Dear Colleagues, We invite you to submit an abstract to our session on "Biomineralization and Geobiology: The intersection between life and minerals" in Theme 09: Biogeochemical Cycles and Their Signatures at the Goldschmidt meeting in Chicago (Aug 18-23). Abstracts are due March 29. https://conf.goldschmidt.info/goldschmidt/2024/meetingapp.cgi/Session/6330 Biomineralization and Geobiology: The intersection between life and minerals<https://conf.goldschmidt.info/goldschmidt/2024/meetingapp.cgi/Session/6330> Biomineralization and Geobiology: The intersection between life and minerals Since the dawn of life, biological processes and minerals have been inextricably linked and have shaped the story of Earth’s surface. Biominerals, defined as minerals that would otherwise not occur without biological processes at play, serve as skeletons and shells for living organisms, reservoirs of nutrients and elements critical to geochemical cycles, inspiration for materials science, agents for fossilization, and even as hosts for paleoenvironmental proxies. Their importance spans the tree of life across modern and deep time. This session seeks to bring together biomineralogists, biogeochemists, and geobiologists working an array of topics that speak to this interdisciplinary field, including researchers presenting advances in analytical tools to characterize organic-mineral assemblages, interpretations of biomineral-based proxies, biomineral formation mechanisms, characterization of the diversity and abundance of microorganis conf.goldschmidt.info In the last US-based meeting in Hawaii, we had a fantastic session with participants that spanned the world of biominerals and geobiology (with Prof. Cara Santelli as our keynote speaker). In Chicago, we hope to repeat this experience and learn about the directions of community over the past couple of years. We urge you to invite your students, postdocs, and colleagues to submit abstracts. We will announce our keynote speaker at a later date. Sincerely, Gabriela, Yihang Fang, Karim Benzerara, & Neha Mehta Gabriela A. Farfan, Ph.D. Coralyn Whitney Curator of Gems and Minerals SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, NMNH