October 2014

Award nominations deadlines: 31 October and 15 November

If you know of scientists deserving recognition, it is time to take a few minutes to nominate them for an EAG Award or for the EAG-GS Fellowship. The process is simple and the various awards recognize scientists at all stages of their career:

• Urey Award, recognizing scientific excellence over a career
• Werner Stumm Science Innovation Award for scientists between 35 and 55 in the field of low temperature and surface geochemistry
• Houtermans Award for scientists under 35 or within 6 years of their PhD
• EAG-GS Geochemical Fellowship, recognizing scientists who have made major contributions to the field of geochemistry.

Send your nomination before 31 October for the EAG-GS Fellows and before 15 November for all other awards.

Looking for photos of first Goldschmidt conferences

Goldschmidt2015 will celebrate its 25th Anniversary next year and we are looking for photos of past Goldschmidt conferences, especially prior to 2006. We are also looking for photos of the cover pages of each Goldschmidt programme not already available on the Conference Archive. If you have any, please contact office@eag.eu.com.

NEW! Early Career Science Ambassador Program

To promote Early Career Scientists, EAG creates the Early Career Science Ambassador Program. Early Career Scientists based in Europe, in the final stages of their PhD or within 6 years post PhD, wishing to attend conferences outside of Europe will have 50% of their expenses covered by EAG, up to 2000 Euros, and be viewed as EAG Ambassadors while attending the event. Find out more.

Council elections: EAG members invited to vote

In January 2015, 3 councillor positions will open in the EAG Council. Councillors serve for three years, participate in council discussions, decisions, initiatives and act as ambassadors of the society. The serving members of the EAG Council are crucial for determining the strategy and the future of the EAG.

6 candidates are proposed and until 27 October, EAG members are invited to vote by selecting 3. On 13 October, EAG members have received an email with a personalized link to vote. If you are an EAG member and have not received your invitation, please contact office@eag.eu.com.

Winners of the EAG Photo Contest

It is with great pleasure that we announce the winners of the first EAG Photo Contest: César Menor-Salván for the themes "The changing world: geochemistry in action" and "Geochemistry in a test tube", and Olivier Pourret for the theme "Geochemistry and life". The overall winning photo is Destructive Beauty by César Menor-Salván, now in the banner of this newsletter, of the EAG website and to be published in Elements December issue. View the 3 winning photos. We have also asked César and Olivier to tell us more about their photos and they report some interesting stories in our special post on the EAG blog.

EAG aims to hold this competition annually to provide a platform for inspiring images in Geochemistry. If you have suggestions about next years themes or general comments on the competition please contact office@eag.eu.com

Distinguished Lecture Program 2014 starting in November

Dr. Rachael James (University of Southampton) is the EAG Distinguished Lecturer 2014 and she will start her tour in Prague on 10 November, with the lecture “Weathering, ocean chemistry and climate change: New insights from non-traditional metal stable isotopes”. She will then be in Romania and Bulgaria from 24 November. These are public lectures, so staff, students and visitors are welcome to attend; see tour and lecture details.

Society synergy at GSA2014

The Geochemical Society will be present at the Geological Society of America conference next week in Vancouver, and has kindly offered to display EAG material at the GS booth (no 1226). So if you are attending GSA2014, please stop by the GS booth for information on GS and EAG activities. We wish to thank the Geochemical Society for this opportunity.

A thousand thanks to a thousand Facebook fans!

We have now reached 1000 likes on Facebook! Thank you all for your interest, support and appreciation. For information about what you can find on the EAG Facebook page, we post job alerts, geochemistry related news, blogs, society news, events, and of course, anyone can post on our page too! Visit the EAG Facebook page.

Elements October issue: Cosmogenic Nuclides

Cosmogenic Nuclides, the October issue of Elements illustrates a frontier area that is fast moving thanks to improvements in analytical instrumentation. It is interesting to see that theoretical developments in particle physics have found applications in our effort to understand today’s landscapes. Guest editors Friedhelm von Blanckenburg and Jane Willenbring, together with the cast of authors they assembled, chose to illustrate how cosmogenic nuclides can help us understand Earth-surface processes. And the Toolkit article shows off the technological prowess needed to measure these rare nuclides—one atom in a million billion.

EAG members will receive their print copy shortly and have online access to all issues of Elements (user id = email address, password = EAG membership number). To verify your postal address or your membership number, login to your member area.

From the winners of the EAG Photo Contest 2014

[By César Menor-Salván and Olivier Pourret] César and Olivier are the winners of the EAG Photo Contest 2014 and we have asked them tell us more about their photos and their passion… “Destructive Beauty”, winning photo of the theme “The changing world: geochemistry in action” (also on the banner of this newsletter), shows crystals of neoformed Epsomite (magnesium sulfate heptahydrate) in a wall of my own house, affected by “sulfate attack”. Read more

From ice to volcanic ash...

[By Joshua Blacker, Stefanie Lutz and Elena Maters] In September 2014, 3 students benefited from the EAG Student Sponsorship Program and recount their experiences. Joshua Blacker and Stefanie Lutz attended the International Glaciological Society conference, and Elena Maters attended the 1st VERTIGO workshop focused on the study of volcanic ash. Read more

Climate change: Models 'underplay plant CO2 absorption'

[BBC News] Global climate models have underestimated the amount of CO₂ being absorbed by plants, according to new research. Scientists say that between 1901 and 2010, living things absorbed 16% more of the gas than previously thought. The authors say it explains why models consistently overestimated the growth rate of carbon in the atmosphere. But experts believe the new calculation is unlikely to make a difference to global warming predictions. Read more

Rosetta mission: Philae comet lander pictures its target

[BBC News] The Philae robot, soon to try to land on Comet 67P, has taken another dramatic image of its quarry. The picture is very similar to the one it acquired in mid-September - only this one is much closer, snapped from a distance of just 16km. Also new in this picture is 67P's activity. Jets of gas and dust can be seen streaming away from the "neck" region of the rubber duck-shaped comet. Philae is due to make its historic landing attempt on 12 November. Read more

Low-carbon energy future is clean, feasible

[Science Daily] A future where electricity comes mostly from low-carbon sources is not only feasible in terms of material demand, but will significantly reduce air pollution, a study published in the 6 October Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences says. An international team led by Edgar Hertwich and Thomas Gibon from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology conducted the first-ever global comprehensive life cycle assessment of the long-term, wide-scale implementation of electricity generation from renewable resources. Read more

Earth’s magnetic field could flip much faster than predicted

[Science Alert] A new study suggests that Earth’s magnetic field could take just 100 years to flip - and there’s evidence it could happen again in a couple of thousand years. We think of north and south as being pretty constant, but the Earth’s magnetic field has flipped many times throughout the planet’s history, generally without causing huge catastrophes. Read more

Oxygen can form directly from carbon dioxide in upper atmosphere

[Science Daily] Making oxygen before life: Oxygen can form directly from carbon dioxide in upper atmosphere. About one fifth of Earth's atmosphere is oxygen, pumped out by green plants as a result of photosynthesis and used by most living things on the planet to keep our metabolisms running. But before the first photosynthesizing organisms appeared about 2.4 billion years ago, the atmosphere likely contained mostly carbon dioxide, as is the case today on Mars and Venus. Read more

Check the latest job opportunities

Receive job ads as they are posted: like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter (@EAG_). Post a position on the EAG job page (free of charge): send the details to EAG Office.

• 2 PhD positions in Soil Environmental Chemistry - ETH Zurich
• Postdoctoral Research Assistant in Geochemistry - University of Oxford
• Postdoctoral Research Fellow ‘Control of Crystal Nucleation on Surfaces’ – Ref: ENVEE1010 - University of Leeds
• Postdoctoral Research Fellow ‘Control of Crystal Nucleation on Surfaces’ – Ref: MAPPA1000 - University of Leeds
• 3-year Postdoctoral Position in marine radiocarbon, isotope geochemistry and paleoceanography - University of St Andrews
• Postdoctoral Fellow ‘Re-Os geochemistry, shale, hydrocarbons, stratigraphy, sedimentology’ - Colorado State University
• 2015 Exploration Postdoctoral Fellowship - Arizona State University
• Post-Doctoral Researcher in Precambrian Biogeochemistry - University of St Andrews
• Postdoctoral Research Scholar in Geochemistry - University of California, Merced
• Postdoctoral Research Associate – Geochemistry - Oak Ridge National Laboratory
• Postdoctoral position in Environmental Biogeochemistry - ETH Zurich
• Postdoctorate position 2 years ‘Cryo-TEM study of intracellular biomineralization of calcium carbonates by cyanobacteria’ - IMPMC
• Assistant Professor and Associate Professor positions - University of Chicago
• Tenure Track Position in Geomaterials - Temple University
• Tenure-track position in high-T geochemistry, isotope geochemistry, or cosmochemistry - Washington University in St. Louis
• Senior Research Officer - University of Western Australia
• Assistant Professor / Associate Professor / Professor - University of Western Australia
• Assistant Professor - University of Western Australia
• Research Associate - Macquarie University
• Research Associate 'Understanding ancient petroleum carbonate systems; carbonate precipitation in Abu Dhabi microbial mats as a modern analogue' - The Petroleum Institute
• Research Associate 'Jurassic – Cretaceous Unconventional and Tight Reservoir Characterization' - The Petroleum Institute

More jobs at www.eag.eu.com/jobs.

Thank you for your attention!