Edmonds, M., and C. Manning (2017) report that carbon is one of the most important elements on Earth. Its distribution on and in Earth affects the global climate system, the origin and evolution of life, and the types and availability of energy resources. The geological cycling of carbon, driven by plate tectonics over long timescales, is the main factor influencing the size of the Earth shallow carbon reservoirs. Until recently, however, a fragmented understanding of how much carbon resides in the deep Earth, its form, and how it moves between deep and shallow reservoirs.
Deep carbon science aims at understanding carbon in Earth crust, mantle, and core, where we now know more than 90% of Earth carbon resides. Addressing these questions has been the core research goal of the Deep Carbon Observatory (DCO) program. Deep carbon science has emerged as a new scientific discipline, aimed at understanding the quantities, movements, forms, and origins of carbon in Earth crust, mantle, and core, where we now know more than 90% of Earth carbon resides. The program has amassed 7 years worth of discoveries about carbon in Earth depths.
Over the next 3 years, the program will integrate these discoveries into an overarching model of carbon in Earth and create legacies for the scientific community and wider public. One highlight of our research is the discovery of what happens when carbon is carried from Earth crust into the mantle through subduction. For example, diamonds, which can contain geochemical signatures of organic material from Earth surface, may form as a result of pH shifts in mantle fluids.
Deeply subducted carbonate minerals transform to a novel structure that features carbon in tetrahedral coordination with oxygen, rather than the triangular coordination more typical of minerals near the surface. Closer to the surface, the geosphere and biosphere show a complex linked evolution.
Original working URL: https://eos.org/project-updates/synthesizing-our-understanding-of-earths-deep-carbon
Managed & Built by I2M Consulting, LLC | © 2010-
