Dear Colleagues,

We are sending below the announcement of a workshop on Boron Isotopes:
Reference Materials and Intercalibration of Measurements, to be held in
Copenhagen on 4 June 2004, 30:00-16:30, within the framework of the
Goldschmidt Geochemical Confererence (5-11 JUne 2004). The workshop
announcement can also be found in the Conference web site.

Those who are willing to attend the workshop - please note that it will be
held the day before the Conference starts - are kindky requested to inform
us in due time.

As you know, we intend to held preparatory discussions via e-mail in order
to have an efficient workshop and an useful outcome. Those who like to take
part in the discussions are most welcome.

Roberto Gonfiantini  - [log in to unmask]
Sonia Tonarini - [log in to unmask]
MIchael Wiedenbeck - [log in to unmask]
Manfred Groening - [log in to unmask]

_______________________________________________________________


Meeting to be held within the frame of the Goldschmidt Conference

Boron Isotopes:
Reference Materials and Intercalibration of Measurements

Conveners:
Roberto Gonfiantini & Sonia Tonarini, Istituto di Geoscienze e Georisorse,
CNR, Pisa, Italy
Michael Wiedenbeck, GeoForschungZentrum Potsdam, Germany
Manfred Groening, International Atomic Energy Agency, Vienna, Austria

                   Copenhagen, Friday, 4 June 2004, 13:00 16:30

             Boron provides a unique window on geochemical fluxes which
span from Earths surface to magmatic environments. However, access to the
wealth of information recorded by boron is often clouded by the analytical
challenges posed by this element. Laboratory measurements of boron isotopic
compositions are plagued by two practical problems: boron is prone to
extreme fractionation in the laboratory during chemical analysis and there
is a severe paucity of well characterized reference materials for both
calibration and quality control purposes. A 2002-2003 intercomparison study
involving many of the leading boron geochemical laboratories demonstrated
that lab-internal precision values often provide a much more optimistic
portrayal of the technique than is seen by the inter-lab repeatability
results.  This workshop will address the analytical pitfalls in boron
analysis (both wet chemical and in situ) and will provide an open
discussion of the priorities for future reference material development.
This gathering represents the logical next step in harmonizing boron
isotopic measurement, with the ultimate goal of bringing the inter-lab
discrepancies to within the precision of the single measurement.