INITIAL ANNOUNCEMENT AND CALL FOR MAILING LIST REGISTRATION

The goal of this workshop is to bring together both established and young scientists, as well as students, who are interested in the dynamics of the lithosphere and mantle. Our scientific focus will be on quantitative models of dynamic processes and how those can be constrained with data from a range of Earth Science fields. To this end, we encourage submissions from tectonic and geodynamic modelers, but also from researchers in disciplines with relevant observational activity such as seismology, mineral physics and geochemistry.

To register to receive our forthcoming first circular with a finalized list of speakers and detailed information in January 2005, please visit our web site at:

http://www.ingv.it/erice2005 or e-mail to erice2005@ingv.it.

Following the example of our earlier, highly successful workshops (held most recently in Aussois, France 2001, and in Hruba Skala, Czech Republic 2003), the program will include a mixture of keynote lectures on cutting-edge science problems with ample room for subsequent discussion. Another aspect of the meeting will be tutorials and micro-workshops dedicated to more technical questions that arise in theoretical and laboratory modeling and analysis. By bringing together researchers from across the sub-disciplines to discuss both results and methods in a way not possible by means of traditional scientific communication, this workshop series fills an important gap in the normal conference circuit.

Each day of the meeting there will be three invited lectures, one of which will be of tutorial character. All the other contributions will be presented in poster sessions, along with very brief overviews from contributors within each session. A significant amount of time will be devoted to informal discussions. Alongside such more free-form discussions, we will have focus group meetings to provide a platform for the exchange and discussion of tools and techniques, such as benchmarking projects. The Erice site is quite special and, together with the target audience of ~90 attendees, very conducive to making connections and forming creative new collaborations.

Major funding for this meeting is provided by: Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, Roma, Italy; Italian Ministry for Education, University and Research; Institute of Physics, University of Urbino; University of Southern California; Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris; IASPEI (International Association of Seismology and Physics of the Earth's Interior); Provincia di Ravenna. Support from the National Science Foundation for the attendance of US based researchers is pending.

Carlo Giunchi
Giorgio Spada
Thorsten Becker
Dave Bercovici
Cinzia Farnetani

PRELIMINARY LIST OF SPEAKERS & TOPICS

Lectures

Y. Ricard: Introduction
O. Cadek: Global mantle dynamics
K. Lambeck: New constraints on postglacial rebound
D. Sandwell: Lithospheric dynamics
A. Bonaccorso: Volcano geodesy and dynamics
J. Ritsema: Mantle dynamics constrained from tomography
J. Korenaga: Thermal history of the Earth
M. Hirschmann: Water, fluxes and role
G. Hirth: Melting effects on mantle dynamics

Tutorials

A. Hofmann: Geochemical constraints on geodynamics
J. Schmalzl: Numerical methods for convection modeling
P. Cordier: Rheology
M. Sambridge: Inverse methods

PRELIMINARY PROGRAM