Targets

The proposed research project will concentrate on the fundamental science of Earth’s carbon and deep processes, tectonics, volcanism and their atmospheric feedbacks. In this framework, the project aims at filling the existing knowledge gaps on the dynamics of carbon fluxes from the deep Earth and thus better interpreting existing experimental and numerical models on the geological carbon cycle. The primary challenge is to identify and quantify key mantle and crustal reservoirs and processes governing carbon fluxes in volcanically and tectonically active regions, and their controls on the carbon budget delivered at the surface, resolving the different contributions from recycled sources.

The program focuses on 3 significant interrelated themes, aiming at answering three open central questions in deep C science:

How accurate is our current understanding of source processes and pathways governing C cycling through volcanism?

How/to what extent do chemical and physical variables (including redox state of fluids and melts) influence the efficiency of C transport from the mantle to the surface?

What are the respective roles of mantle and crustal sources in contributing to outgassing of non-volcanic CO2 in tectonically active regions of the globe?