Travel Support for the 6th Orogenic Lherzolites Conference

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This award will provide partial support for the travel and associated expenses of graduate students and post doctoral scientists to attend the 6th Orogenic Lherzolite Conference in Marrakech, Morocco, May 4-15, 2014. The Orogenic Lherzolite Conferences are held at widely spaced intervals to bring together the international scientific community interested in studies of the Earth's upper mantle, as exposed in alpine Orogenic belts, ophiolites, continental margins, and the sea floor. In these conference, international scientists present new research relating to shallow mantle evolution, magma genesis, and the role of peridotites and serpentinites in different tectonic environments. The overall objective of this upcoming meeting will be to assemble specialists in studies of peridotite massifs and upper mantle processes for a field conference to share recent results and discuss key outcrops in a group setting. Many geochemists, petrologists and geophysicists primarily situated in laboratories or using remote sensing, particularly marine scientists, have little opportunity to examine the record of mantle processes visible in the field as exposed in rock outcrops. In past conferences of this nature, there has been a focus on providing all participating scientists with the opportunity to visit classic field outcrops, which is a particularly valuable education experience for students and post-docs at the early stage of their careers. The Beni Bousera orogenic lherzolite is one such classic mantle locality, where processes of mantle melting were first identified and studied in a sub-continental or continental margin setting.This award will benefit early career scientists to participate in the major international meeting that is exclusively focused on research and field observation of upper mantle composition and processes. Their participation will enable them the tools to advance their careers both through examining mantle outcrops and processes in-situ, and through interaction with a large group of international experts that is only infrequently assembled. This meeting also serves as an introduction for students and post-docs to allow them to network with each other as a cohort and also with others from the international scientific community working on these research questions. It is expected that these personal interactions will lead to valuable research collaborations for the next generation of scientists.