*Apologies for multiple cross postings* Dear colleagues of alkaline rock and carbonatite research, We would like to draw your attention to our session on alkaline rocks and carbonatites at the GeoKarlsruhe 2021, which will take place as a virtual conference from 19 to 23 September. This online event will allow all interested persons to participate in the GeoKarlsruhe regardless of their country's situation and travel restrictions related to the covid pandemic. We invite you to submit your abstract to the following session (abstract submission is open now): Theme: Magmatic and Metamorphic Systems Session 2.2: Alkaline rocks and carbonatites Conveners: Michael A.W. Marks (University of Tübingen, Germany) Benjamin F. Walter (Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Germany) R. Johannes Giebel (Technical University of Berlin, Germany) We are looking forward to an exciting keynote speech from one of the most reputable experimental petrologists in the field of carbonatites and alkaline rocks. Keynote speaker: Michael Anenburg (Australian National University) Keynote topic: Experimental studies of REE mineralisation in carbonatites Session Description: This session thematizes the formation, evolution and economic importance of carbonatites and alkaline rocks. These play an important role for our society, as they contain exceptional high levels of critical raw materials, such as REE, Nb, P and F, to name a few. However, to understand how such deposits form, we need to understand how their rocks and mineral assemblages formed in space and time.Although our knowledge about the formation and mineralization as well as the magmatic and post-magmatic modification of carbonatites and alkaline rocks strongly improved over the last decades and the extraction of related raw materials could be steadily refined, there are still many open questions that need to be addressed. We encourage participants to submit and present their studies relating to carbonatites and alkaline rocks in this sub-session and to discuss and network their research. The scope of this session covers the formation, the ascent and the emplacement, but also the mineralization, differentiation and alteration of these unique rocks as well as their exploration, exploitation and processing. Experiments and numerical calculations are as welcome as field work studies and analytical investigations. The abstracts submission's deadline is 10 May 2021 (23:59 CET). https://www.geokarlsruhe2021.de/#callforabstracts If you are not yet registered, use the link provided, create an account and submit a contribution. We hope to see you online and look forward to your contributions! Please, feel free to spread the word and share this information to other potentially interested colleagues. With our best wishes, Michael Marks, Ben Walter and Hannes Giebel ______________________ Dr. R. Johannes Giebel Technical University of Berlin Mineralogical Collection and Museum Department of Applied Geochemistry Institute of Applied Geosciences Sekr. BH 1 / BH 9-3 Ernst-Reuter-Platz 1 / BH-N 908 D-10587 Berlin, Germany Phone: +49 (0)30 - 314 22254 E-Mail: R.J.Giebel@tu-berlin.de<mailto:R.J.Giebel@tu-berlin.de>​​