Project description DEENESFRITPL What do the ancient oceans tell us about the early evolution of our planet? The oceans act as an interface between the Earth’s atmosphere, the continents and the deep mantle via surface processes, erosion, and hydrothermalism. The aim of the EU-funded GOforISOBIF project is to investigate the composition of early seawater recorded in Precambrian banded iron formations to provide unique insight into the processes that have affected the Earth’s major reservoirs at the beginning of our planet history. Using new and innovative geochemical tools, the project will focus on 3 first-order questions: 1) the origin, composition and size of the first continents; 2) the detection of whiffs of oxygen in the early oceans before the great oxidation event (GOE); 3) the relationship between hydrothermal activity and global mantle geodynamics. Show the project objective Hide the project objective Objective Since the beginning of Earth’s history, the oceans acted as an interface between the atmosphere, the continents, and the mantle via atmospheric exchange, weathering, sedimentation, and submarine volcanism. Such interactions make the composition of early seawater a unique recorder of the processes that have affected the Earth’s major reservoirs. Yet, this record has not been explored in details. Here, I propose to investigate the geochemistry of the first oceans that is recorded in Precambrian banded iron formations (BIFs) to address first-order questions related to the early evolution of our planet.The proposed project combines well-established radiogenic isotopic systems with novel and highly promising stable isotope tracers that will be developed as part of the project. These geochemical proxies will be measured on a unique collection of BIF samples deposited from ~3.8 to 0.7 Ga ago with the following objectives: (1) determine the origin, composition, and size of the first continents, (2) detect whiffs of oxygen in the early oceans in various depositional settings before and after the Great Oxidation Event (GOE), (3) identify the periods of intense hydrothermal activity through Earth’s history and link them to global mantle geodynamics. The proposed project will promote the application of state-of-the-art isotopic measurements, with an emphasis on further methodological development to set-up new isotope proxies. This innovative approach is needed to test previously suggested hypotheses, develop new ideas, and to tackle the challenging questions of the early Earth evolution from a different angle. Fields of science natural sciencesearth and related environmental sciencesgeochemistrynatural sciencesearth and related environmental sciencesgeologysedimentologynatural scienceschemical scienceselectrochemistryelectrolysisnatural sciencesearth and related environmental sciencesgeologyvolcanologynatural sciencesphysical sciencesastronomyplanetary sciencesplanets Programme(s) H2020-EU.1.1. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - European Research Council (ERC) Main Programme Topic(s) ERC-2019-STG - ERC Starting Grant Call for proposal ERC-2019-STG See other projects for this call Funding Scheme ERC-STG - Starting Grant Coordinator CENTRE NATIONAL DE LA RECHERCHE SCIENTIFIQUE CNRS Net EU contribution € 1 293 750,00 Address Rue michel ange 3 75794 Paris France See on map Region Ile-de-France Ile-de-France Paris Activity type Research Organisations Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Participation in EU R&I programmes Opens in new window HORIZON collaboration network Opens in new window Other funding € 0,00 Beneficiaries (1) Sort alphabetically Sort by Net EU contribution Expand all Collapse all CENTRE NATIONAL DE LA RECHERCHE SCIENTIFIQUE CNRS France Net EU contribution € 1 293 750,00 Address Rue michel ange 3 75794 Paris See on map Region Ile-de-France Ile-de-France Paris Activity type Research Organisations Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Participation in EU R&I programmes Opens in new window HORIZON collaboration network Opens in new window Other funding € 0,00
