Talks and Workshops
Talk in the Lecture Series – Mineral Deposits
„Antimony isotopes from ore deposits to the global ocean“ by Prof. Dr. Juraj Majzlan
On January 12th Prof. Dr. Juraj Majzlan from the Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena is going give a talk about antimony isotopes. We gladly invite everybody who is interested to join us in this talk.
Location and Time: GeoZentrum Nordbayern, Schlossgarten 5, 91054 Erlangen; Übungsraum Geologie (1. OG); Start 5PM (UTC+1)
You can also join online via Zoom: Meeting ID: 673 9948 8191
Abstract: „Antimony isotopes represent one of the less studied systems of non-traditional isotopes. Even if only a few studies are available so far, interesting patterns begin to emerge. The average isotopic composition of the upper continental crust of the Earth is about +0.07% (with respect to NIST SRM 3102). The mantle rocks show a narrow range around 0.00% but the oceans and marine sediments are isotopically much heavier. The difference could be explained with our results that show that during the weathering of antimony ores, light isotopes remain in the secondary minerals and the heavy isotopes are carried away. Yet, the question of fluxes of this element during weathering, as a result of degradation of common rocks versus oxidation of antimony sulfides, is not resolved.
Ore deposits show a large range of isotopic compositions, either those investigated by us or by Chinese authors. Within this range, however, the isotopic composition correlates well with the position of the minerals in the precipitation sequence or their concentration of trace elements. Such regular and monotonous change can be modeled readily by simple Rayleigh fractionation within a body of fluid. The consequence is that the fluid reservoir must have had substantial connectivity. It can be shown that such systematic evolution of the isotopic composition can be detected in camps of deposits in larger volumes of the crust, suggesting a fluid front moving through the crust and depositing antimony minerals at different crustal levels. From this perspective, antimony isotopes possess the potential to understanding of large-scale fluid flow patterns and perhaps also for mineral exploration.„
“The Mineral System of magmatic Ni-Cu-PGE sulfide deposits revisited by an experimental petrologist” by Giada IACONO-MARZIANO
On November 17th 2025 Giada IACONO-MARZIANO, a CNRS researcher working at the Institut des Sciences de la Terre d´Orléans in France, visited us to present her work on “The Mineral System of magmatic Ni-Cu-PGE sulfide deposits revisited by an experimental petrologist”.
“Copper and Gold Metallogeny of the Western Altaids (Central Asia)” by Prof. Dr. Reimar Seltmann
On January 27th 2025 Prof. Dr. Reimar Seltmann from the Natural History Museum in London held a talk about “Copper and Gold Metallogeny of the Western Altaids (Central Asia)”.
“Volcanic stratigraphy, geological models, drill targets: Surface mapping in the Kristineberg VMS camp, Skellefte ore district, Northern Sweden as exploration tool” by Dr. Sci. Net. Majka Christiane Kaiser
On October 28th 2024 Dr. Sci. Net. Majka Christiane Kaiser visited us to give a talk about “Volcanic stratigraphy, geological models, drill targets: Surface mapping in the Kristineberg VMS camp, Skellefte ore district, Northern Sweden as exploration tool” where she outlined Boliden’s exploration strategies over time in the Skellefte ore field, the geological challenges, model-based exploration, the recent mapping project in the area and an evolving geological model with its significance for future drilling.
“The Geology of Scotland Explained by That Girl That Makes Videos About Rocks” by Luisa Hendry A.K.A. Scottish Geologist
On May 13th 2024 Luisa Hendry, better known as Scottish Geologist on instagram, visited us to talk about the stunning geology of Scotland and it’s breathtaking Highlands, as well as the role of social media as a modern outreach tool in the geology community. It was a great pleasure to have her visiting us!
“Pushing the Limits of how we study the deep mantle in the 21th century” by Dr. Kate Kiseeva
On January 22nd 2024 Dr. Kate Kiseeva from the American Museum of natural history, New York, gave a talk about “Pushing the Limits of how we study the deep mantle in the 21th century”. She gave a brief history of what we know about the Earth’s upper mantle (<660 km) and how this information is obtained.
“The chain of Processes forming Porphyry Copper Deposits” by Prof. em. Dr. Christoph A. Heinrich
On January 15th 2024 Prof. em. Dr. Christoph A. Heinrich from ETH Zurich joined us for a talk about his brand new review paper about porphyry copper deposits. He presented us his topic of “The chain of processes forming porphyry copper deposits”.
“The Global Gold Cycle” by Prof. Dr. Hartwig Frimmel
On July 3rd 2023 were honoured to host Prof. Dr. Hartwig Frimmel from the University of Wuerzburg, Germany, for his talk on “The Global Gold Cycle”. He told us a lot about several different types gold deposits and when gold was first concentrated in Earth’s history.
“Tracing Metal Fluxing Through the Lithosphere from Magmatic Sulfide Through Porphyry to Epithermal” by Dr. David Holwell
On June 19th 2023 Dr. David Holwell from the University of Leicester gave a talk within our lecture series. It was a great pleausure to have our first international guest visiting!
“From IT to Geology: Trade Mouse for Hammer (and back) – Exploring mineral ressources in Germany” by Marcel Hanisch
What a way to announce our new SGA student chapter Erlangen! We are proud to say that our SGA Kickoff Event on May 4th 2023 was a great success. We started off by presenting the new student chapter with everything we have planned for the future. We are always open for new ideas and projects and of course interested students to join us.
We had a very interesting talk by Marcel Hanisch on his academic career of becoming a geologist and his daily work in the gypsum exploration industry. The Knauf GmbH is a major global player in the gypsum industry and is active in more than 40 countries. We mostly talk about metals in the exploration industry and sometimes forget how exciting and valuable a career in the field of industry minerals can be. Many thanks to Marcel for showing us the diverse facets of gypsum exploration. It really was a great starting event for our SGA student chapter.
Of course, the event was not quite done with the end of the talk. We still had a nice BBQ prepared outside the Geozentrum Nordbayern for everyone interested. This was a great opportunity to talk to Marcel, professors and other students interested in economic geology. We would like to thank everybody who joined the talk and the BBQ afterwards and we hope to see you next time!