EurGeol Dr. Alexandros Demetriades

Applied Geochemist, Chairperson of the Sampling Committee IUGS- Commission of Global Geochemical Baselines

Brief Biography of Alexandros (Alecos) Demetriades


Alexandros (Alecos) Demetriades after his MSc degree in Mining Geology and Mineral Exploration worked as an applied geochemist at the Hellenic Institute of Geology and Mineral Exploration, where for over 35 years managed many geochemical survey projects for mineral exploration and environmental contamination purposes. Alecos holds the Chair of the Sampling Committee of the IUGS Commission on Global Geochemical Baselines and is Editor-in-Chief of the recently published International Union of Geological Sciences Manual of Standard Methods for Establishing the Global Geochemical Reference Network. He is co-author of the FOREGS Geochemical Europe of Atlas and the Geochemical Mapping of Agricultural and Grazing land soil in Europe (GEMAS), and published over 100 applied geochemistry papers.

Keynote title:

Standard methods for establishing the global geochemical reference network

Abstract

The International Union of Geological Sciences Manual of Standard Methods for Establishing the Global Geochemical Reference Network1 presents, for the first time, a comprehensive overview of the geochemical methods and procedures that should be employed across the land surface of the Earth to map the distribution of chemical elements in various sample types. As the sampling will cover the whole globe the procedure must be consistent for all sample types and, therefore, is standardised to be applicable in all morphoclimatic environments. It describes in detail all the necessary methods that should be used from planning the sampling campaign2, through sampling of rock, residual soil, humus, stream water, stream sediment, overbank sediment and floodplain sediment; sample preparation; development of project reference materials; analytical methods; quality control3 and assurance procedures for the production of harmonised data sets; data levelling of existing regional geochemical data sets with respect to the established Global Terrestrial Network datum; data conditioning for the production of seamless geochemical maps; data management and map plotting and, finally, to project management. Applying these methods will produce internally consistent quality-controlled data sets for each sampling medium for multipurpose use. Any applied geochemist carrying out a geochemical mapping project at any scale and purpose should find a wealth of useful information within the pages of this Manual.





1 Demetriades, A., Johnson, C.C., Smith, D.B., Ladenberger, A., Adánez Sanjuan, P., Argyraki, A., Stouraiti, C., Caritat, P. de, Knights, K.V., Prieto Rincón, G. and Simubali, G.N. (Editors), 2022. International Union of Geological Sciences Manual of Standard Methods for Establishing the Global Geochemical Reference NetworkIUGS Commission on Global Geochemical Baselines, Athens, Hellenic Republic, Special Publication, 2, 515 pp.  https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7307696.
2 He, J. and Geng, X., 2022. R-scripts for Generation of 5, 8 and 16 Random Sampling Points Within Predefined Rectangles. IUGS Commission on Global Geochemical Baselines, Athens, Hellenic Republic, Special Publication, 3, 14 pp. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7307202
3 Vassiliades, E., 2002. Program ROBCOOP4A for Estimation of Balanced Classical and Robust Analysis of Variance: Instructions for Use and Source Code. IUGS Commission on Global Geochemical Baselines, Athens, Hellenic Republic, Special Publication, 4, 42 pp. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7307388.



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