During the last decades, the needs in metals for the industry kept increasing in volume but also in diversity. All predictive modelling shows that this will not change in the following decades. The European industry is mainly relying on import, leaving the European countries vulnerable against supply shortage and market manipulation for many commodities. Recycling can only cover parts of the raw materials needs and technologies are not fully developed for many metals yet. In order to secure and improve access to raw materials, the European Union (EU) fosters a resurgence of mineral exploration to better know the mineral resources in Europe, ensure material supply and develop its autonomy (European Commission 2018). We welcome submissions that investigate the industrial, political, societal and regulatory view on mineral resources, exploration and mining approaches that will underpin security of supply for industry, and strategies for resilient value chains and more efficient raw materials use.

To accomplish the energy transition, new methodologies and technical solutions for the storage of renewable energies need to be developed. A fundamental challenge lies in the fact that energy production from renewable sources (wind or sun) is subject to fluctuations that do not match the daily and/or seasonal swings of energy demand. Furthermore, the safe long-term disposal of environmentally hazardous nuclear and toxic waste in geological repositories is a social responsibility.With salt caverns and porous reservoirs, the subsurface offers a great potential for the storage of energy carriers (e.g. hydrogen, synthetic methane), potential energy (compressed energy) or thermal energy. Regardless of the time scale (daily seasonal or even over periods of up to 1 million years), barrier formations like salt, clay or crystalline rock ensure the necessary integrity and safety.This session aims to connect research, technical concepts and case studies addressing the geological boundary conditions of the various storage and repository options. The range of topics involve the description and assessment of the properties of storage and barrier formations and the relevant processes that occur during the operation and post-operation/abandonment phases of storages and repositories. These include the development of exploration methods, laboratory investigations to characterise rock properties at various scales, and the modelling-based analyses and simulations of coupled thermal, hydraulic, mechanical and (geo)chemical processes. An elementary part of these efforts is the incorporation of experience gained over the past decades to validate the models and methods used, as well as the linking of different scales of magnitude.

In the past years, certain trace elements hitherto only used as geochemical proxies have gained increasing societal and economic importance due to their restricted and insecure supply and high importance for high-tech applications such as enabling technologies. These critical metals are now included in the list of critical raw materials, published by the EU in 2020. Critical metals are, for example, the rare earth elements and the platinum group elements, but also more “exotic” ones like antimony, gallium, germanium, hafnium, indium, scandium, tantalum, tungsten and vanadium.Although the increasing application of these metals results in a growing input from anthropogenic sources into the environment, knowledge of their environmental behaviour, their bioavailability and their (eco)toxicity are still in their infancy. This limited knowledge is partly caused by the fact that many of these metals occur at very low concentrations in the natural environment, posing additional analytical challenges.This session collects contributions related to critical high-technology metals in the environment, especially, but not limited to, studies on a) their analytical determination in various matrices, also including analysis of plant and animal tissues, b) their geochemical behaviour in Earth’s surface systems, i.e. the critical zone, c) their anthropogenic input, d) studies on bioavailability and (eco)toxicity, and e) rehabilitation of contaminated sites. We especially welcome contributions from Early Career scientists and from the EU Innovative Training Network "PANORAMA” (euroPean trAining NetwOrk on Rare eArth elements environMental trAnsfer: from rock to human).

Central and Northern Europe has experienced several stages of geodynamic evolution leading to significant changes of topography in the past. Whereas the Caledonian and Variscan topographic evolution is caused by the collision of different plates at their borders the topographic and sedimentological evolution over the last 100 Myr in Central Europe occurs within the plate. Historically, fare field effects of the Alpine orogeny and the rotation of Spain are taken as the geodynamic cause for the change of the Central European Lithosphere. Nevertheless, the initial state and topography of the Central European Lithosphere at 100 Myr is important to understand the Post-100 Myr evolution. Significant exhumation, local subsidence and magmatic activities are key players during the last 100 Myr. Newly dated tectonic movements shed a new light on the multiple structural evolution during this time interval. As salt layers are important throughout the European lithosphere their influence on all processes have to be considered and understood. To unravel the geodynamic causes for the topographic evolution within the Central European plate various data sets have to be combined.Therefore, the session seeks for contributions from Central to Northern Europe including the Alpine Orogeny by using tomography, seismic interpretations, thermochronology, structural interpretations, isotopic dating, sedimentology, salt deposits magmatic and metamorphic petrology and map interpretations. We would appreciate contributions describing the Early Mesozoic geodynamic evolution of Central Europe as well.

If you are a young scientist, this session provides the opportunity to present your work among peers. We will consider everybody without PhD or with a recently finished PhD project a young scientist. You can present your latest project, your thesis or your PhD progress; submissions from all fields in geoscience are welcome. We especially welcome all those who will present at a conference for the first time. The primary focus of the session is to provide a platform for young scientists to present and discuss their work in a conference environment with a diverse audience.If large enough, the session will be subdivided according to discipline as identified by the submitted abstracts.

National and international Earth science programs are utilizing Scientific Drilling as a critical tool to understand climate and environmental variability, natural hazards such as earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, natural resources, the deep biosphere and other topics of socio-economic relevance. The principal goal of the session is to summarize latest scientific achievements in ocean, continental and polar drilling.

Future discovery of mineral resources requires a better understanding of the mineralized system at large scale. Metal fluxes in the oceanic crust have direct and indirect impact on the formation and composition of hydrothermal mineralizations in active black smoker systems, but also in their ancient analogues including volcanogenic massive sulfides and possibly in some epithermal-porphyry systems. These fluxes occur at different stages during the evolution of the oceanic crust and in very diverse tectonic environments, such as slow- and fast-spreading ridges, back-arc basins, island-arcs and continental-arcs, strongly affecting the intensity and nature of the fluxes. Seafloor hydrothermal alteration is critical for hydrothermal ore deposit formation, but it is still poorly constrained in many tectonic environments. Of particular importance are magmatic-hydrothermal processes related to crustal formation, especially in arc-related environments. The competitive effect of sulfide saturation and magmatic degassing during magmatic differentiation can strongly affect the metal endowment of a system, but over whole remains poorly understood. Finally, oceanic crust dehydration in subduction zones has strong impact on the overlying mantle composition and its redox condition, but metal fluxes remain elusive and can possibly have far reaching implications on the formation of hydrothermal mineralizations in oceanic and continental arc environments. In this session we welcome field based, experimental or modelling studies which focus on metal fluxes from modern day oceanic crust or ophiolites. 

To accomplish the energy transition, new methodologies and technical solutions for the storage of renewable energies need to be developed. A fundamental challenge lies in the fact that energy production from renewable sources (wind or sun) is subject to fluctuations that do not match the daily and/or seasonal swings of energy demand. Furthermore, the safe long-term disposal of environmentally hazardous nuclear and toxic waste in geological repositories is a social responsibility.With salt caverns and porous reservoirs, the subsurface offers a great potential for the storage of energy carriers (e.g. hydrogen, synthetic methane), potential energy (compressed energy) or thermal energy. Regardless of the time scale (daily seasonal or even over periods of up to 1 million years), barrier formations like salt, clay or crystalline rock ensure the necessary integrity and safety.This session aims to connect research, technical concepts and case studies addressing the geological boundary conditions of the various storage and repository options. The range of topics involve the description and assessment of the properties of storage and barrier formations and the relevant processes that occur during the operation and post-operation/abandonment phases of storages and repositories. These include the development of exploration methods, laboratory investigations to characterise rock properties at various scales, and the modelling-based analyses and simulations of coupled thermal, hydraulic, mechanical and (geo)chemical processes. An elementary part of these efforts is the incorporation of experience gained over the past decades to validate the models and methods used, as well as the linking of different scales of magnitude.

In the past years, certain trace elements hitherto only used as geochemical proxies have gained increasing societal and economic importance due to their restricted and insecure supply and high importance for high-tech applications such as enabling technologies. These critical metals are now included in the list of critical raw materials, published by the EU in 2020. Critical metals are, for example, the rare earth elements and the platinum group elements, but also more “exotic” ones like antimony, gallium, germanium, hafnium, indium, scandium, tantalum, tungsten and vanadium.Although the increasing application of these metals results in a growing input from anthropogenic sources into the environment, knowledge of their environmental behaviour, their bioavailability and their (eco)toxicity are still in their infancy. This limited knowledge is partly caused by the fact that many of these metals occur at very low concentrations in the natural environment, posing additional analytical challenges.This session collects contributions related to critical high-technology metals in the environment, especially, but not limited to, studies on a) their analytical determination in various matrices, also including analysis of plant and animal tissues, b) their geochemical behaviour in Earth’s surface systems, i.e. the critical zone, c) their anthropogenic input, d) studies on bioavailability and (eco)toxicity, and e) rehabilitation of contaminated sites. We especially welcome contributions from Early Career scientists and from the EU Innovative Training Network "PANORAMA” (euroPean trAining NetwOrk on Rare eArth elements environMental trAnsfer: from rock to human).

Central and Northern Europe has experienced several stages of geodynamic evolution leading to significant changes of topography in the past. Whereas the Caledonian and Variscan topographic evolution is caused by the collision of different plates at their borders the topographic and sedimentological evolution over the last 100 Myr in Central Europe occurs within the plate. Historically, fare field effects of the Alpine orogeny and the rotation of Spain are taken as the geodynamic cause for the change of the Central European Lithosphere. Nevertheless, the initial state and topography of the Central European Lithosphere at 100 Myr is important to understand the Post-100 Myr evolution. Significant exhumation, local subsidence and magmatic activities are key players during the last 100 Myr. Newly dated tectonic movements shed a new light on the multiple structural evolution during this time interval. As salt layers are important throughout the European lithosphere their influence on all processes have to be considered and understood. To unravel the geodynamic causes for the topographic evolution within the Central European plate various data sets have to be combined.Therefore, the session seeks for contributions from Central to Northern Europe including the Alpine Orogeny by using tomography, seismic interpretations, thermochronology, structural interpretations, isotopic dating, sedimentology, salt deposits magmatic and metamorphic petrology and map interpretations. We would appreciate contributions describing the Early Mesozoic geodynamic evolution of Central Europe as well.

If you are a young scientist, this session provides the opportunity to present your work among peers. We will consider everybody without PhD or with a recently finished PhD project a young scientist. You can present your latest project, your thesis or your PhD progress; submissions from all fields in geoscience are welcome. We especially welcome all those who will present at a conference for the first time. The primary focus of the session is to provide a platform for young scientists to present and discuss their work in a conference environment with a diverse audience.If large enough, the session will be subdivided according to discipline as identified by the submitted abstracts.

The ocean covers 71% of our earth's surface and is much more difficult to access for geoscientific investigations than the land surface. Although scientists have been studying the ocean from research vessels for more than a century, interest in a global understanding of the earth system and its causal loop processes has led to increased efforts in marine research in recent decades. The seabed has been drilled for more than 50 years and the international drilling program (currently the International Ocean Discovery Program - IODP) is constantly leading to a new aspect in understanding of the interaction of the earth's crust, water masses, ice caps, the atmosphere and the living world today and in the past. State-of-the-art research vessels with advanced deep-submergence technology, such as robotic sea-floor drill rigs and giant-piston coring, submersibles, ROVs and AUVs, as well as acoustic and seismic systems are used to investigate various processes on the seafloor and in the sub-seafloor, some in 4D. In this session we would like to encourage all geoscientists to present exciting results from ship expeditions and marine studies over the past few years.

Future discovery of mineral resources requires a better understanding of the mineralized system at large scale. Metal fluxes in the oceanic crust have direct and indirect impact on the formation and composition of hydrothermal mineralizations in active black smoker systems, but also in their ancient analogues including volcanogenic massive sulfides and possibly in some epithermal-porphyry systems. These fluxes occur at different stages during the evolution of the oceanic crust and in very diverse tectonic environments, such as slow- and fast-spreading ridges, back-arc basins, island-arcs and continental-arcs, strongly affecting the intensity and nature of the fluxes. Seafloor hydrothermal alteration is critical for hydrothermal ore deposit formation, but it is still poorly constrained in many tectonic environments. Of particular importance are magmatic-hydrothermal processes related to crustal formation, especially in arc-related environments. The competitive effect of sulfide saturation and magmatic degassing during magmatic differentiation can strongly affect the metal endowment of a system, but over whole remains poorly understood. Finally, oceanic crust dehydration in subduction zones has strong impact on the overlying mantle composition and its redox condition, but metal fluxes remain elusive and can possibly have far reaching implications on the formation of hydrothermal mineralizations in oceanic and continental arc environments. In this session we welcome field based, experimental or modelling studies which focus on metal fluxes from modern day oceanic crust or ophiolites. 

Groundwater quality is widely compromised by anthropogenic impact. This becomes evident by the presence of numerous anthropogenic organic and inorganic contaminants in groundwater. Contaminants are of widespread origin. They enter the groundwater associated to different processes such as sewer failure, agricultural activities or contaminated industrial sites.Understanding the input mechanism, transport, attenuation and degradation processes in short and long term is crucial for sustainable groundwater development.Although unwanted, contaminants even in smallest quantities might provide information for locating their input or allow for understanding transport and attenuation processes within aquifers. In addition, microbial communities might not only be harmful but assist in the degradation of harmful substances.We call for contributions that deal with groundwater quality in all type of aquifers (e.g. alluvial, fractured, and karst aquifers). We welcome topics such as urban groundwater, new tools for water quality characterization, organic micropollutants in groundwater, microbial contaminants (such as bacteria, virus, and protozoans), groundwater remediation, and water quality monitoring.

Easy access and fast exchange of geoscientific data in compliance with legal requirements and societal needs are of great importance to solve the geoscientific challenges of the 21st century, including e.g. the exploration of raw materials for the energy transition and the search and selection of radioactive waste repositories.Since about 15 years EU legislation aims to open and harmonize digital data existing at national authorities e.g. by the INSPIRE directive or the so-called PSI directive on the re-use of public sector information. Public authorities are thus competent and experienced in the sustainable storage, digital publication and visualization of geoscientific data since decades. In 2020, the Geological Data Act (Geologiedaten-Gesetz) became effective in Germany and notably revised the handling of information resulting from geological investigations in order to ensure a broad public accessibility of geological data, resulting in new challenges to harmonize and integrate the constantly growing amount of data.This session invites contributions on geodata management solutions or approaches in government agencies, academics, and private companies.

Sedimentary basins contain the vast majority of all energy resources, including coal, petroleum, natural gas but also geothermal energy and are also the most important storage sites for anthropogenic solids and fluids. During basin evolution, organic matter-rich sediments and sedimentary rocks are exposed to changing pressure and temperature conditions, which lead to mineralogical and geochemical reactions. Systematic and innovative studies on rock properties, laboratory experiments under well-defined physical and chemical conditions as well as numerical modelling are required to determine rates of transformation, but also fluid flow at different scales.We invite contributions to this session dealing with sedimentary systems and their constituent elements. We welcome basin modeling studies from crustal to reservoir scale, studies on various aspects of the petroleum system, e.g. source rock deposition, maturation, petroleum generation, expulsion and biodegradation, studies on temperature and heat flow evolution in sedimentary systems. 

If you are a young scientist, this session provides the opportunity to present your work among peers. We will consider everybody without PhD or with a recently finished PhD project a young scientist. You can present your latest project, your thesis or your PhD progress; submissions from all fields in geoscience are welcome. We especially welcome all those who will present at a conference for the first time. The primary focus of the session is to provide a platform for young scientists to present and discuss their work in a conference environment with a diverse audience.If large enough, the session will be subdivided according to discipline as identified by the submitted abstracts.

Demands for integrity, transparency and reproducibility of today's research are increasing, posing new challenges for research data and software management in all science communities. The geoscience community is responding to these requests with a growing number of scientific networks and strategic initiatives, at different levels and with varying thrust. Clearly, publicly funded geoscience research data and software will increasingly be part and parcel of these frameworks: among them national efforts such as the German National Research Data Infrastructure (NFDI) or international ventures like the bottom-up driven Research Data Alliance (RDA) or the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC). Organizations and institutions will certainly need to interact with these initiatives and adopt emerging results/services. Early integration into these frameworks will provide institutions with the opportunity to strategically interact with them and shaping the future of FAIR and open data and software management, that will become reality.This session invites contributions from largescale and/or strategic efforts in the geosciences to present their programs and approaches. Showcases of integrations into these frameworks by organisations and institutions are invited as well to serve as inspiration and possible blueprints for others.