Geobiology and Geomicrobiology Division of the Geological Society of America Newsletter Volume 1 Issue 1 Fall 2004
GBGM Division Chair’s Message Keynote Symposium (see announcement on page 3 of this newsletter). Though my year as Division Chair passed quickly, we have made progress in a few Welcome New GBGM Officers: Our key areas: incoming Division Chair is Jack Farmer, and Bruce Fouke moves to First Vice- Open Business Meeting at GSA Annual Chair. We need your nominations for a Meeting in Denver: Our Division will Second Vice-Chair. Please send your sponsor an open business meeting on nominations to [email protected] by 11/8/04! Tuesday, November 9, from 12:15- The new Second Vice-Chair will be 1:15PM, Room 102, CCC, at the GSA announced at the business meeting. Annual Meeting in Denver. We will provide free lunch for the first 80 attendees Announcing: who pass through the door! In addition to http://www.biogeosciences.org discussing business-related items, we will This is an innovative new website that hear from guest speakers about progress meets one of our Division’s primary efforts being made in several areas of to bring together its diverse membership. biogeoscience. Topics covered at the The website will play an increasingly meeting are outlined elsewhere in this important and vital role in the development newsletter. of the fields of geobiology and geomicrobiology in the years to come. See Volunteers Needed: For the first time, our announcement on page 3 in this newsletter. Division will be hosting a booth in the Exhibit Hall at the Denver meeting. We I look forward to seeing you in Denver and will be tri-sponsoring the booth with the thank you in advance for your continued Sedimentary Geology Division and the support of our Division and for sharing Limnology Division. In doing so, we hope ideas to help our Division grow as you to increase the profile of the GBGM move through your careers in the Division and, of course, increase biogeosciences. communication between the three closely - Sherry L. Cady related Divisions sharing the booth. If you GBGM Division Chair, 2003-2004 or your students can support this Division effort by volunteering to staff the booth for Message from the GBGM Editor a few hours during the meeting, please let me know at [email protected]. In any case, Hello everybody. We’ve finally managed be sure to drop by and say hello – we’d like to get an issue of our newsletter together. to make this an annual tradition, and your It’s been a long time coming, and we’re feedback will be helpful. still working on figuring out exactly what
GBGM Sponsored Sessions at GSA: In it’s going to be. We will certainly be addition to increasing the number of including announcements of meetings, Topical and Disciplinary Sessions this programs and anything else of interest to year, our Division is sponsoring a Pardee the geobiology and geomicrobiology community. If there’s anything else that We are also soliciting ideas for coffee you think should be included in the mugs and T-shirts to be offered at future newsletter, or if you have any meetings. Please put your artistic talents to announcements yourself please feel free to work for the Division! send them to me: [email protected]. Please make sure that you put GBGM in the GBGM Booth at GSA subject line. We plan to issue this We are looking for help manning the newsletter quarterly from now on, with GBGM booth at the GSA Annual Meeting issues tentatively scheduled to appear in next week. If anybody can give us some October, January, April and July. I’ll be time, we’d really appreciate it. Please looking forward to hearing from you. contact [email protected] asap. Thanks.
- David A. Krauss GBGM Division GBGM Newsletter Editor OPEN BUSINESS MEETING
GBGM Treasurer’s Report Free Lunch for the first 80 Division from J. Bret Bennington Members at the GSA Annual Meeting
Our financial activity for the previous 13 The GBGM Division Meeting will be held months ending June 30, 2004: in the Colorado Convention Center, Room Dues income: $ 4,114.18 102, 12:15-1:15pm, Tues., Nov. 9, 2004. Expenses: $ 514.94 It's time we revive the excitement that Net Income: $ 3,599.24 generated this Division! We hope to see all
of you there. The tentative agenda for our Total Net Assets: $ 4,169.90 one hour meeting is:
Winter Division Chair Meeting at GSA 1) Update on Division Progress: Updated Headquarters bylaws, Council responsibilities, financial
Division Chairs attend a meeting at GSA report, goals to increase Division assets, Headquarters in Boulder in February. future awards for students, need for GBGM Divisions are responsible for the expenses website manager. of their Chairs for attending the meeting, with the good news exception that as of 2) Vote for GBGM Second Vice-Chair for 2005, GSA HQ will provide $200 support 2004-2005. for the travel expenses of each Division Chair who attends the meeting. 3) Introduce biogeosciences.org, a new online resource for students, established GENERAL ANNOUNCEMENTS: and entering researchers, faculty, teachers, students, and the general public. Calling all Artists: We Need a Logo 4) NSF Program Manager Enriquetta Berrera will explain how the restructuring As one of the newest divisions within of EAR at NSF benefits geobiologists and GSA, we do not yet have our own division geomicrobiologists. logo. If anybody out there has an artistic flair, we would love to get your 5) Discuss organizing a Geobiology submissions for consideration. We’ll put Workshop in 2005 and a Geomicrobiology them out for our members to vote on in the Workshop in 2006. next newsletter. Please send electronic submissions to David Krauss at 6) Pass the torch to our new Division Chair [email protected] by 1/15/05. Jack Farmer - future items. Launch of BIOGEOSCIENCES.ORG information about what types of research by Jean-Pierre Gattuso biogeoscientists are presently working on. Interviews with various program managers Reprinted without permission from “The elicit the particulars of the funding process Eggs,” Issue #08, 30 June 2004. and provide insight into research funding (The Eggs is a Newsletter and Information decisions and important statistics. Service for the European Geophysical
Union: http://www.the-eggs.org. Contact:
Sarah Leibson, Biogeosciences.org Web http://www.biogeosciences.org Coordinator, [email protected],
(303) 357-1095. An innovative new Web site,
Biogeosciences.org bridging the earth and Content related suggestions or comments life sciences went online June 8th, are warmly encouraged. providing a single resource for all things related to biogeoscience. *American Geophysical Union, American
Society of Limnology and Oceanography, Biogeosciences.org is a natural home for European Geosciences Union, Ecological biogeoscience discussions, resources, and Society of America, Geochemical Society, promotion. Geological Society of America,
Mineralogical Society of America, and the The non-commercial website, supported by Soil Science Society of America. a grant from the Biogeosciences Program of the National Science Foundation, draws Pardee Symposium from several partnered professional societies* and elsewhere to present an Pre-Mesozoic Impacts: Their Effect outstanding collection of biogeoscience on Ocean Geochemistry, Magnetic resources for all levels of education and Polarity, Climate Change, and interest. The dynamic website is expected Organic Evolution to grow and change reflecting the trends in Tuesday, November 9, 8:00 am – Noon, biogeo-science and usage needs. CCC, Ballroom 4
GSA Planetary Geology Division; Basic biogeoscience links, background Paleontological Society information, and program resources are available, along with more detailed Pre-Mesozoic time accounts for most of the information on jobs, funding, and research major impacts by comets and meteorites opportunities. The new website has here on Earth. Many of these far exceeded comprehensive lists of degree and research in magnitude and resulting mass programs, applicable journals and other extinctions those at the Cretaceous-Tertiary publications, and a complete database of (K-T) boundary, and there is little question relevant conferences and meetings, that the size and number of impacts featuring special sections and associated decreased through Earth history. symposia. A discussion forum allows for the rapid dissemination of ideas and Most meetings on Impacts and Extinctions, opinions and addresses some of the most however, have been overwhelmed by talks important issues facing biogeo-science on the K-T boundary, because of the today. Another interactive feature is an popular appeal of the dinosaur extinction, image gallery where pictures are and on the record of more recent, still exchanged freely for educational purposes. highly visible craters. Pre-Mesozoic The growing collection of biogeoscientists impacts have been studied intensively is highlighted by interviews and during the past decade, but an adequate restriction permits, and an innovative forum has never existed for presentation of Tuesday evening forum, "The Role of the new data on oceanic, climatic, and Impacts on Evolution" (7:30-9:30 pm, biotic changes that they produced. CCC Room 207), to allow discussion Moreover, the record of pre-Mesozoic among speakers, poster presenters, and a cratering has been largely obscured by later general audience. tectonism and burial, and hence has been overlooked or ignored by students of UPCOMING EVENTS: younger impacts. Graduate Programs
Impact-induced glaciations in the Late Penn State now offers a unique graduate Precambrian, Late Ordovician, and Late program in Astrobiology. The degree is a Devonian probably exceeded the length of dual title Ph.D., meaning that each student Pleistocene glaciation by a whole order of has a primary program in the traditional magnitude. Some of the ancient mass sciences (astronomy, biology, biochemistry extinctions were not instantaneous but and molecular biology, chemistry, resulted from series of comet or meteorite geosciences) and an additional emphasis in showers that gradually eliminated more and astrobiology. There are specific more biota over a period of several million requirements for the dual-title Ph.D. years. There seems to be a regular pattern degree, including on-campus and field of impacts followed by changes in ocean classes and participation in the temperatures and geochemistry, global international research activities of Penn mass extinctions during sea-level falls, and State's Astrobiology Research Center, part continental glaciation during and after of the NASA Astrobiology Institute. which more extinctions occurred. Some impacts also were accompanied by Students interested in the Astrobiology geomagnetic changes and perhaps not dual-title Ph.D. program should visit the coincidentally, by plate tectonic following websites and contact Lee Kump movements. [email protected] for further information: http://www.psu.edu/bulletins/whitebook/pr Biotic radiation into unoccupied niches ograms/abiol.htm following extinctions produced many new http://psarc.geosc.psu.edu rapidly evolving forms of life. Just as in Requests for Resources the case of mammals in relation to the K-T extinction event, many survivors of older The Microbial Life Educational extinctions were relatively unimportant life Resources (MLER) project is currently forms that had just begun to evolve prior to being developed through funding from the the impacts. This raises an interesting NSF National Science Digital Library point on the survival of mankind after program. The purpose of this digital future impacts. library is to provide a contemporary and expanding resource of expert information In summary, the record of pre-Mesozoic about the ecology, diversity and evolution impacts contains much unspoken and of micro-organisms for students, K-12 unused data related to modern oceanic and teachers, university faculty, as well as for climate changes and hence requires an the general public. Thematic collections of adequate forum for its dissemination. resources and services are currently in development. The initial themes will be There will be a complementary poster directed to “Microbial life in extreme session to accommodate presenters beyond environments” and “Microbial life in the twelve that the Pardee Symposium time oceans.” (continued)
(continued) MEETING ANNOUNCEMENTS: We are soliciting contributions of resources to the MLER digital library from GSA Goldschmidt Conference Geobiology & Geomicrobiology Division TWO upcoming sessions of importance to members. The types of resources we are the GBGM Division members will be held looking for include: at the 2004 Goldschmidt Conference in Moscow, Idaho (20-25 May 2005). 1) URLs of websites related to your research and/or teaching; Deadline for abstract submission of 2) PowerPoint presentations, visualizations, abstracts to the Goldschmidt Conference is and animations; January 15, 2005. For meeting details, see: 3) Journal articles, books, reports, news http://www.the- and commentary; conference.com/2005/gold2005/index.php 4) Activities; 5) Images; "Apatite: Bridging Geology, Biology and 6) Data, tools, and data products. Materials Science," will focus on aspects that are unique, specific, or important for Please submit your resources to our apatite that is formed under the direct "Contribute a Resource" page at regulatory control of organisms (the vast
astrobiology are particularly encouraged. "Bridging the Technology Gap in
Geomicrobiology: Novel Research The symposium is organized by Sherry L. Approaches in Extreme Environments." Cady (Portland State University) and Liane The discovery of new microorganisms in G. Benning (University of Leeds). For nearly every extreme environment has led more details on the session, please email to novel geochemical, microbiological and [email protected]. genetic approaches in the characterization of microbial interactions and geomicrobial ESP2 processes. These new techniques, when used in environments that exhibit high The Earth System Processes 2 meeting is preservation potential, enhance our ability being held in Calgary next August. There'll to detect evidence of early life on Earth and be lots of good geobiology and beyond. geomicrobiology including a plenary lecture by Diane Newman. Website: Improvements in the spatial, temporal and http://www.geosociety.org/esp2/. concentration capabilities of high- resolution analytical (conventional and JOURNALS: synchrotron-based) instruments, and the The Virtual Journal of Geobiology, a free design of environmentally relevant in situ "virtual journal" provided by Elsevier and experimental systems/cells, are taking edited by Lee Kump, is available online at geomicrobiological studies to the next http://earth.elsevier.com/geobiology. level. Examples of technological advances GBGM members can register for a monthly include instruments that monitor list of geobiology articles publishedby communities in the field and those that Elsevier and selected by me, or they can mimic natural systems with increasingly visit the website above. In either case, if accurate thermal, temporal, compositional, your institution subscribes to Science and spatial scales in the laboratory. Direct you can instantly download the article; if not, you can see the abstract.
TABLE of CONTENTS
GBGM Division Chair’s Message 1 Message from the GBGM Editor 1 GBGM Treasurer’s Report 2 General Announcements 2 Upcoming Events 4 Meeting Announcements 5