Challenges and Opportunities in Geochronology

NSF is funding a workshop to permit U.S. geochronologists to articulate their research aspirations, identify barriers to realizing those goals and the resources needed to overcome them, and address the needs of geochronology stakeholders outside the producer community.

Organization of this meeting is being undertaken by a committee of seven U.S.-based geochronologists representing most geochronological methods and applications:
Mark Harrison (UCLA)
Suzanne Baldwin (Syracuse University)
Marc Caffee (Purdue University)
George Gehrels (University of Arizona)
Blair Schoene (Princeton University)
David Shuster (UC Berkeley/Berkeley Geochronology Center)
Brad Singer (University of Wisconsin-Madison)
Contact the committee at: USGWorkshop@oro.epss.ucla.edu

This consultation is to occur immediately prior to the Goldschmidt 2014 Conference, on June 7th, in Sacramento, California. The focus of this full-day workshop is to identify scientific breakthroughs potentially within our grasp and the new geochronologic resources that would enable those discoveries. Discussion will also be directed toward documenting the role of geochronology in achieving our current knowledge of the Earth system, and disciplinary breakout sessions will be held to establish needs of specific communities. Six discussion topics that crosscut virtually all geochronological disciplines will be explored through a mixture of invited talks, panel discussions and audience engagement. They are:
Topic #1: Improved knowledge of decay constants
Topic #2: The role of geochronology in transformative geologic research
Topic #3: Support of single-PI labs vs. centralized facilities
Topic #4: Supporting geochronologic innovation
Topic #5: Development of improved standards for geochronology
Topic #6: Developing synergies between disciplines

Downloag the USG Workshop minute document: "Challenges and Opportunities in Geochronology"

Who is invited?
The workshop held in concert with Goldschmidt 2014 is focused on documenting the ambitions of U.S. geochronology providers. Thus the target audience is primarily the producers of geochronologic data (including, but not limited to, the U-Pb, CRN, K-Ar, U+Th/He, OSL, Sm-Nd, fission track, 14C, and Rb-Sr methods) – the PIs and lab managers and their post-docs and senior grad students (particularly those from groups underrepresented in science). Our invitation to attend is extended across the range from those who chemically prepare samples for analysis to the operators of major analytical facilities.

A second planned event at the Geological Society of America Annual Meeting in Vancouver, B.C. (October 19-22) will explore ways to address the needs of geochronology consumers. Details of that meeting will be available at this website on April 12th.

Is travel support available?
To encourage attendance, the cost a single-night hotel stay ($128) can be reimbursed by prior arrangement (see tick box on registration page). Reimbursement details will be provided at the workshop.

How will the proceedings of these workshops be made available?
A report will be published in December 2014 detailing the committee findings from these two consultations. This report will be made publicly available and provided to NSF Earth Sciences.