GMPV
Geochemistry, Mineralogy, Petrology & Volcanology

Carbon

5 things I learnt from 2 months at sea with the International Ocean Discovery Program

July 13, 2022
Photo of sunset behind the drilling vessel JOIDES resolution
Sunset over the South Atlantic behind the research vessel JOIDES Resolution during our transit back to port

This year I was lucky enough to be part of International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) Expedition 390 – South Atlantic Transect I – aboard the research vessel JOIDES Resolution which spent two months, from April to June, out in the South Atlantic, drilling into and sampling the upper oceanic crust and sediments. I sailed as a petrologist and was responsible for describing how the basa ...[Read More]

The strangest rock you’ve probably never heard of

March 9, 2022
The strangest rock you’ve probably never heard of

In this blog I’m going to talk a bit about one of my favourite rocks – the strangest rock you’ve probably never heard of – listvenite. Listvenite (sometimes spelt listwanite or listwaenite) is the product of a chemical reaction between peridotite and carbon dioxide, and it is truly strange! I first came across listvenites working on the Semail Ophiolite, Oman, during my PhD. The Semail Ophiolite i ...[Read More]

Can limestone digestion by volcanoes contribute to higher atmospheric carbon dioxide levels?

October 28, 2019
Can limestone digestion by volcanoes contribute to higher atmospheric carbon dioxide levels?
Degassing at Merapi volcano, Indonesia. Source: GFZ.

By Frances Deegan and Ralf Halama Carbon – the element on everyone’s lips. Carbon is unquestionably one of the most important elements on Earth – terrestrial life is carbon-based and so are many of our energy sources. From the perspective of a human time-scale, biological and anthropogenic (caused by human activity) carbon fluxes are very important (e.g. through industrial activity and burni ...[Read More]