Themes and Sessions

01a: Solar System Material – Sources and Composition
Convenors: Nicolas Dauphas, Laurent Remusat, Henner Busemann
Keynote: Kevin D. McKeegan (UCLA)
Orals: Mon AM, Mon PM
Posters: Thu PM
The study of meteorites, interplanetary dust particles, and samples returned by the Genesis and Stardust spacecrafts in the past several years has tremendously improved our understanding of the formation of the solar system. This progress was made feasible in part by developments in mass spectrometry and imaging techniques. Important questions related to the formation of the Sun can now be investigated with unprecedented power. What is the composition of the Sun? Did a supernova explosion or passing AGB-star trigger the collapse of the molecular cloud core that made our solar system? How did stellar nucleosynthesis control cosmic abundances? How did organic material form and get mixed with refractory inclusions in meteorites? The aim of this multidisciplinary session is to discuss the initial conditions of the solar system. We welcome contributions from all fields relevant to this theme, including observations and modeling of young stellar objects as well as laboratory studies of presolar grains, organic matter, solar wind and cometary material.
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01b: From Dust to Planetesimals – Solar System Processes and their Timescales
Convenors: Qin-Zhu Yin, Brigitte Zanda
Keynote: Fred Ciesla (University of Chicago)
Orals: Thu AM, Thu PM
Posters: Tue PM
The earliest stage of planet formation, from dust to planetesimals (known as Stage I in the standard model) remains poorly understood. Planetesimal formation is difficult to constrain. The physics of grain growth in the solar nebula from micron-sized particles to kilometer-sized bodies is not well understood. Condensation, evaporation, and melting processes that generated refractory inclusions and chondrules may all be associated with physical changes that marked the initiation of grain growth. Chondrites, as the host of these components and the most pristine meteorites of our solar system, must have witnessed the initiation of planet formation and contain clues to their volatile element depletion and metal/silicate fractionation. These samples allow us to view inside our own protoplanetary disk from 4567 up to ~4562 Ma ago and study these processes in the laboratory in detail. However, this wealth of information must be placed in a broader context. The session invites contributions from a theoretical perspective, as well as observations from protoplanetary disks (e.g. Spitzer) and meteoritics. We encourage interdisciplinary dialog between isotope cosmochemistry, meteoritics, astrophysics, and observational astronomy of star and planet formation.
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01c: From Planetesimals to Planets: Impacts, Growth and Differentiation
Convenors: Maria Schönbächler, Mark Rehkamper
Keynote: David O'Brien (Planetary Science Insitute, Tucson)
Orals: Wed AM, Thu AM
Posters: Tue PM
For this session, we seek contributions that provide new insights into the formation and early differentiation of planets and asteroids as well as their modification by impact processes. Contributions from diverse fields are welcome, as we wish to foster a discussion between scientists that use stable or radiogenic isotope systems, trace element data or partitioning experiments to study the formation and evolution of planets with those that employ dynamical simulations, thermal modeling or astronomical observations.
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01d: Planetary Geochemistry
Convenors: Jutta Zipfel, Larry Nittler
Keynote: Jeff Taylor (University of Hawaii)
Orals: Tue AM
Posters: Thu PM
Our knowledge about terrestrial planets, moons and large asteroids is mainly shaped by the study of meteorites and space missions. Recent orbital and lander missions to Mars and the Messenger flyby of Mercury are improving our knowledge about the surface compositions of these planets. While meteorites mostly provide data for the interior of planetary bodies, mission data focus on their surfaces. Geochemical and petrological studies of both are needed in order to constrain the full extent of the origin and chemical evolution of a planetary body, such as Mars. This session is devoted to studies that give evidence for I) bulk planetary properties II) surface composition, and the chemical evolution of terrestrial planets and moons with a major focus on Mars.
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01e: Lunar Geochemistry and Chronology: A Sample and Remote Sensing Data Perspective
Convenors: Vera Assis Fernandes, Amy Gaffney, Katie Joy
Keynote: Tomoko Arai (Chiba Institute of Technology)
Orals: Tue AM, Tue PM
Posters: Thu PM
Lunar geochemistry and chronology have been revitalized in recent years by Clementine, Lunar Prospector and SMART-1 missions, the current Kaguya and Chang'e-1, and future (Chandrayaan-1 and LRO) global data obtained from orbit; samples that represent previously unsampled/uninvestigated compositional domains (e.g. meteorites); and new and improved analytical techniques that allow analyses of the smaller Apollo and Luna Samples. The aim of this session is to further explore the synergies between the different data sets for the evolving understanding of the formation and early differentiation of the Moon, lunar mantle and crust evolution, and lunar (and Earth) impact history.
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01f: Current and Future Life Detection Missions in the Solar System
Convenors: Zita Martins, Mark A. Sephton
Keynote: Pascale Ehrenfreund (Space Policy Institute)
Orals: Fri AM
Posters: Tue PM
The Phoenix mission successfully landed on Mars on May 2008 and since then it is investigating the habitability potential of the Martian ice-rich soil. Although Phoenix is not searching for life, it is able to determine whether Mars could have supported microbial life. Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) will be NASA's next rover mission to the Red planet. It will analyze the Martian soil for organic compounds essential for life, with the goal of identifying habitable environments. Following in the footsteps of the Viking landers, the future ESA’s ExoMars mission will look directly for signs of life. However, prior to this it is necessary to identify geologically suitable Martian regions where it can be demonstrated that liquid water existed or still exists, and where organic compounds remnants of life may be preserved over long periods of time. In this session we invite contributions on the detection of extant and extinct life in planetary bodies of our Solar System. In particular, we welcome papers that discuss detection methods of biosignatures, as well as the latest mission instrumentation designed for in-situ life detection.
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01g: Siderophile and Chalcophile Elements: From Chondrites to Planetary Processes
Convenors: Olivier Alard, Anders Meibom, Astrid Holzheid
Keynote: Alex CORGNE (IMPMC, Université Pierre et Marie CURIE, Paris)
Orals: Fri AM, Fri PM
Posters: Tue PM
The physical and geochemical properties and isotopic systems of siderophile and chalcophile elements offer great potential for investigating processes in the solar nebula as well as the evolution of asteroids and planets. These include, for example, the identification of presolar isotopic anomalies, nebula condensation, planetary-planetoids differentiation (timescales of core segregation, mantle melting and crust formation) and the distribution and destruction of geochemical heterogeneity in the Earth’s mantle. In an effort to bring together cosmochemists, geochemists and experimental petrologists, we broadly invite contributions that utilizes the siderophile and calcophile elements to address these and related problems. This session aims to be transversal to theme 1, 2, 3 and 4.
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02a: Building Habitable Planets
Convenors: Charles Lineweaver, Dimitar Sasalov, Stephen Mojzsis, Cin-Ty Lee, Nader Haghighipour, Lisa Kaltenegger
Keynotes: Geoff Blake (California Institute of Technology) , Diana Valencia (Observatoire de la Cote d'Azur)
Orals: Wed AM
Posters: Mon AM
This session is planned to address such questions as: How does varying mass and composition of ‘terrestrial’ planets affect their habitability? How much planetary resurfacing is required to maintain the chemical disequilibrium that life needs? What is the mode of resurfacing of super Earths? Are stagnant lids incompatible with life?
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03c: Deep Volatile Cycles in Terrestrial Planets
Convenors: Marc Hirschmann, Bernard Marty
Keynotes: Hans Keppler (University of Bayreuth) , Manuel Moreira (Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris)
Orals: Fri PM
Posters: Thu PM
The storage of volatile elements in deep planetary reservoirs and the cycling between these reservoirs and the surface is central to understanding the formation and evolution of terrestrial planets. The storage of these elements has a considerable effect on the physical properties of planetary interiors and transfers of these elements between deep and surface reservoirs exert strong control on environmental conditions of terrestrial planets, such as pressure, temperature, and the occurrence of liquid water. This session welcomes all contributions that address the origins, fluxes, and processes affecting storage and transfer in deep planetary interiors of elements that are or were once volatile at planetary surface conditions.
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