Goldschmidt 2025 Conference

Sunday, July 6th, 2025 - Friday, July 11th, 2025

at Prague

Theme 13: Climate Change: Past, Present, and Future

Arctic and Antarctic: Geochemical Insights into the Geological Evolution and Climate Feedback in Polar and sub-polar Regions

The polar regions offer exceptional opportunities for geoscientific research, with geochemistry playing a pivotal role in deciphering the geological past and projecting future climate impacts. By analyzing chemical signatures in rocks, sediments, ice cores, and ocean waters, geochemists can reconstruct the tectonic evolution, paleoenvironmental conditions, and paleoclimates that have shaped Antarctica and the Arctic. Geochemical data, such as isotopic and elemental tracers, provide critical insights into the interactions between the cryosphere, lithosphere, hydrosphere, and atmosphere, especially in relation to greenhouse gas (GHG) dynamics and their influence on climate systems across geologic timescales.

This session welcomes contributions that focus on geochemical approaches to studying polar regions, emphasizing the role of GHG cycling, the geochemical processes underlying permafrost thawing, and the subsequent release of carbon and methane into the atmosphere. The amplification of climate change in the Arctic—known as Arctic amplification—is a particularly urgent area of study, as it highlights the enhanced sensitivity of the region to global warming. Contributions addressing the geochemical implications of these processes, alongside the chemical weathering in non-glaciated areas and the interactions between ice sheets, bedrock, and ocean waters, are particularly encouraged.

By spotlighting geochemical investigations, this session aims to deepen our understanding of the geological history of Antarctica and the Arctic, while exploring their critical roles in amplifying climate feedback and shaping the Earth’s future environmental trajectory.

Link: https://conf.goldschmidt.info/goldschmidt/2025/meetingapp.cgi/Session/7316