Project description
Discovering Earth’s new recipes for deep hydrogen and methane production
Methane and hydrogen are key energy sources for microbes, especially in the subsurface. Most hydrocarbons can be traced back to life forms, but water-rock reactions, such as the process called serpentinisation, create hydrogen and abiotic methane that form independently of life, including at depth in subduction zones. These gases likely contribute to the global hydrogen and carbon cycle and the growth of subsurface microbes, but the size of these reservoirs and their impact is not well understood. The EU-funded DeepSeep project seeks to estimate how much deep abiotic hydrogen and methane is produced in subduction zones. What the researchers discover could dramatically change our understanding of the formation of deep energy sources and their effects on the global carbon cycle, potentially including climatology over the geologic timescales, and provide insight into the distribution and magnitude of deep life on Earth and potentially beyond.
Objective
The deep subsurface biosphere is the largest microbiological habitat on Earth, with biomass and contribution to biogeochemical cycles comparable to surface biosphere. Deciphering the parameters that control and sustain deep subsurface life is vital in understanding the functioning of our planet, and additionally provides key information on how life emerged and where it could exist elsewhere. Among these parameters are the sources of essential energy for deep life, such as H2 and CH4. Great effort has been made to identify geological processes producing these compounds within the subsurface biosphere. Conversely, the identification of deeper sources of H2 and CH4 produced outside the parameter space for life is lacking, even though they could dramatically change our understanding of the distribution and magnitude of deep life on Earth and potentially beyond. Convergent margins focus the largest recycling of C from the deep Earth to the biosphere and atmosphere. Current models of deep C cycling do not include H2-CH4 deep fluxes and therefore cannot assess their potential role in sustaining deep life. My recent work indicates that H2 and CH4 can be produced in large amounts abiotically in subduction zones well below the biosphere by high-P serpentinization processes. This opens new fundamental questions: What is the magnitude of deep H2 and CH4 at convergent margins? How do they affect deep C cycling? To what extent deep H2 and CH4 fluxes sustain the biosphere? DeepSeep will answer these questions by providing the first ever estimates of deep H2-CH4 fluxes, as well as the missing means to detect source areas at depth, and will establish deep H2-CH4 role on deep C cycling and on deep biosphere processes. By bridging the two most striking peculiarities of Earth, subduction and life, DeepSeep has the potential for transformative discoveries, with long-term implications for global C cycle modeling, climatology, and the emergence and search for life on Earth 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.
- engineering and technology environmental engineering waste management waste treatment processes recycling
- natural sciences physical sciences astronomy planetary sciences planets
- natural sciences earth and related environmental sciences atmospheric sciences meteorology biosphera
- natural sciences earth and related environmental sciences atmospheric sciences climatology
- agricultural sciences agricultural biotechnology biomass
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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.
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H2020-EU.1.1. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - European Research Council (ERC)
MAIN PROGRAMME
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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.
ERC-COG - Consolidator Grant
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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-2019-COG
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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.
40126 Bologna
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.