2004 Annual Meeting of the Israel Society for Clay Research
March 30th - April 1st, 2004
Tel Hai Academic College of Galilee, Israel

In Israel the collaboration between the Group for Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry (IGTAC) and the Israel Clay Society has, and continues to be, excellent. During the last twenty years we had held several joint meetings. In the meetings of IGTAC, almost half of the presentations deal with the thermal studies of clay minerals and other geo-materials. In the meetings of the Israel Society for Clay Research almost half of the presentations deal with thermal analysis of clays. In 2004 we had separate Annual Meetings, but many of the presentations at the Meeting of the Israel Society for Clay Research could be presented at the Meeting of IGTAC.

The 2004 Annual Meeting of the Israel Society for Clay Research took place on Wednesday and Thursday, March 30 -April 1 at the Campus of the Tel Hai Academic College of the Galilee, which is located near Kiryat Shmone. The first day was dedicated to the study of some of the clays of the region. It was combined with a sightseeing tour in Upper Galilee, one of the most beautiful regions of Israel, especially in the springtime. We visited the Hula Agamon (little lake). Until fifty years ago the Hula was a small lake (or better to call it a big swamp with Malaria) when the State of Israel dried it. In the first years the soils were fertile and excellent for agriculture. But recently they became too salted and rich with peat and now they are not good for this purpose. Before drying the lake, this region was rich with birds, which rested there during their migration from north to south and then, after a few months, on their return trip to the north. In addition, there were there many other typical wild animals. All this life disappeared after the drying of the lake. Now, since the soils became bad for agriculture, sweet water has been brought and some parts of lake have been renewed. Birds and other wild animals have returned and the place has become a center for tourism. We also visited the Banias natural reserve where we learned about the sources of the Jordan River.

The next day was dedicated to oral presentations, of which many were about thermal analysis. I shall mention only these lectures. Amir Sandler spoke on deep burial diagenesis of clays in the Tobolka-1 borehole, Czech Republic, studied by XRD and DTA. Nurith Goldman spoke on hydrothermal sediments of Atlantis Deep, Red Sea. Much of her study was also based on DTA. Shlomo Shoval described thermal technologies in manufacturing ceramics in biblical periods. Samich Mishirky described the thermal properties of perlite. Malka Epstein presented a paper on thermo-XRD-analysis of the adsorption of alizarinate by montmorillonite. Ahmed Nasser presented a lecture on the thermal and mechanochemical decompositions of some pesticides adsorbed on clays.

The meeting was organized by the Israel Society for Clay Research and the Tel Hai Academic College in the Galilee. Professor Shlomo Nir, President of the Israel Clay Society and Dr. Giora Rytwo, secretary of the Clay Society, were members of the Organizing Committee.

Shmuel Yariv