This special issue of Geostandards Newsletter: The Geostandards and Geoanalytical Research, is the final contribution of the GEOANALYSIS 2000 Conference, which was held in Pont-à-Mousson (France) in August and September 2000. With more than 180 attendees from twenty one different countries around the world, this international conference was more than ever the locus of discussion and exchange of ideas on the analysis of geological and environmental materials. Indeed, about fifty oral and eighty poster presentations were part of four symposia and three special sessions. Topics included "state-of-the-art" techniques and their applications to geosciences: reference materials for in situ analyses, isotopic and elemental analyses, including new multi-collector-ICP-MS and speciation of elements, ion probe and laser ablation techniques, continuous flow techniques for the analysis of light elements, routine analyses and analyses supporting environmental problems. The conference gave the opportunity for people to get together and initiate "working groups" on the characterisation of reference materials such as the studies now running on rare earth and other trace elements in the 91500 zircon and garnets. The International Association of Geoanalysts (IAG) can be contacted for details of these ongoing projects.
The GEOANALYSIS 2000 scientific and organisation committee asked the attendees to participate in the scientific proceedings of the conference by submitting full papers on their work presented at the meeting to Geostandards Newsletter: The Geostandards and Geoanalytical Research. Although not all the presentations are included in this special issue, the twenty six papers presented here, after peer review, give the flavour of most topics that were discussed at the conference. These papers describe the latest developments in new techniques and their related standards, reference materials and applications, but also on the practical application of existing analytical techniques and their related advantages.
GEOANALYSIS 2000 and the related special issue were made possible by a number of sponsor organisations, including the Region of Lorraine, the Nancy district, Université Henri Poincaré and Institut National Polytechnique Lorrain, the Institut Lorrain des Géosciences (now CNRS-Fédération de Recherche EST), and CNRS-INSU-CRPG, all of which we thank very much. Of course the IAG, for which GEOANALYSIS is the official conference, is warmly thanked for moral, technical and financial support. The invited editors of this special volume wish to thank all the members of the organising and scientific committees of the conference and all the reviewers who participated in the preparation of this issue. Finally, an enormous "thank you" goes to Patricia Maruejol who accounted for a very large part of the success of GEOANALYSIS 2000 and this special issue, and without who the organisation would have been a much more difficult task for all involved in running the conference.
The GEOANALYSIS conference series continues in June 2003 and will be held in Rovaniemi, Finland. The programme promises to be exciting, by answering the questions raised at GEOANALYSIS 2000 and by taking further the analysis of geological and environmental materials. Please visit the GEOANALYSIS 2003 web site: http://www.gsf.fi/geoanalysis2003/ for more details.
We really think that this special issue represents what GEOANALYSIS 2000 achieved in presenting advances in modern techniques and related problems in the Earth and Environment Sciences.
We hope to see you in Finland for GEOANALYSIS 2003.
Jean Carignan, Philippe
Télouk, Michel Valladon
Invited Editors
Geostandards Newsletter:
The Journal of Geostandards and Geoanalysis
Vol. 25 No. 2-3 p. 185 (2001)
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Association Scientifique pour la Géologie et ses Applications
Vandoeuvre-lès-Nancy, France.