Field Course Estonia 25.06-01.07.2018

As a continuation of series of short graduate courses-workshops dedicated to Early Earth and the co-evolution of Earth and Life the University of Tartu and Tallinn University of Technology are organizing a graduate summer school focusing on carbonate sedimentary systems in 25^th of June to 1^st of July 2018, Estonia

Carbonate sediments form in dynamic interplay between lithosphere-atmosphere-hydrosphere (and biosphere) and their chemical and isotopic composition has been widely used to reconstruct chemical, biological, and climatic history of the Earth. Carbonate sediments represent, thus, an utmost archive of past and recent environments recording even minute changes chemical and isotopic biogeochemical cycles. Recent developments in trace element and stable isotope analysis have provided new tools to look into both traditional and untraditional isotopic systems, however, much is still to be decrypted from large-scale carbonate sedimentary systems and the rock structures-textures.

This summer school aims to

• give participants an overview of carbonate depositional systems changing through the time.
• highlight the importance of carbonate sediments and their composition as reflecting the seawater-atmosphere-biosphere coevolution during the pivotal global changes in Earth History
• introduce new analytical capabilities and interpretation of trace element and non-traditional stable isotopic systems in carbonate research
• give participants a short field training in carbonate sedimentology and petrography

The target group of the course are students and early career scientists in the field of geosciences but also marine and/or freshwater ecology.

The summer school programme contains the following items:

• Lectures by internationally leading scientists about fields of research in carbonate sediments spanning from carbonate sedimentology, traditional carbon-oxygen stable isotope systems and non-traditional stable isotopes as Ca, Mg and K, also carbonate associated sulfur as proxy for seawater sulfate evolution.
• Presentations of current research projects by participants and discussions and feedback on them.
• Field training in carbonate sedimentology using natural outcrops, quarries and drillcore examples