VOLCANIC WEATHERING

"Fresh volcanic deposits as a sink for atmospheric carbon: A laboratory, field, and modelling approach to quantifying variation in chemical weathering rates"

Coordinatore	HASKOLI ISLANDS    more  Organization address address: Sudurgata city: REYKJAVIK postcode: IS 101 contact info Titolo: Mr. Nome: Sigurdur Cognome: Gudnason Email: send email Telefono: 354-525-525-4800 Fax: 354-552-8911
Nazionalità Coordinatore	Iceland [IS]
Totale costo	204˙568 €
EC contributo	204˙568 €
Programma	FP7-PEOPLE Specific programme "People" implementing the Seventh Framework Programme of the European Community for research, technological development and demonstration activities (2007 to 2013)
Code Call	FP7-PEOPLE-2009-IEF
Funding Scheme	MC-IEF
Anno di inizio	2011
Periodo (anno-mese-giorno)	2011-01-01   -   2012-12-31

 Partecipanti

#	participant	country	role	EC contrib. [€]
1	HASKOLI ISLANDS  Organization address address: Sudurgata city: REYKJAVIK postcode: IS 101 contact info Titolo: Mr. Nome: Sigurdur Cognome: Gudnason Email: send email Telefono: 354-525-525-4800 Fax: 354-552-8911	IS (REYKJAVIK)	coordinator	204˙568.00

Mappa

 Word cloud

Esplora la "nuvola delle parole (Word Cloud) per avere un'idea di massima del progetto.

 Obiettivo del progetto (Objective)

'A timely theme in Earth Sciences is the quantification of chemical weathering and fluxes to the oceans, and their role in defining seawater chemistry and atmospheric CO2 levels. Until recently, most studies have assumed that weathering rates and river fluxes are essentially at a steady state and that present day rates are typical of the past. Where rate changes have occurred, they are largely thought to have been gradual – e.g. in response to mountain uplift. However, recent work has suggested that weathering rates and river fluxes show rapid changes on timescales of ~1000 years; resulting from accelerated weathering of fresh fine-grained glacial deposits exposed during deglaciation. The same is true of new erupted lava and volcanic ash, which weathers much faster when newly erupted. Volcanic islands have already been recognised as important contributors to terrestrial weathering rates and the transport of dissolved elements to the oceans. Volcanism can vary from small, high-frequency eruptions that are part of the climatic 'steady-state'; to large, rare eruptions that either produce widely dispersed ash or great volumes of lava. Several processes allow this newly erupted material to weather quickly in the initial years after deposition. This introduces, in the case of the large eruptions, a new sink for atmospheric carbon dioxide by providing elements necessary for calcite shell formation to the oceans. The subsequent 'biological pump' depletes the ocean in CO2, which in turn reacts with the atmosphere to cool the planet. This process could potentially act as 'tipping point', pushing the Earth's climate from an inter-glacial to a glacial regime. This project seeks to quantify the early, elevated weathering of two types of volcanic rock using a combination of laboratory experiments and field observations. We will then use this data to model the potential impact of this phenomena using a state-of-the-art global climate model.'