Second edition of Course on Seagrass Carbonate Production»PALEOSEAGRASS
PROGRAM 2025
September, 8th – 12th
At the MUCBO-Jardí Botànic-Museu Ciències Naturals (Mallorca, Spain)
The seagrass meadows play a prominent role in sedimentary processes in shallow environments, both in low-latitude regions with warm waters and in temperate zones. They serve as prolific carbonate factories and constitute significant sinks for both in-situ and allochthonous sediments. The resulting sedimentary facies depend on the type of plant with its distinctive structural characteristics, the carbonate-producing biota, as well as the texture and composition of the substrate in which the plants grow. Considering the scarcity of direct evidence in the fossil record, a detailed facies analysis is essential to infer the presence of these systems in paleoenvironmental studies.
Hence, taking into account the importance of seagrass meadows as carbonate factories, the first edition of this course took place successfully in 2012. Modern examples were studied as analogs for interpreting the fossil record, offering the opportunity to explore various examples through the analysis of loose sediments and thin sections, with a special emphasis on recognizing components and textural and structural characteristics.
After more than 10 years since the first edition of the course, significant advances have been made in the state of the art, many of which have been carried out by the organizers and speakers of this new edition, titled «PALEOSEAGRASS: Sedimentary Processes and Microfacies.» This new course incorporates current issues such as the effect of carbonate production in seagrasses and its impact on CO2 levels. Additionally, it provides a more detailed analysis of components, identifying those characteristic of seagrasses that systematically enable a much more detailed and informative interpretation than a decade ago. The course will include a combination of theoretical and practical classes, including microscope work, as well as a field trip to study to collect samples from a Posidonia oceanica meadow.
