Goldschmidt: "Bioturbation as a global biogeochemical conveyor through time"

Goldschmidt is the foremost annual, international conference on geochemistry and related subjects, organised by the Geochemical Society and the European Association of Geochemistry.

Goldschmidt 2018 will be held in Boston (August 12 - 17 2018). 

The Abstract Deadline is March 30th (23:59 EST)

We would like to encourage to submit an abstract to our session entitled "Bioturbation as a global biogeochemical conveyor through time" (Keynote: Robert C. Aller--See details below). Our aim is to attract a broad range of contributions, from modern observational and experimental studies to geobiological analyses in deep time - with an eye to emphasizing the first order impact of large organisms on environments and geochemical exchange.

Dr. Gilad Antler, Centenary Research Fellow (Selwyn College), Department of Earth Sciences, University of Cambridge. http://antlerg.weebly.com/

09l: Bioturbation as a Global Biogeochemical Conveyor Through Time

Conveners: Nick Butterfield, Gilad Antler

Keynote: Robert C. Aller (Stony Brook University) 

The importance of bioturbation in global biogeochemical cycles has been recognized since Darwin’s ground-breaking work on the role of worms in soil generation. The term bioturbation refers to a wide range of processes by which biological activity displaces sediment particles. More broadly, it includes the process of bioirrigation, or indeed any process by which organisms substantially mix or move aspects of their environment. By altering sedimentary fabrics and enhancing ventilation, bioturbating organisms act as ‘ecosystem engineers,’ often modifying environments on a planetary scale. The onset of bioturbation in the Neoproterozoic, and its subsequent innovations through the Phanerozoic, transformed Earth’s surface chemistry and the way different elements are cycled. This session encourages cross-disciplinary submissions that emphasizes the role bioturbation has played throughout Earth’s history and still plays in modern systems.