Origin of the Earth and Moon

The Origin of the Earth and Moon Conference will be held on December 1-3, 1998, in the Steinbeck Forum (lecture hall) at the Monterey Conference Center in Monterey, California. Some activities of the conference will be held at the adjoining DoubleTree Hotel, Monterey. The conference has been scheduled just prior to the AGU Meeting in San Francisco (December 5-10) so that participants may go directly from this conference in Monterey to the AGU Meeting. Monterey is located approximately 125 miles south of San Francisco and can be quickly reached by flights between the Monterey Airport and San Francisco International Airport, or by making the two-hour drive along the coastline.

The DoubleTree Hotel and the Monterey Conference Center are housed in the same building. You can move from one location to the other through double-glass doors in the lobby of either facility. For your convenience, reduced-rate accommodations have been arranged for participants of this conference at the DoubleTree Hotel in Monterey. These arrangements and information on the hotel are discussed in detail in the Hotel Accomodations section of this announcement.

The Origin of the Earth and Moon Conference will be a three-day meeting that will focus on the earliest histories of these two bodies and the relationships between them. Recently there have been major advances in our understanding of a number of issues relevant to this theme. In order to maximize the benefit of the three days, the meeting will be largely based on discussion of new and interesting data and we encourage participants to bring with them succinct presentations (one or two slides or overheads) of especially important results to share with all those present. There will be no parallel sessions. There will be 7 invited 30-minute keynote addresses during the conference. The remainder of the material will comprise contributed 5-minute presentations and posters. The discussion leaders will play a vital role and they, along with the invited speakers, will include an array of such well-known individuals as Don Andeson, Al Cameron, Robin Canup, Chris Chyba, Mike Drake, Günter Lugmair, Jay Melosh, Keith O'Nions, Bob Pepin, Frank Podosek, Everett Shock, Sean Solomon, Dave Stevenson, Ross Taylor, Mike Walter, Jerry Wasserburg, George Wetherill, and Kevin Zahnle.

The topics that will form the basis for most of the discussion will be as follows:

Accretion: comparisons with other stars, loss of volatiles in the inner solar system, accretionary rates, and the thermal development of planets

Timing: timing of accretion of the Earth and Moon system within the context of inner solar system development

Giant impact theory: dynamic simulations of the giant impact, the composition of the Earth and Moon, and problems with the giant impact theory, as well as alternatives

Magma oceans on the Earth and Moon: physical properties of magma oceans, core formation mechanisms, and the nature of the late veneer

Outgassing: early atmospheres, noble gases, hydrodynamic escape, and later additions, including the acquisition of water
The earliest Earth and Moon: low luminosity early Sun, bombardment, stabilization of crust, tectonics, and mantle dynamics, introduction and/or synthesis of amino acids, organic and molecular evolution in the Hadean Earth

The conference program and abstracts are available on line and are in PDF format, viewable with version 3 of the Adobe Acrobat Reader, which can be downloaded free of charge from the Adobe home page .

Two publications will result from the conference. One will be a book in the University of Arizona Space Science Series entitled Origin of the Earth and Moon. Authorship in this book will be by invitation only. It is NOT a conference proceedings. Rather, it is an advanced book, suitable for use at the graduate and research level, that deals with our present understanding of this topic. The second publication will be a book in the Special Publication Series of the Geochemical Society entitled Proceedings of the Conference on the Origin of the Earth and Moon. This book will solicit contributed papers, and will be an opportunity to report your cutting-edge results in a single venue that will be widely advertised. Both books will be subject to the highest standards of peer review.

PREREGISTRATION
The preregistration fee is $260 for professionals, $180 for students, and $150 for guests. Members of the press will not be charged a fee. The deadline for registering at this rate is October 30, 1998. Starting October 31, all registrations will be assessed a $20 late charge. The professional and student fees include three group lunches on Tuesday through Thursday as well as the other social events and the facility and equipment costs for on-site conference support. The guest fee is intended for people who are accompanying a participant to the meeting location (spouse, other family member, or friend) and may want to attend the group lunches and social events, but will not be attending all, or presenting at, the technical sessions.

The downloadable preregistration form must be accompanied by your payment. Foreign participants who state on the preregistration form that they have a currency exchange problem may pay in cash at the meeting and avoid the $20 late fee if they return the form by the October 31 preregistration deadline. For the convenience of those registering by credit card, an electronic registration form is available.

Note: Cancellations with requests for refunds will be accepted only through November 20.

ON-SITE REGISTRATION
Walk-in registration will be allowed at the fees shown above, plus the $20 late charge. Registration will be held beginning on Monday evening, November 30, in the Portola Room just off the main lobby of the DoubleTree Hotel from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. (The welcome party will be held at the same time and location.) Registration will continue the following morning at 7:30 a.m. in the Steinbeck Lobby of the Monterey Conference Center and will be available throughout the entire conference. A continental breakfast will be served in the Steinbeck Lobby from 7:00 to 8:00 a.m. on Tuesday during registration and again on Wednesday and Thursday from 7:30 to 8:00 a.m.

A "Welcome Party" will be held Monday evening from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. in the Portola Room of the DoubleTree Hotel during early registration. Participants are encouraged to take this opportunity to meet old and new friends in a relaxed environment and to register at this time rather than the following morning just prior to the technical sessions. The Portola Room is located just off the main hotel lobby near the hotel registration desk. On Tuesday, immediately following the afternoon session, conference participants and their guests are invited to enjoy a reception in the Steinbeck Lobby of the Monterey Conference Center.

A special group rate of $114 for single or double occupancy has been negotiated at the DoubleTree Hotel, Monterey, for conference participants. There is a $20 charge for each additional person per night. Children under the age of 18 who stay in the same room are free; there is a $20 fee per night for rollaways and cribs. To obtain this special rate you must identify yourself as a participant of the "Origin of the Earth and Moon Conference" when you make your reservations. The deadline for reservations at the group rate is November 1, 1998. After November 1, rooms will be made available on an "as-available" basis at the standard rates of $140 to $245.

Self-parking at the hotel has been arranged for our group at a special rate of $7 per day; valet parking is $12 per 24-hour stay. Both rates include "in and out" privileges without additional charge. If you use self-parking, please check your hotel invoice to be certain that you have been given the $7 reduced group rate (standard daily rates are $10).

To make your reservations, you may call the hotel at 408-649-4511, send a fax to 408-649-4115, or send a written request by mail to the DoubleTree Hotel, Monterey, Two Portola Plaza, Monterey CA 93940.

Rental cars are not necessary for conference participants. Taxi service is available from Monterey Airport for approximately $10 each way. The hotel has a small shopping mall on the premises, and many restaurants, historic sites, and other visitor attractions are within walking distance. Fisherman's Wharf on Monterey Bay is located down a convenient walkway that leads from the hotel courtyard. The hotel is adjacent to the new Monterey Maritime Museum and within walking distance of Cannery Row and the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

Conference participants will have several options for reaching the meeting location in Monterey, California. You can book a flight into the Monterey Airport. The DoubleTree Hotel and Monterey Conference Center are five minutes from the local airport. Rental cars and taxi service are available at the Monterey Airport by several national car rental companies and local transportation services. You can also book a flight into San Jose Airport and drive 60 miles south to Monterey. Those attending the AGU Meeting may prefer to fly to Monterey via San Francisco and return there for the AGU Meeting. The drive from San Francisco to Monterey takes about two hours (about 125 miles). Near Monterey to the south are Carmel, the 17-mile scenic drive by Pebble Beach, etc., and between Monterey and San Francisco to the north are beautiful coastline drives and scenic mountain highways, including a redwood forest with trails open to the public, so the short time between our conference and the AGU Meeting could provide an opportunity to relax and tour the area. We have provided a map of the local area to help you locate the DoubleTree Hotel in Monterey.

*October 30, 1998*		Preregistration deadline
*November 1, 1998*		Hotel reservation deadline
*December 1-3, 1998*		Origin of the Earth and Moon Conference
*January 31, 1999*		Deadline for receipt of manuscripts for the book Origin of the Earth and Moon

Alex N. Halliday
ETH Zürich
[email protected]

Michael J. Drake
University of Arizona
[email protected]

Alan P. Boss Carnegie Institution of Washington		Everett Shock Washington University
A. G. W. Cameron Harvard College Observatory		David J. Stevenson California Institute of Technology
John H. Jones NASA Johnson Space Center		G. Jeffrey Taylor University of Hawai'i
H. Jay Melosh University of Arizona		S. Ross Taylor Australian National University
R. Keith O'Nions Oxford University

LeBecca Simmons
Lunar and Planetary Institute
3600 Bay Area Boulevard
Houston TX 77058-1113
Phone: 281-486-2158
Fax: 281-486-2160
simmons@lpi.usra.edu

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		*Accretion:* comparisons with other stars, loss of volatiles in the inner solar system, accretionary rates, and the thermal development of planets
		*Timing:* timing of accretion of the Earth and Moon system within the context of inner solar system development
		*Giant impact theory:* dynamic simulations of the giant impact, the composition of the Earth and Moon, and problems with the giant impact theory, as well as alternatives
		*Magma oceans on the Earth and Moon:* physical properties of magma oceans, core formation mechanisms, and the nature of the late veneer
		*Outgassing:* early atmospheres, noble gases, hydrodynamic escape, and later additions, including the acquisition of water
		*The earliest Earth and Moon:* low luminosity early Sun, bombardment, stabilization of crust, tectonics, and mantle dynamics, introduction and/or synthesis of amino acids, organic and molecular evolution in the Hadean Earth