The conference, organized by Maria Mutti, Judith McKenzie and Ursula Hammes, was focused on carbonate platforms and dolomite – modern and ancient – as well as the processes behind dolomitization and novel biogeochemical tools and experiments. It was a great opportunity to learn about broad and in depth topics of carbonate sedimentology and see many new and experimental studies trying to understand the infamous dolomite problem. Prof. Foubert chaired a session on Microbial Carbonates and Carbonate Mounds, together with Jörn Peckmann (Univ. of Hamburg) and others of the team gave a talk (Eva) or presented a poster (Jean-Charles, David). In addition, Jean-Charles and Eline enjoyed the 2-day post-conference field trip organized by Piero Gianolla (University of Ferrara) and Nereo Preto (University of Padova) to look at the growth and demise of microbial platforms of the Dolomites, Anisian to Carnian in age. Though sudden snow-fall made the excursion more difficult, it was fantastic to walk along these ancient platforms and try to get a sense of the extent of these (microbial!) factories through space and time.
