Dear MSA Colleagues,

The next episode of "Every Rock Has A Story" is out!

Episode 81 https://youtu.be/2sN8u8UVu_0
"Clean Water From Clay" https://youtu.be/2sN8u8UVu_0
with Prof. Ali Salifu https://youtu.be/2sN8u8UVu_0
https://youtu.be/2sN8u8UVu_0

In this one, Engineering Professor Ali Salifu shows us how he was inspired
to discover innovative ways to use the raw materials in local communities
to make homemade water filters for clean water.  Kaolinite clay is abundant
in many parts of the world where access to clean water is a major issue.
See how Ali turns clay into filters for clean water.  We are so proud of
this episode featuring our first engineer, and featuring not one but TWO
incredible kids who introduced the rocks of the day.

Please enjoy and share!

Oh... and by the way... Every Rock Has A Story was just NOMINATED for a New
England Regional EMMY Award https://newenglandemmy.org/ in the
Children/Youth category for the second year in a row!

Ethan

[image: 81 thumbnail.jpg]

Ethan Baxter

Associate Dean for the STEM Disciplines
Professor, Earth & Environmental Sciences
Morrissey College of Arts & Sciences
Boston College

Phone: 617-552-1124
Email: ethan.baxter@bc.edu
Website: https://sites.google.com/bc.edu/ethan-baxter
Every Rock Has A Story on YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCl0Zrg9JFh5o4SPg94veh0w
Pronouns: he/him/his

Dear MSA Colleagues,

We are writing to highlight a GSA session focused on the use of chemical abrasion in geochronology, in honor of Jim Mattinson. The GSA Connects 2024 conference is being held in Anaheim, California from September 22—25, 2024. The abstract submission portal is now open and abstracts are due by June 18, 2024.

Jim made many significant contributions to U-Pb zircon geochronology, with perhaps his most significant being his development of the chemical abrasion (CA-TIMS) method, which is now routinely applied in labs around the world. Jim passed away in September, 2022, and we hope this session will honor his many achievements.

We encourage a broad range of submissions sharing results, perspectives, and advances in utilizing the chemical abrasion method.

Please find the session description below.

Sincerely,
Matt Rioux (UCSB), Bill McClelland (University of Iowa), and Mike Eddy (Purdue)

T38. New Advances and Applications of CA-TIMS U/Pb Geochronology and CA Method in the Earth Sciences: A Session in Honor of James Mattinson.

The CA-TIMS method has been used over the past two decades to provide high resolution dating across a wide range of Earth events and processes. Introduced in 2000 and fully presented to the science community in 2005 by Jim Mattinson, the method provides a powerful tool to address Pb-loss in zircon, significantly increasing the accuracy and precision of ID-TIMS dating. Application of CA-TIMS immediately propelled major advances in chronostratigraphy and time scale calibration, more precisely constrained the rates of evolution, and provided detailed insight into the timing and rates of magmatic and metamorphic processes. Coupled LA-ICP-MS and CA-TIMS dating has now also been widely applied to constrain depositional ages for sedimentary units. High precision CA-TIMS zircon geochronology has also been used to evaluate and calibrate other dating techniques and chemical abrasion is being exported both to ID-TIMS dating of other mineral systems and beyond the TIMS method. Ongoing research seeks to better understand how the chemical abrasion technique works and explore ways in which it may be improved. We seek to bring together a broad consortium of Earth Scientists to share results, perspectives, and advances in utilizing the CA-TIMS method and to honor Jim Mattinson’s life and career.