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Polar Systems (POSY1)

Within the scope of POSY, this project aims at investigating the interplay between fluid flow, serpentinization, deformation mode, and H2 production at plate boundaries spreading at ultraslow velocities. These settings are usually melt-starved and plate extension works differently from any faster-spreading system. Evidence for mantle rock alteration by seawater at depths of 15 km and more suggest intensive interaction between the lithosphere and the ocean. Serpentinization causes metamorphic weakening of the seafloor by lowering its shear strength and as a consequence likely enhances its deformation. Further, serpentinization releases heat and reduced compounds such as H2 into the ocean, the latter of which can promote chemotrophic life in the subseafloor.

This multidisciplinary project will further our understanding of serpentinization-related processes by using numerical and thermodynamic modelling approaches as well as serpentinite drill core samples. More specifically, Elmar Albers will (i) use thermodynamic constraints on petrological phase transformations to obtain seismic velocities along numerically modelled sections of ultraslow-spreading systems, and (ii) investigate serpentinite samples from ultraslow-spreading settings using a range of empirical analytical techniques combined with thermodynamic modelling to better conceive the serpentinization-related production of H2.

Contacts: Elmar Albers, Mar­ta Pe­rez-Gus­s­i­nye