Dear Colleagues,



We would like to draw your attention and kindly invite you to submit your abstract to the following session at the 2017 Goldschmidt Conference in Paris, France (August 13-18):



Session 03I: - “The not so boring billion – Emerging insight into life and the earth system in the Mesoproterozoic”

Keynote: Tim Lyons (University of California, Riverside)

Invited: Christian J. Bjerrum (University of Copenhagen)

Invited: Tim LEnton (University of Exeter)

Invited: Noah Planavsky (Yale University)

Invited: Emmanuelle J. Javaux (University of Liège)



The middle portion of the Proterozoic Eon has been referred to as the boring billion because of a perceived relative stasis in the evolution of Earth’s surface chemistry. At the same time, this apparently boring interval in Earth’s geochemical history likely heralded the evolution of eukaryotic life and assembly of the supercontinent Rodinia. Bookended by the Paleoproterozoic, which began with the first large oxygenation of the atmosphere at ∼2.3 Ga and was characterized by global glaciations and the largest carbon isotope excursion in Earth’s history (the Lomagundi Event), and the Neoproterozoic ending at 0.54 Ga, which again saw global glaciations and terminated with the explosion of multicellular life, the Mesoproterozoic might seem boring by comparison. While controversial, however, new geochemical data coming from proxies with greater resolution than those used before are revealing previously undetected dynamics in atmospheric oxygen. Constraining the magnitude, duration, cause, and effect of these putative fluctuations in oxygen levels is central to reconstructing the ecological landscape that shaped the evolution of early eukaryotes and the nature of the Earth system that fostered the rise of multicellular life. This session aims to stimulate collegial discussion on these new, apparently conflicting, and controversial data sets and interpretations and to welcome contributions that shed new light on the Mesoproterozoic Earth system. 



Please note the abstract submission deadline is April 1, 2017.



Thank you in advance for helping us to make this session a success! We are looking forward to seeing you in Paris.



Kind regards,



Sean Crowe, Geoffrey Gilleaudeau, Swapan Sahoo and Kohen Bauer,