A Conference on "Low-18O Rhyolites and Crustal Melting: Growth and Redistribution of the Continental Crust"

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This award will support the attendance of several early-career participants in the GSA Penrose conference entitled "Low delta 18O rhyolites and crustal melting: Growth and redistribution of the continental crust". Low delta 18O rhyolites are important because, as oxygen generally makes up about 50 mole percent of igneous rocks, it has long been noted that only significant processes that operate during the genesis and evolution of magmas can act to produce these anomalous delta 18O values. Therefore, the study of these magmas equates to a study of fundamental continental processes and provides insight on the growth and redistribution of mass within the crust itself.This workshop addresses a timely topic and has been selected to be sponsored by the Geological Society of America for the Fall of 2009. This award will help offset the expenses for the participation of graduate students and post-doctoral fellows who would not otherwise be able to attend this conference. The leaders of the conference have convened a broad spectrum of international researchers who have scientific interests that bear on the understanding of these unique probes of the continental crust, and who have contributed to the study of rhyolite magma formation and continental crustal evolution. Because of the preeminence of Snake River Plain/Yellowstone magmas in modern low delta 18O rhyolite research, the conference will take place close to this field area. Approximately 20 percent of the conference slots will be open for students and post-doctoral fellows not only from the United States but also from abroad. This award will support at least 20 of them.