Saaremaa, Estonia
25 July – 3 August 2017

The summer school course “Impacts and their Role in the Evolution of Life” will take place from 25 July to 3 August 2017 at Kuressaare and the Kaali impact crater site on the island of Saaremaa, Estonia. The course consists of lectures, practical exercises and student-led discussions. Participants will also have the possibility to display their own research results in two poster sessions. The following subjects will be covered:

– Roles of impacts in the formation of habitable planets
– Physical and chemical properties of comets and meteorites
– Detection and investigation of impact craters by geological methods and remote sensing from space
– Ecological consequences of impacts and the role of impacts in mass extinctions
– Transfer of life through meteorite impacts
– Threat of life on our planet by near-Earth asteroids and comets

Practical exercises include:

– Electromagnetic mapping of impact sites
– Analysis of pollen indicators of the Kaali impact event.
– Microscopy of impactites
– Georadar profiling

Bursaries covering meals and accommodation are available for a number of students from most European Countries. Application deadline is 30 April 2014. The website: http://www.nordicastrobiology.net/Impacts2017