Activities, Events, and Developments

The final lecture of the Monday will be given by Rouwen Lehné and focus upon what we can learn from sea floor studies past and present around Iceland. Day 2 begins with a focus upon hydrothermal vents. These ‘hot springs’ form on the ocean floor at locations where seawater meets magma. They have rich and diverse chemistries and are home to unusual organisms, often seen nowhere else on our planet. Valérie Chavagnac will speak first (via Zoom) about the geological aspects, before Daphne Cuvelier focusses our attention upon the unusual biodiversity of these vents.

After an interlude for more practical ideas, we shall discover what can be revealed about of our understanding of the mid-ocean ridge system when it makes a rare appearance above ground, with Georges Ceuleneer from CNRS in Toulouse taking us to Oman in the Middle East. It is then the turn of Jean-Marc Lardeaux from the University Cote d’Azur to take us higher and explore orogenesis (the process of mountain building that occurs when two tectonic plates collide).

Our final day focuses a little more on tectonics beginning with a look at subduction zones in the company of João C. Duarte from the University of Lisbon in Portugal. We will then welcome a second online presentation, with Mathilde Cannat joining us from the Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris to discuss the formation of oceanic crust and the tectonic and magmatic diversity of mid-ocean ridges.

GIFT 2025 will close with two presentations focused upon different aspects of minerology of the sea floor. Sabina Palinkas will bring us insights from the Arctic Ocean and discuss sulfide mineralization along ultraslow spreading ridges before Clifford Patten closes our workshop with a reminder of what is buried below the sea floor, a buried treasure perhaps!

Following a tradition in the GIFT workshops, the presentations will be intermixed with practical hands-on activities and sharing of online tools and resources ably demonstrated by András Zlinszky and Faustine Gendron, members of the EC and our team of Geosciences Education Field Officers (GEFO).

And, of course, we will have presentations of 47 posters by those of you who wish to present to a wider group under the theme ‘Discovering the oceans and sea floor in class.’ This poster session is a great Networking and sharing opportunity and it’s likely we will be joined by various scientists, participating in the General Assembly, who have an interest in education.

Like every year, and prior to the workshop, GIFT participants are most welcome on a guided tour of the Vienna Museum of Natural History this year given by Mathias Harzhauser, Oleg Mandic and Anna Weinmann beginning at 16:00 hrs. on Sunday afternoon (at the NHM).