Descripción del proyecto
Conocer los mecanismos subestimados del clima terrestre
La aplicación de modelos meteorológicos es la principal metodología para ayudarnos a comprender el sistema climático de la Tierra. Sin embargo, aún es necesario crear un juego de herramientas explicativas para un gran número de fenómenos. En concreto, se carece de un marco para la meteorización química en los depósitos de deslizamiento de roca firme, una importante fuente de datos que podría facilitar nuestras predicciones sobre el clima terrestre. El objetivo del proyecto WetSlide, financiado con fondos europeos, es redefinir el efecto del levantamiento de las cadenas montañosas en el ciclo del carbono inorgánico e impulsar un cambio en nuestra comprensión de la dinámica global de la meteorización química.
Objetivo
Understanding Earth’s climate system is a major aim of the H2020 work programme. The chemical weathering of silicate and carbonate minerals is a key component of Earth’s climate system by exchanging large volumes of carbon between atmospheric and geologic reservoirs. Commonly, weathering models focus on the steady production, chemical alteration, and erosion of regolith and soil. However, the majority of fresh, weatherable sediment on Earth’s surface is produced in active mountain ranges where unsteady bedrock landsliding is the dominant erosion process. There, existing weathering models do not apply. The lack of data and models for chemical weathering in bedrock landslide deposits presents a major knowledge gap that limits our predictions of weathering dynamics and, ultimately, our understanding of Earth’s climate system.
The goal of WetSlide is to quantify the impact of landslide erosion on chemical weathering fluxes from mountain ranges with three research objectives: 1) Assess millennial-scale variations of weathering rates in landslide deposits with a unique dataset of landslide-seepage-water chemistry from New Zealand; 2) Quantify erosion timescales of landslide deposits by measuring and compiling deposit volumes of dated landslides; 3) Develop and calibrate a model for weathering in landslides based on data from 1-2. This model will be combined with a regolith weathering model to estimate landscape-scale weathering fluxes. By providing the first quantitative study of weathering in landslide deposits, WetSlide has the potential to re-define the impact of mountain belt uplift on the inorganic carbon cycle and to drive a step-change in the understanding of global chemical weathering dynamics. Moreover, interdisciplinary training by experts at two world-leading research institutions will shape a competitive young researcher with a rare combination of skills who can effectively contribute to EU research excellence in integrative natural sciences.
Ámbito científico
Programa(s)
Régimen de financiación
MSCA-IF-EF-RI - RI – Reintegration panelCoordinador
14473 POTSDAM
Alemania