Clay Minerals Group

The Clay Minerals Group promotes the advancement of clay science and clay technology as applied to all aspects of pure and applied research and industrial uses. The interests of its members cover a wide spectrum, including mining and mineral processing, soils and plant nutrition, crystallography, sedimentary geology, ceramics, petroleum engineering and medicine. Regular meetings are held two or three times a year. The group publishes reference monographs on specific aspects of clay science, is responsible for the journal Clay Minerals, and sponsors the annual George Brown Lecture. Further details about the group are available from the secretary, Dr D.S. Wray at D.Wray@greenwich.ac.uk The Group also provides CMG Bursaries to help students and CMG members attend conferences.

Clay Minerals Group Committee

Office bearers in the Clay Minerals Group since foundation

Visit the 'Images of Clay' picture archive

FORTHCOMING MEETINGS

Aluminium and silicon in soils and the environment
Clay Minerals Group, with the British Society of Soil Science
3–5 September 2008 to be held in Aberdeen
 

Register Here

The mineralogy and chemistry of aluminium and silicon in soils and the wider landscape is important in the context of many of the process that are key to the environmental functions that soils perform.  These include sustainable soil fertility, soil and water acidification and the genesis of soil types. This meeting focuses on the movement, distribution and fate of aluminium and silicon within the pedosphere and the wider environment, the processes and products involved and the ways in which these can be effectively characterized. Of particular interest are the nature and rates of the chemical and biological processes involved in the release of these elements from primary soil minerals, their incorporation into secondary mineral products, their uptake by plants and their removal from the soil in solution or colloidal transport to the wider landscape. The meeting is being held to commemorate the life and work of V. C. Farmer who during his career at the Macaulay Institute made major contributions to our understanding of the mineralogy and chemistry of aluminium and silicon in soils, as well as pioneering the use of infrared spectroscopy in the identification, characterization and reactivity of the amorphous or poorly crystalline secondary minerals involved. The latest developments in these issues will be addressed by a number of eminent keynote speakers including:

Roger Parfitt (Landcare Research, New Zealand) The 9^th George Brown Lecture –“Allophane and imogolite: their influence in biogeochemistry.”

Jon Petter Gustafsson (Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden). “Aluminium and silicon solubility in forest soils - discussion of the relevant mechanisms”.

Jana Madejová (Institute of Inorganic Chemistry, Bratislava, Slovakia) “Possibilities of near IR spectroscopy in investigation of reduced charge smectites.”

Sabine Petit (University of Poitiers, Poitiers, France). Contribution of IR spectroscopy to clay minerals studies.

Michael Sommer (Institute for Landscape Research, Müncheberg, Germany) “Lateral podzolization at landscape scale - phenomena, concepts, and process quantification.”

The meeting will be based around two days of talks and a one day field trip to examine - Aspects of Podzolization in North East Scotland

Registration now open

Abstract guidelines

Talks

Talks by invited speakers will be 40–50 min long, by arrangement with the convenor.

Talks by others will be 20–30 min long, including time for questions. You must specify the length of time you would like when submitting your abstract; longer times may be available by arrangement with the convenor.

Website: http://www.minersoc.org/pages/groups/cmg/cmg.html

Bursaries: Funding is available to assist students and members of the Clay Minerals Group to attend and present research at meetings such as this. Please contact CMG chair, Steve Hillier (S.Hillier@macaulay.ac.uk), for information.

Enquiries:   For all enquiries and further information contact, Steve Hillier or Jane Lund by e-mail to AluSiV@macaulay.ac.uk

Organizing committee: Steve Hillier, Jeff Wilson, Derek Bain, Jim Gauld, Tony Fraser, Allan Lilly, Jane Lund.