Banded Iron-Formation: The Precambrian Enigma

From October 19-22, 2006 the International Workshop on Astrobiology will take place at IUB. More than 22 scientists from South-Africa, Canada, Sweden, Great Britain, Denmark and Germany will be on campus. Focus of the workshop are Banded Iron Formations (BIFs), that developed between two and four billion years ago in the precambrian era.

[ Oct 17, 2006]  The workshop aims at providing an overview on current ideas on the formation and preservation of Precambrian BIF, on the use of BIF as proxies for Precambrian seawater, on differences between Early Precambrian BIF and younger ironstones and hydrogenetic Fe(-Mn) precipitates, and on experimental set-ups to simulate BIF-related processes in Early Precambrian environments (e.g. BIF precipitation or diagenesis). The workshop program includes contributions from the fields of geochemistry, geomicrobiology and sedimentology that review the current state-of-the-art or that indicate new venues in BIF research. To underline the workshop character of the meeting, the schedule accommodates plenty of opportunity for discussion and all of Sunday will be devoted to informal meetings in groups of various size.

Here you can find the detailed program of the workshop.