Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Foreword to the special issue on I Reunión Argentina de Geoquímica de la Superficie (I RAGSU) (First Argentine meeting on geochemistry of the earth’s surface)

2011; Springer Science+Business Media; Volume: 65; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1007/s12665-011-1329-9

1866-6299

Pedro J. Depetris, Andrea I. Pasquini,

Geological and Geochemical Analysis

Geochemical understanding can be traced as far back as prehistory with the development of bronze and iron tools. This initiated a path that eventually led to the current knowledge on metal identification and processing. The geochemical discipline, however, has its origin hand-in-hand with geological science; first, during the 19th century when analytical chemistry and later physical chemistry promoted the superlative geochemical knowledge growth seen today. As is generally known, there are a number of diverse specialties within the wide field encompassed by geochemistry. One of them is the geochemistry of earth’s surface processes, which is mainly oriented to understand the chemical mechanisms that take place in the ‘‘critical zone’’, the relatively thin layer where the interaction of the atmosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere, and lithosphere, takes place. On the other hand, the current environmental crisis has triggered a large number of scientific studies worldwide, which mainly seek to unveil anthropogenic environmental problems and find corrective measures to minimize undesirable impacts. The first meeting, I RAGSU, was envisioned to probe into the geochemical nature of the processes occurring on the surface of the earth and took place at the city of Cordoba (Argentina), between the 27th and the 30th of September, 2009. The meeting was hosted by Argentina’s Academia Nacional de Ciencias (http://www.acad.uncor. edu/) and was jointly organized by the Academy and the Centro de Investigaciones en Ciencias de la Tierra (CICTERRA, http://www.cicterra-conicet.gov.ar/) and the Centro de Investigaciones Geoquimicas y de Procesos de la Superfice (CIGeS, http://www.efn.unc.edu.ar/investigacion/ ciges/). Although organized by earth scientists, the goal was to assemble as many environmental scientists as possible (e.g., biologists, agronomists, chemists, geologists). Almost 90 scientists and advanced students attended the meeting at Argentina’s Academia Nacional de Ciencias. Sixty-two research papers were presented, either as oral presentations (27) or as posters (35). Initially conceived as a national get-together of Argentine surface geochemists, it was expanded to include attendees from neighboring nations (e.g., Brazil, Chile), Europe (France, Switzerland), and the Americas (e.g., USA, Venezuela). Daniel Ariztegui (University of Geneva, Switzerland); Jay A. Brandes and Herbert L. Windom (Skidaway Institute of Oceanography, Savannah, Georgia, USA); Luis Felipe Niencheski (FURG, Rio Grande, Brazil); Sandor Muslow (Universidad Austral de Chile, Concepcion, Chile); and Christine Vallet-Coulomb (Aix-Marseille Universite, Aix en Provence, France) were in charge of six key presentations. Seven oral and poster presentations covered the following topics: (1) environmental geochemistry, (2) hydrogeochemistry, (3) biogeochemistry, (4) marine geochemistry, (5) isotopic geochemistry, (6) sedimentary and soil geochemistry, (7) analytical geochemistry. Within the framework of the meeting, three short actualization courses were given: ‘‘Introduction to weathering processes’’, ‘‘Geochemistry of the solid–liquid interface’’, and ‘‘Biogeochemistry: origins and global cycles’’. Discussions were interesting and lively, and the initial icebreaker as well as the final dinner gave the opportunity to exchange views, socialize, and program future jointventures. I RAGSU was the initial step in what is visualized as the beginning of a long sequence of regional P. J. Depetris A. I. Pasquini (&) Centro de Investigaciones en Ciencias de la Tierra (CICTERRA-CIGeS, CONICET-UNC), Av. Velez Sarsfield 1611, X5016GCA Cordoba, Argentina e-mail: apasquini@com.uncor.edu