ORGANIZERS: Julia McIntosh (USGS), Kate Andrzejewski (KGS)
DESCRIPTION: This session will discuss recent advancements in using clay minerals as paleoclimate proxies, including but not limited to mineralogy and stable isotope geochemistry.
Session 3: Clays in the computer
ORGANIZERS: Tom Underwood (PNNL)
DESCRIPTION: Molecular modeling of clays.
Session 4: Clay-hosted Critical Mineral Resources
ORGANIZERS: Anthony Boxleiter (GSU), Crawford Elliott (GSU), Prakash Malla, Paul Schroeder, and Yuanzhi Tan
DESCRIPTION: This session provides a venue to present new data on the occurrences, speciation, extraction techniques, and resource calculations of critical minerals in clay-rich rocks and sedimentary systems.
Session 5: Software for Clays
ORGANIZERS: Emily Evans (BYU)
DESCRIPTION: This session highlights software packages developed with features designed to analyze any type of clay-related data, providing an opportunity for practitioners and research scientists to present and learn about tools to make our work easier and more precise.
Session 6: The use of clays, organoclays and nanocomposites for water treatment
ORGANIZERS: Giora Rytwo (Tel Hai College)
DESCRIPTION: This session provides a platform to present a compelling vision for deploying these technologies to deliver high-quality, affordable, and environmentally sustainable water for the benefit of humanity.
Session 7: Science and Engineering of Clays for Nuclear Waste Disposal
ORGANIZERS: Marcelo Javier Sánchez Castilla (TAMU), Youjun Deng, Ian C. Bourg, and Jeffery Greathouse
DESCRIPTION: The use of clays in nuclear waste disposal, including temporary storage and deep, long-term geological repositories.
Session 8: Investigating Clays on Planetary Bodies
ORGANIZERS: Sarah Vierling (ASU), Maitrayee Bose, Janice Bishop
DESCRIPTION: This session highlights research advancements on the formation, alteration, and preservation of clays on planetary bodies through laboratory and spacecraft analyses and terrestrial analog experiments.
Session 9: Sorption, transport, and remediation of emerging contaminants by natural and engineered clays
ORGANIZERS: Qianqian Dong (TAMU), Hui Li, Xingmao “Samuel” Ma
DESCRIPTION: The session will provide a platform for discussing recent scientific advancements and technical developments in contaminant-clay interactions, spanning from fundamental mechanisms to practical solutions for sustainable management of contaminated sites.
Session 10: Clay-Based Strategies for Mitigating Toxins
ORGANIZERS: Jakub Matusik (AGH University of Krakow), Youjun Deng (TAMU)
DESCRIPTION: This session will discuss advances in the development and applications of clays and clay-based materials for microbial control and detoxification of biological toxins.
Session 11: Clays and zeolites in the oil and gas industry
ORGANIZERS: Michael Cheshire (Chevron), Rebecca Stokes (USGS)
DESCRIPTION: This session will explore the multifaceted roles of clays in zeolites in the hydrocarbon industry, bridging fundamental mineralogy with practical applications that drive the future of energy.
Session 12: Advanced Characterization of Clay Minerals: Pushing the Boundaries of Resolution, Sensitivity, and Interpretation
ORGANIZERS: Yiping Yang (Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry) and Huifang Xu (UW-Madison)
DESCRIPTION: We welcome abstracts that apply or integrate state-of-the-art characterization techniques inclay mineral research, including but not limited to: (1) high-resolution and in situ electronmicroscopy (SEM, TEM, and STEM) and three-dimensional electron diffraction; (2) novelspectroscopic methods such as EELS, Raman spectroscopy, XPS, Mössbauer spectroscopy, high-field NMR, and nano-IR; (3) synchrotron-based X-ray techniques; and (4) advanced porosimetryfor quantifying nanopores in clays and clay-based materials.
Session 13: Tubular and fibrous Clay Minerals: From Structure and Surface Chemistry to Functional Hybrid Materials
ORGANIZERS: Peng Yuan (Guangdong University of Technology), Pilar Aranda (Materials Science Institute of Madrid), Antoine Thill (CEA Saclay), Aiqin Wang (Lanzhou Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences), Giuseppe Lazzara (University of Palermo)
DESCRIPTION: This session will address (i) the mineralogy and formation or synthesis of tubular and fibrous clay minerals, including, but not limited to, halloysite, imogolite, sepiolite, and palygorskite; (ii) their structural features and surface chemistry, including surface charge, porosity, and defect chemistry; (iii) functionalization strategies and interface engineering enabling hybrid material design; and (iv) application-oriented studies explicitly linking structure and surface chemistry to structure–property relationships in functional hybrid materials.
Session 14: Clays and construction materials
ORGANIZERS: Yunfei Xi (Queensland University of Technology)
