Nora Noffke asked me to help get the word out about this cool conference... Here you go:
-CB

Microbial Mats in siliciclastic sediments from the Archean to present

May 21 - 23, 2010
Denver and Dinosaur Ridge, Colorado

Convenors:
Nora Noffke, Old Dominion University
Henry Chafetz, University of Houston

This inaugural conference presents an important geobiological review on microbial mats and the sedimentary structures they form in siliciclastic settings through Earth’s history, from the early Archean to the present. The meeting brings together an international panel of leading researchers to provide a state-of-the art overview of this field. This meeting is essential for all scientists interested in this rapidly growing field.The conference discusses modern microbial mats constructed by benthic cyanobacteria and other microbiota in aquatic settings. It will:

• explore the processes of microbial interaction with physical sedimentary processes;
• give an overview on the taxonomy;
• discuss the relation of the siliciclastic biogenic structures to stromatolites and;
• their distribution through time.

Topics include:

• early life,
• the rise of cyanobacteria,
• the evolution of microbial eukaryotes,
• the biological transformation at the terminal Precambrian,
• taphonomy of Ediacara fossils,
• influence of macroorganisms on microbial mats,
• extinction patterns, and
• stratigraphical significance

PROGRAM :
The conference will consist of talks, posters, and a field trip to Dinosaur Ridge.

Abstract submission:
The program includes talks of each 20 minutes and 5 minutes discussion, as well as poster presentations in the afternoon. If you are interested in a presentation, please submit your abstract for either talk or poster to Nora Noffke (nnoffke@odu.edu) or Henry Chafetz (hchafetz@uh.edu).

Abstracts should be unformatted. Abstracts are limited to ten authors, 100 or fewer characters in the title (including spaces), and 2,000 or fewer characters of body text (including spaces).
Authors will be notified via email of acceptance or rejection. Accepted abstracts will appear in the research conference abstracts volume.

Following acceptance, authors may wish to submit an optional extended abstract. Submission guidelines for the extended abstract will be supplied with abstract acceptance. The submission of abstracts opens September 1st 2009, and closes December 1st 2009. The notification of acceptance will be sent during December.

Special Publication:A SEPM Special Publication is planned for selected papers on this topic. Contributions to this volume are not restricted to participants at the conference. Please send an abstract of an intended manuscript to either Nora Noffke or Henry Chafetz. Invited manuscripts will be accepted until June 30, 2010 (firm deadline).

Labels: colorado, conferences, microbes, stromatolites

Working through my backlog of e-mails, I find that I have a few more Rockies course final projects to share with the world:

Laurie's website on Yellowstone geothermal features.

Jared explores Ringing Rocks.

Kevin suggests "more study is needed."

Ken discusses Grinnell Glacier:

Amanda reviews the Tetons:

Labels: glacial landforms, glaciation, montana, mountains, stromatolites, volcano, water resources, wyoming

Nora Noffke of Old Dominion University would like to draw your attention to this SEPM field conference on microbial mats in siliciclastic deposits. The conference presents an important and novel review on microbial mats and the sedimentary structures they form in siliciclastic settings through Earth history, from the early Archean to the present. The meeting is organized by Nora and Henry Chafetz, and brings together the expertise and knowledge of an international panel of leading researchers to provide a state-of-the art overview of the field. The participants will give and get a timely review of the current and most topical areas of research, essential for all scientists interested in this rapidly growing field.

Labels: archean, meetings, stromatolites

Here's some images from my first post-master's-post-master's graduate class: "Bahama Montana," Dave Lageson's one-credit examination of carbonate sedimentology with a particular focus on some interesting features in the Bridger Range: Waulsortian-type bioherms. This field trip was on my fourth day in Montana this summer, following a two-hour lecture the previous evening. Unfortunately, the road to Fairy Lake still wasn't totally open, which meant that we had to add an additional three miles each way to our hike, which meant we didn't get to examine the bioherms themselves at close range. Oh well; next year perhaps...

The class hiking up to the summit of Sacagawea Peak:

(The green stripe on the left/west may look familiar from the satellite image I shared yesterday.)

Sacagawea Cirque, not looking especially "Death Cirque"-like* today:


The view south from Sacagawea Peak:


The class, looking east from the summit:


The elusive Waulsortian bioherms, off in the un-logistically-feasible middle distance:

...Interesting that they weather out in high relief, eh?

Dave instructs:






Some cool Columella stromatolites that I hadn't noticed on previous trips up Sacagawea:


More Columella stromatolites:


The class was a good example of how field trips have to be modified to fit local conditions. It was a bummer the road closure added six miles to our hike, but we were able to scour the talus slopes in Sacagawea Cirque for Mississippian fossils like crinoids, brachiopods, corals, and bryozoans. I got some sweet samples of fenestrate bryozoans, but saw none of the spectacular rugose corals that I collected on my first visit to this cirque 2 years earlier.

_________________________________
* The "Death Cirque" moniker is one applied by my NOVA Rockies students the following week, for reasons I shall reveal in due time...

Labels: field trips, fossils, limestone, mississippian, montana, stromatolites

A month ago, it was announced that there was an enormous stromatolite head discovered at a limestone quarry near Roanoke, Virginia.

It's two tons in weight, and over five feet across.

Being as I was out of town, I hadn't heard about it, but one of my Snowball Earth students alerted me to it on Wednesday evening.

Pretty cool! Read more here.

Labels: stromatolites, valley and ridge, virginia