Koornneef Lab

Research focus

ERC Starting Grant · 2017

Quantifying Recycling Fluxes of Earth Surface Materials and Volatiles in Subduction Zones using Melt Inclusions

Plate tectonics are fundamental to the geochemical cycles that link Earth’s mantle and exosphere and in turn control the atmosphere’s composition and our climate. Currently a major unknown is the exact fate of surface materials at destructive plate-tectonic boundaries (subduction zones). Specifically, what proportions of volatiles, sediments and oceanic crust are transported into the deep mantle, or are returned, i.e. ‘recycled’ to the crust and atmosphere. Global recycling flux estimates, including carbon, are contradictory highlighting the need for a new, more precise approach to their quantification. I propose to better quantify global recycling fluxes by a geochemical study of two types…

From the public funding record at EU CORDIS. Describes the funded project, not the reviews below.