Project description
Diamonds may hold clues to Earth’s water origin mystery
Where water originally came from is still unknown. Solving this mystery will play a major role in understanding the geological and biological evolution of planets in our solar system and beyond, particularly at a time when we are looking for habitable planets and extra-terrestrial life. Diamonds deep inside Earth may be the answer because they contain traces of hydrogen and have survived over billions of years. The EU-funded INHERIT project will use new, highly accurate and efficient isotope ratio mass spectrometry to investigate the hydrogen content and isotopic composition of a unique set of natural diamonds dating back 3.5 billion to 9 million years.
Objective
The origin Earth's water is still an unsolved mystery in Earth Sciences. Yet, answering this question is paramount in order to validate planetary accretion models and determine the conditions for life-sustainable planets to form. Comparing Earth's original deuterium-to-hydrogen ratio (D/H) with those of Solar system objects such as meteorites, comets and the solar nebula can constrain on the provenance of water. However, while D/H is precisely determined for extra-terrestrial objects, the exact value for Earth is not known, due to the fact that Earth's primordial D/H got lost since its formation following surface and mantle geological processes. In fact, current estimates from mantle-derived lavas are challenged by the ability of these samples to retain pristine values, indicating the need for a pristine reservoir that remained unaffected over geological time to be found. Diamonds from the Earth's mantle may be key as they contain trace amounts of hydrogen and are inert and robust time capsules able to survive over several billion years. The overarching goal of this project is to determine Earth's primordial D/H by investigating the hydrogen content and isotopic composition of a unique set of worldwide, natural diamonds dating 3.5 to 0.09 billion years ago using newly-developed, high-precision and high-efficiency isotope ratio mass spectrometry. The isotopic data will be complemented by atomistic state-of-the-art ab initio simulations to understand the atomic and diffusion behaviour of hydrogen in natural diamonds. The new results will be fundamental to pinpoint Earth's water origin with long-term implications for understanding planet habitability. In a time where international space agencies are actively searching for potentially habitable planets and extra-terrestrial life, the new knowledge will be fundamental to understanding the geological and biological evolution of planets in our Solar System and beyond.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- natural sciences physical sciences astronomy planetary sciences meteorites
- natural sciences physical sciences astronomy planetary sciences planets
- natural sciences physical sciences astronomy planetary sciences comets
You need to log in or register to use this function
We are sorry... an unexpected error occurred during execution.
You need to be authenticated. Your session might have expired.
Thank you for your feedback. You will soon receive an email to confirm the submission. If you have selected to be notified about the reporting status, you will also be contacted when the reporting status will change.
Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
-
HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC)
MAIN PROGRAMME
See all projects funded under this programme
Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC Grants
See all projects funded under this funding scheme
Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) ERC-2021-STG
See all projects funded under this callHost institution
Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
35122 PADOVA
Italy
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.