Jodie Pall In order to see how well the Matthews et al. (2016) plate kinematic model (Figure 2) can be relied upon to represent subduction zone length variations through time, we measured plate boundaries from the Bird (2003) global plate boundary data set (Figure 1). This was achieved using a combination of ArcGIS and our subduction zone analysis tools. … Read more…
Date: August 29 – 30 2016 Venue: The University of Sydney Description: A two-day workshop bringing together climate and geo-scientists from around Sydney and international collaborators on the DCO-funded Deep Carbon Modelling project. Deep carbon science describes the multi-disciplinary effort to unravel the dynamic interactions of carbon-bearing systems in deep time. The workshop will focus on exploring the interplays … Read more…
Figure 1. Using ArcMap to visualise and calculate the distances between volcano locations (data points, yellow triangles) and subduction zones (black polylines). Based on a study of 20 selected segments of arc-trench systems, Dickson (1973) found that the distance between trench axes to magmatic arc axes (or volcanic front) ranged from between 100 to 300 km … Read more…
How significant is the crustal carbon reservoir? The incorporation of CO2 in oceanic crust and carbon-rich seafloor sediments facilitates the removal of carbon in the world’s oceans. At subduction zones, CO2 is recycled in the mantle. Our interest in modelling the CO2 flux budget between the oceanic crust and the mantle is to investigate the long-term balance between CO2 sources and CO2 … Read more…
During the Cretaceous to early Paleogene, atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide reached levels of 1 200 – 2 400 ppm. Concurrently, subduction zone lengths reached lengths of up to 52 000 km based on previous estimates, and were dominated by continental arcs. Continent-sourced carbonates too have a significant impact on CO2 flux from subduction volcanism. As continental arcs … Read more…
What do crustal carbonates have to do with CO2 emissions? The proliferation of reefs and carbonate platforms in shallow-water environments contribute to accumulation of organic-C-rich carbonate rocks along the edge of continents. These platforms are a persistent phenomenon throughout the Phanerozoic and strongly suggests that large volumes of carbonates are buried in the upper crust within the … Read more…
The Deep Carbon Observatory (DCO) is a 10-year international research initiative to connect scientists from diverse fields and facilitate collaborative research and technology development in the field of deep carbon science. In order to address barriers to communicating the planetary carbon cycle to the public, a Modeling and Visualization workshop was held in May 2015 in Washington D.C. to bring … Read more…