Granulites and Granulites 2006

During the past two decades, as our understanding of lower crustal rocks has become more complete and as our ability to quantify conditions of metamorphism has improved, the granulite facies has been extended to include high-pressure granulite (HPG) metamorphism and ultrahigh-temperature (UHT) metamorphism.

Innovative techniques and new approaches have allowed us to study granulite metamorphism with more sophisticated methods, due in part to: 1. expansion of internally consistent thermodynamic data sets to include melt and additional phases that explicitly relate to the characterization of UHT metamorphism; 2. linking accessory phase chemistry and geochronology with petrology and thermobarometry; and, 3. improvements in the quantification of strain and rheology of lower crustal rocks at granulite facies conditions.

Invited keynote addresses will provide broad overviews to stimulate debate on the main research themes of the Conference, which are:

1. characterization of high-grade lower crustal metamorphism, products and processes, with particular reference to high-pressure granulite and ultrahigh-temperature metamorphism;

2. accurate calculation of peak P and T;

3. processes of elemental depletion in granulites;

4. balancing the thermal budget for UHT metamorphism;

5. unraveling age information from granulites;

6. linking accessory phase chemistry and geochronology with petrology and thermobarometry;

7. quantification of strain and rheology of lower crustal rocks at granulite facies conditions;

8. continental lithosphere and crust-mantle interactions;

9. tectonic process in granulite metamorphism, including exhumation rates and processes; and,

10. secular evolution of Earth as expressed in the metamorphic record.

In addition, there will be an open session.

Keynote speakers

Simon L. Harley (University of Edinburgh, Scotland, UK): Challenges in ultrahigh-temperature granulite metamorphism.

Patrick O'Brien (University of Potsdam, Germany): Challenges in high-pressure granulite metamorphism.

Marcio Pimentel (University of Brasilia, Brazil): Mantle contributions to the heat for granulite metamorphism.

Roger Powell (University of Melbourne, Australia): Understanding processes in granulites.

Daniela Rubatto (Australian National University): Unraveling protolith ages from metamorphic ages from ages of reworking in granulites.

Roberta L. Rudnick (University of Maryland, College Park, USA): The lower crust and upper lithospheric mantle: a xenolith perspective.

Karel Schulman (University of Strasbourg, France): Exhumation of deep crust.

Basil Tikoff (University of Wisconsin, Madison, USA): Strain and strain partitioning in the lower crust.

Roberto Weinberg (Monash University, Australia): Mineralization and the Broken Hill granulites.

Short Course: Calculating Metamorphic Mineral Equilibria

A short course on "Calculating Metamorphic Mineral Equilibria" will be given by Roger Powell and Richard White at the University of Sao Pãulo on June 30-July 3, 2006. The short course is 3.5 days in length, so participants from outside São Paulo should arrive on June 29, 2006, but the course will finish at mid-day on July 3, 2006, to facilitate travel to Rio de Janeiro for those participants who also will go on the pre-Conference fieldtrip, which departs from Rio de Janeiro on the morning of July 4, 2006.

The course will involve lectures and practical instruction. Although the principal focus of the course will be on using THERMOCALC to calculate pseudosections, the course will also include the use of THERMOCALC for thermobarometry, with particular reference to recently developed facilities.

The course will be held in the Instituto de Geociências at the Universidade de São Paulo (Rua do Lago, 562 - Cidade Universitária - CEP 05508-080 - São Paulo, SP, Brazil). Computers for practical instruction will be available, but participants are encouraged to bring a laptop if they have one. It is envisioned that laboratory exercises will be completed by participants working in pairs. The registration fee for this short course is US$60, which may be paid as part of the registration process for the Granulites and Granulites 2006 Conference here.

A list of hotels close to the University is available from Renato Moraes (moraes@igc.usp.br), who also will assist with accommodation as necessary.

Field trips

1. Pre-conference fieldtrip to the high-pressure granulites of the Andrelândia Sequence, Minas Gerais

Field Guides: Rudolph Trouw, Renato Moraes and Barry Reno

This fieldtrip will depart from Rio de Janeiro early in the morning of Tuesday, 4th July and will return to Rio de Janeiro-Galeão (Antonio Carlos Jobim International Airport) by mid-afternoon on Saturday, 8th July (in time for the 3.15 pm Varig departure to Brasília).

It is each participant’s individual responsibility to book your own travel from Rio de Janeiro to Brasília after 3.00pm on Saturday, July 8th. The drop-off point is the International Airport in Rio de Janeiro. A taxi to the Santos Dumont Airport in Rio de Janeiro will take about 30 minutes if you prefer to book a flight from there.

The cost for this fieldtrip is US$520, which includes provision of overnight accommodation in Rio de Janeiro on Monday, July 3rd and accommodation and food until lunch on Saturday, July 8 th. Participants are advised to seek out a metered taxi from the International Airport to the Hotel Argentina (which should cost ~R$30-40, whereas the taxicab stands will try to sell the same thing for R$60-80). The full address of the Hotel Argentina is: Rua Cruz Lima 30, Flamengo, Rio de Janeiro [Tel: (21) 2558-7233; Fax: (21) 2285-4573; Reserva booking: (21) 2557-4447]. Also, there are currency exchange facilities before the exit into the International Arrivals Hall and after the exit there is a Banco do Brasil ATM (Caixa Electrônica) on the second level of the Arrivals Hall that accepts Visa.

For those participants who arrive in Rio de Janeiro early, the Argentina Hotel offers cost-effective accommodation in Flamengo. You will need to book additional nights before July 3rd directly with the hotel, for which payment will be your individual responsibility. Information about Rio de Janeiro is available from lonely planet, HEMISPHERES and www.ipanema.com.

Weather

Although day time temperatures are likely to be mild, early morning and evening temperatures commonly are cold enough to require wearing a sweater or light jacket.

Provisional Itinerary

7/3/2006 Overnight in Rio de Janeiro, Argentina Hotel. More scenes of Rio de Janeiro (A, B, C, D, E).

7/4/2006 Overnight in Tiradentes. More scenes from Tiradentes (A, B, C) (Historical note)

7/5/2006 Overnight at Fazenda Traituba. More scenes from Fazenda Traituba (A, B)

7/6/06 Overnight at Caxambu; Uniao Hotel

7/7/06 Overnight at Caxambu

Scenes from Minas Gerais (countryside, Pouso Alto, São Tomé das Letras chapel, Church of the Rosary – Igreja do Rosário)

7/8/06 Drive to Rio de Janeiro International Airport, for flights to Brasília after ca. 3:00 p.m.

2. Post-Conference Fieldtrip to the UHT granulites of Barro Alto and Anápolis-Itauçu Complexes

Barro Alto Field Guides: Renato Moraes and Reinhardt Fuck

Anápolis-Itauçu Field Guides: Julia Baldwin, Renato Moraes, Reinhardt Fuck and Michael Brown

This fieldtrip will depart from the Northern Hotel Sector in Brasília (see below, under Hotels) early on the morning of Thursday, July 13th, and will return to Brasília International Airport - Presidente Juscelino Kubitschek by mid-day on Monday, 17th July. The cost for this fieldtrip is US$300, which includes provision of accommodation and food from lunch on Thursday, July 13th to breakfast on Monday, July 17th.

Provisional Itinerary

7/13/2006 Overnight in Goianesia – Hotel Goiatuba.

7/14/2006 Overnight in Ceres – Don Antonio Hotel.

7/15/06 Overnight in Inhumas – Taruma Hotel.

7/16/06 Overnight in Inhumas.

7/17/2006 Travel to Brasília, drop off at airport ca. 12.00 noon.

Participation in the Conference

All interested scientists are welcome to participate in the conference. Although the number of oral presentations will be limited, we anticipate a full compliment of poster contributions and we encourage all participants to showcase their work in a poster.

A PC computer and PowerPoint (or Adobe Acrobat) will be used for all oral presentations.

Poster presentations will be oriented with the long dimension vertical, and must not be larger than 1.0 m wide (horizontal dimension) x 1.2 m high (vertical dimension).

Paper/Poster Submission

The abstract deadline for the conference is April 2nd, 2006. Details about submitting an abstract can be found here in an abstract template (Word 2003 file).

Important Dates

April 23rd, 2006 (revised deadline) – abstract submission and early bird registration

July 3rd, 2006 – start of Pre-conference Fieldtrip

July 10-12th, 2006 – Conference in Brasília

July 13th, 2006 – start of Post-conference Fieldtrip

Registration

The registration fee includes costs associated with abstract submission and publication in the abstracts volume, costs associated with the auditorium and poster display, bus transportation from the Northern Hotel Sector to the University, refreshments during each of the three days of the Conference, including lunch, and an open bar during the poster session on Monday 10 th. This fee also covers the costs of the icebreaker dinner on Sunday, July 9th at the Espeto de Ouro Churrascaria, a traditional Brazilian barbecue (if you prefer not to eat meat or are strictly vegetarian, please let us know well in advance at mbrown@geol.umd.edu), and a conference dinner at a traditional Brazilian restaurant on Tuesday, July 11th.

Registration fees for this conference are as follows:

Professional (i.e., anyone who is not a registered student) – early bird (before April 23rd, 2006) US$300, late registration (after April 23rd, 2006, but before June 30th, 2006) US$350, and on-site registration $370.

and,

Student (i.e. anyone who is a registered student, determined by the student’s Head of Department sending an e-mail to mbrown@geol.umd.edu confirming this fact) – early bird (before April 23rd, 2006) US$200, late registration (after April 23rd, 2006, but before June 30th, 2006) US$250, and on-site registration $270.

Brasília

Brasília (information on Brasilia can be found at Geocities and About Brasilia) was built in the 1950s to be the capital of Brazil on the instructions of President Juscelino Kubitschek de Oliveira. It was planned by Lucio Costa in the shape of an airplane, with separate areas for industry, hotels, business and leisure. The main buildings were designed in a futuristic style by the creative Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer. The city, which has the largest ratio of green space per capita in the country, was built for a population of 500,000 people, although the population now is more than 1.9 million people, which has forced many to live in poor communities outside the city (favelas). Brasilia has monuments and museums and is alive at night with bars, restaurants and night-clubs; a walking visit to the Catedral, dedicated in 1967 – capacity of 4,000 persons, the Esplanada dos Ministerios, with the Palacio do Congresso Nacional, and many other locations makes an excellent day out from the hotel district. Oscar Niemeyer once said “. . . of all the buildings in Brasilia, I prefer the Congress Building because . . . it is perfect architecture . . . simple yet complex. My idea was for the person that approached the building to see behind it, between the domes, to the Three Powers Square to which it belongs.”

Brazilian Congress

The National Cathedral in Brasilia.

Conference venue

The conference will be held on the campus of the Universidade de Brasília, which was established in law on December 15th, 1961; Oscar Niemeyer designed its main building, the Central Institute of Science (ICC). We will be housed in the FINATEC Building. If you take a taxi to the University (~ 5 km, not expensive), the full address is: Fundação de Empreendimentos Científicos e Tecnológicos – FINATEC, Campus Universitário Darcy Ribeiro, Av. L3 Norte, Ed. Finatec - Asa Norte, Brasília, DF 70.910-900 (Tel: 348-0400; Fax: 307-3201; E-mail: finatec@finatec.org.br). Your registration fee includes refreshments during the day and lunch; a bar will be open during the afternoon poster session on Monday, 10th July.

Aerial view of the Universidade de Brasilia

Map of locations

1 - International Airport
2 - Southern Hotel Sector
3 - Northern Hotel Sector
4 - University of Brasilia

Hotels

This is a specialist conference without the infrastructure support of a major international gathering like the IGC or the AGU/EGU Meetings. We ask that you book your own hotel accommodation from one of the choices below, all of which are in the Northern Hotel Sector (map above). Of course, if you have difficulty we will endeavor to help.

Hotels at the preferred location, which is also the bus pick-up point each morning, include (in order of approximately decreasing price):

Manhattan Plaza Hotel (*** ~$100/night), Setor Hoteleiro Norte, Quadra 2, Bloco A (book through Plaza Brasilia Hotels direct (cheaper) or Expedia or Hotels.com)

Monumental Bittar Hotel (****(?) ~$70/night) Setor Hoteleiro Norte, Quadra 3, Bloco B (book directly with hotel http://www.hoteisbittar.com.br/peninsula/index_ing.htm or through Brazil hotels

Plaza Bittar Hotel (***(?) ~$50/night) Setor Hoteleiro Norte, Quadra 2, Bloco M (book directly with Bittar Hotels (cheaper) or through Brazil hotels)

Aristus Hotel (** ~$50) Setor Hoteleiro Norte, Quadra 2, Bloco O (book directly with hotel only at http://www.aristushotel.com.br/)

Mirage Hotel (** ~$40; NB no credit cards accepted – cash only) Setor Hoteleiro Norte, Quadra 2, Bloco N (book directly with hotel only at http://www.miragehotel.com.br/)

El Pilar Hotel (** ~$40) Setor Hoteleiro Norte, Quadra 3, Bloco F (book directly with hotel only at http://www.elpilar.com.br/ )

Other possibilities not too far from preferred location are:

Mercure Brasilia Eixo (** ~$95/night), Setor Hoteleiro Norte Quadra 5 Bloco G (may be booked through Mercure or Expedia or Orbitz)

Comfort Suites Brasilia *** ~$80/night), Setor Hoteleiro Norte Quadra 4 Bloco D (may be booked through Choice Hotels or Atlantica Hotels or Expedia or Orbitz)

Aracoara Hotel (*** price unknown, expected to be moderate), Setor Hoteleiro Norte Quadra 5 Bloco C (book directly with hotel (cheaper) at http://www.aracoara.com.br/2n_aco1.htm or through Brazil hotels)

Of course, as an alternative, you may easily take a taxi from your hotel to the University each morning (taxis are not expensive in Brasília).

Restaurants

Most hotels have a restaurant, generally of a standard implicit in the room price; there is a Japanese restaurant in the Manhattan Plaza Hotel. Brasília Shopping (http://www.brasiliashopping.com.br/), which is a large shopping mall nearby, also has a food court on the 2nd floor and two full-service restaurants (Carpe Diem and Mare d’Italia). There are many other restaurants within walking distance and by taxi (taxis are not expensive in Brasília) that your hotel may recommend.

We will arrange an ice-breaker dinner on Sunday, July 9 th at the Espeto de Ouro Churrascaria, a traditional Brazilian barbecue with a wide range of dishes at a salad bar (if you prefer not to eat meat or are strictly vegetarian, please let us know well in advance at mbrown@geol.umd.edu), with serviço de rodízio (continuous service); also, we will arrange a conference dinner at another traditional Brazilian restaurant on Tuesday, July 11th.

Diet

Brazilian cuisine is not always vegetarian friendly. If you have any dietary restrictions, please let us know (mbrown@geol.umd.edu) well in advance, as non-traditional meals may sometimes present a challenge. We will endeavor to accomodate your requirements.

Travel information

Airport
The International Airport is not far from Hotel District, and we suggest participants take a metered taxi (cost, on average, R$ 35,00-45,00 – avoid paying for the taxi in advance rather than by meter in the cab).

Do I need a Visa to enter Brasil?
A visa to enter Brazil will be necessary for some participants but may not be necessary for other participants, according to nationality and country of origin. Please contact the Brazilian Embassy or Consulate closest to your place of residence to determine whether a visa is necessary or not (Tourism Visa Exemptions listed by the Brazilian Embassy in Washington, D.C., are to be found here: http://www.brasilemb.org/consulado/consular_visa_exception.shtml). A tourism visa should be adequate for those who need a visa; we will provide a formal invitation in Portuguese if necessary from the University of Brasilia.

Do I need vaccines?
Yes, vaccination against yellow fever is recommended for all travelers when visiting the following states of Brazil: Acre, Amazonas, Amapá, Distrito Federal, Goiás, Maranhão, Mato Grosso do Sul, Pará, Rondônia, Roraima and Tocantins. Please note that yellow fever vaccinations take approximately 10 days to become effective.

For travelers who have visited or been in transit through many African and South American countries within three months prior to their arrival in Brazil, an international certificate of vaccination against yellow fever is compulsory. Please contact the Brazilian Embassy or Consulate closest to your place of residence to determine whether an international certificate of vaccination against yellow fever will be necessary for you to enter Brazil.

An international certificate of vaccination against polio is compulsory for children aged between three months and six years.

If in doubt, please check with your local Brazilian Embassy or Consulate.

Health and medical insurance
You are advised to ensure appropriate insurance coverage (although medical care in Brazil generally is free).

What language is spoken in Brazil?
Only Portuguese is spoken, although Spanish may be understood. Outside of main tourist areas and academic institutions, few Brazilians speak English or French.

What is the Brazilian Currency?
The Brazilian currency is the real (reais - R$). One US dollar is floating around R$ 2.30 and one euro is floating around R$ 2.75. Note that the only currency accepted in the country is the real.

Changing money at banks and hotels is common and easy; however, banks are not open at the weekends, except for the Banco do Brasil branch at the airport in Brasília. For cash advances, VISA is the most widely accepted credit card, but you should not have a problem with Mastercard either. Credit cards are accepted throughout Brazil, but finding an ATM (Caixa Electrônica) that accepts foreign cards sometimes may be challenging, especially outside the major cities! International ATM cards will only work at ATMs with a Visa/MasterCard/Plus/Cirrus logo (e.g., usually at HSBC, Itau and Bradesco banks) and only if the card also has one of these logos.

How is the weather in Brasília in July?
The weather is dry, but not too hot (~ 25^oC).

General information about Brasília
Brasília is 1,000 km from Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, and 1,100m above sea level; there are 1.9 million inhabitants. Local time is 3 hours less than Greenwich Mean time (and the same as Rio and São Paulo). The most common voltage in Brasília is 220 V, although 110 or 120 V may be found in some hotels (and is the norm in Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo and along the coast).

Conveners

Michael Brown (University of Maryland), Chair; Julie Baldwin (University of Montana); Reinhardt Fuck (Universidade de Brasília); Renato Moraes (Universidade de São Paulo); Philip M. Piccoli (University of Maryland); and, Rudolph Trouw (Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro).