Critical Zone & fluid-rock-living Interactions

This theme explores the interacting processes between the Earth’s constituent minerals and fluids at various temperatures and depths, and may integrate the role of living organisms when appropriate. It encompasses issues of mineralization within the continental crust and interactions between minerals, the hydrosphere, and the biosphere at the Earth’s surface. A major focus is invested in characterizing and understanding fluid-rock-living (plant and microorganisms) interactions within the critical zone. The consequences of these interactions on biogeochemical cycles, greenhouse gas fluxes, and the water cycle are an integral part of this research axis, as well as research on the transport processes of physical and chemical erosion products from continents to oceans. This axis also includes a marine component with the study of water-rock interactions at hydrothermal sites on the ocean floor. Finally, the research conducted at the GET on the synthesis of geomaterials and the geological storage of CO2, and the behavior of isotopes contributes to this expertise in the field of fluid-mineral-living interactions.

Structures involved in the laboratory