PALEOCARBON | PALEOcene greenhouse climate and the effect of basalt weathering on CARBON sequestration

Summary
The 2015 Paris Climate Agreement brought nations together to mitigate anthropogenic climate change, with the aim to keep global temperature rise below 2°C above pre-industrial levels. Artificially enhanced weathering of basalt, driven by intensified geochemical and biological processes that naturally promote the absorption of CO2, is considered as a potentially significant negative emissions technology. However, the impact of climate change and elevated greenhouse conditions on the rate and processes of basalt weathering and the role of plants in mediating this process are unconstrained. This Marie Skłodowska Curie Individual Fellowship will address this uncertainty by a multidisciplinary study on silicate weathering of basalts during the Paleocene climatic greenhouse world, using state-of-the-art botanical and geochemical proxies, tools and methods in the PALEOCARBON project. The project will focus on three main objectives: (1) Quantifying elevated Paleocene pCO2, temperature and precipitation levels using fossil leaves; (2) Constraining processes & intensity of silicate weathering and carbon drawdown potential in Paleocene basalts; (3) Quantifying elemental uptake of plants grown in high pCO2 laboratory conditions, to constrain the role of plant in mediating weathering processes. The fellow will work with and bring together Irish and international world-experts in the development and application of botany-based climatic and atmospheric proxies (prof. Jennifer McElwain), and basalt (silicate) weathering processes (prof. Frank McDermott), to accomplish the PALEOCARBON research-objectives on constraining fundamental end-member parameters that control the efficiency of (artificially) enhanced weathering as a potential negative carbon emissions technology. This prestigious fellowship will enable the fellow to attain career maturity and independence, and to become a leader in the European research community.
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More information & hyperlinks
Web resources: https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/840799
Start date: 01-09-2019
End date: 30-05-2023
Total budget - Public funding: 294 886,09 Euro - 294 886,00 Euro
Cordis data

Original description

The 2015 Paris Climate Agreement brought nations together to mitigate anthropogenic climate change, with the aim to keep global temperature rise below 2°C above pre-industrial levels. Artificially enhanced weathering of basalt, driven by intensified geochemical and biological processes that naturally promote the absorption of CO2, is considered as a potentially significant negative emissions technology. However, the impact of climate change and elevated greenhouse conditions on the rate and processes of basalt weathering and the role of plants in mediating this process are unconstrained. This Marie Skłodowska Curie Individual Fellowship will address this uncertainty by a multidisciplinary study on silicate weathering of basalts during the Paleocene climatic greenhouse world, using state-of-the-art botanical and geochemical proxies, tools and methods in the PALEOCARBON project. The project will focus on three main objectives: (1) Quantifying elevated Paleocene pCO2, temperature and precipitation levels using fossil leaves; (2) Constraining processes & intensity of silicate weathering and carbon drawdown potential in Paleocene basalts; (3) Quantifying elemental uptake of plants grown in high pCO2 laboratory conditions, to constrain the role of plant in mediating weathering processes. The fellow will work with and bring together Irish and international world-experts in the development and application of botany-based climatic and atmospheric proxies (prof. Jennifer McElwain), and basalt (silicate) weathering processes (prof. Frank McDermott), to accomplish the PALEOCARBON research-objectives on constraining fundamental end-member parameters that control the efficiency of (artificially) enhanced weathering as a potential negative carbon emissions technology. This prestigious fellowship will enable the fellow to attain career maturity and independence, and to become a leader in the European research community.

Status

SIGNED

Call topic

MSCA-IF-2018

Update Date

28-04-2024
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Horizon 2020
H2020-EU.1. EXCELLENT SCIENCE
H2020-EU.1.3. EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)
H2020-EU.1.3.2. Nurturing excellence by means of cross-border and cross-sector mobility
H2020-MSCA-IF-2018
MSCA-IF-2018