Well.....Let me welcome you to the Stable Isotope Geochemistry discussion list!!

The list is now almost 3 days 'old' and I've been quite surprised by the
response to the list announcement. Over 70 people subscribed within the
first 24 hours and the list is still growing (we are more then 100 now).
Nothing compared to a GIS discussion list, but still.....

---- A few words about myself (the list-owner)----

I am a geologist who just moved to the US from Switzerland 2 months ago.
I've spent the last 5 years in the Stable Isotope Laboratory of the
Geological Institute at the ETH-Zurich (Judy McKenzie and Stefano
Bernasconi) where I've been working predominantly with C & O isotopes in
Mesozoic pelagic carbonates. Scope of these studies, performed under the
supervision of Helmut Weissert, was to establish an Early Cretaceous
carbonate carbon isotope stratigraphy and contribute to the understanding
of the paleoenvironmental significance of the major long-term fluctuations
which characterize the Cretaceous carbon isotope record. More recently, I
started working with C and H isotopes in organic materials and O & H in
surface waters.
Here at UVM I'm in charge of the Environmental Stable Isotope Laboratory at
the Department of Geology. The lab is currently equipped with a VG SIRA II
mass-spec. My present research foci at UVM include the use of stable
isotopes in hydrologic flow-path studies and lacustrine food-web structure
analysis (cycling of C, N and S within the lower trophic levels).

---- A few words about mail-list dynamics (or.. how I would like this list
to work)----

Imagine the mail-list as a big lazy animal which needs to be continuously
fed to keep it active.
The food are your postings: questions, comments, calls for help and so on.
It is the responsibility of the list-owner to keep the list alive but not
to keep it lively (wouldn't have enough time...). There's nothing more
frustrating for a list-owner than have to entertain a couple of hundred
(well,that's not us yet) passive subscribers. The only way you, as a user,
can profit from the mail list is by USING it, which doesn't mean waiting
for ideas and revelations to come automatically from it.
So, lets keep this list busy! Submit ideas, comments, concerns, whatever
you want. You will not always get a response of course.......but the
chances for feedback will increase with increasing size of the list.

----My suggestion for a start----

I'm obviously interested in knowing more about the 'who/what/why ' of this
list.

* It is very easy to know 'Who' is on the list: to obtain a list of current
subscribers send the command
(no subject needed, turn off signature)

review isogeochem

to

[log in to unmask]

* 'What' are the people on this list interested in?
Just take some time (or copy and paste from your most recent CV) and send a
brief statement of your research interests. The main aim of this list is to
provide new contacts and enhance collaboration among researchers from
different disciplines (e.g. geology, biology, chemistry). So, the more
information we have about each other the better it is.

* 'Why' did you subscribe to this list?


I'm looking forward to an interesting and active discussion group.

Best regards to all of you,

Andrea Lini









=======================================================
| Dr. Andrea Lini        | Stable Isotope Laboratory  |
| Department of Geology  | Phone: (802) 656 02 45     |
| University of Vermont  | Fax:   (802) 656 00 45     |
| Burlington, VT 05405   | E-mail:[log in to unmask] |
| U.S.A.                 |                            |
=======================================================