Conference Agenda

The CTC-Trail (“Coast-to-Carpathians”) is a conceptual educational geo-trail that is being created to guide visitors through a transect from the southern parts of the western Black Sea area grasslands through the steppe regions of Dobrogea and eastern Walachia to the young volcanoes of the Carpathian Mountains, highlighting aspects of natural and cultural importance along this route. The journey also spans an arc from dry and hot steppe landscapes shaped by exogenic processes to ones formed by active endogenic forces under temperate climate. At the land-sea-contact the focus lies beside climate on the dynamic development of the Black Sea coast, the loess-palaeosol sequences that build up the cliffs and the reciprocal effects of land use and tourism. After crossing southern Dobrogea and the wide valley of the lower Danube, a further significant station is the endorheic basin at Balta Alba (white lake) focusing on the endogenic and exogenic conditions for the formation of alkaline lakes, the accretion of aeolian dust and the distinct features of the steppe flora and fauna. Lastly, in the Carpathians, past and present effects of endogenic forces, highlighting the ongoing orogenesis, can be found at the site of mud volcanoes, active salt diapirism and finally the Ciomadul volcanic complex with its fumaroles and solfataras which are also important locations as natural reserves and touristic destinations. By raising interest and awareness for the history and the dynamic development of the Romanian landscapes, the geo-trail also tries to add to the available forms of sustainable tourism.

Attracting young students with high capabilities to a tertiary education in geosciences is of paramount importance for the future progress of Earth sciences and constitutes a central goal in geo-education. A set of six thematic ‘school-lab days’ has been developed aiming at senior high school students aged 14 to 18, preferably with a background of advanced courses in natural sciences, mathematics or informatics. Lab days were available in German and English, with up to 2.000 attendees per year. Student groups came from all over Germany and several European countries, as well as from South East Asia. Bookable as single day courses with extension on request or as an ensemble, the lab days were each designed to combine classroom with hands-on outdoor field experience. Carried out at the GeoLab premises of the GFZ on Telegraphenberg in Potsdam they were led by scientists with the help of university student assistants, using original instruments and materials, original software and satellite data, as well as data from worldwide terrestrial observatory networks. Standard day curriculum started with an overview over specific science history chapters and the main characteristics of focused thematic and disciplinary fields. This was followed by examples of the practical applications including their societal impacts, an introduction to the instrumentation and the use in the field plus the data management. Profiles of the six thematic lab days included the principles of seismology and geodynamics. Plate tectonics were first explained, together with the methods of determining energy and focal processes of large earthquakes. As an active seismic experiment, hammer seismic imaging was introduced. The perception of the Geographical Information System as a computer based compositum of hardware, software and digital information initiated the entry into systems which allow us to capture and record, administrate and analyse the information. After an exciting geocaching experience outside in the woods, participants could take home a large number of new references and web links leading to the most valuable freely accessible geodata resources. Magnetic field of the Earth: the different components of the global magnetic field and their dynamic influence form the core of this lab day. The nature of the gravity field of the Earth, its components and the processes leading to the changes have a strong influence on our daily life. After classical indoor experiments different types of modern instrumentation from field gravimeters to observatory superconducting gravimeters were introduced and compared with satellite mounted gravimeters. Geodata Brandenburg: Geological mapping with aerophotographs, remote sensing and underground data processing plus the GNSS assisted search for a hidden virtual gold deposit outside. As a complement, the geological history and geography of Germany and Central Europe was presented, bringing a general introduction to geology and its methods.

The online platform www.forschungsboerse.de was launched in 2010 by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research as part of the “Science Year” as an instrument for science communication and knowledge transfer. The platform connects schools of all types with scientists from academia crossing all research fields to promote direct and personal exchange between students and scientists nationwide. The personal encounters between researchers and schoolchildren aim to create a better understanding of scientific questions, methods and goals of research, to promote “scientific literacy” and to demonstrate potential career paths in science. Currently, the online platform arranges about one school-scientist contact per day and over 1,000 scientists are participating on a voluntary basis.

For the researchers, interacting with school children strengthens their communication skills and promotes the mission of science as a social task. For the inviting teachers, the expert’s presentations and hands-on demonstrations support and enrich teaching of their respective subject content. Above all, the students benefit from the direct interaction with active research scientists, and as a result, over 30,000 students have already welcomed a scientist to their classrooms thanks to the Forschungsbörse.

In this contribution we introduce the Forschungsbörse to the geoscience community and use one lecture (on seamounts), conducted for ninth-graders at a rural comprehensive school in 2019, as a case example. That lecture was evaluated by the 29 participating students by using standardized questionnaires.

As an important component of natural science education, popular palaeontology education developed rapidly worldwide. Traditional offline public lectures, guide tours and peripheral products represent the main implementations. With the appearance of new technologies in recent years, new interactive teaching methods have emerged. Especially since the outbreak of COVID-19 at the end of 2019, traditional offline methods are temporarily shut down in China. Digital media technology-based new interactive online methods have started to play an irreplaceable role. Our team seized this opportunity and made efforts in the following aspects:

(1) Online interactive teaching

Based on advanced digital media platforms, online teaching became more convenient and attractive for both teacher and students (pupils). The teaching process included communication, discussion and partial entertainment, which greatly enhanced learning enthusiasm.

(2) Virtual museum visits

After scanning of the museum collection, based on virtual reality (VR) and 3D-image technology, we developed an online system to make virtual museum visits come true.

(3) Interactive peripheral products

The peripheral products (e.g. toys and models), which applied virtual reality (VR), 3D image and artificial intelligence (AI) technology, could be supportive objects for online teaching associated with the proper mobile device and mobile app. To a certain extent, it solves the disadvantage of not being able to touch the real fossil specimens during the learning process.

In the past half year, the new techniques based online activities have become our work focus for the first time. We are happy and satisfied with the achievements so far and confident about futures plans. Soon, when conditions permit, we will coordinate online and offline activities. We believe popular palaeontology education will have a brilliant development and wish to keep healthy communication with colleagues all over the world.

The Barberton Greenstone Belt (BGB) and its vicinity feature prominently in the debate about Archean tectonic processes because this geologic region is of substantial size, structurally coherent, well exposed and well investigated. It has thus the potential to provide a detailed geological record and general insights in the transition from pre-plate-tectonics to the current tectonic regime and the mode(s) of continent formation; both processes are unique to Earth. A variety of actualistic and non-actualistic, in part contradictory tectonic settings and processes, including gravitational collapse, terrane accretion, foreland basin shortening, continental rifting, doubly-vergent subduction and partial convective overturn, have been proposed. We compare these models and their regional 3-D predictions, also adding substantial own field observations.

We conclude that none of the models can account for all of the major structural features of the BGB nor can they adequately explain the heterogeneous deformation within the greenstone belt. However, the partial convective overturn model, despite some weaknesses and oversimplifications, appears to be suited best to explain best the geometry, orientation and role of the dominating structural element of the BGB, the Onverwacht Anticline (OA). The gravitationally induced sinking of dense (ultra-)mafic greenstones into a hot and buoyant felsic lithosphere was accompanied by the tight folding of >10 km thick limbs and rotation of the fold axis into the vertical. The unusual deformation style of adjacent regions may largely be a consequence of spatial adjustments to the rise of the OA. In comparison to this large-scale vertical redistribution of mass by several tens of km, greenstone-belt-wide (sub-)horizontal displacements appear to have played a subordinate role, except along the regionally highly strained southern BGB margin in Eswatini.

Abstract: The Buck Reef Chert (BRC) forms the boundary between the Hooggenoeg and Kromberg formations of the Barberton Greenstone Belt (S. Africa). The BRC sequence is characterized by the alternation between black, white, black & white, iron-rich and greenish grey cherts. The 900m BARB3 drill core of the Barberton Drilling Project provides an unique opportunity to study parts of the BRC that are weathered up to a depth of 30 meters at the surface. Here we present new trace-element data from 60 micro-drilled samples from the quarters of the BARB3 drill core. The Al₂O₃ content of the samples varies between 0.00 and 19.01 wt. %. The PAAS normalised REE patterns are variable: (La/Yb)_N=0.14 - 39, Ce/Ce*(0.5 – 6.0), Eu/Eu* (1.0-7.0) and Y/Ho (0.0 – 8.5) anomalies. The REE data suggest mixing between seawater and a hydrothermal source. Three end-members characterize the cherts of the BARB3 core based on Cr/Th, Ni/Th and Ba/Th systematics: 1) terrigenous, 2) komatiite and 3) hydrothermal. The terrigenous sediment component is predominantly found in the black cherts and the white cherts contain more of the komatiite end-member. The alternating Black & White cherts have the lowest input of terrigenous material and are deposited from hydrothermal fluids.

Sulfate minerals are rare in the geological record prior to 2.2 Ga. This is consistent with prevalent anoxic conditions in the Earth’s surface environment prior to the great oxidation event, and correspondingly low levels of sulfate in the Archean ocean. In contrast to this general scarcity, extensive barite (BaSO4) deposits are found in sedimentary rocks of Paleoarchean age from 3.4 to 3.2 Ga. The origin of these barite minerals and barite-rich rocks has remained controversial to date. The sulfate in the barite was derived from volcanic aerosols as shown by multiple S isotope signatures distinctive for atmospheric photolysis [1]. This is thought to have mixed with hydrothermally-sourced barium to create primary seafloor precipitates [2]. The origin of the barite is important since it is a potential archive of variations in seawater chemistry.

Here we explore the chemistry and mineralogy of barite deposits from the 3.2 Ga Mapepe Formation of the Barberton Greenstone Belt. Barite occurs here in close association with chert in the remnants of hydrothermal spring systems, and in a range of crystalline forms from bladed to granular [2]. Many beds of barite are reworked and contain detrital chromite, pyrite and Fe, Ti oxide phases. We used electron microprobe and Laser ablation ICP-MS analysis to determine the major and trace element composition of major lithologies in the spring systems. We used a range of trace element and stable isotope data to model the relative contributions of seawater and hydrothermal fluid required for barite deposition. Our results show that, depending upon the chosen mineral and lithological association, it is possible to obtain estimates of seawater composition for some elements and radiogenic or stable isotope systems.

[1] Roerdink, D.L., Mason, P.R.D., Farquhar, J., Reimer, T. 2012. Multiple sulfur isotopes in Paleoarchean barites identify an important role for microbial sulfate reduction in the early marine environment. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 331-332, 177-186.

[2] Lowe D.R, Drabon, N., Byerly, G.R., 2019. Crustal fracturing, unconformities, and barite deposition, 3.26–3.23 Ga, Barberton Greenstone Belt, South Africa. Precambrian Research, 327, 34-46.

The Moodies Group is classically described as a synorogenic sequence of quartz-rich sandstone, conglomerate, fine-grained sediments with subordinate ferruginous sediments and volcanic components. A prominent basaltic lava (MdL) approx. mid-section marks BGB-wide changes in facies trends, tectonic regime, and sandstone petrographic composition. This unit is the surface expression of the large Moodies Igneous Complex (MIC) which, aside from the basaltic lava and associated tuffs, also consists of plutonic sills (e.g., Lomati River Intrusive, LRI) and a subvolcanic stockwork complex. The interaction of this (sub)volcanic component with the coastal sedimentary setting has not been studied to-date. The stockwork, which likely acted as feeders to MdL, includes at least one diatreme, surrounded by tidal bars. Numerous widespread outcrops show peperitic textures that suggest that hydrothermal activity affected the alluvial, fluvial, deltaic and tidal environments.

Microbial mats, best preserved in the Saddleback Syncline of the central BGB and thought to be restricted to coastal environments, also exist in other environments, all of which appear related to volcanic activity. Preservation potential appears to have been best near the LRI.

Continued geochemical and geological research will resolve the complex near-contemporaneous, close spatial association of magmatism, sedimentation, deformation, and hydrothermal alteration in the Moodies Group. This, in turn, will allow us to better constrain the paleoenvironmental setting of the microbial mats. We speculate that the elevated temperatures and ready the supply of nutrients, combined with the estuarine setting of the middle Moodies Group, provided an ideal laboratory for the evolution and preservation of surface-adapted microbiological life forms.