The Third International Diamond School took place at the University of Alberta, with the Deep Carbon Observatory as the main event sponsor (together with De Beers and IsoMass).
The Third International Diamond School took place at the University of Alberta, with the Deep Carbon Observatory as the main event sponsor (together with De Beers and IsoMass). DCO’s Graham Pearson (Reservoirs and Fluxes Scientific Steering Committee member; University of Alberta, Canada), Steve Shirey (Carnegie Institution for Science Department of Terrestrial Magnetism, USA), Thomas Stachel University of Alberta, Canada), Bob Luth (University of Alberta) and Fabrizio Nestola (University of Padua, Italy) were the principal conveners. The event continued in the tradition of having a mixed participation of students, senior academics, and industry. Seventy-five delegates, including 2 BSc students, and 30 Ph.D and Masters students from Canada, USA, Australia, and the UK attended, along with 18 delegates from industry and Government/Provincial Geological Surveys.
Prior to the conference 21 people (a mix of academics and students) attended a 2 day field trip to the Northwest Territories diamond mines and to see Archean geology around Yellowknife. The field trips were made possible by the generosity of Dominion Diamonds and Rio Tinto (Diavik Diamond Mine), as well as the staff of the Northwest Territories Geological Survey.
The scientific program consisted of 34 presentations, including 12 student talks, and 4 student posters that spanned a range of topics from the fundamentals of diamond formation through new mantle thermometry methods to aspects of diamond exploration and deposit evaluation. DCO early career scientists (non-students) who presented or attended included Emilie Thomassot (Nancy, France), Yakov Weiss (Columbia, USA) and Andrea Guiliani (Melbourne, Australia). The science program was supplemented by laboratory facility tours at the University of Alberta.
