21st Annual V. M. Goldschmidt Conference, Prague, Czech Republic

This year, the 21^st Annual V. M. Goldschmidt Conference was held at Prague, Czech Republic from 14^th to 19^th August. The Goldschmidt Conference_TM is the premiere international conference on geochemistry (http://www.goldschmidt 2011.org/). This conference was organized and sponsored by The European Association of Geochemistry and The Geochemical Society (USA). This year the main theme of the conference was ‘Earth, Life and Fire’ under which there were 23 sub-themes in the conference. The different subjects that were covered under these themes include Cosmochemistry-Planet Formation, Primitive Earth: From Core to Atmosphere, Evolution and Dynamics of the Deep Earth, Mantle to Crust: Ocean Ridge and Intraplate Volcanism, Continental Crust Formation and Evolution, Recycling: Subduction, The Mantle Wedge and Arc Volcanism, Earth Resources: Energy, Earth’s Resources: Ores etc. There were 175 numbers of Sessions under the various themes in the conference. A total of 3800 abstracts were submitted in the conference by participants of more than hundred countries across the globe. There was an additional special plenary session focusing on the Fukushima accident (Japan) and its geochemical consequences. The plenary presentations in the conference were given by Samuel Mukasa (‘Volatiles in the Mantle: Impact on Intraplate Magmatism), Marc Hirchmann (‘Deep Earth Volatile Cycles: From Ancient to Modern’), Edouard Bard (‘Geochemical Profiles to Study the Last Deglaciation and its impact on Rivers’), Frank Selsis (‘Exoplanet Atmospheres: From Hot to Habitable Worlds’) and Victoria Orphan (‘Microbial Partnerships and Methene-Oxidation in the Deep Sea’).