of registration. They may also be submitted later, by email, to kevin@minersoc.org. Only abstracts submitted by those who have registered will be included in the abstract volume. Abstracts will only be accepted up to 30/11/2009.

FuturoClays: advances in clay science for future geological, environmental and industrial applications

Clays and clay minerals are abundant and widespread in soils and sediments worldwide and clays form well over 50% of the sedimentary rocks which occupy about ¾ of the Earth’s surface. They are widely used in agricultural, industrial and environmental engineering applications due to their remarkable set of physical and chemical properties, such as large surface area, low permeability, large cationic exchange capacity, swelling behaviour, etc. In recent years, scientific research has largely focused on the development of new clay-based technologies. In particular, several teams of researchers have been focusing on the study of Fe reduction and reoxidation in Fe-bearing clays and clay minerals and its application to the remediation of contaminated land and waters. Many others have focused their research on the development of organoclay materials, pillared clays, or other clay-based materials for environmental or agricultural applications.

New advances in these issues will be addressed by a number of eminent keynote speakers including

• Prof. Joseph W. Stucki (University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, USA) (the 10^th George Brown lecture)
  Evolution of the study of redox reactions of Fe in smectites
• Dr Ravi Kukkadapu (Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA, USA)
  Effect of Fe-mineral (oxides and clays) reductive biotransformations on remediation of radioactive metals from contaminated aquifers
• Dr Eric Ferrage (HydrASA Laboratory, Université de Poitiers, France)
  Recent advances in the characterization of organizational properties of water in expandable clays
• Dr Deeba M. Ansari (Imerys Minerals Ltd., St Austell, Cornwall, UK)
  Current and future demands for clay minerals – an industrial perspective

The meeting will be based around two days of talks and a one-day field trip to examine local coal-bearing sequences associated with the low-Fe clays that are mined for brick-making. This is an excellent opportunity to see innovative methods of dust suppression an environmental practice in a working surface mine. The first day of the meeting will focus on the theme of 'iron reduction in clays and clay minerals', while the second day will be a more general session dealing with all new advances in the field of clay science.

Organizing committee: David Manning (chair), Claire Fialips, Maggie White, Andy Aplin, Joe Harwood, Uzochukwu Ugochukwu, Phil Renforth and Sani Yahaya.

MAPS OF NEWCASTLE: City Map, Walking Map, Restaurants+Pubs Map, Newcastle University Campus Map

Instructions for presenters

Registration has now closed. If you would still like to attend the meeting, please contact Maggie White who will arrange on-site registration for you.

REGISTER (paper form)