Project description
Measuring and understanding the impact of tectonic CO2 emissions
Past climate changes and paleo-atmospheric CO2 variations were significantly impacted by geological processes. Deep carbon reservoirs persist and can be activated within the faulted lithosphere at continental rifts, creating pathways for substantial CO2 emissions. Unfortunately, research into their past climate impact and degassing has been hindered by inefficient measurement techniques, technologies and frameworks. The EU-funded EMERGE project aims to develop innovative solutions to address these challenges. These include the use of airborne drones for CO2 flux measurement, numerical modelling techniques to understand the geodynamic control on lithospheric CO2 transport, and the study and integration of data on past rifts and tectonic degassing.
Objective
Geological processes governed paleo-atmospheric CO2 variations and exerted major control on past climate change beyond the million-year time scale. Vast deep carbon reservoirs are known to be activated at continental rifts, where the faulted lithosphere provides CO2 pathways and where recent surveys detected massive CO2 emissions. However, progress in quantifying natural CO2 degassing and its impact on past climate is impeded for 3 reasons: (1) current CO2 flux measurement techniques require labourintensive field surveys that can cover only small areas; (2) a consistent framework uniting geodynamic processes and CO2 transport to the surface is missing; (3) past CO2 flux from rifts is difficult to quantify because compilations do not account for geodynamic characteristics.
EMERGE will enter uncharted territory by linking 3 innovative approaches. The project will: (1) advance airborne CO2 flux measurements via drones. Focusing on rifts in Kenya, Ethiopia, Czech Republic and Iceland, we will measure for the first time tectonic CO2 flux distributions of entire regions allowing unprecedented insight into subsurface CO2 pathways; (2) characterise geodynamic controls on lithospheric CO2 transport via novel numerical modelling techniques; and (3) integrate data of all known rifts since 540 million years ago to understand the role of tectonic degassing in shaping Earth’s climate through time.
Zooming in on the geosphere-atmosphere interface, this project integrates interdisciplinary ideas and methods from geodynamics, micrometeorology, petrology, and paleoclimatology. EMERGE may generate broad impact on scientific and societal level: dronebased CO2 flux measurements will be a game changer in understanding tectonic CO2 release at rifts and other plate boundaries worldwide. The methodological and scientific advances may be essential for establishing a solid baseline of tectonic CO2 emissions to accurately quantify controls on past and future climate change.
Fields of science
- natural sciencesearth and related environmental sciencespalaeontologypaleoclimatology
- engineering and technologyelectrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineeringelectronic engineeringroboticsautonomous robotsdrones
- natural sciencesearth and related environmental sciencesatmospheric sciencesclimatologyclimatic changes
- natural sciencesearth and related environmental sciencesgeologypetrology
- social sciencespolitical sciencesgovernment systems
Programme(s)
- HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC) Main Programme
Funding Scheme
HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC GrantsHost institution
14473 POTSDAM
Germany