Program
PROGRAM
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PLENARY LECTURES
Chris Hawkesworth, Professor Emeritus at the University of Bristol (UK); Goldschmidt Award in July 2025. Prof. Hawkesworth is recognized for exceptional scientific contributions, made through the application of advanced geochemical proxies, that have guided the understanding of the crust and lithosphere and their interactions with the convecting mantle. His work has helped transform geochemistry by emphasizing its applicability to understanding the processes operating over the entirety of Earth’s existence.
The onset of Plate Tectonics, Crust Generation and Tectonics in the Archaean
There is much discussion about how tectonic regimes and the onset of plate tectonics can be recognised from the geological record. There is the question of scale, and how the results of different case studies are put in a wider global context, and one approach is to consider the global consequences of plate tectonics being active. This contribution considers how subduction and non-subduction magmatic rocks are recognised through the Archaean, and the links between geochemistry and tectonic style. Many TTG were generated from sources similar to the associated mafic rocks, but it remains unclear how readily bimodal magmatism may be generated by subduction-related processes. Heat flow evidence suggests Archaean crust was more mafic than the present-day bulk crust, and juvenile continental crust changed from mafic to more intermediate compositions at ca. 3 Ga. Archaean terranes evolve from dome and basin to more linear belts reflecting lateral compression, granulite facies metamorphism provides evidence for crustal thickening by the late Archaean, and the development of dyke swarms and large sedimentary basins may reflect the cooling and increasing rigidity of continental crust. The decrease in the rate of crustal growth at ~ 3 Ga, coupled with other changes at the end of the Archaean, are taken to reflect major tectonic change and the onset of plate tectonics as the dominant global regime.
Alcides Nóbrega Sial, Graduated in Geology from Federal University of Pernambuco (1966) and Ph.D. in Geology from the University of California at Davis, USA (1974). Post-doctoral work on lithogeochemistry and stable isotopes at Austin, Texas, at Athens, Georgia and at Madison, Wisconsin, USA. Full professor, Federal University of Pernambuco, Recife, Brazil and Emeritus professor since March 2016. Has experience on Igneous Petrology (mainly basalts, peridotite nodules and granites) and Stable Isotope Geochemistry. One of the UFPE researchers most influential abroad in his area of expertise in studies from PLOS Biology (2019, 2020, Stanford list 2023).
The Permian–triassic Mass Extinction: Testing The Volcanism Hypothesis
Sial, A.N.
NEG–LABISE, Dept. of Geology, UFPE, Recife, PE, 50740-530, Brazil.
e-mail: alcides.sial@ufpe.br
Despite intense search for trace-element enrichments in sedimentary successions as tools to demonstrate the role of coeval Large Igneous Province (LIP) volcanic activity in the largest Phanerozoic mass extinctions, their use is still in its early stages. Hg is an exception, and its elemental chemostratigraphy and isotopes are routinely used to fingerprint volcanism as a well-established proxy. Some trace-element metals (Ni, Cu, Zn, Te, Zr) chemostratigraphy and their isotopes are promising proxies to track down volcanism coeval with the Cretaceous–Paleogene, Permian–Triassic (PTr) or Ordovician–Silurian transitions, especially if coupled with δ13Ccarb and Δ199Hg (MIF) chemostratigraphy. This contribution focuses on these elements plus Hg as a group and on Hg isotopes, in three classical PTr sections (Meishan in China, Guryul Ravine in India, and Zal, Iran). Their chemostratigraphy supports large-scale LIP or nearby island-arc volcanism as primary drivers of the PTr mass extinction and the feasibility of distinguishing LIPs from subduction-related volcanic inputs on the basis of marine Hg records. Moreover, it demonstrates that Hg sources in the Tethys Ocean realm cannot be attributed to a single source as renewed volcanic activity (e.g., Siberian Traps LIP). In Zal, Hg anomalies were probably sourced in nearby island-arc volcanoes or intermediate/felsic volcanic centers (Simao–Indochina or Qinling active continental margins), whereas in the interval between LPME and the PTr boundary, Hg is sourced in the STLIP. In Meishan and Guryul Ravine sections, on the contrary, in the LPME and ETME extinction horizons Hg is sourced in the STLIP, but in the interval between LPME and the PTr boundary, apparently, it is sourced in nearby island-arc volcanic activity. This contribution attests to the usefulness of trace metal chemostratigraphy as a tool for global stratigraphic correlation, especially in regions distant from their volcanic source.
Keywords: Permian–Triassic boundary; Large Igneous Province; chemostratigraphy; stable isotopes; Tethys Ocean
KEYNOTE SPEAKERS
THEMATIC SESSION: PRE-ANDEAN AND ANDEAN CRUSTAL EVOLUTION
Carlos Rapela
UNLP – CONICET, ARGENTINA
The basement of the Chaco-Pampean plain of NE Argentina and southern Paraguay: evidence of Ediacaran igneous complexes and a large Middle to Late Cambrian epicontinental sea
THEMATIC SESSION: ISOTOPES IN MAGMATIC SYSTEMS AND MINERAL RESOURCES
Andreas Petersson
University of Western Australia – Swedish Museum of Natural History
Why your zircon Hf Model Ages might be wrong—and how to fix them
PRE-SYMPOSIUM COURSES
Zirconology: the use of zircon as an indicator of crustal evolution
Miguel A. S. Basei
CePeGeo – USP
Date: April 13, 2026
Start time: 9:30 am
Duration: 6 hours
Facultad de Ciencias Sociales - UDELAR, Constituyente 1502
Cost: US$ 20
Minimum registered participants: 8
Maximum registered participants: 30
Methods of payment:
National participants will be able to pay by bank transfer only. Payment by credit card is not enabled for national participants.
Name of account holder:
Andrea Cavallo, BROU, cuenta corriente
CC 001570693-00002 in US$
Participants from other countries can pay by credit card. Follow the link below:
Igneous Isotopic Geology: Alkaline Magmatism and Sr–Nd–Pb Signatures of Magma Plumbing Systems
Anderson Costa dos Santos
Rio de Janeiro State University (UERJ), Brazil
GeoAtlântico Institute – Researcher Member
Date: April 13, 2026
Start time: 8:30 am
Duration: 8 hours
Facultad de Ciencias Sociales - UDELAR, Constituyente 1502
Cost: US$ 20
Minimum registered participants: 8
Maximum registered participants: 30
Methods of payment:
National participants will be able to pay by bank transfer only. Payment by credit card is not enabled for national participants.
Name of account holder:
Andrea Cavallo, BROU, cuenta corriente
CC 001570693-00002 in US$
Participants from other countries can pay by credit card. Follow the link below:
DAY FIELD TRIP
Main localities in the Precambrian of Uruguay: from the Paleoproterozoic Piedra Alta
Terrane to the easternmost Dom Feliciano Belt
Trip leaders
Pedro Oyhantçabal
Facultad de Ciencias – UDELAR, Uruguay
Bruno Osta
Facultad de Ciencias – UDELAR, Uruguay
Date: April 17, 2026
Departure time: 07:30 am
Arrival time: 22:00 pm
Meeting point: IMM main door (Esplanade)
Cost: US$ 50 (Lunch Bag included *)
Minimum registered participants: 7
Maximum registered participants: 14
Registration deadline: February 20, 2026
Methods of payment:
National participants will be able to pay by bank transfer only. Payment by credit card is not enabled for national participants.
Name of account holder:
Andrea Cavallo, BROU, cuenta corriente
CC 001570693-00002 in US$
Participants from other countries can pay by credit card. Follow the link below:
* Lunch bags include a sandwich, cereal bars, fruits and a bottle of water. Water will be available throughout the excursion.
Free Activity for Students
Morning field trip along the Montevideo coast: Geology of the Punta Gorda Basement
(Plaza Virgilio)
Trip leaders
Leda Sánchez Bettucci
Facultad de Ciencias – UDELAR, Uruguay
Santiago Fort
Facultad de Ciencias – UDELAR, Uruguay
Date: April 14 and 15
Departure time: 09:00 am
Arrival time: 12:00 pm
Bus departs from Intendencia de Montevideo
Cost: free of charge
Maximum registered participants: 14
Registration deadline: March 31, 2026
Note: Participants can choose to participate on any of the two days